My review of the 2024 movie, Civil War.

Washington DC—We are a very divided nation and according to world history we must have unavoidable periodic wars since the beginning of time. We never learned from our mistakes and politicians never quit trying to become tyrants.

I thought this movie was going to come with political views, and then it would be easy to choose a side to support.  That however, was not the case.   But we did have two separate groups intent  on killing each other

This Alex Garland film is from the points of view of two unlikely female combat print photographers played by Kristen Dunst along with her unintended, young, novice sidekick, played by Cailee Spaeny.  Essentially the film shows constant danger, the inability to determine the good combatants from the bad ones.  In other words, you didn’t know who was going to kill you.  One of the things that happens during war is prisoners are somehow brought out of every prison and they of course, commit their atrocities without fear of reprisal.

They did not show any shortage of food or clean water.  This of course was not realistic.  This film had no shortage of gratuitous violence and was very intense.   There were plenty of psychopathic characters .  

The special effects were very realistic.  The ensemble cast was excellent in their delivery.  I think this is a realistic view of what happens during war, and it is certainly incredibly cruel.  

I’m going to suggest that you see the film in a theater with a wide screen.   I absolutely got my money’s worth for the $10 ticket.  

A Review of a Film I Love! Toni Erdmann Rocks!

Los Angeles, CA—I love German films because they helped me learn the German language when I was a young Army medical corpsman serving in that great nation.  Today German films and TV series are simply terrific!  

Toni Erdmann is a favorite and the shoe-in for the Best Foreign Film Oscar Award. It's in German, Romanian and English.  Of course The film is sub-titled in English. 

I had to see what the major film festival's buzz was all about. I won’t spoil it for you but will tell you it’s about a somewhat lonely old curmudgeon, Winfried Conradi aka Toni Erdmann (Peter Simonischeck) who refused to grow up. 

Our aging protagonist is never at a loss for a prank or joke and he longs to bring his successful and beautiful role model daughter, Ines Conradi, (Sandra Huller) back into his life. 

Our hero invades his daughter’s life as she is working hard on an Important business trip to Romania.  Needless to say the complications pile up in a big way.

This is a touching comedy that will have every father and daughter to rethink their relationship.  I loved the stellar acting and my money in on the Oscar for this film. 

This film was written and expertly directed by Maren Ade.  

One wonderful surprise happens when Ines sings accompanied by her father on a keyboard.

This film was not lost on our own Hollywood filmmakers that have announced an American remake of Toni Erdmann.  This will bring Jack Nicholson out of retirement and pair him with the fabulous, Kristen Wiig.

I don’t want to miss either version.  The story is so incredibly compelling.   
The Trailer:

   

The Crimefile News Review of, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Los Angeles, CA—Most of my visitors know that I’m an actor, writer, and video producer in addition to being a private investigator.  Along the way I have found some wonderful friends involved in German filmmaking and funding.  I’ve got two film projects of my own in development.  With a lot of luck maybe something will yet see production. 

Let me begin by letting you know a little about Germany’s partnering with American film producers.  Germany is no small player in making top quality English speaking films. 

For well over a year I’ve been hearing buzz about this film produced by the prolific American producer Scott Rudin and Berlin’s Studio Babelsberg.  Germany is dead serious about making terrific and in recent years given generous film grants to producers to make the magic happen.

Some recent past productions funded by the German government are some of my favorites such as Black Book, Valkyrie, Inglorious Bastards and The Book Thief are a few wonderful examples. 

California has chased away filmmakers with excessive taxation right into the loving arms of Canada and Germany.   American filmmakers are finding Germany has so much to offer them in every possible way. 

The German film locations are amazing and different.  Reunified, Eastern Germany has loads of untouched real estate spared from modern development because of long time Communist control.  The more modern metropolis locations are in the Western Cities of Germany.

Now it’s time to talk about this awesome film!

