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88-500: The film was released in theaters on April 11, 2008, and was followed by a direct-to-video stand-alone sequel Street Kings 2: Motor City in 2011, with Clifton Powell returning as a corrupt cop. Tom Ludlow, who became an alcoholic after his wife's death, is an undercover detective for the LAPD 's elite Vice-Special unit. He meets with Korean gangsters for a supposed firearms trade who he believes have kidnapped two teenage girls. During

176-587: A quintet , with The Enchanters being the third of five books in the series. The later books in the series will be set in the 1960s and will tie back in to the World War II setting, Japanese internment and the immediate post-war setting initially established in Perfidia and This Storm In media appearances, Ellroy has adopted an outsized, stylized public persona of hard-boiled nihilism and self-reflexive subversiveness. He frequently begins public appearances with

264-459: A "bull dyke in a pantsuit", compared John McCain to Mr. Magoo , Joe Biden to Daffy Duck , and said that " Obama looks like a f---ing lemur, a little rodent-like creature, a marsupial or something." He has praised President Ronald Reagan on several occasions, calling him a "titanic human being." On President Donald Trump , Ellroy stated that he "doesn't have the charm of a true, world-class dictator", but also understands his appeal, as "He's

352-468: A "secret history" of the mid-to-late 20th century. Tabloid was named TIME ' s fiction book of the year for 1995. Its follow-up, The Cold Six Thousand , became a bestseller. The final novel, Blood's a Rover , was released on September 22, 2009. After publishing American Tabloid , Ellroy began a memoir , My Dark Places , based on his memories of his mother's murder, the unconventional relationship he had with her, and his investigation of

440-543: A brilliant but disturbed LAPD robbery-homicide detective, and are set mainly in the 1980s. He is a self-described recluse who possesses very few technological amenities, including television, and claims never to read contemporary books by other authors, aside from Joseph Wambaugh 's The Onion Field , out of concern that they might influence his own. However, this does not mean that Ellroy does not read at all, as he claims in My Dark Places to have read at least two books

528-452: A computer. He prepares elaborate outlines for his books, most of which are several hundred pages long. Dialogue and narration in Ellroy novels often consists of a "heightened pastiche of jazz slang , cop patois, creative profanity and drug vernacular" with a particular use of period-appropriate slang . He often employs a sort of telegraphese (stripped-down, staccato-like sentence structures),

616-434: A direct-to-video movie may get a limited theatrical screening in order to build excitement for the actual release of the video such as was done for 2010's Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths , and Planet Hulk , 2016's Batman: The Killing Joke or 2013's Sharknado . In some cases, other direct-to-video films can also be theatrically released in other countries. As DVDs gradually replaced VHS videocassettes ,

704-481: A high-profile star) can generate well in excess of $ 50 million revenue worldwide. A production studio may decide not to generally release a TV show or film for several possible reasons: a low budget, a lack of support from a TV network, negative reviews, its controversial nature, that it may appeal to a small niche market , or a simple lack of general public interest. Studios, limited in the annual number of films to which they grant cinematic releases, may choose to pull

792-681: A knowing smile. Privately, Ellroy opposes the death penalty . In 2001, Ellroy stated that he is opposed to gun control. In the 2000 presidential election , Ellroy voted for George W. Bush "because I wanted to repudiate Gore and Clintonism and nobody hates Bill Clinton more than me..." In 2009, he called Bush a "slimeball and the most disastrous American president in recent times." He stated that he voted for Barack Obama , though later denied doing so, while adding that most of his statements on modern politics are willful misrepresentations. Ellroy has frequently shared his thoughts on politicians and political candidates. He has called Hillary Clinton

880-425: A monologue such as: Good evening peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps. I'm James Ellroy, the demon dog with the hog-log, the foul owl with the death growl, the white knight of the far right, and the slick trick with the donkey dick. I'm the author of 16 books, masterpieces all; they precede all my future masterpieces. These books will leave you reamed, steamed and drycleaned, tie-dyed, swept to

