not horrible nor great

The first must-see film of the year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A documentary about James Ellroy and his fascination with unsolved murder cases, especially those of his mother, and the similar, infamous, Black Dahlia murder.I did not James Ellroy outside of his writing before watching this, and now I think the man comes off as a jerk and very full of himself. I suppose he would have some right to be arrogant, as he is very successful and highly intelligent. But it did not make me want to meet him or give him one cent for his future works.An exploration of the Black Dahlia murder in this film is mostly just some guys sitting around a table BSing. The same goes for Ellroy's mother (which is not that similar of a crime, really). For me, the highlight was the segment filmed in Wisconsin. I have been to Tomah, so it was not a foreign land being shown and the people certainly looked like Wisconsinites.

If you are expecting a documentary that takes you in and out of a grisly underworld of murder in America...false alarm. More or less this is a self instigated "pat-on-the-back" of American crime novelist James Elroy. Author of such top sellers like "L.A. Confidential", "The Black Dahlia", "Hollywood Nocturnes" and "The Cold Six Thousand", Elroy talks about the unsolved murder of his mother and how it has similarities to the infamous 1947 Black Dahlia murder case in Los Angeles. His language is full of expletives, almost to the point of overkill; as he sits in an L.A. restaurant with some of his friends from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and detectives from the LAPD. Featured are visits to former murder scenes; crime scene photos and drive by glimpses of Elroy's childhood homes. The group bandy about thoughts of the very nature of murder, its investigation and how it effects the victim's loved ones. But the conversation is mainly focused on the Black Dahlia murder. Featured among Elroy's friends: Larry Harnisch, Frank Merriman, Bill Stoner, Ray Peavy, Rick Jackson, and Eric Mosher. Actor Nick Nolte drops by; but his presence seems just social. Elroy has a large following and this documentary may just give a glimpse why. Be prepared for some very disturbing photos.

I've been drawn to this movie in a morbid sort of way. It is disturbing on many levels. Straight out we know that James Ellroy's mother was brutally strangled and the murder will be revisited and this has fashioned him as an authored. He is by the way the author of L.A. Confidential, which was made into a movie. The movie goes deeper than simply examining his mother's murder. It also examines the famous Black Dahlia murder involving Mary Short, which also played a role in Ellroy's becoming a murder mystery writer. Not wanting to be a spoiler here, the movie is more graphic than many horror films in the murders examined and Ellroy's prose is tossed in from time to time, describing why humans kill, makes for a chilling, yet informative kind of viewing. This film is not for squeamish folks. I would not let my children watch it. Some of the stuff was that disturbing. But, like I said, for some reason, like a moth to a flame, I've been drawn to this film over and over again.

This 95-minute film shows Ellroy having dinner with a number of men who work for the LAPD homicide squad and with whom he is discussing the Blue Dahlia murder. The film cuts away from the dinner to go elsewhere. For instance, there's a tour of the section of L.A. where the teenaged Ellroy broke into various homes. He'd related this in "My Dark Places," which is pretty much what this film is a version of. Of course, we get the story of his mother's death, which was central to "My Dark Places." There is no doubt that his mother's death was the defining event of his life.In one segment, we see Ellroy giving a reading at an L.A. bookshop. This was a dismaying sequence because it revealed Ellroy to be a vulgar fellow, someone, apparently, who has lived far too long with his characters and the way they talk and perhaps the way they think. He began his reading session by saying, "Welcome all you perverts, pedophiles, panty sniffers" and continued with other words beginning with p. I could see the dismay on many of the faces in the room. Others warmed to this sort of "humor." He did a long riff on how he detests Clinton and hopes that he outlives Clinton so that he can make Clinton a character in a book and give him his due. Ellroy also detests the Kennedys and makes this clear.The best part of the film is listening to one of the detectives--a rather attractive, gray-haired man perhaps in his mid-40s--elucidate his theory that an L.A. surgeon was the Blue Dahlia killer. The details the detective used to support his theory impressed me as sound. And Ellroy himself agrees with this detective's theory.This movie is for Ellroy fans only, and some may be disappointed with the personality Ellroy reveals here. At one point, Nick Nolte enters the private dining room and sits down next to Ellroy. He looks like death warmed over and apologizes for his appearance by saying that he's just had some facial surgery. Nolte was very quiet and took it all in.