This Wes Anderson film is a real adventure and a wonderful farce.  It has an all-star cast however recognizing these actors will be a challenge because of superb makeup and costumes. 

The cleaver writing was only surpassed by the great delivery of the lines by the cast.  The film is non-stop entertainment revolving around the adventures of a hotel concierge and a lobby boy.   You will find out our concierge goes the extra distance to make sure his elderly, female and rich guests are comfortable.

The stars pop up one at a time and they will keep you guessing and laughing even after you’ve gone home. 

I’ve told you enough and don’t want to spoil the film for you.   Go see it!  I will buy the Blu-Ray DVD when it released for my collection. 

The cast includes:  Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric , Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson. 

I must warn you that the trailer below does not do the film justice!

           

My Review of The Dallas Buyers Club Movie

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto

Los Angeles, CA—This screenplay languished in Movie Purgatory for years before it broke out and was finally turned into a feature film.   It’s the biographical story of rodeo cowboy, electrician and small time hustler Ron Woodroof.  

In the early 1980s Woodroof was a homophobic that practiced unsafe heterosexual relations and abused drugs.  After getting diagnosed with HIV and soon AIDs,  he began serious research into the experimental drug therapies.  They were all experimental then, because drug protocols had not yet been developed to combat this deadly plague.  

Because of the incredibly slow action and outright obstruction of the FDA Woodroof began importing and distributing the non-narcotic drugs himself.  Rather than sell the drugs he circumvented the law by forming The Dallas Buyers Club and selling memberships.

Woodroof proved to be e hero to those suffering from HIV and AIDS along with their loved ones.   Of course tens of thousands of hemophiliacs were infected by tainted blood despite not engaging in risky behavior.

Matthew McConaughey gave a commanding performance as Woodroof.   He deliberately lost 30 pounds to fit the role of an emaciated AIDs victim.  Actor Jared Leto was incredible as an infected and drug-addicted transgender that won Woodroof’s respect as a fellow soldier in the fight of the deadly disease.   Actress Jennifer Garner shines in her role as a frustrated physician and fellow AIDs warrior.  

Jean-Marc Vall’ee directed this cinematic masterpiece.   Go see this film, it’s well worth the price of admission.   

Official Crimefile review of, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Los Angeles, CA—I was recently lamenting the lack of films worth the admission price in recent Hollywood history. Amazingly a very entertaining film is currently in our local theaters, Rise of The Planet of the Apes.

I won’t spoil this with much information other than to say you will be rooting for the apes over most of the humans you will meet in this adventure.

The entire cast is solid and believable in their respective roles.

Let me predict that Apes will take best Picture and a bunch of other awards at the Kodak Theater this year. I predict Andy Serkis will take the Best Actor Oscar for his role of Caesar, a precocious and loveable chimpanzee.

The Official Crimefile Review of UNKNOWN

Berlin, Germany—Okay, I confess a great love for this city and its people. Berlin , has old world charm, modern elegance and non-stop excitement. Coincidently I will be there in a couple of weeks intoxicating my senses with this incredible metropolis.

Liam Neeson is terrific as usual playing the lead character who arrives in Berlin only to become involved in a spectacular accident and wakes up after a four day coma to find his identity apparently stolen.

By circumstances Neesen is paired up with the incredibly sexy German actress Diane Kruger who plays an accidental hero of epic proportions.

My favorite German actor Sebastian Koch plays a scientist attending a Bio-Tech engineering conference held at the historic, Five Star, Adlon Hotel. Yep, it’s the same place where Michael Jackson dangled his new baby out the window to a large street crowd several years before he died. This grand hotel is a centerpiece for the movie along with many familiar Berlin locations.

The action is non-stop with first rate special effects and stunts. The Berlin subway and train station locations are really fun to watch.

German actor Bruno Ganz plays a retired East German Stazi agent who proves to be a capable private eye who helps unravel the conspiracy. His old contacts and ways serve the story really well.

