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Bubba Gee (147 KP) rated King of Thieves (2018) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
Thiefy yet wrinkly
Good film about a heist, sort of like oceans 13 with grandpa's. It's a good story with plenty of strong points.
There's a fairly well known cast boasting such names as Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone, and Michael Gambon.
Lots of backstabbing going on as well as these fellas prove at any age, there's no honour amongst thieves.
Worth a watch
There's a fairly well known cast boasting such names as Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone, and Michael Gambon.
Lots of backstabbing going on as well as these fellas prove at any age, there's no honour amongst thieves.
Worth a watch
Alan Tudyk recommended Sexy Beast (2000) in Movies (curated)
Jon Savage recommended Quadrophenia (1979) in Movies (curated)
Awix (3310 KP) rated Edge of Darkness (2010) in Movies
May 5, 2020 (Updated May 6, 2020)
The legendary TV mini-series is retooled for the big screen as a bog-standard Mel Gibson revenge thriller. A detective's daughter is killed, and his investigations lead him to discover she was a target of forces within the military-industrial complex operating above the law.
As well as two-thirds of the running time and most of the plot, the movie version of Edge of Darkness also cheerfully dispenses with virtually everything that made the TV show so memorable: theoretically a fiendishly convoluted thriller, it also contained an environmentalist subtext, an incest subtext, a subtext about Anglo-US relations, even some borderline SF & fantasy elements. All of this is gone and just replaced with Mel Gibson looking intense and beating people up. As a result it is very hard to care about what's happening, although the illogicality of much of it does manage to cut through (someone poisoning someone else and then deciding to shoot them as well is practically a motif). Ray Winstone is not bad as Jedburgh, but given the source material the rest of it is unforgivably lousy.
As well as two-thirds of the running time and most of the plot, the movie version of Edge of Darkness also cheerfully dispenses with virtually everything that made the TV show so memorable: theoretically a fiendishly convoluted thriller, it also contained an environmentalist subtext, an incest subtext, a subtext about Anglo-US relations, even some borderline SF & fantasy elements. All of this is gone and just replaced with Mel Gibson looking intense and beating people up. As a result it is very hard to care about what's happening, although the illogicality of much of it does manage to cut through (someone poisoning someone else and then deciding to shoot them as well is practically a motif). Ray Winstone is not bad as Jedburgh, but given the source material the rest of it is unforgivably lousy.
JT (287 KP) rated The Sweeney (2012) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
Nick Love’s take on the ’70s TV cop show of the same name packs every bit a hard knuckled punch as you would expect it to. The director of such films as The Football Factory and The Business even manages to stay clear of Danny Dyer and cast a slick and talented bunch of individuals, led by Ray Winstone.
Regan (Winstone) and Carter (Drew) are a pair of detectives on the flying squad, they don’t play nice or appreciate authority and when it comes to nicking thieves they go in armed with an array of unique weapons including pick axe handles. Quite simply put they “do the things you can only dream of”.
The plot is a little thin on the ground at times, and centres on former villain Allen (Paul Anderson) making a return to Regan’s patch, of which he doesn’t take too kindly when he has to let Allen go after having pulled him in for questioning in relation to a bank job that ends with an execution.
Regan himself is under the watchful eye of not just his boss Frank Haskins (Damian Lewis) but internal watchdog Ivan Lewis (Steven Mackintosh) who has a greater reason than anyone to note Regan’s movements, with Regan sharing more than coffee with Lewis’s wife Nancy.
The action is well choreographed from the opening heist to a shootout through Trafalgar Square (of which annoyingly they can only hit innocent bystanders), the film’s climactic car chase is a bit of a let down however. After all that proceeded before it I was expecting something a little better than a blast around a caravan park.
The chemistry between Regan and Carter is good, a father and son styled relationship is pushed to breaking point at times, but beneath the hardened exterior lies a mutual respect for each other that is followed through to the very end.
Winstone looks battle weary and sounds more cockney than ever (if that could be at all possible), he’s like a bulldog that won’t let go of a bone or come when called. Drew is a fresh casting choice and I enjoyed his performance in Harry Brown, but here he seems to deliver his lines in a slow and laborious manner.
The sweeping landscape of London is painted in cold grey light, panels of sun laying across pavements and car windows trying to brighten the mood. It’s a violent mood, twinned with colourful dialogue that is more than to be expected. It’s a decent enough effort and certainly Love’s best film to date.
Regan (Winstone) and Carter (Drew) are a pair of detectives on the flying squad, they don’t play nice or appreciate authority and when it comes to nicking thieves they go in armed with an array of unique weapons including pick axe handles. Quite simply put they “do the things you can only dream of”.
