To Catch A Killer

2023 Vertical Entertainment

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 59min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo and Ralph Ineson.

“I’d rather be hated for who I am, than be loved for what I’m not”

Baltimore….New Year’s Eve…….a gunman kills 29 people sniper style. Eleanor Falco (Shailene Woodley) is a Baltimore Police Officer and responds to the scene. FBI Special Agent Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn) is chosen to lead the investigation into the mass murder. The next morning as he addresses the Police Department he happens to overhear Officer Falco and another officer talking about him and is surprised by what she said in response. He questions her about her comments and is surprised by her answers. Impressed with her he decides that he needs her on his special team and requests that she be allowed to be the liaison between him and the Police Department.

As they work together to track down the killer, Agent Lammark realizes that Officer Falco is a very bright and perceptive individual. Looking at her record he surmises that she is also very deeply disturbed and haunted by something in her past. And she might just be the only person that could get inside the head of the man they are searching for. Kind of like a modern day Clarice Starling from Silence Of The Lambs. They work together to hunt down the mass murderer with no clues and Officer Falco’s intuition, while they fight the bureaucratic need for a quick resolution to the city’s nightmarish scenario.

The Director Damián Szifron is a very successful Argentinian Film Director and he co-wrote this movie with Jonathon Wakeham. It is his first foray onto American Films with Vertical Entertainment picking up the movie in 2022 and changing the name from Misanthrope to To Catch A Killer. Shailene Woodley does an excellent job in this movie. I loved her character and the way she played the role. All the way through right up until the end, I was rooting for Shailene and Eleanor Falco. I am a Shailene Woodley fan, there is something different about her, the way she acts and approaches her roles.

Killer Heat was the most recent movie I saw and reviewed with her in it, liked her in that as well. HBO’s Big Little Lies was another good one she was in, as well as the Divergent series. Ben Mendelsohn also did a good job in this movie as The FBI lead man. I think they were both at the top of their game in this one. I loved the storyline as well. A mass murder with no clues, Officer Falco’s tortured psyche and intuition, the battle to find the murderer and the truth while trying to keep the bureaucrats at bay. The movie kind of flew under the radar before it landed on Netflix yesterday and is already Number one on The Netflix Top Ten Movies List.

I enjoyed it and I would watch it again……

And Yes….I recommend it.

Inside Man: Most Wanted

2019 Universal Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 45min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by: M. J. Bassett

Starring: Aml Ameen, Rhea Seehorn, and Roxanne McKee.

“The ultimate game of copycat and mouse.”

The movie starts out with American soldiers in 1945 Europe battling it out with German Soldiers in front of a farmhouse. They neutralize the Germans and open the barn doors to uncover a pallet full of wooden cases containing bars of Nazi Gold. Then we flash forward to New York City in the present day. A group of criminals has taken over the Federal Bank of New York and is holding hostages. They force the bank manager downstairs to open up the holding areas where they keep all the gold. They force him to open up a room way in the back and we see the same pallet full of Nazi gold bars from Europe.

FBI Negotiator Brynn Stewart (Rhea Seehorn) is tapped to lead the response team along with NYPD Negotiator Remy Darbonne (Aml Ameen). They tap into the bank’s phone lines and call the criminals. Ariella Barash (Roxanne McKee) answers and insists that they call her “Most Wanted”. She demands that they disperse two armored vehicles to the front of the bank so that they can load the gold into them. Then they will take the vehicles to the airport where they will have a plane waiting for them. It seems like a simple robbery on a bank full of gold, but as we move forward, there are numerous plot twists that make this anything but that.

And the game of cat and mouse, or should I say copycat and mouse is on as the FBI, NYPD and Swat try to free the hostages, figure out the criminals end game and keep the massive pile of gold from being stolen. It is a thrilling action crime drama with a mystery not solved until the very end. It is a movie centered around a bank robbery but it is much more than that. There are secrets and mysteries that are exposed that throw a different twist on the old bank robbery caper.

I have seen this countless times, whenever I see it listed on a platform I always watch it. It is one of my favorites. I sought it out this time because I found out that it was a sequel to the movie INSIDE MAN. I have seen INSIDE MAN numerous times too, but didn’t realize they were connected. I came across an article about it while doing research for another movie. It explained how the two movies are connected in the storyline, how the story carries over into the sequel. I had no idea, but thinking about it it made sense. So I had to go back and watch them both with my new knowledge of the storyline.

