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The Sopranos : Complete HBO Season 3 [1999]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese

November 24, 2003
Series 3 of the Sopranos is magnificent. Nothing I can say can do it justice.

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A Time To Kill [1996]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Oliver Platt
directed by: Joel Schumacher

May 11, 1998
When a 12 year old black girl is raped, beaten and almost murdered by two racist, redneck pigs, the little girl's father shoots both of them dead whilst they are being taken to trial.

He committed murder, he is as guilty as sin and nobody believes otherwise.

On the contrary in fact, the main question in this film is whether a black man should be allowed to take vengeance against whites.

Indeed, having based the defendant's entire case on the lie that he was 'temporarily insane,' the killer's attorney spells out this fact at the end of the film by asking the jury to imagine the little girl's attack and then asking "NOW IMAGINE SHE'S WHITE."

Throughout the film, the community is divided between ... Read More:

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Essex Boys [2000]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: craig fairbrass, Alex Kingston, Charlie Creed-Miles, Tom Wilkinson, Larry Lamb

July 02, 2001
I was hoping for a good British gangster movie but this isn't. A lot of people like Sean Bean but I always got the impression it was somebody acting. The driver was well played and, as usual, the film went up a couple of notches when Tom Wilkinson appeared. As well as the acting the poor script let the film down.

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The Conversation [1974]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams
directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

August 01, 2005
I have to agree with the other two recent reviews which found this movie less than entertaining. I fell asleep twice watching this - it's technically very good, yes, but entertaining? Certainly not. Give it a miss.

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The Usual Suspects (2 Disc Special Edition) [1995]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey
directed by: Bryan Singer

April 29, 2002
It is not a recent film, indeed. The Twin Towers are still standing. We are entering the profiling era and it was tempting for criminals to return the favor, though they have always done that. They here profile the police and their investigative methods. If you satisfy the police's way of thinking you will go through their net with no difficulty. You just have to convince the cop that a certain criminal does not exist, that this criminal projects you in some kind of legend or saga, is a boogeyman under the bed or in the closet. If the cops are convinced that this boogeyman is a pure collective invention, some folklore in another word, they will just shrug their shoulders and consider the one who is telling the story is, like all the others, haunted or possessed ... Read More:

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We Own the Night [2007]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall, Eva Mendes
directed by: James Gray

April 28, 2008
I love this film.I love the bit where there driving and they get shot at and the bit with the lighter , total darkness !!! This is defo a must have , its a proper gangster drama

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The Thomas Crown Affair [1999]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary, Ben Gazzara, Frankie Faison
directed by: John McTiernan

February 28, 2000
Lost count how many times I've watched this over the years but it remains a really entertaining film combining great cinematic scenery, characterisation and plot. It is a fine remake of a classic and Brosnan's performance is especially good. He plays Thomas Crown brilliantly and certainly keeps the determined Rene Russo on her toes!

What makes the film for me is the art and the detectives, who always seem to be second guessing Crown's next move. Even more brilliant is the unforgettable museum scene near the end. A fine film that can be revisited many times.

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Heat (2 Disc Special Edition) [1995]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Al Pacino, Jon Voight, Val Kilmer, Natalie Portman, Robert De Niro
directed by: Michael Mann

April 25, 2005
Some say Michael Mann is an acquired taste. I say an appreciation of Mann's films, notably Heat, The Insider, Collateral, Ali, Thief and Manhunter, means you have taste. At sixty-three, he's a world-class filmmaker who's still breaking rules and rubbing nerves raw. The bottom line on this 1995 classic is that is a very smart, tightly paced, action-packed crime thriller with beautiful cinematography and great performances underscored by a compulsive tension that builds from frame one until the end of the movie.


This is a film for blokes; the bottom line for females viewers is that because the film is so unconventional and densely plotted, it may leave many of our make-up lovin' brethren in the dust. Too bad. Some reviewers on Amazon are all lined ... Read More:

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Miller's Crossing [1990]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman
directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

October 13, 2003
This is not a great movie.

I watched Blood Simple for the first time a few weeks ago and really enjoyed watching Francis McDermott. She was fantastic in Fargo. Fargo was a great movie with all the right moves, excellent tone, bizarre characters, and a flatly affected but very strong pregnant cop played by McDermott. The Coen brothers are known for their slightly off-kilter films. Raising Arizona with Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter was a very successful and entertaining quirky movie. Strange characters and bizarre situations can be very entertaining. The formula just doesn't work in Miller's Crossing.

Gabriel Byrne stars as a dirtball gangster. He's the slimey no. 2 to Albert Finney in Finney's massive gangster world. Finney is the real power in this ... Read More:

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The Wire: Complete HBO Season 1-5

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Crime- Thrillers and Mystery
starring: Dominic West

December 08, 2008
Don't even think about it - find the best deal and buy all 5 series. Then sit and savour each one. And then watch again - and again.

I promise you, this is the highest quality visual drama you will ever see - it's so good it deserves to be a genre in it's own right.

True, geniune stories, excellent writing, perfect casting, acting of the very highest order - and with so much integrity that you will have to learn the Baltimore dialect to understand many of the characters - and a once great city in support.

I genuinely envy anyone who has not yet watch this.

True that.