Frank Langella still has his acting chops as he plays a rich character.

The writing producing and direction are as good as it gets. The story came from a novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert. The screenplay was crafted by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell. The film was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

I have to say this was well worth the price of admission and will make doubt your own identity before it’s over.

Sit back and watch the trailer for UKNOWN

Lucille Ball, a Beautiful Genius, Major Talent and Communist Party Member

Hollywood, CA—I just finished watching another great Henry Hathaway, film noir classic, The Dark Corner (1946) starring Lucille Ball, Mark Stevens and Clifton Webb. Mark Steven’s plays a recently paroled private eye trying to rebuild his life and business. Ball plays the private dick’s new secretary. After the PI is targeted and endangered in a somewhat convoluted scheme, Ball’s clever character comes to his rescue at every opportunity. This film is available for instant play if you’ve got a Netflix account.

As a long time real life PI, I can’t imagine the luck of having a secretary like that in a million years. Together they overcome amazing odds and in case you’ve never seen the film I won’t spoil it be revealing the ending.

In The Dark Corner, Ball was a stunning 35 year-old looker that appeared much younger. Her grace, charm and acting were terrific. This is amazing in spite of the fact that Ball left, The John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts in New York City after only a few weeks. He acting coaches told Ball she had no talent!

As a child I grew up with a family TV show, I Love Lucy. It had its comic moments but it was more a comic soap opera of sorts in the lives of two couples, the Ricardo’s and the Mertz’s. Lucy was always up to mischief that usually backfired to the chagrin of her real life husband Desi.

Ball died in 1989 at age 77, when a recently repaired aorta ruptured. Aging and death is most unfair but the truth is we’re all in this together and none of us will get out alive.

What I really did not know was Ball’s age. She was already in her 40’s when she began her, I Love Lucy series. Her first husband Desi Arnez was seven years her junior.

This famous TV pioneer couple made entertainment history beginning with the three camera shoot of their series. With three cameras, scenes could be shot and edited together saving countless hours of setups and retakes.

Together they formed Desilou Productions and that led to many thousands of hours of programming that still seen and enjoyed today all over the world. Their 20 year marriage was volatile and finally ended after their second divorce filing in 1960. It’s always been said by their biographers that their love for each other never really waned, they just had difficulties mostly attributed to Desi that could not be overcome.

Not that long ago I had to do some business with Kelsey Grammar’s production company, Gramnet which was at the time located in the Lucille Ball Bungalow at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. I suspect the name Lucille Ball will be repeated hundreds of years after her death. She was indeed an artist.

When doing a little research for this story I learned that Ball actually joined the Communist Party and registered to vote that way in her earlier days. Ball’s politics were as red as her hair. The Communists always recruited members heavily in Hollywood because they knew that movie stars influence the masses. That still is the case today for sure.

The funny thing about Hollywood’s Communists, they all made huge fortunes through Capitalism. I will never be able to figure out that paradox.

Enjoy the trailer for The Dark Corner below:

The Official Crimefile Review of Call Northside 777

Chicago, IL—This was a true story about the December 9, 1932 murder of 9th District officer William Lundy, 55 inside a delicatessen located at 1226 S. Ashland Avenue . Two unknown men entered the store and soon the 29 year police veteran was shot dead.

1932 was a tough year for Chicago that recorded 364 murders. Eight of the victims were Chicago cops. The police stars they wore hang in the lobby of Chicago Police Headquarters today.

Some 18 years later in 1948 a classic movie was made of this compelling tale starring Jimmy Stewart, Richard Conte and Lee J. Cobb. This film is available at Netflix.

The locations used in Call Northside 777 are all very real including the old Cook County Jail, Criminal Court Building, a Chicago police district station, Stateville Prison and Tribune Tower. The Chicago police uniforms with the authentic stars and shields of that day were used by the filmmaker and director Henry Hathaway.