The plot is a little thin on the ground at times, and centres on former villain Allen (Paul Anderson) making a return to Regan’s patch, of which he doesn’t take too kindly when he has to let Allen go after having pulled him in for questioning in relation to a bank job that ends with an execution.
Regan himself is under the watchful eye of not just his boss Frank Haskins (Damian Lewis) but internal watchdog Ivan Lewis (Steven Mackintosh) who has a greater reason than anyone to note Regan’s movements, with Regan sharing more than coffee with Lewis’s wife Nancy.
The action is well choreographed from the opening heist to a shootout through Trafalgar Square (of which annoyingly they can only hit innocent bystanders), the film’s climactic car chase is a bit of a let down however. After all that proceeded before it I was expecting something a little better than a blast around a caravan park.
The chemistry between Regan and Carter is good, a father and son styled relationship is pushed to breaking point at times, but beneath the hardened exterior lies a mutual respect for each other that is followed through to the very end.
Winstone looks battle weary and sounds more cockney than ever (if that could be at all possible), he’s like a bulldog that won’t let go of a bone or come when called. Drew is a fresh casting choice and I enjoyed his performance in Harry Brown, but here he seems to deliver his lines in a slow and laborious manner.
The sweeping landscape of London is painted in cold grey light, panels of sun laying across pavements and car windows trying to brighten the mood. It’s a violent mood, twinned with colourful dialogue that is more than to be expected. It’s a decent enough effort and certainly Love’s best film to date.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Cats (2019) in Movies
Nov 20, 2020
Cut what worked in the musical and left in what didn't
I had heard that the movie version of the mega-Broadway hit musical CATS was a "total trainwreck" with bizarre performances and CGI that was incomplete and/or incompetently done making these CATS look more like FREAKS, so I was looking forward to a "so bad it's good" experience at the film. But, instead of being horrified or bemused, I felt another emotion while watching this...
BOREDOM.
I've never been a real fan of the Broadway production - I witnessed the original cast back in the early 1980's and had a follow-up viewing of the show on Broadway in the mid-to-late '90's when 2 people I know were in the cast and both times I enjoyed the music (for the most part) and the dancing was SUPERB, but I was left disappointed by the characters and the plot (or lack thereof) of this show.
And...that's the biggest problem with the film version of CATS, Director Tom Hooper (LES MISERABLES) decided to focus this film ON the characters and the performances - headlined by such stalwarts as Dame Judy Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Idris, Elba, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Hudson, James Cordon and Rebel Wilson - and ignore the spectacle of the musical numbers and, most heinously, ignoring the dancing aspect of this musical. This approach, quite frankly, just did not work.
Now...add onto this questionable CGI (I'm being kind), a languid pace (I'm being kind) and performers who were miscast (I'm looking at you Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Ray Winstone and...if I'm being honest...Ian McKellan and Judy Dench), and don't get me started on Jason Derullo's RumTum Tugger and Taylor Swift's Bumbalurna (really?) - they were just plain awful. Derullo, especially, turned a fun, energizing driving character into a boring embodiment of all that is wrong with this film (okay...Rebel Wilson was worse, but still....) the only players in this film that kept my attention were stage performers like Robbie Fairchild (Munkustrap) and Francesca Hayward (Victoria) and they were sidelined for the most part by the bigger names and had their dance numbers eliminated and/or truncated.
I wish they would have gone for the campy "so bad, it's good" style of filmmaking - it, at least, would have kept my interest, but the movie as it is, did not. I was happy when the "Jellicle Cat" was selected at the end - I knew this experience would be over soon.
Letter Grade D
2 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(OfMarquis)
BOREDOM.
I've never been a real fan of the Broadway production - I witnessed the original cast back in the early 1980's and had a follow-up viewing of the show on Broadway in the mid-to-late '90's when 2 people I know were in the cast and both times I enjoyed the music (for the most part) and the dancing was SUPERB, but I was left disappointed by the characters and the plot (or lack thereof) of this show.
And...that's the biggest problem with the film version of CATS, Director Tom Hooper (LES MISERABLES) decided to focus this film ON the characters and the performances - headlined by such stalwarts as Dame Judy Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Idris, Elba, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Hudson, James Cordon and Rebel Wilson - and ignore the spectacle of the musical numbers and, most heinously, ignoring the dancing aspect of this musical. This approach, quite frankly, just did not work.
