Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I really like the movie based on it being very true to the people involved! Very real! On that note, it is seriously f-ed up! I am interested in crime and crime history but this takes it to a new level! Crime seriously affected this guy and I really want to know what made his wife who she is! They are a perfect match but that scares me! This movie makes me wonder about EVERY person involved! The cops even more than the writer and his perfect match of a wife! The dinner table discussions make me blush and uncomfortable and I use the c and p words freely and without restraint. That being said, any movie that has this effect on me is intense! Be aware that it is VERY intense!

You could watch this on HBO for a time, and also read the accompanying book he wrote. "Feast of Death" is a documentary/true crime and investigation into what happened to Ellroy's mother, Jean Ellroy, who was murdered around the same time as the occurrence of the infamous Black Dahlia murder.Having seen some of his work, I was interested in the true story of his mother Helen, a nurse in the 1940's who was also a party girl, found dead in a rather sad situation. It almost gives anyone a loss for words to describe, anyone that is, except Ellroy. He turned the nightmare into his writing career. He was 10 years old at the time of his mothers murder.In this film he has a dinner with assorted L.A. detectives, a few actors (including Nick Nolte). They discuss the murder cases from the Black Dahlia era, what the Los Angeles area was like, attracting transients, dreamers, alcoholics, addicts and all....an interesting montage created by people who lived in the area.Ellroy currently hosts "City of Demons: Los Angeles". A true crime hour show on channel ID (Investifgation Discovery). He reviews infamous homicides, the Lana Turner scandal, Marilyn Monroe's death, the Hillside Stranglers. He certainly has a niche here. He is a sardonic character without doubt, and clearly enjoys his place as L.A. crime commentator. He also talks to his alter ego, a American bull terrier named Barko. Well worth watching.

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.