Coming off one of the best years in the genre in 2014, 2015 was a bit of a let down. With box office and critical hits Gone Girl and Nightcrawler and a cult classic in the making with surprise hit John Wick along with a crowd sourced funded return of Veronica Mars just to name a few of the highlights at the theater in 2014. 2015 really didn’t see any success at the box office for films in the neo noir genre.

The year started out with a bang, when in January, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice was released. Inherent Vice was a critical success, even if it didn’t do well at the box office and was not well received by the general public, it was my favorite film of the year. Here is my review of that film:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/06/02/review-inherent-vice/

On the same day as Inherent Vice was released, a film from Australia was released in the States. It stared an always good Ethan Hawke in a sci-fi neo-noir that will make you think. Predestination from the Spierig Brothers is a stylish film worth watching. Here is my full review of that film:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/20/review-predestination/

Though we got a lot of good small budget neo noir films this year, the stand out for me was Glass Chin. Read the full review here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/08/24/review-glass-chin/

Though film didn’t have a stellar year, television did! I have not seen it yet(hope to watch it with in the next week) True Detective Season 2 sounds like it was a bit of a let down(season 1 may have been the best television season ever, 2 was bound to be a bit of a let down), other programs stepped it up.

Season 4 of Ray Donovan was the best season yet and Season 2 of Fargo was my favorite series this year.

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/10/06/article-rolling-stone-fargo-how-the-midwestern-noir-just-got-even-better/

We also got the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul that came out in February and seems like a decade ago in a time of great television. Here was a look at Season 1:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/04/09/review-season-1-of-better-call-saul/

One of my favorite characters was back for a short special, Luther. Here is a look at season 4 of that series:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/12/29/review-luther-season-4/

Public Morales debuted on TNT, but got poor ratings and was cancelled after season 1. You can see how high the competition is, when this fine series only made it through one season.

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/10/25/review-public-morals-season-1/

Gotham had another great season as well. For sci-fi neo noir fans, check out the Expanse, which as just started on SyFy. There is also a long list of television I have not got to see, but want to soon. Netflix has released Bloodlines, Daredevil and Jessica Jones while Amazon has Bosch just to name a few. It is safe to say, we are in the golden age of television.

Classic film noir fans had a great summer with The Summer of Darkness over on TCM. They also offered a college course on film noir for free. I took the class and found it very informative.

TCM debuted a few newly restored classic films noir this summer, including Woman on the Run and Too Late for Tears. Look for a full review of Too Late for Tears soon and here is a link to the review of Woman on the Run:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/06/24/review-women-on-the-run/

In Noir literature we had a number of big and small releases. Publishers like Hard Case Crime and All Due Respect continue to release pulp noir books worth checking out. Hard Case Crime continues to re-print the Quarry books which I have fallen in love with. All Due Respect had a couple of releases I loved including Selena by Greg Barth and Love You to a Pulp by CS Dewildt:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/12/01/book-review-quarrys-list-by-max-allan-collins/

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/12/07/book-review-selena-by-greg-barth/

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/04/19/book-review-love-you-to-a-pulp-by-c-s-dewilt/

We also got the second book by Rob Thomas continuing the multi-media story of Veronica Mars:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/01/review-the-first-two-veronica-mars-books-the-thousand-dollar-tan-line-and-mr-kiss-and-tell/

There was a number of books that came out this year that I did not get a chance to get to(I’m not the fastest reader in the world). The Cartel by Don Winslow, World Gone By by Dennis Lehane and Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy just to name a few.

2016 looks to hold many new television shows, movies and books worth watching. Check back to Everythingnoir.com for the latest news and reviews as I will try and keep the noir fan abreast. What was some of your favorite noir works of the last year?