Dr. John A. KingIndigenous Australian. 100% Human. Neo-Noir Novelist. Poet. Speaker. Performance coach. More than a Survivor. Terrible Golfer, Awkward Dancer🕺

Review: L.A. Confidential — James Ellroy #shorts

14 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:13

In this YouTube short, the speaker delivers a concise review of James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential, emphasizing that the film adaptation surpasses the novel for them. They rate the movie between half brilliant and three‑quarter brilliant, highlighting its strong noir credentials and positioning it as one of the genre’s best examples. The reviewer notes the work’s early influence on noir, citing thematic and stylistic links to modern stories like True Detective, Galveston, and even the author of Fight Club. The recommendation is clear: anyone interested in writing or watching noir should see the film, and even non‑noir fans will enjoy it.

Chapters

Right, an oldie and definitely a goodie. LA Confidential, James Ellroy. Uh, like, it's a big old thing. That's a gazillion pages long. All right, rating: brilliant to bollocks movie. This is a hard one, but I'm gonna give it a half brilliant, half to three-quarter brilliant. Now, it's very genre-ish, and you know, it's noir. It's one of the best in its genre. To be honest, it's one of the very Few times where have I preferred the movie over the book. I, I think because it was so early in the genre and James Ellroy was really a pioneer in it. There's a lot of nuances that have come into it with things like True Detective, Galveston Drive, and those other stories, you know, even, even the Fight Club guy, however the hell you say his name. But I, I really enjoyed this. But I really, really enjoyed the movie. So if you're wanting to write a noir, watch a noir movie and you've never seen L.A. Confidential, you'll absolutely love it. So again, I'm gonna give it a half brilliant. If you're into noir, you will love L.A. Confidential. If you're not, watch the movie 'cause you will love that.