Simon's Movie Reviews

I recently found out most movies about serial killers and police procedural owe a lot to a black and white German movie from 1931. M , directed by iconic director Fritz Lang, has all the classic elements to be found in modern-day thrillers. There is the sinister killer lurking in the shadows, the question as to whether the killer is insane, panic in the streets, the hunt for vital pieces of evidence, and politicians breathing down the necks of investigators because results are not happening fast enough. As old as the movie may be, it remains a superb piece of film making that is sadly still very relevant today. This movie is available online completely free, and I don't mean free as in on pirate bay or other piracy websites. It is a piece of cultural history, so the Open Culture website has a 109-minute restored version available for viewing along with information about the film's history. Most of it was unknown to me, although I was familiar with the director Fritz ...

People who don’t like black and white movies don’t know what they are missing. Sure, most of the times it means the movies are very old, the dialogue and attitudes are dated, and there is a lot less action compared to today’s hyper-frenetic blockbusters, but many of those films are timeless classics. Case in point: The Maltese Falcon (1941) the first major film noir stars screen icon Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade who is trying to stay ahead of a bunch of shady characters who want to get their hands on a mythical jewel-encrusted bird. Hallmarks of the genre include low-key lighting, a complicated plot, and of course a femme fatale. I first saw The Maltese Falcon on a boring Sunday morning while in college in Quebec City. It was playing on the CBC, probably because they thought many old people would be watching at that time of the day, but since I like movies new or old I had no problem with diving back to the 1940s. Also I was curious to see it since this is...