There are some epic displays of sleight of hand in Robert Bresson’s tale of crime through desperation, but it’s not much of a thrill ride. Many great filmmakers of crime cinema reference Pickpocket as a genre classic and an enduring influence, but it struggles to maintain that impact today. Read more »
A true classic and widely regarded as one of the best films of all time, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is a true masterpiece. Seeing the film on the big screen, in a 4k digital restoration, I was reminded of The Godfather’s operatic scope. From the immersive opening act, which occurs in and around a […] Read more »
James McAvoy’s transformation into an action hero continues as we see him in yet another big, shiny, stylised London crime thriller. Though unlike Danny Boyle’s Trance, Eran Creevy’s Welcome To The Punch is an altogether more direct and less entertaining experience. McAvoy plays Max Lewinsky, a police detective obsessed with catching Jacob Sternwood, played by […] Read more »
Set in a fictionalised contemporary New York, Broken City opens with Mark Walhberg, as police officer Billy Taggart, standing trial for murder. Right from the opening moments, Broken City makes clear this will be one of those dramas where small decisions and minor details become more and more important with every twist and turn in […] Read more »
I have been a huge champion of this film since first catching it at PiFan back in 2011. Michael R. Roskam’s directorial debut is a powerful crime epic, set in the unlikely world of the Flemish cattle trade. As rival farming families vie for superiority in the marketplace, solitary enforcer Jacky (Matthias Schoenaerts) cuts an […] Read more »