968-533: A painfully developed conscience. I despise unconscionable acts, whoever is perpetrating them." In a 2009 interview, Ellroy said that in the 1960s and 1970s "I was never a peacemaker; I was a fuck-you right-winger." He has also been an outspoken and unquestioning admirer of the Los Angeles Police Department (despite his explicit depictions of brutality and corruption of the department in his novels), dismissing its flaws as aberrations. He has said that

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1056-547: A predominantly Jewish high school. While in high school, he began to engage in a variety of outrageous acts, many anti-Semitic in nature. He joined the American Nazi Party , purchased Nazi paraphernalia, sang the Horst-Wessel-Lied at school, mailed Nazi pamphlets to girls he liked, openly criticized John F. Kennedy , and ironically advocated for the reinstatement of slavery. His "Crazy Man Act", as Ellroy describes it,

1144-467: A stigma of lower technical or artistic quality than theatrical releases. Some films released direct-to-video are films which have been completed but were never released in movie theaters. This delay often occurs when a studio doubts a film's commercial prospects to justify a full cinema release or because its release window has closed. In film industry slang, such films are referred to as having been "vaulted". Like B-movies shown in drive-in theaters in

1232-531: A style that reaches its apex in The Cold Six Thousand . Ellroy describes it as a "direct, shorter-rather-than-longer sentence style that's declarative and ugly and right there, punching you in the nards." This signature style is not the result of a conscious experimentation but of chance and came about when he was asked by his editor to shorten his novel L.A. Confidential by more than one hundred pages. Rather than removing any subplots, Ellroy abbreviated

1320-454: A successful live action film straight to DVD, due to a lack of budget in comparison to the original. During the Golden Age of Porn in the 1970s, many pornographic films were released in theatres, some of which became some of the highest-grossing films in their release years, and in the pornography industry altogether. Toward the 1980s, porn began to shift to video release, because video allowed

1408-469: A third of the average cost of a Hollywood release. According to Variety , American Pie Presents: Band Camp sold more than one million copies in a week. Some direct-to-DVD releases recently have tended to feature actors who were formerly bankable stars. In 2005, salaries for some of these direct-to-DVD actors in the multimillion-dollar range from $ 2 to $ 4 million ( Jean-Claude Van Damme ) and $ 4.5 to $ 10 million ( Steven Seagal ), in some cases exceeding

1496-546: A trend in China; these films are called "Online Big Movies" ("OBM"; 网络大电影 in Chinese, or simply 网大). The word "Big" in the name was meant to be sardonic , as most of these films are often made on a very low budget and featuring mostly unknown cast members and sometimes nonprofessional actors. However, increasingly, the budget for these films have been slowly climbing up, due to the success of these films on digital distribution platforms;

1584-410: A week growing up, eventually shoplifting more to satisfy his love of reading. He then goes on to say that he read works by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler . Hallmarks of his work include dense plotting and a relentlessly pessimistic —albeit moral —worldview. His work has earned Ellroy the nickname "Demon dog of American crime fiction." Ellroy writes longhand on legal pads rather than on

1672-478: Is "Envy thou not the oppressor, And choose none of his ways" from Proverbs 3:31. In collaboration with the Los Angeles Police Museum and Glynn Martin, the museum's executive director , Ellroy released LAPD '53 on May 19, 2015. Photography from the museum's archives are presented alongside Ellroy's writings about crime and law enforcement during that era. In the fall of 2017, Ellroy investigated

1760-451: Is Ludlow's friend and mentor, attempts to bribe him with a large amount of money and incriminating documents, but Ludlow refuses and shoots him dead. Later, Captain Biggs and Sergeant Green arrive, and Biggs reveals that they used him to bring down Wander and get access to his files by showing him the real corruption within his unit. Biggs offers Ludlow an alibi. As he leaves, Biggs tells him that

1848-436: Is also available on Blu-ray disc with all the special features of the 2-disc DVD version. By January 2009, the film had made $ 14.6 million from DVD sales. The film is followed by a sequel, Street Kings 2: Motor City , released direct-to-video in 2011. Other than both featuring Clifton Powell (playing different roles), the films are unrelated. Direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to

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1936-468: Is an American crime fiction writer and essayist . Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black Dahlia (1987) and L.A. Confidential (1990). Lee Earle "James" Ellroy was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Geneva Odelia (née Hilliker),