It is a good movie, although I don’t think it is as good as the first. Close but definitely comes in second. Of course the absence of Denzel Washington and Clive Owen is noticeable. But this movie carries on after the events of the first movie and they are tied together. So I thought it was a good sequel, I had a better appreciation of the movie knowing they were related and how. I did really like Aml Ameen, Rhea Seehorn, and Roxanne McKee in this, I really liked their characters and thought they did a good job with them.

So that’s a yes for me, I would recommend watching INSIDE MAN first before INSIDE MAN: MOST WANTED. And I would recommend watching both of them, it’s a good little Duology.

Enjoy!

Inside Man

2006 Universal Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 8min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by: Spike Lee

Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

“My name is Dalton Russell. Recently I planned and set in motion events to execute the perfect bank robbery……..”

Clive Owen stars as Dalton Russell, who in August 2005, leads a small group of criminals who hijack The Manhattan Trust Bank and hold everyone inside hostage. Denzel Washington stars as Detective Keith Frazier, who along with his partner Detective Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are assigned to the active situation. Willem Dafoe stars as Captain John Darius with the NYPD Emergency services Unit who has set up the perimeter and command center at the Bank. They set up phone communication within the bank solely through the commander center and wait to hear from the Bank robbers.

Christopher Plummer stars as The Founder and Chairman of The Board of Manhattan Trust Bank Arthur Case. This branch is the original Manhattan Trust Bank and also the biggest. Arthur is very nervous about the robbery and the men inside the bank because he has an unidentified security deposit box inside. He does not want them to get their hands on what is inside the box for fear it could ruin him. He makes a call to the most notorius “Fixer” in the city, Madeleine White (Jodie Foster), and she agrees to meet with him. Madeleine calls in a favor from the Mayor and gets him to let her into the active crime scene so she can negotiate with the bank robbers.

And the game of cat and mouse is on as the police and detectives try to negotiate with the bank robbers and figure out their motives and demands, and Madeleine and Arthur try to keep his secret hidden, and the robbers play hide and seek with the hostages as they do something different than bank robbers are expected to do in this situation. It is a thrilling crime drama with a mystery not solved until the very end. It is a movie centered around a bank robbery but it is much more than that. There are secrets and mysteries that are exposed that throw a different twist on the old bank robbery caper.

I have seen this countless times, whenever I see it listed on a platform I always watch it. It is one of my favorites. I sought it out this time because I found out that there was a sequel to this movie, INSIDE MAN: MOST WANTED. I have seen the sequel numerous times too, but didn’t realize they were connected. I came across an article about it while doing research for another movie. It explained how the two movies are connected in the storyline, how the story carries over into the sequel. I had no idea, but thinking about it it made sense. So I had to go back and watch them with my new knowledge of the storyline.

It is a great movie. With Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor all at their best. It is funny at times as well. All the interrogation scenes were completely ad-libbed by the actors. Great job I’d say. Great story, great cast, great acting and a great movie. I am watching the sequel INSIDE MAN: MOST WANTED tonight.

If you haven’t seen it you’re missing out on a good one.

Highly Recommended!

Last Known Location

2024 Quiver Distribution

Rated: 16+

Length: 1 hr 54min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Directed by: Danny Donnelly

Starring: Aimee Theresa, Sophia Lucia Parola, Jennifer M. Kay and Danny Donnelly.

“Will Detectives find them before it’s too late?”

Last Known Location is an Indie movie made by Silver Octopus Productions, a small Production company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are owned by the Husband/Wife team of Aimee Theresa and Danny Donnelly. The movie was filmed in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It is reportedly based on a True Story but I couldn’t find info on the true story it is supposedly based on. It could be a Philly area story I’m guessing. Aimee wrote the script and plays the main character Callie Holloway. Danny Donnelly directed and starred as Matthew Martin.

It is the story of three women who were abducted one by one. Each of them not having many family or friend ties so their disappearance goes unnoticed for a considerable time before anyone notifies the police. A Detective and her partner are assigned to the case and start piecing clues together and decide it is foul play and the work of one person. The three women are seen chained up in a basement somewhere with only a toilet and a laundry sink. They arrived there one by one. I don’t want to say anymore about the plot so as not to spoil it.

