Popular reviews

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  Review by Matt Singer ★★★★★ 3

  Apart from one twist being fairly obvious from the get-go, I can’t find one false move in this. Absolutely stellar in every way; performances, direction, writing, production design, editing, music. I’ve been hearing for years how great this movie is, and if anything, its fans undersold it. Also, tomorrow I’m going to buy a bunch of undershirts and suspenders. That is a look.

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  Review by Nakul ★★★★½ 4

  “A man once told me that you step out of your door in the morning, and you are already in trouble. The only question is: Are you on top of that trouble or not?”

  Carl Franklin's under-seen & underappreciated, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS is a phenomenal noir with all the classic elements. About a black PI in postwar LA, the film perfectly captures the cultural milieu of that era, supercharged by a pitch-perfect Denzel Washington and scene-stealing Don Cheadle. It's technically superior, right from the brilliantly detailed production design and beautiful cinematography by Tak Fujimoto.

  In a just world this film would have got multiple sequels where Don Cheadle's Mouse is helping Denzel’s Easy Rawlins solve mysteries.

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 6

  80

  "If you got a friend that you know does bad things, I mean real bad things, and you still keep him as a friend even though you know what he's like, do you think that's wrong?"

  "All you got is your friends."

  Carl Franklin and Tak Fujimoto, that's one hell of a collaboration. Very much an old-school noir given reanimated life in the 1990s. Classical form with frayed edges of a more modern sensibility. Sexy, haunted, grand. The Criterion 4K UHD disc is gorgeous. Denzel Washington, whew. You can feel the heat radiating off of the screen. What a layered scumbag performance from Tom Sizemore, not to mention a Don Cheadle supporting role with charisma and menace to spare.

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★★

  I'd forgotten how much this beats L.A. CONFIDENTIAL to, and with so much less flash and fuss.

  Discussed on Episode 19 of The Suspense is Killing Us.

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  Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 3

  "even though we had fought a war to keep the world free the color line in america worked both ways, and even a rich white man was afraid to cross it. "

  full discussion on ep 216 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

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  Review by Sean Fennessey 3

  Everyone involved at the top of their game.

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  Review by Wood ★★★★ 1

  Denzel in a hat solving mysteries, that's all you need.

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  Review by Jamelle Bouie ★★★★ 3

  4K Criterion remaster.

  In a just world this would have been a long-running franchise, each installment marked by Carl Franklin’s confident direction and Tak Fujimoto’s wonderful use of shadow and close-up. 

  I simply do not believe that Denzel has ever looked better in a movie than he has in this one.

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  Review by Benjamin ★★★★

  WOW WOW WOW! I abso loved this film! BAM has been curating screenings in May for its 'Black 90s: A Turning Point in American Cinema' and I attended a bunch of screenings! Denzel is so sexy, funny and a GREAT ACTOR! Just further reminds me of how he is TRULY one of our finest living actors. Also, guys, my parents love paperback mystery and growing up I spent alot of time going on road trips to Florida on Interstate 95 listening to these stories about Easy Rawlins! Walter Mosley is an amazing author and seeing this was a reminder that I need to go back and experience his books as an adult! Ok so this is the kind of scrappy drama/thriller I LOVE. Scumbums galore! Shady shit...YES PLEASE! I recommend seeing this!!!!!

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½ 4

  Starring: King Kong Ain’t Got Sh!t On Denzel

  This is one of those movies that I watched again because I felt like I hadn't given it the credit it deserved the first time around. I assumed it was one of those reviews that sparked controversy over here, but it seems that wasn't the case.

  And, well, much of what I said in my initial review still applies here. Carl Franklin does a fantastic job of re-creating all the hallmarks of classic film noir while also incorporating some of the stylistic flourishes of the neo-noirs of the 1990s, as evidenced most notably in the film's score and cinematography. Washington does an excellent job of channeling the charm of classic figures in…

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  Review by Brian Formo ★★★★½ 5

  “A man once told me that you step out of your door in the morning, and you are already in trouble. The only question is are you on top of that trouble or not?”

  Devil in a Blue Dress works magnificently as a film noir, but what truly makes it soar is how it gives us a new prism to look through. It's another 1940s Los Angeles potboiler, but when this movie's femme fatale (Jennifer Beals) tells the private investigator, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins (Denzel Washington) that her hotel is “whites only” and to use the service entrance in order to meet her, that's but one example of how deprived the whole detective genre has been of diversity. There are numerous…

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  Review by Joe ★★★★½ 1

  Part of a long and proud tradition of PI movies but you wouldn't know it to watch Denzel's performance, he plays Easy not as a Bogart or James Garner impersonation but as somebody who's never seen a detective movie in his life and is just trying to get a few bucks and stay alive, alternately. This became one of those cable staples but it really should be seen on the big screen, Fujimoto's camera treats 1948 like an extended vacation spot, but when the violence hits it hits hard. Cheadle rules with minimal screentime. In a just world we'd have five or six more of these (started reading the second one today!).