2024-472: Is shot and bleeds out to death. Ludlow kills both men and escapes back to his girlfriend's house, where he sees on the news that they were undercover Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies. Ludlow is identified as a 'cop-killer,' so quickly that he understands there are others behind it. At the same time, Detectives Cosmo Santos and Dante Demille break in and handcuff him. Santos and Demille admit that they killed and planted Fremont and Coates' DNA and

2112-457: Is the myth of " closure ". "Closure is bullshit", Ellroy often remarks, "and I would love to find the man who invented closure and shove a giant closure plaque up his ass." In his works characters often die or vanish quickly before otherwise traditional closure points in order to capitalize this idea. Ellroy has claimed that he is done writing noir crime novels. "I write big political books now," he says. "I want to write about LA exclusively for

2200-498: Is tired of police corruption, and has begun reporting suspicions to Captain James Biggs of Internal Affairs , who apparently starts an investigation against Ludlow. Believing Washington snitched on him, Ludlow follows him to a convenience store to beat him up. However, Washington is killed by two gangsters under the pretense of a robbery. The surveillance video shows Ludlow brawling with and subsequently shooting him accidentally during

2288-519: Is titled This Storm which had a release date of May 14, 2019. It was released May 30, 2019, in the United Kingdom, and June 4, 2019, in the United States. A Waterstones exclusive limited edition of Perfidia was published two days after its initial release and included an essay by Ellroy titled "Ellroy's History—Then and Now." . Ellroy dedicated Perfidia "To Lisa Stafford." The epigraph

2376-545: Is to the Russian novel and what Beethoven is to music." Structurally, several of Ellroy's books, such as The Big Nowhere , L.A. Confidential , American Tabloid , and The Cold Six Thousand , have three disparate points of view through different characters, with chapters alternating between them. Starting with The Black Dahlia , Ellroy's novels have mostly been historical dramas about the relationship between corruption and law enforcement. A predominant theme of Ellroy's work

2464-557: The Rodney King beating and Rampart police scandals were overblown by a biased media . Nevertheless, like other aspects of his persona, he often deliberately obscures where his public persona ends and his actual views begin. When asked about his "right-wing tendencies", he told an interviewer, "Right-wing tendencies? I do that to fuck with people." Similarly, in the film Feast of Death, his (now ex-) wife describes his politics as "bullshit", an assessment to which Ellroy responds only with

2552-516: The Tribeca Film Festival in April, where it was reviewed positively, but only received modest distribution offers. At the time, it was not very common for consumers to make digital movie purchases. As part of a push by the service towards original content, the subscription video on demand service Netflix began to acquire feature films for distribution on its service in the 2010s, including

2640-455: The cold case file, Ellroy and investigator Bill Stoner worked the case but gave up after 15 months, believing any suspects to be dead. After the final pages of My Dark Places , a contact page is provided, stating: "The investigation continues. Information on the case can be forwarded to Detective Stoner either through the toll-free number, 1-800-717-6517, or his e-mail address, detstoner@earthlink.net." In 2008, The Library of America selected

2728-669: The release of a film , television series , short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere . This distribution strategy was prevalent before streaming platforms came to dominate the TV and movie distribution markets. Because inferior sequels or prequels of larger-budget films may be released direct-to-video, review references to direct-to-video releases are often pejorative . Direct-to-video release has also become profitable for independent filmmakers and smaller companies. Some direct-to-video genre films (with

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2816-420: The "Black Dahlia," Short was a young woman murdered in 1947, her body cut in half and discarded in Los Angeles, in a notorious and unsolved crime. Throughout his youth, Ellroy used Short as a surrogate for his conflicting emotions and desires. His confusion and trauma led to a period of intense clinical depression , from which he recovered only gradually. In 1962, Ellroy began to attend Fairfax High School ,

2904-468: The 2013 documentary The Square , and its first feature film in 2015 — Beasts of No Nation . Netflix pursued a simultaneous release strategy for its films, partnering with a distributor for a limited theatrical release (in order to maintain eligibility for awards requiring theatrical release, such as the Academy Awards ) simultaneous with their availability to subscribers. As this practice violates