It does keep you guessing right up until the end, because the end is a complete surprise you didn’t see coming. There are some things that bothered me about the movie. The acting was a little forced at times, kind of like a bad TV movie. There wasn’t enough depth to the characters, or the villain. And why didn’t the three girls fight harder, I saw opportunities early on they could have exploited. Why did he do what he did? The Movie alludes to it but doesn’t really say. The Hooks in the concrete basement floor the girls were chained to were obviously there for a long time. Had he been abducting women for a long time? Or was it something to do with the villain’s mother?

Later in the movie Callie finds two little green toy soldiers that boys play with hidden in a crack next to her Chain hook in the concrete? Was the villain chained there as a kid, perhaps by his mother because he was “bad”? The upstairs of the house has an old feel to it…the furniture, the decorations. It almost looks like he’s living in his mother’s house, but you never see the mother. It did leave me with those questions, I felt like it could have been better with a little more back story and depth. But it wasn’t all lacking, the plot and the girls kept me intrigued. Wanting to know more and see where it all ended up. And the end is a complete surprise, good one there!

From what I could find out this is a very young Indie film outfit with this being their first Major full length feature movie. Given all that, I’d say it was pretty good. In fact I’d say they would be ones to watch in the near future as they hone their craft and produce better and better movies.

So, yes, it’s worth a watch.

City Of Lies

2021 Saban Films

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 52min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Directed by: Brad Furman

Starring: Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Rockmond Dunbar and Neil Brown Jr.

“The only thing more notorious than the murder was the cover up…….who killed Biggie?”

This Movie and the following review are based on the True Story of the unsolved mystery and murder of two of Rap Music’s biggest stars, Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

Suge Knight, an ex NFL Football Player for the Los Angeles Rams, started Death Row Records with Rappers Dr. Dre and The D.O.C. in Los Angeles in 1991. In 1995 Suge posted a 1.4 million dollar bail for a young aspiring Rapper named Tupac Shakur. The following February 1996 they released Tupac Shakur’s All Eyez On Me to great commercial success. In September 1996 Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting three hours after Tupac, Suge and others attacked a Southside Compton Crips gang member after a Mike Tyson Boxing Match.

Christopher George Wallace, AKA The Notorious Biggie Smalls, was a New York Rapper and the first Artist to sign to Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs Record Label Bad Boy Records in 1993. There developed an infamous rivalry between the East Coast Bad Boy Records and The West Coast Death Row Records. Underground rumors started circulating after Tupac’s death that Sean Combs and Bad Boy Records might have been responsible for the rapper’s death. On March 8th, 1997 Biggie and the Bad Boys entourage attended a Soul Train Music Awards after-party in Los Angeles. As they were leaving a car pulled up alongside and fired six rounds into Biggie’s vehicle killing him.

Los Angeles Police Department Detective Russell Poole is assigned to the case of Biggie’s murder and spends the next twenty years and the rest of his life trying to answer the question, Who killed Biggie Smalls? 1n 2015 Los Angeles Times Investigative Reporter Darius “Jack” Jackson is assigned to write about the Murder of Biggie Smalls. That led him to the now disgraced and retired Detective Russell Poole. Their journey to find and expose the truth leads the both of them on a trail of corruption, politics, gangs, drugs, crimes and murder that involves The Los Angeles Police Department.

Detective Poole had a theory that Suge Knight paid corrupt LAPD Police Officers to assassinate Biggie Smalls to draw attention away from the fact Suge Knight was responsible for Tupac Shakur‘s murder. Fearing he wanted to leave Knight’s record label, Suge had Tupac killed and then tried to divert the blame to Biggie and Bad Boy Records by having Biggie killed. Essentially throwing the blame onto the infamous East Coast – West Coast rivalry.

Johnny Depp stars as Detective Russell Poole and Forest Whitaker stars as Journalist Darious “Jack” Jackson. Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker both deliver powerful performances in this movie. It is a subject I do not know much about, but am familiar with. It is a fascinating story and exposé of the depths of the corruption in The Los Angeles Police Department and the murder of two young Black Music Artists. It is a story that needs to be told. Interestingly enough, this film was made in 2018 but never released until three years later in 2021. Makes you wonder why? More politics? More cover-up?

Completely under the radar apparently, because I never heard about it. I came across it by accident on Amazon Prime the other night as Plane ended and City Of Lies started playing. It immediately got my attention and I am glad I watched it. Enlightening to be sure. Even if you are not a Rap Music fan, I think it is worth watching. It is a little hard to follow the storyline as it is laid out so you really have to pay attention. But I definitely recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!