The Black Dahlia

I have been pointing my gun at a lot of people this week.

A box office failure and a neo-noir film that confounded critics and fans alike, The Black Dahlia now appears to be a pic that has had its strengths ignored. As the clamour to kick Brian De Palma continues unabated to this day, and the point blank refusal to accept that Josh Hartnett is a better actor than the likes of Pearl Harbor suggests, it's a film worthy of a revisit by genre/style fans alike.

Plot revolves around the infamous murder of one Elizabeth Short in Hollywood, 1947. An aspiring actress who was found butchered and her murder to this day remains unsolved. De Palma and his writer Josh Friedman adapt from noir legend James Ellroy's novel of the same name, the crux...

OK, I'm in the minority here, but I liked it.

I also like period pieces and I like this period, so...this might be a bit bias.

But it has Scarlett Johansson in it and she is always watchable even when she is at her worst.

And it has Josh Hartnett and I really do like him as well, and I like him in the sort of William Holden sort of he tends to do well when he does a voice over kind of way.

Except he isn't dead in a swimming pool at the start of the film. However, Mia Kirshner is certainly dead at the start of the film and she's one of those actors that usually does a great job despite being constantly over-looked.

What you have is a film VAGUELY about The Black Dahlia, VAGUELY about a couple of buddy cops with a secrete, VAGU...