There is in Luc Besson’s ANNA fully one-third of a very good movie. That third is a finely drawn satire, cartoonishly violent in its sublimation of female rage as it addresses female exploitation in the modern world using the milieus of espionage and modeling as the metaphor. The other two-thirds is a plodding retread of… Read More »
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD
In a way, it would be a shame to saddle Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds with too much plot in THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD. The snark fest that they provide as adversaries forced to endure one another’s company is its own reward as they travel from Manchester to The Hague while fending off some very… Read More »
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 starts with Mr. Wick doing what he does best. That would be mowing his way through a horde of adversaries with a cool precision and a lethal effect. While he is doing this, we are reminded, or introduced to, if we haven’t see the first film, just who exactly Mr. Wick… Read More »
HITMAN: AGENT 47 A Swing and A Miss
This is not the first time that someone has attempted to bring the video game upon which HITMAN: AGENT 47 is based to the big screen. The last one, HITMAN starring a pre-Justified Timothy Olyphant went down in flames, and this one joins its still-smoldering carcass. It’s not that making a film out of a video… Read More »
HITMAN
Sometimes all it takes is one great image. From there the fertile imaginings of a visionary filmmaker can build a story that is a compelling, even wondrous, cinematic experience. Alas, that is not the case with HITMAN. The image is of a striking bald guy (Timothy Olyphant) in a well-tailored black suit striding about with… Read More »