Épopées fantastiques

Very good fantasy comic with somewhat confusing story about who is killing who and why, but exceptional art makes up for it.

Berserk

Since its inception this dark fantasy manga aimed for young adult readers achieved cult status, influencing many video games, comics, and spawning several anime series. Set in european medieval time, it's story about black knight Guts and his adversary Griffith. Guts was born by some unknown woman who died under a tree surrounded by dead people when mercenary leader rescued him. As he grew up he becomes capable warrior carrying huge sword, but after betrayal he kills his savior and joins Griffith's Band Of The Hawk mercenary army. Griffith is fascinating character and in one episode is almost defeated by Guts in a duel. But after some time Gods of the world (clearly influenced by Hellraiser movie) take Griffith as one of his own, who sacrifice his friends along with Guts. From that time Guts travels alone slaying hundreds of monsters and Apostles, very powerful warriors who sold their soul to the Gods in his ultimate goal to kill Griffith who was his friend. Comic itself starts good but after awhile becomes tedious bore.

5 is the perfect number

Very good Italian comic by Igort, about napoli mafia. Very unusual artwork and good story filled with lots of action and suspence.

Carlos Gardel

Very good comic about famous singer Carlos Gardel, author of many popular tango songs. He is a man of mystery in a kind of way, for there are disputes about his nationality and birth date. Comic itself doesn't offer realistic portrayal of him, but in artistic sense shows how he became Argentinian national hero when he died in aeroplane crash. Carlos loved only his mother, and is believed that he had only one lover. There are some conspiracy theories that he was assasinated. As always, Carlos Sampayo artwork is excellent and there are indeed some fascinating images.

Noir Burlesque

This comic book by Enrico Marini is full of old cliches about tough gangster pursuing his lost love who ran away to become dancer and married big time mobster, but artwork is very nice and menacing, perfectly recreating look of old noir movies.

Lola

Posle dva dana odmora na Kajmanskim ostrvima ušao sam u kancelariju i zatekao je potpuno razvaljenu, sa mojom čistačicom Lolom mrtvom na kauču, sa dva metka prostreljena kroz grudi. Potresen, popio sam tri bromazepama i jedno pivo, pa seo na stolicu pokraj razvaljenog stola. Moja čistačice Lola...tako divna osoba...neko će morati da plati za ovo, razmišljao sam dok sam pio pivo. Nisam tražio pomoć detektiva i Nataše, jer sam hteo sam da osvetim smrt Lole. Nekoliko dana sam patio i kad je sahrana završena na kojoj su se skupile mnoge svrake i pacovi, vratio sam se u kancelariju i okrenuo Ivanu, staru kurvu. Posle nekoliko trenutaka javila se.

-Znaš li ko je ubio Lolu?

-Ne smem da pričam preko telefona. Dođi kod mene.

Prekinula je vezu. Osećao sam neku zamku pripremljenu za mene, ubacio beretu u kaput i spustivši se stepenicama izašao na parking i pokrenuo dodge charger. Vozeći bulevarom revolucije primetio sam kako me prati crveni buick skylark. Primicao se velikom brzinom. Ubrzao sam i na vreme zakočio tako da je bjuik udario u kamion za prevoz hemijskih materija. Zaokrenuo sam i krenuo dalje do Ivane.

Stan je bio zatamnjen i zagušen. Ivana je prekrštenih nogu sedela na fotelji pušeći slim cigaretu. Sa zvučnika je treštao neki stoner rok.

-Pozdrav, Čede. Sedi. Žao mi je zbog Lole, sve ću ti objasniti.

-Radije ću stajati. Pričaj šta imaš.

-Lola je ukrala neki ford mustang koji je pripadao američkoj kompaniji za izvoz automobila u inostranstvo. Htela je da ga proda škaljarskom klanu, ali je došlo do nekog nesporazuma.

-Znaš li gde se nalazi ford mustang sada?

-U podzemnom parkingu kod skupštine.

-Hvala ti, Ivana.

-Nema na čemu.

Izašao sam iz stana i prilazeći dodge chargeru dva tipa su me okružila sa mašinkama. Nisam imao izbora nego da ih poslušam. Uveli su me u crni pontiac firebird.

-Odvedi nas do forda mustanga, rekao je jedan od mafijaša. Prilično tečno je govorio srpski. 

Rekao sam im lokaciju i kroz pola sata smo se spustili u podzemnu garažu. Ford Mustang je zaista bio tamo parkiran. Momci su izašli iz pontiaca i otključali Mustang. Iskoristio sam priliku i preuzeo pontiac, pokrenuo ga i kroz podzemni parking odvezao se tri sprata kroz izlaz. Jureći bulevarom momci u mustangu su me pratili. Na raskrsnici kod pravnog fakulteta je postavljena barikada, a među policijskim automobilima prepoznao sam jedan u kome su sedeli detektiv i Nataša. 

-Prođi slobodno, Čede, javila mi je Nataša kroz megafon.

Prošao sam barikadu i mustang se zabio u nju, okružen policajcima sa mašinkama. Bio je to specijalni odred 'Kobra'. Momci su brzo zaustavljeni.

Izašao sam iz pontiaca i susreo se sa detektivom i Natašom.

-Još si živ, Čede.

-Jesam. Kako ste saznali za sve ovo?

-Čede, uvek postavljaš glupa pitanja. Žao mi je Lole.

-Meni još više.

-Ove automobile ćemo zapleniti.

Vratio sam se do Ivaninog stana. Dodge Charger je još bio tamo. Bio je još jedan zadatak koji je trebalo izvršiti. Ušao sam u stan i našao Ivanu kako se sprema da izađe. Opalio sam joj šamar i bacio je na krevet, pa joj stavio lisice.

