Deadly Circuit (1983)

Great French crime movie about private detective called 'The Eye' (Michel Serrault) who tracks down crazy woman Catherine (Isabelle Adjani) on request by his employer, but believes that she is her dead daughter. In fact she is daughter of dead criminal and begins to kill her lovers one by one, while detective cover up her tracks and pursues her most of the time. That shadowing becomes boring after some time because of detective reluctance to tell her what he wants from her. After some time Catherine goes nuts and together with some girl start to rob banks and kill people, and while avoiding police and detective she jumps through the window of a high building in her automobile, killing herself. Charming photography and acting make this movie pay up for somewhat confusing story.

Raymond Chandler Speaking

Bit pretentious title, but so was Chandler. In any case, this is important book for Chandler's fans and crime fiction lovers. Composed mostly of his letters to colleagues, it is divided into categories : Chandler on himself (where he talks about his life in England and America, his failed suicide attempt after his fifteen years older wife died, after he was committed to psychiatric ward, his alcoholism and so on, then : Notes about mystery novel where he rambles about detective fiction, writing in general, rants about Hollywood and how they treat screenwriters (which is surprisingly true to this day), about film and television, then there are his thoughts about famous crimes, his love of cats, and one unpublished short story as well first chapter of his unfinished novel, Poodle Springs. In all these fragments Chandler uncover himself as one particularly complex, emotional and intelligent man.

Freeman Wills Crofts - 12.30 From Croydon

Great detective novel about Charles Swinburn, owner of factory which produces electric motors, who falls in desperation after he discovers that his business is going to pieces. So he decides to kill his uncle and get hold of his share of old man's will, which would eventually save him from financial troubles. Best part of the novel is Charles preparing himself for the crime, inventing alibies and masquerading himself to get hold of poison which he would use to poison his uncle. But he is no professional killer and after old man is dead, police quickly arrests him and in second part we follow Charles in courtroom, which is also interesting as much as his carefully constructed plan to kill his uncle. Of course he is convicted guilty and sentenced to death, Inspector French later at a dinner party explains how he managed to gather all evidence against him after he was sure he was the killer. Good example of inverted detective story and one of the forerunner of police procedural novels. 

Garde à Vue (1981)

Great movie set almost completely in interrogation room of the police station, where detective inspects possible suspect of murder and rape of two kids. As it turns out, it was not him but some other guy, but at the end movie stays open to interpretations as suspect's wife commits suicide.

This Man Must Die (1969)

Solid adaptation of Nicholas Blake crime novel about man (great role by Michel Duchaussoy) whose child has been murdered by reckless driver. He pursues him after long time, writing in his journal his thoughts and after finding him he befriends him and his son, who also hates him. With the help from him his son kills his father and in the closing sequence father of a lost son goes away in a boat, presumably to kill himself, thus closing circle of events.

Helen McCloy - The Long Body

Unusual crime novel featuring investigator Dr Basil Willing, about a woman who suspects her husband's death from falling over a cliff was not an accident as she uncovers empty envelope with a foreign woman's name on it. After some investigation she finds old man suffering from stroke and is unable to tell her anything about it, before long she is struck by an automobile and is sent to hospital. Under heavy drugs she contemplates about killing that woman, and as she often suffers from sleepwalking, decides to murder that mexican woman. But she realizes that all the time she was in a hospital some other person killed the woman. After meeting with Dr Basil Willing, psychiatrist and some investigation she finds out that her husband and his friend while they were in the army fighting against mexicans, encountered mexican whore. They wanted to play with her but suddenly her husband came with a gun and mexican whore shot him with american friend's pistol. During military investigation mexican woman didn't want to accuse both of them, but instead asked them to take away their then 4 year old daughter to America where she eventually found work caring after sick person who was suffering from stroke. They found out that she was blackmailing her husband and after some argue she pushed him over the cliff, and then turned to his friend from army and began blackmailing her too, who eventually had to kill her, convincing poor woman that she was only sleepwalking. Novel itself is somewhat influenced by the works of Ouspensky.

Tyler Cross

 

Predictable comic about invincible gangster, but great artwork and lots of violence make up for it.

Stray Bullets

Great collection of short comedy crime stories about drug dealers, murderers, psychopaths, maniacs, corrupt cops, fucked up husbands, crazy women, alcoholics, junkies, juvenile delinquents and all other scum you can think of. Artwork is simple without too much artistic ejaculation and it serves well illustrating these funny and dark stories.

Slaine - The Horned God

Great dark fantasy comic book about Slaine, barbarian clearly inspired by Conan, who wants to become new horned god and unite tribes against their enemies. Story is quite good and draw inspiration from celtic mythology, but that is overshadowed by brilliant Bisley's artwork.

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.