2992-579: The 2014 film The Interview was released simultaneously on digital and at selected cinemas, after major chains dropped the film due to terrorist threats by a hacking group believed to have ties to North Korea (whose regime is satirized in the film). The group had also leaked confidential data from the internal servers of the film's distributor, Sony Pictures . The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in worldwide closures of cinemas due to economic restrictions and guidance against public gatherings, which prompted direct-to-digital releases for several major films;

3080-707: The Chinese film Lost in Russia was acquired by ByteDance for 630 million yuan (almost 100 million in US dollars) and streamed on its platforms (including TikTok ) for free in lieu of a theatrical release, as part of a larger relationship with the company and the film's distributor Huanxi Media. A number of U.S. films were shifted directly to video-on-demand rentals in lieu of a theatrical release, while some have been sold directly to subscription services, including Disney+ , Max , Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video . OV ("original video") are movies made for direct-to-video release in

3168-482: The Japanese market. OVA (" original video animation ") is distinguished from OVM ("original video movies") or V-Cinema, which usually refer to non-animated works. Different production studios may use other labels like "V drama". The OVA market developed in the mid-1980s. The lax restrictions and censorship in comparison to broadcast television appealed to filmmakers, allowing them to include more controversial content, as

3256-455: The Mad Dog of American Crime Fiction." On October 4, 1991, Ellroy married writer and critic Helen Knode. The couple moved from California to Kansas City in 1995. In 2006, after their divorce, Ellroy returned to Los Angeles. The two later reconciled and moved to Denver , although Ellroy has stated that they live in separate apartments in the same building. He frequently tells interviewers that

3344-545: The Moon (adapted as Cop ), L.A. Confidential , Brown's Requiem , Killer on the Road /Silent Terror (adapted as Stay Clean ), and The Black Dahlia . In each instance, screenplays based on Ellroy's work have been penned by other screenwriters. While he has frequently been disappointed by these adaptations (such as Cop ), he was very complimentary of Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland 's screenplay for L.A. Confidential at

3432-400: The United States was Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation in 1992. The practice of creating and releasing regular fiction specifically for video did not really take off until 1994, with Disney 's The Return of Jafar and Universal 's The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure , neither of which was intended to hit theaters at any point in its production. Several of

3520-408: The actors' theatrical rates. With the increasing prominence of digital distribution platforms in the 2000s and 2010s, direct-to-digital releases began to emerge alongside, or in lieu of home video. In November 2007, Ed Burns ' Purple Violets became the first film to "premiere" exclusively for sale on iTunes Store , being exclusive to the platform for a month exclusively. It had premiered at

3608-490: The air." The police never found his mother's killer, and the case still remains unsolved. The murder, along with reading The Badge by Jack Webb (a book comprising sensational cases from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department , a birthday gift from his father), were important events of Ellroy's youth. Ellroy's inability to come to terms with the emotions surrounding his mother's murder led him to transfer them onto another murder victim, Elizabeth Short . Nicknamed

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3696-475: The animated sequels, like MGM 's The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue from 1998, have sparked criticism due to the deliberate neglect of the original source material by creative content limits as these franchises will abruptly discontinue. Several other film series will be continuous if they become more successful, like Scooby-Doo for instance (their video debut Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island became one of

3784-464: The best-selling DTV films of all time ). By 1994, an average of six new direct-to-video films appeared each week. Erotic thrillers and R-rated action films were the two most successful genres. Family films became more important than such genres later in the 1990s, as retailers stocked more copies of blockbuster films instead of more titles. According to the Los Angeles Times : Often,

3872-498: The big 'fuck you' to all pieties." In 2022, Ellroy stated that he no longer followed contemporary politics. Following his parents' divorce, Ellroy was sent to a Dutch Lutheran Church by his mother every Sunday. In 2004, Ellroy had stated "I had a Christian upbringing of sorts, Lutheran. I don't go to church. I can't say I'm a Christian." However, in 2013, Ellroy stated "I'm a Christian. I'm not an Evangelical Christian, but God and religious spiritual feelings always guided me during

