Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 30, 2019

US, France / 90 minutes / color / filmscience, Neighborhood Watch, Lab of Madness, Paradise City, memento, RADiUS-TWC Dir & Scr & Cine: Jeremy Saulnier Pr: Anish Savjani, Richard Peete, Vincent Savino Cast: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves, Kevin Kolack, Eve Plumb, David W. Thompson   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 30, 2019

I was reading one of Curtis Evans’s excellently illuminating essays at The Passing Tramp the other day and noticed that he dismissed Patrick Butler for the Defence as among Carr’s relatively few stinkers: Carr returned to the present with regrettable results. He brings back the odious P   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 28, 2019

Yes, it was of course the title that grabbed me. I’ve read and enjoyed some of Service’s work before — although long enough ago that I now can’t remember any details — but when I recently saw this one for sale I simply had to have it. The story’s pretty...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 27, 2019

A beautifully written and genuinely fascinating novel that loosely interweaves two stories, set in different time periods, of women scientists coming to Easter Island, one of the most remote spots on the planet, and there managing to overcome the sexist prejudices of their day and establish themsel   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 27, 2019

US / 133 minutes / color / Legendary, Forward Pass, Universal Dir: Michael Mann Pr: Thomas Tull, Michael Mann, Jon Jashni Scr: Morgan Davis Foehl Cine: Stuart Dryburgh Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tang Wei, Viola Davis, Ritchie Coster, Holt McCallany, John Ortiz, Yorick van Wageningen, Wang Leehom, Christ   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 24, 2019

Less than a year ago, Sydney cop Ted Conkaffey was, because of a mass of circumstantial evidence, convicted in the court of public opinion of the brutal rape of a thirteen-year-old, even though the legal case against him collapsed for lack of any clear indication of his guilt. Hoping to...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 23, 2019

Canada / 88 minutes / color / Johnson Production Group, Drie Productions, Lifetime Dir: Christie Will Pr: Oliver De Caigny Scr: Christie Will, Alan Donahue Cine: Anthony Metchie Cast: Rachel Hunter, Clayton Chitty, Miranda Frigon, Carter Evancic, Chelan Simmons, Lane Edwards, Loretta Walsh, Christin   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 23, 2019

A screenwriter rents a house somewhere on the edge of the Alps so that his actress wife and their four-year-old daughter can have something of a vacation while he gets his teeth into his latest screenplay — the sequel to his last movie, a phenomenally successful piece of fluff called...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 21, 2019

I recently read Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party, about a group of privileged guests snowed in on a Scottish estate when murder strikes, and had (genuinely) mixed feelings about it: a lot that I liked but also quite a lot about which I was dubious. Someone (I’ve no idea who)...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 20, 2019

vt Xia Wei Yi Zhi Lian US, China / 95 minutes / color / Crimson Forest, Cuixing, China Film Assist, Dadi, Island Dir: Jonathan Lim Pr: Daxing Chang, Cathy Lee, Kenneth Burke, Jonathan Lim Scr: Doc Pedrolie, Victoria Arch Cine: Quyen Tran Cast: Michelle Chen, Jackson Rathbone, Sung Kang, Henry...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 19, 2019

The family-less, agnostic Abby marries Willem despite his deeply Christian family and his own religiosity. The morning after the wedding, before the marriage has even been consummated, Abby steps under a bus on her way to work. Was is it an attempted suicide or an accident brought about by her...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 19, 2019

Published initially as a newspaper serial in 1891, The Big Bow Mystery is generally regarded as the first locked-room mystery novel. (It’s retitled in some editions The Perfect Crime to match the title of the 1928 movie based on the book, the first screen adaptation of three.) No one can...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 16, 2019

An odd little book that somehow I found myself liking while at the same time not enjoying it very much at all. One day at the end of the twentieth century, while rambling in Alphabet City, NYC, our narrator meets a mysterious young Frenchwoman, dressed in archaic garb, who steps...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 16, 2019

US / 25 minutes / bw / Four Star Productions, CBS Dir & Pr: Roy Kellino Scr: Willard Wiener, Herbert A. Spiro Story: A.E. Houghton Jr (i.e., Buck Houghton) Cine: George E. Diskant Cast: Ida Lupino, William Talman, Kathryn Card, Louis Jean Heydt, Glen Gordon. This was episode #24 of...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 14, 2019

A bunch of old Oxford University friends get together every year for a New Year’s holiday, and this time they’ve come to a remote Scottish estate for the celebrations. However, early on New Year’s Day one of them goes missing, and the next day the murdered corpse is found by...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 12, 2019

US / 104 minutes / bw / Chrislaw, United Artists Dir & Pr: William Asher Scr: Joseph Landon Story: The Kingdom of Johnny Cool (1959) by John McPartland Cine: Sam Leavitt Cast: Henry Silva, Elizabeth Montgomery, Richard Anderson, Jim Backus, Joey Bishop, Brad Dexter, Wanda Hendrix, Hank Henry, Ma   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 11, 2019

We were away at a science fiction convention this past weekend, so everything’s a bit sleepy and tentative around Noirish Towers today. This will be just a quick note . . . TV investigative journalist Wendy Tynes ensnares social worker Dan Mercer in a sting operation, the latest triumph of...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 11, 2019

Historical novelist Neil is motoring around Italy when his car breaks down near a big old mansion occupied by a strange group of old people, a forceful priest and a red-hot babe, Marisa. Marisa offers to put him up for the night while the servants do something about his car....   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 9, 2019

vt The Hire: Star US / 9 minutes / color / Anonymous Content, BMW Films Dir: Guy Ritchie Pr: Aristides McGarry, Robyn Boardman Scr: Guy Ritchie, Joe Sweet Concept: Fallon Cine: Chris Soos Cast: Clive Owen, Michael Beattie, Toru Tanaka Jr., Madonna, DTeflon, Troy Aguayo, Christie McNew, Woon Young Pa   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 7, 2019

Twelve-year-old bibliophile Meggie’s dad Mo, a craft bookbinder, mysteriously refuses ever to read aloud to her. Fairly early on in Inkheart she discovers that this is because, nine years ago when she was just three, Mo was reading aloud to Meggie and her mom, Teresa, when he accidentally bro   read more