Mystery

‘It’s a Wonderful Knife’ (2023) lacks any spirit at all

Bad Christmas horror movies have become as ubiquitous as bad Christmas rom-coms … OK, maybe not quite that ubiquitous. But the genre is beginning to

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Doyle tires of his detective in ‘Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’ (1894)

Nowadays mystery authors dream of creating a cash-cow detective like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or The Continental Op. So it’s not like readers and authors

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‘Three Days of the Condor’ (1975) provides holiday-season conspiracy chill

Political conspiracy films were so common in the Seventies that some people were probably getting sick of them, but today they stand as a rich

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Old Hollywood meets film noir in ‘Paradine Case’ (1947)

Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Paradine Case” (1947) is so nice looking and features such great performances that it almost overshadows the thin story by uber-producer David

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Doyle solidifies an icon in ‘Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ (1892)

“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1892) is simultaneously a timelessly great read – with deliberate yet steadily moving prose that flows like honey today –

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Fall TV premieres continue with ‘Disclaimer,’ ‘Day of the Jackal,’ ‘Creep Tapes’

My look at fall TV’s premieres continues into November with a trio of streaming offerings. Although these series have several episodes out now (I miss

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Last three ‘Thin Man’ movies (1941-47) are the thinnest entries, but worth a look

The “Thin Man” saga survives its transition away from the original trilogy’s writers (Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, working from stories by Dashiell Hammett) reasonably

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‘The Conversation’ (1974) explores psychological price of spying

Fifty years later, “The Conversation” (1974) remains a timely warning (or maybe now it’s just a portrayal, as the time for warnings has passed) about

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‘Caddo Lake’ an engrossing metaphysical mystery

“Caddo Lake” (Max) smartly taps into both emotions and metaphysics, along with the gorgeously foreboding bayou straddling Texas and Louisiana, in one of 2024’s minor

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Nick and Nora are stars in ‘After the Thin Man’ (1936), ‘Another Thin Man’ (1939)

With his novel “The Thin Man” (1934), Dashiell Hammett switched protagonists from workaholic, down-and-dirty sleuths to a detective who retired at a young age and

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