3960-540: The budget for these films can now range from less than 1 million yuan to upwards of 10 or 20 million yuan. Although these "Online Big Movies" rarely feature well-known actors, in recent years, many "Online Big Movies" have hired veteran actors from Hong Kong action cinema and Taiwanese cinema to join its cast. These movies are also to be differentiated from films that are made for theatrical release but were later acquired by digital streaming services, in that these "Online Big Movies" are produced by internet companies with

4048-557: The completed film from the theaters, or never exhibit it in theaters at all. Studios then generate revenue through video sales and rentals. Direct-to-video films are marketed mostly through colorful box covers, instead of advertising, and are not covered by publications like Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide . The first direct-to-video release to go into production was E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind in 1984 produced by CineTel Films . Direct-to-video releases have historically carried

4136-412: The crime. In the memoir, Ellroy mentions that his mother's murder received little news coverage because the media were still fixated on the stabbing death of mobster Johnny Stompanato , who was dating actress Lana Turner . Frank C. Girardot , a reporter for The San Gabriel Valley Tribune , accessed files on Geneva Hilliker Ellroy's murder from detectives with Los Angeles Police Department. Based on

4224-446: The deal, he allows them to beat him and steal his car and a machine gun. Unbeknownst to them, a tracking device on the vehicle leads him to the gang's hideout. Upon reaching their hideout, Ludlow storms in, kills the gangsters, alters the scene to make the shootings look justified, then finds the girls locked in a closet. While the rest of his unit congratulate him, he is confronted by his former partner, Detective Terrence Washington, who

4312-487: The department does still need him. In 1997, David Fincher had entered negotiations to direct the film, under its original title The Night Watchman from a screenplay by James Ellroy for New Regency and Warner Bros. In 2004, it was announced that Spike Lee would be directing the film for a 2005 release. In 2005, it was announced that Oliver Stone was in talks to direct the film. However, Stone later denied this. Training Day screenwriter David Ayer took over

4400-498: The downfall of live-action family films at the box office is their strength on video. Their appeal is to families with young children, who may go to only a couple of movies per year but who will watch many videos multiple times. The teens and young adults who drive blockbuster box office statistics stay away from family movies. Some horror films that are unsuccessful in theaters, like Witchcraft , begin successful direct-to-video series. Studios may also release sequels or spin-offs to

4488-549: The essay "My Mother's Killer" from My Dark Places for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime. Ellroy is currently writing a "Second L.A. Quartet" taking place during the Second World War , with some characters from the first L.A. Quartet and the Underworld USA Trilogy reappearing in younger depictions. The first book, Perfidia , was released on September 9, 2014. The second book

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4576-530: The explosion in quantity and variety of such movies established and cemented genres like J-horror and yakuza films . The success of OVAs and V-Cinema has resulted in less stigma regarding direct-to-video releases in Japan than in western markets. While there are still OVA and V-Cinema releases, the market is considerably smaller than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. In the mid-to-late 2010s, low-budget B-movies that are made exclusively for digital streaming became

4664-465: The fact that I’m breaking baaaaaaaaad from tradition, in order to post this announcement." Ellroy posted that he had been inducted into the Everyman's Library series. Three Everyman's Library editions have been reprinted: The L.A. Quartet , The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume I and The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume II . The release dates for these editions, as well as This Storm: A Novel ,

4752-402: The film grossed $ 12.5 million from 2,467 theaters, finishing second at the box office. It went on to gross $ 26.4 million domestically and $ 39.2 million internationally for a total of $ 65.6 million. The DVD was released on August 19, 2008, as a single-disc offering with director commentary, and 2-disc special-edition set with numerous documentaries, interviews and a digital copy of the film. It

4840-456: The films did not need to rely on sponsored advertisements for financial support. The result was animated films with greater sexual, violent, or political content. The market continued to expand during the Japanese asset price bubble and began to decline with the collapse of the bubble in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the rise of VHS home video and the decline of the Japanese economy in

4928-470: The gunfight. Based on this, his actions are unjustifiable and incriminating. Captain Jack Wander offers Ludlow an alibi by telling him to remove the surveillance footage, and tells the press he was the first to arrive on scene but too late to save Washington. The DNA of criminals Fremont and Coates is found at the scene, as well as a large amount of cash on Washington. The investigation assumes that Washington

