What's the symbology there?

I think that nick was comparing the magazine writer to the detective overly dramatically re-creating the scene of a crime in boondock saints:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsuH1msEkvM

BTW Boondock Saints is like one of the dumbest movies of all time, they made a behind-the-scenes documentary about how the film failed because of how arrogant the directors/screenwriters were. It's so stupid, it's great

He walks through a crime scene and exultantly visualizes the events that were happening in that exact spot during the crime. Its a memorable sequence.