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#true-crime
London politics
fromSlate Magazine
10 hours ago

The Author of Say Nothing Has a New True-Crime Book. It's Remarkable.

Patrick Radden Keefe's 'London Falling' investigates the death of Zac Brettler, exploring themes of tragedy, blame, and urban decay.
Podcast
fromABC7 Los Angeles
1 week ago

ABC takes true crime storytelling to new levels with 'Betrayal: Secrets and Lies'

The series 'Betrayal: Secrets and Lies' showcases true stories of deception, including paternity fraud and domestic abuse.
London politics
fromSlate Magazine
10 hours ago

The Author of Say Nothing Has a New True-Crime Book. It's Remarkable.

Patrick Radden Keefe's 'London Falling' investigates the death of Zac Brettler, exploring themes of tragedy, blame, and urban decay.
Podcast
fromABC7 Los Angeles
1 week ago

ABC takes true crime storytelling to new levels with 'Betrayal: Secrets and Lies'

The series 'Betrayal: Secrets and Lies' showcases true stories of deception, including paternity fraud and domestic abuse.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
1 day ago

Unconventional Novels About Conventional People

Aging revolutionaries and conformists share parallel narratives of disillusionment and the loss of youthful dreams in recent literature.
#jo-nesb
Film
fromVulture
1 day ago

The Twist in The Drama Is Not the Problem

The film features a controversial plot twist involving a character's past plan for a school shooting, sparking significant online speculation and backlash.
fromOregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
2 days ago

FilmWatch Weekly: Camus' 'The Stranger' on screen, Christian Petzold's 'Miroirs No. 3,' and more * Oregon ArtsWatch

François Ozon's adaptation of The Stranger, while visually stunning, reveals the limitations of cinema in depicting the complex inner states of consciousness that Camus masterfully crafted in his text.
Writing
Television
fromInverse
1 day ago

Netflix's Best Revenge Thriller Teases A Psychosexual New Twist

Season 2 of Beef expands its narrative scope, focusing on three couples and exploring themes of class, power, and psychosexual tension.
#heist-thriller
Independent films
fromThe Independent
2 days ago

Hugely underrated 2026 film added to streaming

'Crime 101' is an underrated heist thriller featuring strong performances, particularly from Halle Berry and Mark Ruffalo, now available for streaming.
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
4 days ago

'The Keeper' is a grand finale to Tana French's Cal Hooper crime series

The Keeper concludes the Cal Hooper series, emphasizing environmental themes and the darkness lurking beneath the surface of rural life in Ireland.
New York City
fromwww.amny.com
5 days ago

Life imitates art: Man shot in Manhattan's Flatiron District steps from set of TV show CIA | amNewYork

A security guard was shot in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in broad daylight near a film crew for CIA.
#romantic-comedy
fromVulture
1 day ago
Film

The Drama Is Too Cowardly to Commit to Its Provocative Premise

The film presents a dark romantic comedy featuring complex characters and a central premise that challenges audience expectations.
fromThe New Yorker
2 days ago
Film

"The Drama" Struggles to Justify Its Combustible Premise

Charlie and Emma navigate their relationship's challenges through humor and the concept of starting over.
Film
fromVulture
1 day ago

The Drama Is Too Cowardly to Commit to Its Provocative Premise

The film presents a dark romantic comedy featuring complex characters and a central premise that challenges audience expectations.
Film
fromThe New Yorker
2 days ago

"The Drama" Struggles to Justify Its Combustible Premise

Charlie and Emma navigate their relationship's challenges through humor and the concept of starting over.
Television
fromThe Atlantic
3 days ago

TV's Failing Cure For Middle-Aged Malaise

Imperfect Women exemplifies the decline of the 'messy-mom thriller' genre despite initial viewership success.
Independent films
fromInverse
3 days ago

35 Years Later, A Classic Scorsese Thriller Is Getting A Modern TV Reboot

Cape Fear is being adapted into a miniseries by Apple TV, following a pair of public defenders facing a vengeful murderer they once defended.
Books
fromThe New Yorker
3 days ago

The Sci-Fi Novelist Who Disappeared for Decades

Cameron Reed's science fiction explores cognitive estrangement, revealing alien worlds that reflect and challenge our own societal norms and moral dilemmas.
#horror
Writing
fromPolygon.com
1 week ago

This new crime thriller brings a haunting, video game-inspired edge to NYC noir

The novel is inspired by horror and mystery, set in 1990s New York, following a Polish immigrant's dark journey.
Independent films
fromVulture
1 week ago

Sure, They Will Kill You, But Can They Get On With It Already?

