Front and center in every sense is a fantastic Joel Kinnaman (The Darkest Hour, TV’s The Killing and our new RoboCop), commanding the screen with real star power as JW, a college student with a brilliant mind for business, but practically destitute himself. So desperately wanting to be part of the cocaine-and-cognac crowd, he spends […]
crime
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Sushi Girl
After six years in prison, the newly sprung Fish (Noah Hathaway, Troll) may be spurned by his family, but is welcomed back with open arms and a party thrown by the devious Duke (Tony Todd, Final Destination 5). Also invited to the exclusive event — a yakuza-style dining experience of eating sushi off a naked […]
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Sleepless Night
An opening cocaine heist turned bloody has authorities thinking “gangland killing,” but the man who’s really to blame is one of those investigating authorities: Vincent (Tomer Sisley, The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch), a Bad Lieutenant dealing with Far Worse Criminals. In retribution for having his bag of kilos swiped, nefarious club owner Marciano (Serge Riaboukine, […]
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Compliance
In a role that should have earned her an Academy Award nomination (but I suspect the old-fart contingent couldn’t make it through the film, if it tried at all), Ann Dowd (Side Effects) gets the role of her long character-actress career as Sandra, manager of a fictional fast-food restaurant. Her shift at ChickWich starts as […]
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Crab nab
Credit: Brad Gregg On Jan. 15, a mystery shopper successfully pulled off a crab-leg heist. Officials estimated that $1,500 worth of crab legs and steak were stolen from a Homeland grocery store on N. Bryant. According to police, the shoplifter was a Hispanic or American Indian man wearing jeans, a gray jacket and a ball […]
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The Protector / Crime Story
Glickenhaus’ The Protector casts Chan in one of the Asian superstar’s three mid-’80s, ill-fated attempts at conquering American cinema, with the other two being The Big Brawl and The Cannonball Run. While this 1985 film is nowhere near the greatness of the product Chan churned out back home, it’s worth the while. It’s also now […]
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Cherry Tree Lane
Likely, that film opens with an unspeakable act that calls for retribution, and ends with said retribution being achieved. And in the middle are cat-and-mouse games and close calls and rounds of table-turning to keep conflict chugging. Cherry Tree Lane, however, removes that midsection, condensing the story to assumedly real time. In between its bookends, […]
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Cop to it
Credit: Shannon Cornman That push comes in the wake of the city’s 99 homicides last year, an increase of 41 compared to a total of 58 in 2011 and 56 the year before. And while it’s too soon to read too much into that jump, violent crime does appear to be in an upward trend, […]
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Defining rape
Tyrone Nash Tyrone Nash was charged in September 2011 with five counts of second-degree rape and five counts of forcible oral sodomy for having an alleged sexual relationship with a student at Western Heights High School, where Nash was the physical education teacher and a coach. According to an affidavit in the case, the 33-year-old […]
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Dick Tracy
As its director, producer and star, Beatty aimed to translate Chester Gould’s iconic comic strip from the funny pages to the silver screen, and he did that wonderfully – with the help of its Oscar-winning production design and makeup effects, of course. The backlot artifice serves a purpose; the primary colors burst with wide-eyed appeal; […]