5016-447: The guy who wrote L.A. Confidential . They tell all the little old ladies who come in there to get their G-rated family flick. They come up to me, they say, "OOOO... you wrote L.A. Confidential ... Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful movie. I saw it four times. You don't see storytelling like that on the screen anymore." ...I smile, I say, "Yes, it's a wonderful movie, and a salutary adaptation of my wonderful novel. But listen, Granny: You love

5104-518: The issue for him is not monogamy, but cohabitation. Ellroy joined Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1970s. In 1981, Ellroy published his first novel, Brown's Requiem , a detective story drawing on his experiences as a caddie. He then published Clandestine and Silent Terror (which was later published under the title Killer on the Road ). Ellroy followed these three novels with the Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy . The novels are centered on Hopkins,

5192-497: The last minute due to the success of another film with a similar subject matter or an ultimate studio decision. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is an example of this. However, despite the movie's critically acclaimed success, its box-office performance was very poor, which has been attributed to the last minute nature of its theatrical release. The film had much better commercial success in its subsequent home video releases. Other times,

5280-558: The late 1980s, film studios struggled to recoup investments on big-budget films. Inspired by the success of OVAs, Toei released its first V-Cinema, Crime Hunter , in March 1989. Following Toei's success, other studios began to release a slew of direct-to-video movies. Relaxed censorship in V-Cinema gave way to the premier and rise of expressive auteur directors such as Takashi Miike , Hideo Nakata , Shinji Aoyama , and Kiyoshi Kurosawa . As

5368-495: The mid-20th century, direct-to-video films employ both former stars and young actors who may become stars later. Direct-to-video releases can be done for films which cannot be shown theatrically due to controversial content, or because the cost involved in a theatrical release is beyond the releasing company. Animated sequels and feature-length episodes of animated series are also often released in this fashion. The first feature length animated film to be released direct-to-video in

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5456-435: The money at the scene of Washington's murder. Ludlow realizes that Washington was in fact informing on Wander to Biggs, who was the one stealing drugs from the department's evidence room. To execute Ludlow, Santos and Demille take him out to the house where the bodies of the real Fremont and Coates are, but he manages to break free and kill them both. He then heads to Washington's where he finds Sergeant Mike Clady searching for

5544-405: The movie. Did you go out and buy the book ?" And Granny invariably says, "Well, no, I didn't." And I say to Granny, "Then what the fuck good are you to me?" Shortly after viewing three hours of unedited footage for Brian De Palma 's adaptation of The Black Dahlia , Ellroy wrote an essay, "Hillikers", praising De Palma and his film. Ultimately, nearly an hour was removed from the final cut. Of

5632-715: The murder of Sal Mineo . Reminiscent of how he investigated his mother's unsolved murder, Ellroy worked with Glynn Martin, an ex-LAPD officer, the LAPD Museum's current executive director, and co-author of LAPD '53 . Ellroy wrote about this investigation for The Hollywood Reporter in digital form on December 21, 2018, and it also appeared in published form in the December 18, 2018, issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Early in January 2019, Ellroy posted news on jamesellroy.net, writing, "I’m digitally illiterate, so you’ve got to gas on

5720-508: The novel by cutting every unnecessary word from every sentence, creating a unique style of prose. While each sentence on its own is simple, the cumulative effect is a dense, baroque style. While his early novels earned him a cult following and notice among crime fiction buffs, Ellroy earned much greater success and critical acclaim with the L.A. Quartet — The Black Dahlia , The Big Nowhere , L.A. Confidential , and White Jazz . The four novels represent Ellroy's change of style from

5808-471: The producers to work on extremely low budgets and dispense with some film production elements, like scripts, and the increased privacy and convenience of the format change were preferred by the target market. During the late 1990s and onward, pornographers began releasing content on the Internet. Occasionally, a studio that makes a movie that was prepared as a direct-to-video film will release it theatrically at

5896-497: The project. On February 5, 2008, it was announced that Fox Searchlight Pictures changed the film's title from The Night Watchman to Street Kings . On Rotten Tomatoes 36% of 152 reviews of the film are positive with average rating of 5.11/10. The site's consensus reads, " Street Kings contains formulaic violence but no shred of intelligence." On Metacritic , the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In its opening weekend,

