"Mystery" movie DVDs in the library--

I appreciate that our library system has the various categories that it does for DVDs such as "classic," "drama," (the videos have been removed and maybe Blu-ray movies will come...???) and "mystery" is included.

While in the back work area recently, I spied an old movie from the 70s and checked it out that day. It was director Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" starring Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler's private eye Phillip Marlowe. I enjoyed the movie with its almost oddball detective who walks around nearly unaffected by his environment. And I hope it was a joke that Marlowe went through the movie with an ever present cigarette--usually lit--in his mouth and dressed in the same black suit.

The DVD cover (as found on Amazon) is cool too--good job by the marketing people.

Also, this is the movie with the surprise ending and I will give it that. And the Arnold Swarzengeer sighting is nifty too.

By chance, days later I grabbed foreign film DVD based on Harlan Coben's book of the same name "Tell No One." Now, it is a foreign film but it is a mystery story. I had mentioned this in the blog last year as a movie to look out for and it took me a while to get the dvd and watch it. It was a very well-done movie with its story moved from the U.S. to France. I watched the movie the first time in its original French language with English subtitles and then started watching the movie again with the English language dubbing. I preferred it the first time--I was good with the subtitles and the French language is nice to hear.

God bless you, Paul Newman

I enjoyed going to Paul Newman movies over the years (Slap Shot, Fort Apache the Bronx and The Verdict anyone?) and I was saddened to hear of his recent death. I still find it a little odd to see his pix on salad dressing bottles but he was blessed to have mulitple careers and ventures.

I do give him partial credit to directing me to mysteries as a genre when I discovered his version of writer Ross McDonald's private eye Lew Archer in the films Harper and years later The Drowning Pool. In the Newman movies, a character's name was changed to Harper--and I've read two different accounts why that is the case--and Harper is based on the novel, The Moving Target while The Drowning Pool is the same title of the book. As it happened, the movies lead me to reading the books and I enjoyed McDonald's strong narrative of the lone wolf California PI.

The two Harper movies are in the new Newman collection DVD set and the photo on the cover case (shown here) is from the first movie.

Award Nominated Show Returns in Fall--

According to the ABC-TV website, one of my new favorite shows won't return--with new episodes anyway--until this fall. Pushing Daisies is the quirky series about a man, Ned, who can briefly bring the dead back to life by a touch. With this strange power, he has started working with a private investigator part-time to solve murders while still working full-time as a baker in a dessert restaurant called (no-joke) "The Pie-Hole."

Needless to say this modestly serious-themed show revels in humor and fantasy along with tales of murderers committing murder. And apparently the show has drawn its fair share of notice too, as one episode is nominated for an Edgar Mystery Award this year. In the category of "Best Television Teleplay," writer Bryan Fuller is nominated for "Pie-Lette."

From the ABC-TV website, here's a pix with series regulars from the episode "Dummy" with "Chuck" actress Anna Friel, "Emerson Cod" actor Chi McBride and "Ned" actor Lee Pace. As I said earlier, Pushing Daisies is a favorite for me--I'm ready to purchase a first season DVD for the series.

Academy Award Winner "Crime Saga"--

Novelist Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men which had become a critically-praised movie has now grabbed Hollywood's top honor with its Oscar win last night. As a movie fan and mystery reader, I'm pleased this violent but good movie won.

Billed as a "crime saga" in one web site I read, the story of No Country is ripe for print or the big screen with the theft of drug money and the chase that ensues. This story follows the thief of stolen money, a psychopathic killer after the thief and the sheriff concerned about both.

A quick check of our library catalog shows the expected interest of this title with a brisk demand for the book and new upcoming DVD by requests following the four award wins at the Academy Awards. I haven't read the book or seen the movie but I'm hopeful to at least see the movie in the near future. Following last night, I am especially interested in seeing the movie with actors Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones in this new critically-lauded Coen brothers production.