-Mnogo se dereš i vičeš, stara kurvo. Izdala si me.

-Izvini, Čede.

Izvukao sam bodljikavu žicu i ovio joj oko vrata.

-Ne znam zašto sam te uopšte spasio od Martinovića.

Ubrzo je izdahnula. Ostavio sam je na krevetu, izvukao žicu i lisice i spustio se liftom do parkinga. Dok sam se vraćao dodgeom, sve vreme mi je u glavi bila slika i sećanje drage Lole, najbolje žene koju sam znao, i koju su svi mrzeli.

Need For Speed - The Run

This entry in the series is quite odd, as you essentially race from west coast to east coast, with no free roam, engine upgrades and customization, and story is barely coherent at all. However races are fun, realistic and varied, with desert winds, snow and rocks falling from the mountains.

Classe Tous Risques (1960)

Lino Ventura carries this gangster movie very good as career criminal who after robbing two people got chased by the police with his partner and in the shootout his wife and partner get killed, leaving him alone with his two kids. With help of his old friends he manages to put kids in safe place while he tries to escape from the police from experienced thief, but as most of his efforts fade away and his new partner is caught, he realizes there is no escape from him, so he give the rest of his money to bail out his friend and is soon caught, convicted and hanged. Unlike most movies this does not have happy ending and that is a plus in my book.

The Detective (1968)

Very realistic portrayal of what it means to serve in police department as police inspector played by Frank Sinatra, famous singer and part-time gangster tries to be righteous as he stumbles upon high profile cold-blooded murder, successfully solves it, only to be dissapointed when he unravels conspiracy and realizes he convicted wrong man to death.

P. D. James - Cover Her Face

Incredibly dull and uninteresting murder mystery set in cozy English country side and featuring most boring detective I've ever seen, Adam Dagleish.

Colin Dexter - The Wench Is Dead

Colin Dexter is now most famous for Inspector Morse tv show, but his novels stand on their own. 

Morse is lying in hospital due to his alcoholism which would eventually lead to his death in final novel The Remorseful Day, and visitor give him book detailing early victorian account of murder of Joanna Franks by two boatman. 

Even in hospital Morse can't do without puzzles and as he reads about the case, he has some doubt about the truth of the ancient case. 

Brainstorm (1965)

Worker in the scientific research facility stumbles upon a car in which unconscious woman is laying and he quickly saves her from oncoming train. He finds out she is a wife of facility director, and in subsequent events falls in love with her. Her husband is treating her like a prisoner and she tells him many people tried to save her, but they all died. But he continues in his quest to release her despite shenanigans from the staff to pull him off the job. In the end he decides to kill her husband and plead guilty on insanity, thus believing to be confined in mental hospital until he's proven safe to society. However things don't go so easily as he goes mad in institution, and his believed love is taken away by his ex-coworker. Ultra paranoid schizo noir movie and one of the best I've seen.

Murder By Contract (1958)

Professional hitman is hired by the organization to do some jobs for them; he proves very capable and cold-blooded but his only flaw is ambivalent feeling towards women which proves fatal to him in the end. Martin Scorcese praised the movie and rightfully so : witty dialogues, interesting situations, great lead actor and solid score make this movie quite enjoyable.

Agatha Christie - After The Funeral

Typical Christie novel in which she shows all greediness and corruption among relatives when the head of the family dies, all expecting something, but only one capable of murder to get what she wants. Mrs. Christie hated crowds and wrote exactly about them, in which she excels quite successfully.

Un Conde (1970)

Very brutal flick which angered filthy french authorities who censored some parts, telling story of how cops deal with criminals, and how neither of them are very much unlike. Few scenes are memorable, trashing of the house, shooting in the hallway and shootout at the roof of the building. Henri Garcin role as ruthless thug is very memorable.

La Horse (1970)

Decent flick about grumpy old farm owner who discovers that his grandson got into drug bussiness, when he finds out dope in the cellar. Having to keep respectable appearence of his estate, he decides to destroy dope and deal with thugs who come to his farm to track him down. They burn his barn and kill his cows but in the end he kills them all and tells nothing to the police.

Flic Story (1975)

Based on the autobiography of police detective Roger Borniche, this is arguably the best Alain Delon movie, full of brutal scenes, most notably police pursuit. Jean-Louis Trigninant is also brilliant as gangster who killed over thirty people and executed over hundred robberies.

The Doberman Gang (1972)

Funny movie about ruthless criminals who train dobermans to rob banks. But in the end dogs are angry for their mistreatment and run away with the cash.

The Silent Partner (1978)

Very good crime thriller about insecure bank clerk and menacing bank robber and their cat and mouse game. Christopher Plummer gives one of his best performance in this movie as sadistic criminal.

Le Casse (1971)

Decent crime flick with extraordinary car chase, lots of action and great performance by Jean-Paul Belmondo as a burglar and Omar Shariff as corrupt cop. Film is based on novel by David Goodis and score by Ennio Morricone is pretty good.

Ruth Rendell - A Sight For Sore Eyes

Very enjoyable late novel about young psychopath who after his family dies kills his relative and keeps him in his car, and after some time he falls in love with traumatised girl. Her mother was killed by some junkie and his father and stepmother psychoterapist take control of her. 

Ed McBain - Fuzz

Once again master criminal called deaf man is making havoc to 87th precinct, threatening to kill city officials if they don't pay him, and detective Steve Carella is having bad time with hoodlums that throw fire at homeless people. Unfortunately master plan of the deaf man is destroyed by pure coincidence.