5984-457: The release of these titles were outside of usual distribution, studios and directors worked quickly to capitalize on niche markets or upcoming and current trends to increase financial returns. This period of history in Japanese cinema has been described by film journalist Tom Mes as "a far more diverse and vibrant film scene [than previous eras]". By 1995, the V-cinema industry was in decline, but

6072-587: The released film, Ellroy told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , "Look, you're not going to get me to say anything negative about the movie, so you might as well give up." He had, however, mocked the film's director, cast, and production design before it was filmed. Ellroy co-wrote the original screenplay for the 2008 film Street Kings but refused to do any publicity for the finished film. In September 2008, Daily Variety reported that HBO , along with Tom Hanks 's production company, Playtone ,

6160-469: The rest of my career. I don't know where and when." On April 29, 2015, Ellroy and Lois Duncan were the Grandmasters at the 2015 Edgar Awards . Ellroy has frequently espoused conservative political views. In 2019, Ellroy described himself as anti-totalitarian, conservative, and a Tory , adding "Underneath my profane exterior, I'm very concerned with decorum, with probity, with morality, and I have

6248-490: The side, true-blued, tattooed and bah fongooed. These are books for the whole fuckin' family, if the name of your family is Manson. Another aspect of his public persona involves an almost comically grand assessment of his work and his place in literature. For example, he told the New York Times , "I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime novelist who ever lived. I am to the crime novel in specific what Tolstoy

6336-442: The sole intent of digital release. In additional to the digital distribution of these films in China, many of the "Online Big Movies" have also been released on digital platforms outside of China, such as on YouTube . Several YouTube channels, such as Q1Q2 Movie Channel Official and YOUKU MOVIE are popular channels that distributes these "Online Big Movies". James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948)

6424-430: The surveillance CD. He empathises with her as he lost his wife previously, tells her he was beside Washington when he died and vows to avenge his murder. Ludlow and Diskant then pose as dirty cops who are willing to take over the selling of stolen drugs. With Scribble's help they set up a meeting with the two criminals masquerading as Fremont and Coates. Ludlow questions who they really are, when Diskant recognizes them, he

6512-420: The surveillance footage. Ludlow subdues Clady before he can kill Washington's widowed wife, then places him in his car trunk. Ludlow confronts Wander at his house and apprehends him after a brawl. He confesses that he has incriminating evidence against several high-ranking department officials and other politicians, with which he would have used to become LAPD chief and eventually, mayor. Wander, asserting that he

6600-409: The term "direct-to-DVD" replaced "direct-to-video" in some instances. However, the word "video" does not necessarily refer to videocassettes. Many publications continue to use the term "direct-to-video" for DVDs or Blu-rays . Both disc-based release types may also be referred to as "direct-to-disc". A new term sometimes used is "DVD premiere" (DVDP). Such films can cost as little as $ 20 million, about

6688-535: The time of its release. In succeeding years, however, his comments have been more reserved: L.A. Confidential , the movie, is the best thing that happened to me in my career that I had absolutely nothing to do with . It was a fluke—and a wonderful one—and it is never going to happen again —a movie of that quality. Here's my final comment on L.A. Confidential , the movie: I go to a video store in Prairie Village, Kansas . The youngsters who work there know me as

6776-451: The tradition of classic modernist noir fiction of his earlier novels to what has been classified as postmodern historiographic metafiction . The Black Dahlia , for example, fused the real-life murder of Elizabeth Short with a fictional story of two police officers investigating the crime. In 1995, Ellroy published American Tabloid , the first novel in a series informally dubbed the " Underworld USA Trilogy " that Ellroy describes as

6864-457: The traditional release windows mandated by the cinema industry, major chains have typically declined to screen the films. Since 2018, Netflix has partially backpedaled from this strategy, giving its films a one-month theatrical run before their premiere on the Netflix service. Unique circumstances have also resulted in direct-to-digital releases, sometimes alongside a limited theatrical release;