The relatively new pseudo science of lie detection through the polygraph machine was used in this film. Playing the role of the examiner was none other than real polygraph pioneer, Leonarde Keeler. Keeler played himself before he died only a year later at age 49 from too much booze, cigarettes and hard living.

They changed the names of the real characters including changing Lundy’s name to Bundy.

A real surprise for me to learn was that most of the cops in the film were not Hollywood actors but Chicago cops! The director found some pretty decent actors in the station houses.

One scene in the film shows an actor climbing some stairs with the narrator saying he was he was turning himself into a police station. That grand staircase is really just inside the former main entrance of the old Cook County jail. It is still there but sits behind a fence now.


You won’t find this style of film made today and that’s a crying shame. This was what Film Noir was all about. This is riveting stuff and a must for Chicago cops, prosecutors, defense attorneys and crime reporters to watch.

I keep asking myself why, they don’t make movies like this masterpiece anymore. This film still rocks today.

Other than to say the acting, direction, and story-telling was first rate. They did get a little melodramatic with the ending but it added to the excitement. I don’t want to spoil your experience by giving away the story line. This trailer will give away too much as it is.

After you watch the film get all of the real details on this case from Northwestern University's Center Against Wrongful Convictions.

Black Book, My All Time Favorite Film

Los Angeles, CA—I first wrote about this great 2006 film only last August in a review. I caught the film by accident on the Encore Network one night. What a treat it was!

If there is a God of all film directors I’d have to call him, Paul Verhoven(Basic Instinct, Robo Cop,Total Recall and Independence Day). His other films are pretty good to say the least but he hit a Grand-slam Homerun with Black Book.

I have a serious problem. I can’t stop watching this film, over and over.

If you’ve not heard of this film that perhaps because it’s filmed in Dutch, German and only a bit of English. Don’t worry it’s subtitled in your language. The acting is so superb you will become part of it.

This film is based on a true story of a sexy and beautiful Jewish cabaret singer, played by Carice Van Houten, hiding out in Holland for the duration of the war and Nazi occupation. Van Houten’s character, Rachel Stein aka, Ellis de Vries is drafted into the Dutch Underground and spends the last year of the war, 1944 as a spy. The dangers Stein faces are unimaginable as she proves to be the ultimate survivor. This film is a non-stop thriller.

Verhoven’s entire cast is terrific. Sebastian Koch plays a kinder, gentler, head of the local Gestapo who understandably falls in love with the beautiful espionage agent. The love scenes are real, since these two actors were smitten both on and off screen. Sadly the distance between Amsterdam and Berlin ended their relationship, according to my very own beautiful spy, Andrea, living in Berlin.

You will need a score card to separate the villains from the good guys as every thrilling scene unfolds. The script written by Gerard Soeteman and Paul Verhoeven is as good as it gets.

You will see and recognize Van Houten, Christian Berkel, Waldemar Kobus and that stunning redhead, Halina Reijn from Black Book in the Film, Operation Valkerie that also stared Tom Cruise as Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg. Reijn shows up, this time as a brunette playing Stauffenberg's secratary.

I think the greatest thrill I’d have in my life would be to work with the incredible cast and crew of Black Book in another great European film. Mr. Verhoven, I’m available! Just have your casting director call my agent! Of course there is my screenplay, Come Friday waiting for someone like you to direct!

Carice Van Houten is very busy making more films right now. She has what it takes to be the greatest leading lady ever.

Don’t rent this film, buy it and see if you can stop watching it.

The cast and crew of Black Book.

Official Crimefile Review Of Sophie Scholl: The Last Day

Munich, Germany—Sophie Scholl, a German girl of 21 became an unlikely hero along with fellow students after they became aware of Nazi atrocities. During military service the young men in the group known as the White Rose had personally observed mass murders of Russian POWs and Jews.