Now...add onto this questionable CGI (I'm being kind), a languid pace (I'm being kind) and performers who were miscast (I'm looking at you Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Ray Winstone and...if I'm being honest...Ian McKellan and Judy Dench), and don't get me started on Jason Derullo's RumTum Tugger and Taylor Swift's Bumbalurna (really?) - they were just plain awful. Derullo, especially, turned a fun, energizing driving character into a boring embodiment of all that is wrong with this film (okay...Rebel Wilson was worse, but still....) the only players in this film that kept my attention were stage performers like Robbie Fairchild (Munkustrap) and Francesca Hayward (Victoria) and they were sidelined for the most part by the bigger names and had their dance numbers eliminated and/or truncated.
I wish they would have gone for the campy "so bad, it's good" style of filmmaking - it, at least, would have kept my interest, but the movie as it is, did not. I was happy when the "Jellicle Cat" was selected at the end - I knew this experience would be over soon.
Letter Grade D
2 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(OfMarquis)
Awix (3310 KP) rated King of Thieves (2018) in Movies
Oct 10, 2018
Michael Caine leads a crack team of crock crooks in robbing a safe deposit vault in London in this loosely-based-on-reality black comedy thriller. Quite apart from Caine, the film has an excellent cast (Jim Broadbent, Tom Courtenay, Ray Winstone, Paul Whitehouse, and Michael Gambon, plus Charlie Cox for the streaming generation), which will probably be what draws most people to it.
Initially this looks like it's going to be a slightly cosy comedy thriller about blokes who are too old be robbers any more, but - very pleasantly - it quite soon acquires some real heft and gravity to it, with the various members of the gang falling out and attempting to double-cross each other - most of these actors are well-known as comedians, but there is some proper meaty drama here and scenes with a definite tension to them.
Not quite as much Caine as you might hope for, but he is still the guv'nor as far as British film acting is concerned, and this is his best role for a while. Everyone else is good too. The film never quite gets the shifts between comedy and gangster thriller right, and the low budget keeps it from being very cinematic, but it's an engaging movie driven by great performances.
Initially this looks like it's going to be a slightly cosy comedy thriller about blokes who are too old be robbers any more, but - very pleasantly - it quite soon acquires some real heft and gravity to it, with the various members of the gang falling out and attempting to double-cross each other - most of these actors are well-known as comedians, but there is some proper meaty drama here and scenes with a definite tension to them.
Not quite as much Caine as you might hope for, but he is still the guv'nor as far as British film acting is concerned, and this is his best role for a while. Everyone else is good too. The film never quite gets the shifts between comedy and gangster thriller right, and the low budget keeps it from being very cinematic, but it's an engaging movie driven by great performances.
Given the calibre of talent on show here you’d be forgiven for thinking that this film might have been a little more popular.
Most of them play second fiddle to Vince (Riley) who finds himself in a spot of bother when he takes the place of someone in an organised game of Russian roulette were people gamble on the outcome.
Along for the ride in this barrel spinning thriller is Ray Winstone and Mickey Rourke who themselves are part of the circle of men putting their lives on the line for a potential big payout.
Michael Shannon is cast as the adjudicator making sure that everyone follows the rules and has the right amount of bullets in the chamber, he’s hardly pushing his acting talents to any great length. Statham avoids kicking anyone’s head in for an entire film as the brother of Winestone’s character, Ronald.
The film in fact is a remake of Babluani’s original 13 Tzameti, in which his son plays the lead role, that film faired a lot better with critics. Obviously that meant Babluani remaking the film and testing it out on the English speaking audience, getting a few house hold names to try and sell it.
Aside from the Russian roulette scenes the film generally falls flat, the ending is awful and there is no real pay off, you could almost see what was going to happen mile off.
I think directors should start sticking to the originals only and avoid the Hollywood remake for the sake of having their reputation tarnished in anyway.
Most of them play second fiddle to Vince (Riley) who finds himself in a spot of bother when he takes the place of someone in an organised game of Russian roulette were people gamble on the outcome.
Along for the ride in this barrel spinning thriller is Ray Winstone and Mickey Rourke who themselves are part of the circle of men putting their lives on the line for a potential big payout.
Michael Shannon is cast as the adjudicator making sure that everyone follows the rules and has the right amount of bullets in the chamber, he’s hardly pushing his acting talents to any great length. Statham avoids kicking anyone’s head in for an entire film as the brother of Winestone’s character, Ronald.
The film in fact is a remake of Babluani’s original 13 Tzameti, in which his son plays the lead role, that film faired a lot better with critics. Obviously that meant Babluani remaking the film and testing it out on the English speaking audience, getting a few house hold names to try and sell it.
Aside from the Russian roulette scenes the film generally falls flat, the ending is awful and there is no real pay off, you could almost see what was going to happen mile off.
I think directors should start sticking to the originals only and avoid the Hollywood remake for the sake of having their reputation tarnished in anyway.