They Will Kill You satirizes rich Devil worshippers while contrasting them with the mundane lives of actual Satanists, challenging stereotypes and societal fears.
Television
fromVulture
1 week ago

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen Could've Been a Classic

A woman with a mysterious background and a sixth sense navigates family dynamics and impending doom before her wedding.
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

Anki King's Nordic Noir

Anki King's work suggests an intimate engagement with New Image painting, particularly the later work of Susan Rothenberg, but she took it in a direction that is recognizably hers.
Arts
Books
fromAnOther
3 days ago

Djamel White's Novel Is Irish Fiction's Gangland Answer to Heated Rivalry

Djamel White's debut novel, All Them Dogs, blends crime fiction, romance, and tragedy, featuring a complex protagonist navigating the criminal underworld.
#film-vs-literature
fromTime Out New York
4 days ago

Broadway review: A heist and a play go wrong in Dog Day Afternoon

The story told in Dog Day Afternoon, the classic 1975 film about a real-life 1972 Brooklyn bank heist, is also the story of Stephen Adly Guirgis's confounding new Broadway play, where the heat never rises past lukewarm.
Film
SF LGBT
fromLGBTQ Nation
3 weeks ago

Amateur gay detectives finally crack the case of "The Gay Dahlia" - LGBTQ Nation

A documentary about murdered gay adult film performer Bill Newton evolved into a true crime investigation that solved his 1990 unsolved murder case through amateur detectives and resulted in an on-camera confession.
#thriller
Film
fromThe Verge
6 days ago

Red Rooms makes online poker as thrilling as its serial killer

Red Rooms effectively combines realistic technology with expert tension building, creating an unpredictable thriller that keeps viewers engaged and questioning character motives.
fromBustle
2 months ago
Television

'Vanished' Starts Sweet, Then Drops You Into A Twist-Heavy Mystery You'll Devour

Film
fromThe Verge
6 days ago

Red Rooms makes online poker as thrilling as its serial killer

Red Rooms effectively combines realistic technology with expert tension building, creating an unpredictable thriller that keeps viewers engaged and questioning character motives.
fromBustle
2 months ago
Television

'Vanished' Starts Sweet, Then Drops You Into A Twist-Heavy Mystery You'll Devour

Books
fromAnOther
1 week ago

Mieko Kawakami's New Novel Exposes the Tokyo Underworld of the 90s

Sisters in Yellow portrays a teenage girl's descent into the Japanese underworld after her mother disappears, exploring themes of loneliness and class struggle.
Women
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

Psychology says the true crime audience is overwhelmingly women not because women are morbid but because women are the primary targets of the crimes being described - and learning the patterns isn't entertainment, it's threat intelligence dressed up as a podcast - Silicon Canals

Women's high consumption of true crime content represents threat assessment and safety education rather than morbid entertainment preference.
Film
fromInverse
1 week ago

45 Years Later, Michael Mann's First Film Is Still Dazzling

Creating empathy for an immoral protagonist in crime films often requires significant character reworking, but 'Thief' presents a starkly unromantic view of crime.
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
3 weeks ago

'Scarpetta' is a captivating murder mystery and a high-wire balancing act

Scarpetta alternates between two timelines with different actresses portraying Kay Scarpetta, supported by strong ensemble performances from established television actors.
Independent films
fromInverse
2 weeks ago

'Normal' Is An Above-Average Action Thriller Saved By Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk stars as a temporary sheriff in a Minnesota town that harbors a criminal conspiracy involving billions in gold, forcing him into unexpected action against the entire community.
Television
fromBustle
2 weeks ago

Kerry Washington's New Thriller May Have A Shocking Twist

Apple TV's Imperfect Women follows three women navigating an affair and murder, exemplifying the 'good for her' genre where morally gray female characters make questionable choices in response to difficult circumstances.
#black-dahlia-murder
Writing
fromThe Atlantic
3 weeks ago