These brave kids knew their duty to their fellow countrymen was to stop Aldolph Hitler and National Socialism. Their weapon was a primitive mimeograph machine that enabled them to crank out several thousand leaflets. They mailed and distributed their information wherever they could.

Their effort ended when Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl were caught at their university distributing leaflets. Later, young Christop Probst was entangled into the Gestapo investigation.

The kids were arrested and the White Rose was smashed but not silenced. A trial was held and presided over by infamous Nazi Judge, Roland Freisler. Freisler was A Communist who converted to National Socialism. This fiend in a judicial robe sought to prove his worthiness to Hitler’s criminal regime by sending over 5,000 Germans to their death for resisting Nazi tyranny.

The solid history lesson of the White Rose is, that the German people were indeed kept in the dark about the lawless campaign of genocide and other inhumane acts under Adolph Hitler’s absolute rule. The martyrs of The White Rose gave their lives informing the public. The Nazi government castigated these kids as liars and traitors. Other believed members of The White Rose were rounded up and imprisoned or executed later.

This 2005 film is awesome! It stars Julia Jentsch in the lead role and she is amazing along with the rest of this great cast. The costumes and total recreation of this true, compelling and heartbreaking story were flawless. The film is subtitled in English. Get the film from Netflix or wherever you can.

Black Book (2006), A Belated Crimefile Film Review

Los Angeles, CA—I don’t know how this film escaped my notice until I caught it on the Cable channel, Encore.

Perhaps distribution and marketing was limited because most of the film is in Dutch and German with English subtitles.

Black Book (2006), is based on a true adventure during World War Two. Director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Robo Cop and Total Recall) directed this film with a superb ensemble cast led by the stunning Carice Van Houten.

This is a spy thriller about a beautiful young Jewish singer, played by Van Houten that is trapped in Nazi occupied Holland who joins the Dutch underground out of sheer necessity to survive.

Van Houten’s character suffers every unimaginable threat as she becomes tangled in a plot of Nazi criminals even worse than Hitler’s closest henchmen if that was somehow possible. The actors playing the bad guys were as good as they get.

The acting, costumes and historical detail were impeckable and second to none. The script was a masterpiece.

I have to say Black Book was on the top the best seven films I have ever seen. Don’t rent it, buy it for your personal film library.

Carice Van Houten is very busy making more films right now. She has what it takes to be the greatest leading lady ever.


More on Carice Van Houten here.

Film Documentary, IN SEARCH OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT

Click on picture to enlarge!

Tucson, AZ—I was lucky enough to get a DVD of legal scholar, David T. Hardy’s two-hour film about the origin and over two-hundred years of interpolation of American gun rights.

The film was copyrighted in 2006 before the Supreme Court ruled on the Heller case that held that the Second Amendment was an individual right rather than the right of state governments or a collective right.

Unless you have a love for law, the courts and lawyers explaining and arguing the law, don’t try watching this film alone at home. For me it was as good as it gets.

Hardy’s film took the scattered court rulings on gun rights juxtaposed to the located writings of the framers of our freedom and liberty.

For lawyers that defend Americans accused of weapons possession related charges this film is a must. The same is true of people who make laws.

Hardy has not failed to cover the ugly side of gun control that targeted African-Americans from the day slaves were freed until today.

This film is a must for those members of the Congressional Black Caucus in our Congress. Of course those people don’t seem to really care about the rights of their own people to stop genocide.

For those who like to defend gun rights this film will give you the tools to do that in debates, anytime and anywhere.

You can get your own copy of this masterpiece right here.

The Official Crimefile Review of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino

Westwood Village, Los Angeles, CA—Okay so I’ve been a Clint Eastwood fan all the way back to those Spaghetti Westerns of the late 1960s. How can an Eastwood fan not see any film he both directs and stars in?

Gran Torino is about a retired Michigan autoworker and aging Korean War vet, Walt Kowalski who just lost his wife. He’s now finding that he has to make some serious social adjustments to today’s new society. He is about to embark on adventures we’d all like to avoid.