6952-519: The worst moments of my life, and I don't for a moment doubt it." In 2014, Ellroy stated that "I'm a Christian. I believe we are all one soul united in God", adding that he is "conservative and theocratic". Ellroy has stated that his faith has influenced his novels, describing them as "stories of redemption." He described his 2021 novel Widespread Panic as "very much a Christian novel." Several of Ellroy's works have been adapted to film, including Blood on

7040-466: Was 10 years old, his mother was raped and murdered. Ellroy later described his mother as "sharp-tongued [and] bad-tempered", unable to keep a steady job, alcoholic, and sexually promiscuous. His first reaction upon hearing of her death was relief: he could now live with his father, whom he preferred. His father was more permissive and allowed Ellroy to do as he pleased, namely be "left alone to read, to go out and peep through windows, prowl around and sniff

7128-513: Was June 4, 2019. Ellroy added, "Stay stirringly tuned to this website for further updates" and simply signed the finished post Ellroy, inserting a dog's pawprint below it. In 2022 Ellroy, a long-time fan of Chester Himes , wrote the introduction to Himes's classic, 'A Rage in Harlem'. In his hard-bitten style, Ellroy raves that "'A Rage in Harlem' features a mind-mauling array of chump-change hustles, lurid larcenies, and malicious mischief."The novel

7216-547: Was a nurse. His father, Armand, was an accountant and a onetime business manager of Rita Hayworth . His parents divorced in 1954, after which Ellroy and his mother moved to El Monte, California . At the age of seven, Ellroy saw his mother naked and began to sexually fantasize about her. He struggled in youth with this obsession, as he held a psycho-sexual relationship with her, and tried to catch glimpses of her nude. Ellroy stated that "I lived for naked glimpses. I hated her and lusted for her..." On June 22, 1958, when Ellroy

7304-491: Was a plea for attention and got him beat up and eventually expelled from Fairfax High School in 11th grade, after ranting about Nazism in his English class. Ellroy's father died soon after this, with his father's last words to him being, "Try to pick up every waitress who serves you." After being expelled from high school, Ellroy then joined the U.S. Army for a short period of time. On enlisting, Ellroy soon decided he did not belong there and convinced an army psychiatrist he

7392-503: Was corrupt, stealing drugs from the evidence room and selling them to Fremont and Coates. Ludlow then enlists Detective Paul Diskant's help, who was responsible for the forensic evidence, in his personal investigation. As Ludlow and Diskant investigate, they eventually find a house in the hills where they find the bodies of the real Fremont and Coates buried in a shallow grave; it is apparent that they were killed long before Washington's death. Ludlow meets with his widowed wife and hands her

7480-450: Was developing American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand for either a miniseries or ongoing series. In a September 2009 interview, Ellroy himself stated, "All movie adaptations of my books are dead." In a November 2012 interview, when asked about how movie adaptations distort his books, he remarked, "[Film studios] can do whatever the [fuck] they want as long as they pay me." As of 2023, Ellroy refuses to answer any questions about both

7568-616: Was often homeless. After serving some time in jail and suffering from pneumonia , during which he developed an abscess on his lung "the size of a large man's fist," Ellroy stopped drinking and began working as a golf caddie while pursuing writing. He later said, "Caddying was good tax-free cash and allowed me to get home by 2 p.m. and write books.... I caddied right up to the sale of my fifth book." Ellroy has also summed up his life by saying: "Boy's mother murdered. Boy's life shattered. Boy grows up homeless alcoholic jailbird. Jailbird cleans up and writes his way to salvation. Jailbird becomes

7656-513: Was originally published in France in 1958 where it won France's 'Grand Prix de Littérature Policière', and was most recently re-published by Vintage Books. In 2023, at the LA Times Festival of Books , Ellroy revealed, in light of his latest book The Enchanters and his editors' response to it, that he had abandoned his previous plans to write a 'Second L.A. Quartet' and would instead turn it into

7744-527: Was unfit for combat. He was discharged after three months. Ellroy credits the public libraries of Los Angeles County as the basis of his writing. He shelved books at the public library. In a speech at the Library of Congress in 2019 he declared: "I am a product of the L.A. County Public Library System." During his teens and 20s, he drank heavily and abused Benzedrex inhalers . He was engaged in minor crimes (especially shoplifting, house-breaking, and burglary) and

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