Raymond Chandler and the Case of the Split Infinitive

Raymond Chandler clashed with The Atlantic's copy editor Margaret Mutch over her correction of a split infinitive, arguing that deliberate rule-breaking in language creates authentic, living prose.
Books
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

Fiction Is Indispensable to Life's Journey

Fiction is essential for emotional connection, learning, and social cognition, allowing us to escape reality and engage deeply with narratives.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Killing Me Softly and Whidbey explore complex themes of trauma, morality, and systemic failures in healthcare and society.
fromInverse
2 weeks ago

25 Years Later, Christopher Nolan's First Great Noir Thriller Remains His Most Essential

Memento provides a Rosetta Stone to decode deeper meaning within his larger-scale efforts, offering a window into the complex paradoxes that add thematic weight to his intricately plotted stories. Nolan's films often jump from a familiar genre archetype. In Memento, Guy Pearce's Leonard Shelby recalls the weary antiheroes of film noir, but his filmography is full of familiar figures ranging from superheroes to great men of history.
Film
Television
fromSlate Magazine
3 weeks ago

Nicole Kidman's New Crime Show Is Surprisingly Captivating-and Goes Unexpected Places

Nicole Kidman stars as Kay Scarpetta in Amazon Prime's new series adaptation, blending family drama with forensic investigation as Kay confronts a murder matching a serial killer she caught 25 years ago.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Value of True Crime

Evolutionary psychology explains true crime fascination as a survival mechanism for identifying threats, yet successful predators still evade detection through deception and social bonding.
Books
fromwww.npr.org
3 weeks ago

Author Luke Kennard talks about his novel, 'Black Bag'

Luke Kennard's novel 'Black Bag' fictionalizes a 1967 psychology experiment where a silent, bagged actor in a classroom gradually becomes liked by students through repeated exposure, exploring how familiarity transforms perception.
Television
fromThe New Yorker
4 weeks ago

"Neighbors" Captures the Drama That Follows You Home

HBO's docuseries 'Neighbors' explores escalating homeowner disputes fueled by security cameras, firearms, and erosion of social civility.
fromInverse
3 weeks ago

30 Years Later, The Coen Brothers' First Noir Masterpiece Is Still Chilling

Fargo feels like Blood Simple, the Coens' neo-noir debut, got fed through the genre, well, woodchipper, producing a pitch-black comedy about the emptiness of greed. It's messing with you from the moment it opens with a blatant lie about being a true story, with Joel Coen later saying, 'If an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they may otherwise not accept.'
Film
Books
fromThe New Yorker
3 weeks ago

Patricia Cornwell on Crime and Creativity

Fear is the primary obstacle to creativity; overcoming it and persisting through rejection enables successful creative work.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Obnoxious jewellery dealer Rodney Manderson has been killed outside the Bowery auction rooms, stabbed through the eye with the Victorian hatpin that his boss, Rose Bowery, has brandished in front of the nation on Bargain Hunt. As she discussed the pin's virtues as a deadly weapon as well as its millinerial uses, the fiercely loyal Rilke decides while feeling grateful to have skipped lunch and trying not to think of jelly to remove it before calling the police.
LGBT
fromBustle
4 weeks ago

Exclusive: Leo Woodwall Breaks Down The *Very* Twisted Ending Of 'Vladimir'

There is an allure about him. There's a warmth to him, and something new about him, but also it's the timing. The backlash of her open relationship with John is really starting to take on a new shape, and I think he's a sort of exciting escape from it too.
Television
Film
fromThe Nation
1 month ago

The Cinema of Societal Collapse

Oscar-nominated international films explore survival and resistance under authoritarian regimes, depicting both specific historical tyranny and speculative global oppression.
Video games
fromGameSpot
2 months ago

Here Are The Best Detective Games To Check Out

Industry layoffs and studio closures coincide with major game updates, gameplay impressions, character trailers, and recommendations including Steam Detective Fest deals and free PC games.
#black-dahlia
fromwww.independent.co.uk
2 months ago

A brutal and hilarious murder thriller from South Korea's master of shock review

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
US politics
Television
fromIndieWire
1 month ago

'DTF St. Louis' Review: HBO's Stellar Suburban Murder-Mystery Is More Than Meets the Eye

