A&E's new drama series, 'Bates Motel,' is another entry in the already overpopulated serial-killer genre, but it tries to do a bit more than just invent new ways to show gore and cruelty. In fact, its attempts to place in context the protagonist's eventual murderous behavior suggest an interesting social criticism. . . .
The Agatha Awards nominations for contemporary mystery fiction have just been announced, and looking over the list, I am overcome with a wave of emotion: sheer apathy. I just don’t care about any of these nominations. I read plenty of new books in 2012, and I enjoyed myself for the most part. But come awards season, it seems to be a celebration of the bestseller lists and of the over-appreciated art of mediocrity. . . .
Not to be judgmental, but if you want to see how much the moral universe of Hollywood has changed, watch these two sophisticated 1940s comedies on back-to-back nights, then go out and watch any current release. It was bracing to see Sturges and Lubitsch on successive nights and realize their comedic successors are Judd Apatow and the Farrelly Bros -both of whom I often like. Still, the decline in intelligence and sophistication between either of these classics and "Dumb and Dumber" is obvious and more…
It’s Thursday, and that means USA Network’s two best currently running series have new episodes: Burn Notice and Suits. Here are some thoughts on the shows, which you can watch beginning at 9 p.m. tonight.
Sometimes a TV show does just about everything right, and yet . . . one still doesn't feel any need to make a habit of watching it.Such is the case—for me, at least—with the new ABC drama Missing. Ashley Judd stars as a former CIA agent whose college-student son is abducted while studying abroad in Rome, Italy. . . .
The young crime-fiction aficionado Patrick Ohl writes: I have a confession to make. I love action movies, especially all those movies from the 80s and 90s starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or any one of their rivals with the general exception of Steven Seagal. Dumb and derivative they may be, but I have plenty of fun watching the creative action, well-choreographed fights, and terrible acting. But above all, my guiltiest pleasures are watching Jean-Claude Van Damme movies.I cannot explain this love of mine in any…
While literally thousands of fictional characters have fallen by the wayside over the past century, Sherlock Holmes remains imperishable. Well, why, exactly? Author Michael Dirda explains the appeal of genre fiction in his new book, "On Conan Doyle, or, The Whole Art of Storytelling." Dirda's attractive little volume manages to range far beyond Sherlock Holmes or even Conan Doyle. The book is a paean to imaginative literature and the profound impact it has over the span of readers' lives, from childhood into older age. TAC's…
To be sure, Ian Rankin, the leading figure in the so-called “Tartan Noir” movement, has been a powerful force in moving British detective fiction away from its cozy, genteel, village and country house gentry stereotype, but in his own day Freeman Wills Crofts did much the same thing, albeit more gently, decades earlier. Both series are well worth reading and discussing today—the two detectives share a defining quality, one that readers will find bracing in an era seen as rife with immorality and excessive concentration…
I have good and not-so-good things to say about Temporary Duty, but I'll start with the good.Considering its length and its price ($2.99 for the Kindle book), Temporary Duty is one of the best reading entertainment values you'll find today. It's quite long, and it's simply lots of fun. If you go back far enough to remember the sheer pleasure of the old space opera novels, like Heinlein's juveniles, that same pleasure is here in abundance—the wonder of space, the fascination of exotic aliens and…
The most recent episodes of ABC's surrealistic, popular crime series Castle are entertaining and convey some important lessons about genre fiction. There are reasons people enjoy formula fiction.
By Shmuel Ben-Gad Spy stories are, at least sometimes, a secular equivalent of ghost stories, tales of mysterious menace. (Note that spies are sometimes referred to as spooks.) Eric Ambler (1909-1998) is unquestionably one of the best writers of spy stories in English. His stories are filled with mystery and menace and are distinguished by an air of realism, sophisticated plots, and polished prose. Ambler’s first tales appeared in the 1930s, and they reflect the tensions of European politics of the time. Ambler was then…
By S. T. Karnick The general rule for mixed-genre fictions is not that you can expect to interest fans of both genres, but instead that you end up only with those who like both genres. That, I suspect, is a central reason why so few are attempted and even fewer are successful with audiences or critics. That seems to be what’s happening with Cowboys & Aliens, which opened to less-than-enthusiastic reviews and lower-than-expected first-weekend ticket sales even though it finished first at the U.S. box…
I am tentatively prepared to declare Jeffrey Overstreet, author of Auralia’s Colors and its sequels, the best Christian fantasist working today (Walter Wangerin is doing other things). Possibly even better than me (!). What are the things that irritate me about contemporary fantasy generally, and Christian fantasy in particular? First of all, contemporary fantasists tend to use words badly. They strive for the same effects as Tolkien or Lewis, but lack the rich erudition of those scholars. Their prose is stilted and artificial, their word…
By Lars Walker With apologies to Dashiell Hammett fans (after all, I am one myself), I think the archetypal hard-boiled private eye will always be Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. Every hard-boiled shamus to this day—and likely far into the future—has to touch his cap, one way or another, to that tall Californian in the trench coat. Even if “he” is a she, even if the writer updates the concept by giving him computer skilz, endowing him with a regular girlfriend, or moving his office to…
Review of The Cambridge Companion to American Crime Fiction, edited by Catherine Ross Nickerson By Curt Evans On the back cover of The Cambridge Companion to American Crime Fiction (2010), the blurb tells us that the fourteen essays contained therein represent the “very best in contemporary scholarship.” If so, this should be a matter of grave concern to people interested in the history of the American mystery genre before World War II, or in the preservation of what is best in the culture and fostering…
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