Fred (860 KP) rated Black Widow (2021) in Movies
Jul 30, 2021
Mostly bland
Watching Black Widow was like watching one of the G.I.Joe movies, but not as enjoyable,. The story was nothing special & quite frankly, uninteresting and forgettable. The characters fit that description as well. Johansson was very good, as usual. David Harbor's Red Guardian was interesting enough, but in the end, utterly useless & underutilized. The biggest drag-down was Florence Pugh's Yelena. Wow! So wooden! I've seen more emotion from a merry-go-round horse. They chose her to take over the Black Widow character? Black Widow is not that interesting a character to begin with, but to replace her with Yelena, is just bad. I have no intention or interest in watching a movie with that character as the lead. It was bad enough to watch her in this movie.
That's not to say the movie didn't have it's good parts. Some of the action scenes were great & there was enough of them to break up the dull parts scattered throughout the movie. Ray Winstone was great but again, not really a supervillain worth watching. The movie suffers from the same problem both Wonder Woman movies had, which is a supervillain not strong enough to carry the story.
In the end, Black Widow is better than both Wonder Woman movies, but that's not saying anything. Would I watch it again? Absolutely not. Did I waste my time watching it the time? Meh. Yes & no. It's an unimportant addition to the Marvel Universe, so at least I got it out of the way.
That's not to say the movie didn't have it's good parts. Some of the action scenes were great & there was enough of them to break up the dull parts scattered throughout the movie. Ray Winstone was great but again, not really a supervillain worth watching. The movie suffers from the same problem both Wonder Woman movies had, which is a supervillain not strong enough to carry the story.
In the end, Black Widow is better than both Wonder Woman movies, but that's not saying anything. Would I watch it again? Absolutely not. Did I waste my time watching it the time? Meh. Yes & no. It's an unimportant addition to the Marvel Universe, so at least I got it out of the way.
Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated Edge of Darkness (2010) in Movies
Aug 8, 2019
Mel Gibson is back on the screen in the winter thriller “Edge of Darkness”. Boston cop Thomas Craven (Gibson) is excited about his daughter Emma’s (Bojana Novakovic) visit home from her first post college employment position. Yet from the very start something seems wrong. Before dinner is even served a masked assailant kills Emma in cold blood on the porch of her father’s house leaving Officer Craven determined to figure out who killed his daughter and why which requires Craven to do this with or without the help of the law.
This is not a mystery but rather the story of a cop’s determination to avenge his daughter against impossible odds which are stacked with numerous shady characters that Craven must deal with to solve the murder, including senators, businessmen, and one title-less problem solver. Moreover, the flick walks directly into the muddy waters of morality, the law, business, and politics.
Tightly packed with characters, “Edge of Darkness” leaves little room for character development, thereby loosing much of the emotional response it seeks to create. However, the standout performance by Ray Winstone, who plays the insightful but questionably aligned Jedburgh, did lighten what otherwise is a dark and densely packed tale.
Further frustrating the viewer, the film’s ending is expected and not at all as dramatic as the buildup demanded. I left wondering why Gibson would remake the original award winning BBC-miniseries into a boring film that is ripe with undeveloped characters.
This thriller lacks the inventiveness or conclusion to make it worthy of Mel Gibson’s return. There were a couple of mildly tense moments and few well executed scenes but overall “Edge of Darkness” is really more of a substandard drama than an engaging thriller. The 117 minutes spent watching the “Edge of Darkness” was slightly enjoyable, but the story really is nothing new.
This is not a mystery but rather the story of a cop’s determination to avenge his daughter against impossible odds which are stacked with numerous shady characters that Craven must deal with to solve the murder, including senators, businessmen, and one title-less problem solver. Moreover, the flick walks directly into the muddy waters of morality, the law, business, and politics.
Tightly packed with characters, “Edge of Darkness” leaves little room for character development, thereby loosing much of the emotional response it seeks to create. However, the standout performance by Ray Winstone, who plays the insightful but questionably aligned Jedburgh, did lighten what otherwise is a dark and densely packed tale.
Further frustrating the viewer, the film’s ending is expected and not at all as dramatic as the buildup demanded. I left wondering why Gibson would remake the original award winning BBC-miniseries into a boring film that is ripe with undeveloped characters.
This thriller lacks the inventiveness or conclusion to make it worthy of Mel Gibson’s return. There were a couple of mildly tense moments and few well executed scenes but overall “Edge of Darkness” is really more of a substandard drama than an engaging thriller. The 117 minutes spent watching the “Edge of Darkness” was slightly enjoyable, but the story really is nothing new.