directed by Richard Linklater (2011)

Bernie came and went quietly in theaters but more and more people are discovering it on netflix as a hidden gem.

Fans of City Confidential (one of televisions unsung greats) will rejoice in this based on a true story crime flick. Linklater wisely uses colorful real people from the town of Carthage, TX as the talking heads and pulls excellent performances from them as well as his veteran actors.

Shirley McClaine is perfect as a cranky old woman, delivering lines that sound like overhead real conversations while Jack Black is remarkably subtle. Usually over the top and obnoxious, here he makes the character Bernie likable and dimensional while having fun with the role. In a quieter year, or had the film gained more attention, it could have even garnered him his first Oscar nomination.

It’s not big, loud oscar bait though (but Black did receive a Golden Globe nomination). It fits nicely along side other infinitely watchable true crime films like To Die For, Fargo, and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (do I see a potential marathon line up).

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Posted on January 29, 2013

at The ICP Museum, 1133 Ave of the Americas

I’ve been looking forward to the ICP Weegee show Murder is My Business for months and it didn’t disappoint.

The larger than life tabloid photographer, never squeamish, brought the bloody and violent truth of NYC crime to the front page with shots of recently killed gangsters (and innocents), taken sometimes before the police even arrived (his nickname came from the Ouija board because people joked he used it’s powers to know about crimes.)

His images, though gruesome, are rarely without a sense of humor though. He not only took photos of the gorey, but often captured he way New Yorkers accepted the violence around them, often convening around crime scenes with smiles on their faces.

His Coney Island images, reversely, always have an element of creepiness among the smiles and summer fun.

ICP has added a couple neat components to the show including a replica of his room and an interactive station that shows Weegee’s images next to the current locations in NYC. It’s hard to imagine people being shot in broad daylight on the steps of the chic stores in Soho and Little Italy.

Fans will be thrilled, but the salacious material should gather new fans too. Don’t forget the gift shop – I always like to get a little something from the best shows I see and they have mugs, totes, pins, and posters.

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Posted on February 12, 2012

Originally aired on HBO (1993)

Tongue in cheek humor, true crime, American absurdity and a spectacular cast – of course The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom made for TV movie is one of my all time favorites. Everyone seems to have forgotten how totally awesome Holly Hunter can me (seriously, why is she not cast in any of these hip quirky comedies of late – she’s the queen!!) and here she’s outstanding as the certifiably nuts true life criminal, Wanda Holloway, who attempted to pay her brother in law to kill her daughters cheerleading rival and rival’s mother. Beau Bridges and Swoosie Kurtz also stand out as the down on his luck brother in law and his insane wife.

It originally aired on HBO in the early nineties but is available on DVD and worth putting to the top of your netflix queue.

Click here for the rest of The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom

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Posted on July 18, 2010

Lifetime Movie Network Gold

Well, hello there sugar. You in the mood for the kind of scenery chewing actin’ that the lil’ old Lifetime Movie Network was made for? You just itchin’ for the kind of yarn that’s hotter than a junebug on Georgia asphalt? Well, then pull up a chair and grab yourself a glass of sweet tea (something that I’ve learned from both this miniseries and NBC’s To Catch a Predator is always a trap) and settle in for Ann Rule’s Everything She Ever Wanted – a series that begins with a genuine Gone With the Wind-themed weddin’.

Gina Gershon smacks her lips around the role of real life sociopathic southern belle Patricia Allanson (who in reality bears very little resemblance to Gershon) like some sexed up, large titted dog might around a badly written bone. It makes for a much better viewing experience than Ann Rule’s other recent Lifetime event, Too Late to Say Goodbye, where Rob Lowe plays a seemingly perfect husband, but is actually a wife killer.

So imagine my surprise and horror when, after watching for two hours (gathering as many screen shots as possible), the show ended with Gina injecting an old woman in the mouth with poison followed by a “To be continued…” message – and I didn’t record the second half! Lifetime, shame on you for not re-airing this glorious heap of camp and trash. What do we pay you for?! If you think it’s just for the Reba re-runs (now airing in the morning) and decades-old Tracey Gold amnesia dramas (The Perfect Daughter, aired Wed 25th at 2:00), you are sorely mistaken.

Click here for the rest of Ann Rule’s Everything She Ever Wanted

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Posted on November 29, 2009

Special thanks to Ashleigh, for writing this post!

Every one knows the “forty whacks” story of the Borden family murders.?Lizzie Borden was acquitted, but ask any vox pop, and you will be assured of her incontrovertible guilt.?Now, thanks to the Lizzie Borden LLC, you can visit the actual crime scene, look at photographic evidence, witness a live reenactment, and decide for yourself.

