I was intrigued by the trailer of this film, so I decided to see it in the theater.
I am glad to say that my expectations were exceeded. It was more than your typical heist movie. There was corruption, politics, violence, family loyalty, betrayal and love. WHATS IT ABOUT? Harry and his crew rob a local gangster of 2 million dollars and the entire crew is killed in the process. It is not long before the Manning brothers come to Veronica, Harry's widow, for the money. She discovers Harry's journal detailing his past jobs and the next job he was planning. Veronica has the option to sell her husband's journal to Jamal Manning to perhaps settle the debt, but opts instead to lead the other widows of her husbands crew to run his final heist. NOTABLE ACTORS Viola Davis plays Veronica leader of the widows heist crew. She is best known for her role as Annalise Keating in How To Get Away with Murder. Robert Duvall plays Tom Mulligan patriarch of the Mulligan family that has been involved in ward politics for generation. He is best known for Tender Mercies and The Godfather. Colin Farrell plays Jack Mulligan, who is running for Alderman and is the subject of many corruption investigations. Lukas Haas - he is best remembered as young Samuel in Witness. Liam Neeson plays Harry Rawlings. He is best known for playing Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List. Michelle Rodriguez plays Linda, one of Veronica's crew. She is best known for playing Letty in the Fast and Furious franchise. RECAP This film was much better than I expected. It had the feel of The First Wives Club where all the wives decide they are going to take charge of their own future. It also reminded me of the Amazon Prime series Sneaky Pete where the protagonist is forced to commit illegal acts in order to repay a debt to a gangster. I thought Viola Davis was really good in her role. She seemed to play helpless and yet completely in control in a very convincing way. Also there was a twist in the plot that surprised me and I think the trailer explained just enough, yet not spoiling the entire piece. All in all, I highly recommend this movie to anyone that likes to watch a good heist flik.
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When I saw that this series was being released, I was immediately intrigued because I enjoyed the film.
Then I wondered how close it would adhere to the film plot- it turns out it is only partly based on both the novel and the film, which they state at the beginning of the episodes. Epix network released season 2 of this series in fall 2018, but they dropped season 1 on Netflix. I really liked this series because it was different than the film and I thought it was darker and yet funny at the same time. Now, having said that, I don't think that the series is better than the film. Yes. I know that the series is only loosely based on the novel by Elmore Leonard and the film of the same name so this may not be a fair comparison. SIMILARITIES 1. A mobster goes to Hollywood to collect on a debt. 2. He helps produce a potential award-winning screenplay. 3. He has to keep his boss happy while navigating the film industry. DIFFERENCES 1. The movie tells the story within the story of Leo the dry cleaner faking his death on order to collect the insurance money. 2. In the series, Miles convinces his boss to invest in the film, whereas Chili is keeping his boss out of the loop so he can operate independently. 3. In the series, Miles and Louis are shopping a screenplay from a guy they killed and are passing it off as their own. Whereas Chili is shopping his own story and simultaneously helping Zimm get his script produced. 4. In the series, they have partnered with a major studio in order to have a bigger budget, but the head of the studio ultimately cancelled the movie in order to cover the losses on other projects. 5. In the series, there is a Godfather II story-line where Miles is losing his family due to the danger from his job, which is why he is so desperate to launch a new career in Hollywood. I think that the way they adapted the film for television was well done. I think that wanting to reunite with his(Miles) family was a better motivation for changing his profession than just a love of movies. I enjoyed the performances of Ray Romano and Chris O'Dowd as they were both understated and stayed within themselves. All-in all, I would recommend this series. What did you all think? Please like or comment on facebook. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day. When the producers of HOC decided to fire Kevin Spacey, they should have ended the show at season 5.
I would have been perfectly fine with where they ended it at that point because I really didn't care how Claire handled the presidency. I never liked Claire as a character, although I think Robin Wright portrays her quite well. This final season was a pile of crap. I don't think it measured up to any of the previous seasons in terms of quality. The story was all over the place and the ending was pure trash. They wrote the plot as a leftist wet dream of what they believe should happen to Trump. I'm not going to write a full-blown review on this season. It is not worth my time or my notice. What did you all think? Like or comment on Facebook and thanks for reading. Who Benefits?
This is the question that should have been asked at every turn in this third season of Daredevil. Anyone that couldn't figure out that Kingpin was playing the FBI and especially Dex and Ray was blind and perhaps has never watched a Marvel series. Despite the plot predictability, I really enjoyed this season, but I don't know if it was better than previous seasons of Daredevil. WHATS IT ABOUT? I'm not going into too many specifics here. Daredevil is licking his wounds from his battle with the Defenders and questioning the meaning of it all. Meanwhile Fisk is laying the groundwork for his ultimate release and his revenge against Daredevil ending in an epic showdown between the two. Foggy and Karen are trying to get information to put Fisk back behind bars, but can't seem to get corroboration on anything. OBSERVATIONS 1. As usual, D'Onofrio killed it as Kingpin. He is savage against his supposed enemies and a brilliant tactician. 2. I guess the long-lost mother trope worked so well in Jessica Jones that they decided to try it again. 3. Bullseye was an interesting addition to the series as he gave Kingpin some clay to mold. 4. The action in the season finale was great. The episode just flew by. 5. Kingpin's turning of the FBI agents was a Corleone move. He creates problems for people and then becomes the only person willing to step up and help them solve it. 6. Fisk pulled a Whitey Bulger move by informing to the FBI to eliminate his competition. As previously stated, I really enjoyed this season and I believe that it will be renewed for another season. What did you all think? Like or comment on Facebook if you want. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day! |
Clare BlyAspiring novelist. Archives
March 2024
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