Steven Conrad's 'DTF St. Louis' uses a murder-mystery framework to explore whether motive determines guilt and whether understanding why an event occurred is essential to knowing what happened.
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

'Crime 101' is an old-fashioned heist film that pays off

If there's anything I miss in pop culture, it's the presence of ordinary movies. I don't mean blockbusters like Avatar or cultural events like Barbenheimer or Oscar contenders like One Battle After Another. I'm talking about the routine, well-made entertainments that, for nearly a century, used to open in theaters every week. You'd go see them because the story sounded good or you liked the stars or you just wanted to enjoy something as part of an audience.
Arts
LGBT
fromQueerty
1 month ago

WATCH: A gay love affair leads to a scandal that shocks a community in this sordid, Southern true-crime tale - Queerty

Louisville's vibrant queer community earned the nickname 'Glitter Ball City,' but the city also endured the 2010 Pink Triangle Murder investigated in an HBO documentary.
Video games
fromKotaku
2 months ago

Living In Gotham City Is Wild, According To New Arkham City Video

A modded Batman: Arkham Knight recreates daily life of a Gotham NPC, showing civilian encounters with Batman and varied reactions to superhero presence.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

When Did Literature Get Less Dirty?

Philip Roth's Zuckerman Unbound functioned as a response to the controversial reception of Portnoy's Complaint, with Roth's protagonist expressing regret over writing sexually explicit material that drew accusations of anti-Semitism and misogyny.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

People feel like they're in on the joke': the new wave of pseudo-biopics

Filmmakers increasingly create pseudo-biopics that borrow recognizable elements from real people and events while changing names and details to avoid legal liability and maintain creative freedom.
Books
fromThe Nation
1 month ago

Has Contemporary Fiction Ignored the Working Class?

Work's grip on life demands vigilance; allowing career to consume identity risks losing oneself entirely to labor's demands.
fromJezebel
1 month ago

Turns Out, When You Write a Novel About Killing a Politician, People Tell You How They'd Do It

When the people who are after me get here, they'll arrest me and put me on trial, or they'll disappear me to some black site. Or they won't bother with any of that and they'll just kill me. All of these seem like plausible outcomes, but in the novel's prologue, the narrator seems much more confident of her success: I am a fucking genius, a gorgeous fucking genius, and the only thing left to do is sit down and write.
Books
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Two contemporary novels probe suburban domesticity, revealing secrets, manipulation, and moral ambiguity through slow-burn suspense and darkly comic plotting.
Film
fromInverse
1 month ago

'How To Make A Killing' Is A Screwy Social Satire That Falls Just Short Of The Mark

How to Make a Killing follows Becket Redfellow murdering wealthy relatives in a tonal blend of black comedy and satire, buoyed by Glen Powell's charm.
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
2 months ago

'Islands' is a spare and satisfying slow-burn thriller

Islands is a spare, slow-burn drama set on barren Fuerteventura that examines alienation and luxury through a broken tennis pro's interactions with a wealthy family.
Television
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

I'm a crime writer. Here's why we make the best Traitors contestants

Crime fiction specialists' observational, empathetic, and deceptive-character skills make them natural contestants and formidable analysts on The Traitors.
Film
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

"Crime 101" Is an Enjoyably Moody Exercise in Michael Mann Lite

Crime 101 blends strong noir elements and coastal motifs with an uneven, cliché-prone depiction of Los Angeles.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Animol review gritty young offenders drama challenges conventional machismo

A young offender institution forces vulnerable inmates into violent gang hierarchies where phones, drugs, and respect become survival currency amid complicit, underpaid staff.
Television
fromBoston.com
2 months ago

Separating fact from fiction in the Karen Read Lifetime movie

Lifetime's film condenses Karen Read's three-year legal saga into under 90 minutes, recreating key scenes while taking liberties and omitting details.
Film
fromThe Independent
1 month ago

An all-star cast leads Crime 101, a nihilistic modern take on Heat - review

Crime 101 marries Michael Mann–style sleekness with 2020s nihilism, anchored by a star ensemble and Los Angeles' sun-dappled, steel-chessboard aesthetic.
Television
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

What a Reality-TV Novel Understands About Reality

Treating life as a narrative and manipulating that narrative can lead people to sacrifice their humanity for drama.
Books
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