Located in Fall River, the tomb of what was once one of the leading textile producers in the world, the Borden family house has been restored to its Victorian-era splendor and is open to the public.?Tours are given daily from 11:00-3:00 and many special events such as crime and trial reenactments by the Pear Essential Players are scheduled throughout the year.?Red Hatters are welcome for “Tea & Murder”!

The museum also doubles as a bed & breakfast.?You can rest your head and test your nerve in the room where Abby Durfee Borden was hatcheted to death.?The rooms are beautifully appointed in antique Queen Anne furniture, though the pieces are not original to the Borden family.?In case you get too comfortable lounging on the feather duvet, there is a large photograph on the nightstand of Mrs. Borden lying prostrate on the carpet, skull caved-in, gore abounding, in the very spot where you left your slippers before climbing into bed.

If you are ever in the Boston or Providence area, this place is well worth the 20-40 min ride.?The all-female staff of docents are wonderfully cheerful, exceedingly knowledgeable, and always dressed in sunshine and springtime-colored track suits.?There is a well-stocked gift shop where one can purchase Lizzie bobble-heads, hatchet earrings, and other essential Goth accouterments.?(By the way, Fall River is amazing.?You have not seen the real New England until you've driven over the Braga Bridge at dusk.)

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Posted on October 5, 2009

As a connoisseur of true crime television shows, I can definitively state that actual footage of under-cover busts, taped conversations, and interrogations are often the best part of any program. Enter The Interrogators, a new show on the Biography channel. Of course it's awesome and of course I love it.? There's an episode On-Demand if you're an NYC-area Time Warner customer, just search it out in the guide.?

There's more on Biography.com

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Posted on August 17, 2009

While I'd love to give the folks over at FBI Files a full on series recommendation, I can only really recommend one episode (Deadly Paradise: season 1, episode 5), so memorable and great that it's been worked into my usual party conversations. Attempts to get as involved with other episodes have failed.

The one I speak of involves a remote island Pacific island in shark-infested waters, a thieving bad news dude with the name 'Buck' tattooed on his arm (though he denies that's his name) with an equally delinquent girlfriend, a pot growing scheme gone wrong, the cutting down of a coconut tree to get at the coconuts, shooting of fish with a handgun, and daring escapes in row boats and hiding in potted plants. Look for it!

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Posted on July 20, 2009

Things that make me happy: dramatic recreations, century old mysteries, historic costumes, family scandals, melodrama, and wry wit – all of which can be found in the surprisingly little known true crime series, A Most Mysterious Murder. From a well-to-do woman with a shocking past and a newly dead husband, to an entire family poisoned by a possible mad man, these are the real life stories that gripped the world, inspired headlines and have fostered speculation for decades.

Julian Fellowes (author of the charming novel Snobs and adored screenwriter of Gosford Park) is the perfect host to these ghastly and salacious stories, wandering in and out of scenes with smirky quips and modern asides. So often the narrative tone of documentary shows negatively impacts the entire program, but in this case the narration is spot on.

Also satisfying are the plausible solutions to the murders that Fellowes presents. Even though the findings cannot be conclusively confirmed, it's always great to feel like a mystery has been solved. This is a perfect pairing with this week's book, The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher.

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Posted on May 18, 2009

Sometimes a rainy Sunday is perfect for revisiting favorite movies, and Gus Van Sant's black comedic true crime satire, To Die For is definitely a favorite of mine. The cast is at their peak. Matt Dillon is radiantly slovenly and Nicole Kidman still looks like a blooming real human being and, in a career of very few bright spots performance-wise, she's brutally excellent as a psychopath. She is the blond, perfectly coiffed personification of a certain fame seeking, ambitious, and broken part of our culture. Ileana Douglas also shines and look out for cameos by David Cronenberg and the films screenwriter, Buck Henry.

While the film satirizes the searing ambition that can lead people to kill, and points out our insatiable lust for the torrid tabloid tales that follow, it's also one of the best examples of true crime entertainment. Any fan of Joaquin Phoenix would also agree that it's one of the steamiest as well. (Which is a little creepy considering the story's of a teenager seduced into murder by a grown woman.)

Here, as the seduced teenage burnout, Phoenix is pretty much the embodiment of my teenage desires: he's off-kilteredly handsome, blindly lustful, denim and leather dirty, very dumb and a little bit sad. One can't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the kid as he sits in a junk yard looking off in the distance, walleyed and slack jawed and calls his polka dot and manicured mistress “clean” with longing.

The film is based on the novel To Die For, which was itself inspired by the true, sordid, tabloid sensation crime of one Pam Smart. Also a call in show called Metal Madness), Pamela also seduced a boy (Billy Flynn) and convinced he and his friends to kill her husband. She is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole and Flynn, having served more of his life in prison that outside, recently asked for (and was denied) a reduced sentence.

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Posted on May 4, 2009