Kowalski’s most important prized possession is a mint condition Ford Gran Torino.

Kowalski can’t seem to connect with his two adult son’s or their families. I met Kowalski many times in this life. He’s a composite of so many older military veterans that have returned to an ungrateful nation.

Along the way Kowalski has to deal with thugs in a way that made Eastwood’s films so popular. Torino offers a lot more to than vengeance and curbside justice.

Walt Kowalski has to deal with the next door neighbors who happen to be Hmong immigrants. There are serious clashes with ethnic gangs of hood rats.

This is an actor’s film instead of something loaded with special effects and expensive sets. It gets by on high octane acting alone. I see some Academy Awards in the future for these fine stars. Ahney Her, Bee Vang and Christopher Carley who all rock as their young characters help Kowalski reestablish his relevance as a person.

This film is one of Eastwood’s finest.

Crimefile’s Official Review of Valkyrie

Westwood Village, Los Angeles, CA—Being a history buff and having a special bond with Germany and its people seeing this film was mandatory for me. After serving as an Army medical corpsman(1968-1970)in Germany, I nearly stayed there to live. I should at least obtained employment with a government or company that would have given me equal time on both sides of the Atlantic.

I also have a special bond of sorts with actor and Valkyrie star, Tom Cruise. His “mother”, Janet Caroll, from the Film, Risky Business is my friend. Janet’s father was a Chicago Police officer and district secretary. She also has several police bosses in her immediate family. Janet was successfully acting and singing in both Los Angeles and New York. Janet has recently returned to Los Angeles where she has made a second life for herself as an ordained minister helping others.

Operation Walküre was a German government plan for martial law in event of a breakdown of law and order or revolt during World War Two. It was even approved by Adolph Hitler but I don’t think he had it in mind being used as a tool during a Coup d’état against his dictatorship.

The name, Die Walküre comes from that great Richard Wagner opera. The last time I remember that music being used in a movie was in Francis Ford Coppola’s Viet Nam War epic, Apocalypse Now for Colonel Kilgore’s (Robert Duval) Second Air Calvary helicopter assaults on the Viet Cong. Kilgore played Die Walküre over loud speakers as he and his troops chased VC gooks to frighten them while controlling their population.

The original word use was Norse. The Vikings called maidens who served their God, Odin as choosers of slain warriors, Valkyries, who were taken to reside in Valhalla

MGM publicists billed Valkyrie as a thriller. I’m not sure why since everyone who was not raised in a shoe knows the story. This was a drama and a very good one at that. The heart pounding moments were expertly detailed throughout this film.

This film was based on the most famous of the 15 plots to kill Adolf Hitler during his reign of power. It was bungled when, 37 year-old, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg who lost a a hand and two fingers from his remaining hand in combat could not assemble more than 50 percent of the explosives he brought to do the job. Hitler, while wounded continued in power for nearly a year before he was defeated and committed suicide.

Film critics, especially those working today hate war films. I did not expect they’d have much good to say about this MGM masterpiece. They are all too young and way too Gay to appreciate a good war story.

The costumes and props were incredibly accurate for the period. As for the acting I saw no weak players in this ensemble cast or anything to detract from the story. If there is a downside of this film is that there are no surprises since this attempted assassination and Coup d’état after all was and is well-documented history.

Tom Cruise has come a long way since, Risky Business. I will see this film moer than once and so should you.

Visit the official site

More about Janet Caroll.

The Guns of Valkyrie:
There are a lot of my readers with questions about the guns used in this film. As for the small arms represented was the Walther PPK pistol War issue in the popular (at the time) .32 caliber cartridge. That gun was issued to party bosses and Generals. They’d have all been better off with Walther P-38s or the Luger in 9-MM.

The standard Mauser duty rifles of the Bundeswehr are everywhere in the film. There were a few MP-40 9MM machine pistols in the film too.