The Director of "Crime 101" on His Favorite Anti-Western Westerns

Several novels invert Western myths to portray disillusionment, vulnerability, failed heroism, and intimate self-discovery amid violence and harsh frontier realities.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Gangsterism review dense, high-minded cine-manifesto on the notion of auteurism

Dense, self-aware cinema interrogates auteurism and systemic barriers through theory-heavy dialogue and cubist, collage-like aesthetics.
Television
fromVulture
1 month ago

This Serial-Killer Thriller Looks So Kidmanian

Nicole Kidman headlines Scarpetta, a Prime Video detective series premiering March 11, playing retired medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returning for one final case.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Good People by Patmeena Sabit review addictive mystery caters to modern attention spans

A novel uses short testimonies to unravel a teenager's death while exposing immigrant family dynamics, communal gossip, wealth-driven envy, and cultural tensions.
Film
fromVulture
1 month ago

Why Are So Many Movies About Kidnappings Right Now?

Contemporary hostage films use captivity to interrogate power imbalances, allowing marginalized figures to confront untouchable elites and reflect wider social anxieties.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Grim reapers: what has fertilised the rich new wave of neo-rural noir?

European neo-rural cinema depicts collisions between tradition and modernity in the countryside and portrays nature, not locals, as the primary source of threat.
Books
fromEngadget
1 month ago

What to read this weekend: The unsettling new horror novel, Persona

A trans woman uncovers non-consensual pornography of herself and is drawn into escalating horrors involving identity, exploitation, internet influence, and economic precarity.
fromFilmmaker Magazine
2 months ago

"The Psychological Horror of Being a 13-Year-Old": Charlie Polinger on The Plague

After spotting that Eli's rash guard conceals a red, flaky skin disorder, the boys have concluded that he has the titular plague, a contagious disease that affects social standing as much as it does dermatological well-being. If anyone ever touches him, they must thoroughly wash themselves before they're considered full-blown infected. Even something as innocent as Eli sitting at the same lunch table sends his teammates running and screaming.
Film
Film
fromInverse
2 months ago

'Dead Man's Wire' Proves Gus Van Sant Movies Still Matter

Dead Man's Wire is a taut, timely crime thriller and strong Gus Van Sant comeback dramatizing a 1977 three-day hostage standoff with crowd-pleasing energy.
Film
fromwww.dw.com
2 months ago

An undying trend: How vampires hold a mirror to society

Vampires in storytelling symbolize societal fears and reflect historical social and racial violence, as shown by a 1930s-set horror about community-targeted vampires.
Film
fromThe New Yorker
2 months ago

"Dead Man's Wire" Is a Tangle of Loose Threads

A DJ's improvised on-air intervention and a TV reporter's determination highlight media influence and legal, law-enforcement complexities, though broader ambitions remain underdeveloped.
fromSlate Magazine
2 months ago

In Hamnet, the Rest Is Not Silence.

Shuffling under the mortal coil this week (aka hosting the Gabfest), it's our OG players Steve, Dana, and Julia. Like a morose Danish prince contemplating a human skull, they gaze upon the Oscar nominated , based on the novel by Maggie O'Farrell inspired by William Shakespeare's life. Directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, Hamnet has brought some critics to tears and left others cold. Our hosts share where they landed.
Film
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The Knife review audaciously taut film about police encounter is intense drama of mutual suspicion

An ordinary Black American family’s late-night domestic moment spirals into paranoid catastrophe under fraught police scrutiny after a violent incident is discovered.
Film
fromDefector
1 month ago

'Suburban Fury' Is Strange, Blinkered, And Very Compelling | Defector

Suburban Fury presents Sara Jane Moore's claustrophobic perspective to explore her paranoia, motives, and historical context behind her 1975 assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Cinematic comfort food': why Heat is my feelgood movie

Heat functions as a personal feelgood film through electrifying performances, stylized Los Angeles imagery, quotable dialogue, and repeat ritual viewing among friends.
Film
fromKqed
2 months ago

'Dead Man's Wire' Is a Retro Thriller That's Pertinent to the Present

Dead Man's Wire channels Dog Day Afternoon's righteous rage and contemporary echoes, propelled by Bill Skarsgård's intense performance and critique of media spectacle and capitalism.
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