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THE THRILLING DETECTIVE GIFT SHOP

I had about given up on this page, given that Blu-Ray and DVD releases are becoming scarcer and scarcer (except for the lucrative collectors market), when I realized I was missing out on theatrical and streaming releases. So forgive me… this may take a while.

2023

  • The Dead Boy Detectives
    Tentatively scheduled for 2023, but we’ll see. Originally a HBO production, it’s been scooped up by Netflix, which is boasting “a fresh take on a ghost story that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland…and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace. It’s a lot like a vintage detective series — only darker and on acid.” (No release date yet)
  • The Equalizer 3
    Former government hitman, he of the very specialized (and quirky) skill set, and not a private eye at all (unlike his other two incarnations), steps out of retirement to once again kill a bunch of people in various brutal and colourful ways, this time to purportedly protect a small town in Italy from the Mafia. “Witness the Final Chapter,” the posters urge. One can only hope. (In theatres September 2023).
  • High Desert
    This series about a blowsy scam artist turned P.I. aims for gonzo noir, but never quite achieves lift off velocity. (2023, Apple+)
  • Florida Man
  • You can always go home again in this new Netflix comedy thriller, but this ex-cop Florida Man doesn’t wanna—sinkholes, treasure, gators and rednecks are bad enough, but family? Sheesh!!! (April 2023, Netflix)
  • Marlowe
    Oh, my. This latest attempt to storm the citadel has a tired-looking Liam Neeson stepping into Philip Marlowe’s gumshoes, which might have worked. Thirty years ago. It looks beautiful, and the period stuff feels right, but this overly complicated mess isn’t even really Chandler’s Marlowe—it’s based on a Marlowe book by Benjamin Black. (In theatres February 2023)
  • Poker Face  | Buy the DVD | Buy the Blu-Ray
    By far the coolest detective show of the year, Natasha Lyonne shines as the croaky, raspy bastard child of Rickard Kimball and Frank Columbo. Wandering from town to town, she’s the best bullshit detector we’ve seen in a long time. (Premiered January 2023, Peacock)

2022

  • Glass Onion: A Knives Out Movie
    The very peculiar Benoit Blanc returns, in a sequel to Knives Out, with Daniel Craig once more playing the great detective, this time sniffing around a murder on the island resort of tech billionaire whackjob Miles Bron (Edward Norton). Also starring Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.
  • Mickey Spillane’s I, The Jury Special Limited Edition | Buy the Blu-Ray
    It never got the acclaim that Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly got, but the 1953 film debut of two-fisted private detective Mike Hammer ain’t anything to sneeze at. Okay, this B flick is about as subtle as a flying mallet, but that’s part of its charm. And it’s finally been restored as a 4K UHD, Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray combo that’ll have videophile crime buffs weeping with tears of joy (but manfully, of course). Starring meat-and-potatoes Biff Elliot as the relentless Hammer, out to avenge the murder of his war buddy, alongside co-stars Preston Foster, Peggie Castle and other, with cinematagraphy by the legendary John Alton, this special 2-disc edition comes loaded with bonus features, like audio commentary by Max Allan Collins, an unaired Mike Hammer TV show pilot from 1954 written and directed by Blake Edwards and starring Brian Keith, and more info about Biff Elliot than you could wave a side of beef at.
  • The Equalizer: Season Two  | Buy the DVD | Watch it now!
    Queen Latifah kicks considerable butt as Robyn McCall, a former CIA agent turned street-level vigilante in this rehash/remake of the 1980s cult fave and the Denzel films. I’m still not a huge fan, and the domestic drama gets tedious (Who will take Deliah to the prom? Will Aunt Vi’s dinner be ruined?), but I do enjoy the Queen getting all regal in some slimeball’s face.
  • Guilty/High Tide | Buy the DVD/Blu-Ray
    It’s two, two, two noirs in one! This two-fer serves up a pair of rare noirs from 1947, both starring Don Castle and recently rescued by the Film Noir Foundation. The Guilty is based on a Cornell Woolrich story, and follows two recently returned vets double dating a pair of twins, one of whom turns up dead, but the one I’m jazzed about is High Tide, finally restored to its full length. It’s a corker, based on a yarn by Raoul Whitfield, about a former reporter turned private eye and his former boss, trapped in a car, watching the tide roll.
  • Last Looks | Buy the DVD | Buy the Blu-Ray | Watch it now!
    When the wife of an eccentric alcoholic TV star is murdered, burnt-out former LAPD hotshot Charlie Waldo comes down from his self-imposed exile in the mountains to solve the case. From the novel by Howard Michael Gould.

2021

 

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