Sunday, May 22, 2011

Bullet Points: Post-End of the World Edition

Salon editor Sarah Hepola interviews Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman, who plays one of the two main cops on AMC-TV’s The Killing, the latest episode of which will be broadcast tonight. Writes Hepola:
In a gripping show about grief, murder, and our utter inability to know anyone else, Joel Kinnaman provides a much-needed shot of sexual energy. His Detective Stephen Holder has a slithery charm--all shifty eyes and defiant slouch, a far cry from the barrel-chested, middle-aged men in Burlington Coat Factory suits we usually see in the homicide office. (As his partner Sarah Linden, played by the marvelous Mireille Enos, sniffs at him: “You dress like Justin Bieber.”)

It’s a sign of just how magnetic Kinnaman’s performance is--and how great and unpredictable
The Killing is--that for at least two episodes, I actually thought Detective Holder was the perp.
By the way, TV Squad reports that AMC is “said to be close” to renewing The Killing for a second season.

• Meanwhile, the original, Danish version of The Killing has won the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award for Best International program. The BBC One series Sherlock picked up the prize for Best Drama Series, and Martin Freeman, who plays Dr. John Watson on that show, won the award for Best Supporting Actor. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

• If you haven’t noticed already, blogger “Guy Savage,” master of His Futile Preoccupations, has been reading and writing (very well indeed) about several of Jim Thompson’s novels. Here’s his intro to this series. Then go to his reviews of Savage Night, A Swell-Looking Dame, and A Hell of a Woman. More to come.

• We note, with sorrow, the passing of American TV and film actress Barbara Stuart, who died on May 15 at age 81. Although most of the obituaries have referred to her roles in Batman, The Twilight Zone, and the 1980 film Airplane!, Stuart was also a fixture on small-screen crime dramas, including Banyon, Banacek, Barnaby Jones, Get Christie Love!, Quincy, M.E., and Nash Bridges. Her full credits are here.

• Another departure from earlier this month: British-born actress Dana Wynter, whose work was seen in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The F.B.I., Ironside, Cannon, Hawaii Five-O, Ellery Queen, and The Rockford Files, and other shows. She died on May 5 at age 79.

• Tom Selleck’s latest Jesse Stone movie, Innocents Lost (not based on a Robert B. Parker novel), airs tonight on CBS-TV.

• This week’s new short story in Beat to a Pulp comes from Indianapolis, Indiana, writer Alec Cizak. His tale is called “Katy Too.”

• Arthur Conan Doyle was born 152 years ago today.

• UK author Frank Tallis, author of the Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt/psychoanalyst Dr. Max Liebermann mysteries (Death and the Maiden), interviews himself for Sea Minor. Read the results here.

Mystery Scene contributor Oline Cogdill was fortunate enough to interview Mary McCormack, brilliant star of the USA Network series In Plain Sight, for the magazine’s Web site. You’ll find Part I of their exchange here, with Part II available here.

• TomCat at Detection by Moonlight applauds The Wrong Murder, a 1940 novel by largely forgotten author Craig Rice.

• Lest we miss mentioning the winners of the Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category, here they are.

• Another new blog worth following: Only Detect.

• Tipping My Fedora tips readers to what it thinks are the 10 best mystery novels and 10 best mystery films set in San Francisco. You’ll find those lists here. Only one curiosity about these selections: The Underground Man, by Ross Macdonald, which most people will remember as set in Los Angeles, not the Bay Area.

• And congratulations to movie expert Ivan G. Shreve Jr., whose Thrilling Days of Yesteryear has been nominated for a LAMMY Award in the Best Classic Film Blog category. The LAMMYs, of course, take their name from the Large Association of Movie Blogs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much for the referral to the humble TIPPING MY FEDORA site.

I thought I would just add a note on my San Francisco top 10 which you commented on - specifically, the inclusion of Ross Macdonald's THE UNDERGROUND MAN. Now while I agree that not all of the book is set there, none the less a fairly important part of it is, including a dramatic scene on Golden Gate Bridge - but there are plenty of others that should have, could have, made the list, no question about that!

Thanks again for reading and commenting, even on my mistakes of which there are many (not least relating to Mark Coggins). It is much appreciated.

All the best,
Sergio (aka Cavershamragu)