NateWatchesCoolMovies Chasing Ghosts is a shadowy neo-noir treat, a throwback to the hard boiled detective thrillers of golden age Hollywood. Michael Madsen even said in an interview for this that a lot of the time he bases his acting work on old school tough guys like Lee Marvin and Robert Mitchum, making him the perfect guy to headline such a deliciously nostalgic flick. Here he plays Detective Kevin Harrison, a good cop who has found himself entangled in a dangerous web of corruption. He's a good guy that happened to make a lot of bad decisions which led him into the company of treacherous people. He is dealing with a mysterious serial killer who is targeting high ranking mob figures, which in turn dig up old memories involving old partner and friend Mark Spencer (an implosive Michael Rooker) who he couldn't save. He feels like a father figure to his Rooker's daughter (Shannon Sossamyn) who is now an inquisitive journalist. He's also got a timid new partner (Corey Large) who tags along, not knowing the danger he'll wade into simply by being close to a guy like Harrison, who has danger written all over him. The plot thickens, then coagulates, then boils, hardens and gets shattered again by all kindly third act revelations and labyrinthine exposition that takes some patience and a love for this kind of genre stuff. Madsen makes a sympathetic, frayed protagonist who is anything but a hero, yet trying to right some pretty heavy wrongs that weigh on his soul. Gary Busey brings his trademark bugnuts weirdness as Marcos Alfiri, a powerful gangster with ties to Madsen's past. Meat Loaf is an energetic police captain, Lochlyn Munro another department grunt, Sean Whalen the obligatory perky, wiseass coroner, Patrick Kilpatrick is a going ho SWAT commander, and Danny Trejo shows up for a verbose extended cameo as another underworld figure. This one deserves way better than the scant distribution and lukewarm reception it got. It's neo noir done right, and doesn't disappoint.

markcubsfan Chasing Ghosts is a low budget throw back to film noir flicks - lots of dead bodies,tough good guys and really nasty bad guys, convoluted subplots and scenes that don't quite make sense. Despite being a bit more confusing than it has to be, I found it fun to watch and intriguing. One of the best parts of the movie is the star, Micheal Madsen. He reminds me of one of my favorite actors, Robert Mitchum. He's got the world-weary tough guy character down and is fun to watch. The rest of the acting ranges from acceptable to downright bad (co-star Corey Large just doesn't work at all in this).The comments on the board about this movie seem a bit harsh to me. Most of the noir flicks were more about feeling and images than the actual story. And many of them had plot twists and character types in common with other movies. True, some editing would help the pacing here (that seems to be the case with so many movies these days, are the editors on strike?)and the acting could have been better but hey it was a low budget flick. Overall it reminds me of so many film noir flicks. It does a lot right and is more fun than many big budget movies out there today.

Comeuppance Reviews "Chasing Ghosts" was a pretty good mystery. Michael Madsen stars as Detective Harrison, who is about to retire. He only has one more case to solve: Who is killing the crime lords around NYC? The best parts of the movie are the confrontations with Madsen and Gary Busey, and the twists near the end. Meat Loaf, Michael Rooker and Danny Trejo are underused. The style of the film also works. The cinematography looks great but there are a little too many quick cuts. It was shot In L.A. but the director did a good job hiding it. In the end: It's worth seeing for an excellent Michael Madsen performance and the presence of the eclectic cast.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

DeSkiCiO I'm sure we have all seen long movies we have enjoyed, but this one appears to be a 30 minute movie with 80 minutes of filling, it just has long pointless scenes, that add nothing to nor the movie or the characters, they are just there and you have to watch them. It even has characters that add nothing what so ever to the plot, they just appear do their stuff, say their lines and yes, you have to watch it.I must admit after watching the first 100 minutes, the movie has an interesting twist, probably thats why i didn't give it a 1, but even the most twisted of twists could not save 100 minutes of nothing.It has some pieces of action but for some strange reason the director might have thought you could get excited and he nicely inserted them in the form of flashbacks he could interrupt every 30 seconds and fit in a few minutes of reaction shots.To finish this off i promise i was trying hard to think something nice to say about the movie but it happens to be so long and so slow, that when you get to an action scene or to an important part of the story you are so bored from what happened before that they go unappreciated.