Cut Throat City (2018)
5.0
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A heist movie set in the lower ninth ward in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Finding Steve McQueen (2019) in Movies
Nov 3, 2020
The tale of the 1972 heist is recounted by Barber (Travis Fimmel) to his girlfriend Molly Murphy (Rachael Taylor) in 1980, after having been on the run from the FBI for 8 years. This starts out as though it could be a rather fun and lighthearted heist movie, but I’m afraid despite it’s short 90 minute run time, it feels rather drawn out and dull. Right from the get go, the cinematography, directing style and just general look of this film just doesn’t feel right. It feels like it has been made for tv, it has that rather cheap look about it and sadly the camera angles and character styling do nothing but reinforce this. The CGI, whilst infrequent, is very bad and you can spot the green screen scenes a mile off. Even the car chase scene is lacklustre and unimpressive. You can tell that this hasn’t had a lot of money thrown at it.
The performances too I’m afraid are also rather lacking, although a large part of this is likely down to the often dodgy script that seems to enjoy ramming 70s references down our throats whilst being completely unconvincing about every other aspect of the story. I haven’t see much of Travis Fimmel, so I’m not sure if his goofy persona in this is his acting style or in character, but either way it doesn’t always work. Rachael Taylor’s Molly seems out of place and rather unlikeable and it’s only Forest Whitaker as FBI Agent Howard Lambert who comes out unscathed, playing a rather aloof and unfazed agent on the tail of the gang following the heist.
The heist itself is really the main problem here. Instead of being a heist movie, this plays out like a romance with a little bit of heist thrown in, and not a very exciting one at that. There are some moments of intrigue and fun when you see how the gang pulled the heist off and later on how they got caught, but apart from this it’s probably one of the dullest heists I’ve ever seen. Aside from a decent soundtrack, there is very little excitement in this. The motive for the heist also seems rather fuzzy and far fetched. Even the romance seems forced and wavers between being very fake and unconvincing to rather cringeworthy and cliched.
There’s also the question of whether this movie succeeds in finding Steve McQueen, and whilst it is undoubtedly a homage to the man himself, it is not a very successful one. It references all the right things but unfortunately struggles to get close to the man himself and as heist movies go, it may have done itself a disservice by trying to liken itself to McQueen and his successes. Overall I’m afraid this is a rather dull heist film that even with a low budget could’ve been much better.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Den Of Thieves (2018) in Movies
Feb 4, 2020
The Plot: Nick O'Brien is the hard-drinking leader of the Regulators, an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Ray Merrimen is the recently paroled leader of the Outlaws, a gang of ex-military men who use their expertise and tactical skills to evade the law. O'Brien, Merrimen and their crews soon find themselves on a direct collision course as the criminals hatch an elaborate plan for a seemingly impossible heist -- the city's Federal Reserve Bank.
Gerald Butler, Pablo Schrieber and O'Shea Jackson Jr. are all good in this film.
What else can i say.
I, Exile
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Exiled into a wasteland because of a heist gone wrong, Emelith vows to hunt down the one...
Books Editor (673 KP) shared own list
Sep 22, 2017
This season is going to be awesome for book lovers. Entertainment Weekly has put together some irresistible new books from some of our favourite authors.
Artemis
7.7
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Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon,...
Science fiction
After the Eclipse: A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search
7.0
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Book
A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and...
Biography memoir true crime
Renegades
8.3
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Book
From #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer, comes a high-stakes world of adventure,...
Fantasy Young Adult
Ali: A Life
Book
When the frail, trembling figure of Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta in 1996, a TV...
A Loving, Faithful Animal
Book
It is New Year’s Eve 1990, in a small town in southeast Australia. Ru's father, Jack, one of...
historical fiction
and 15 other items
Welcome to the Punch (2013)
5.8
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Former criminal Jacob Sternwood is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his...
Heist cops
The China Hustle (2017)
7.0
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An unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story about Chinese companies, the American stock...