Category Archives: Crime

Nobody 2 (2025).

Lots of fun in this sequel, which ramps up the mayhem in a fairly inventive way.

In this tired, post-Taken (2008) period of the genre, you don’t really expect much beyond heads (among other body parts) being smashed, but it had some depth to it. I was reminded of A History of Violence (2005) in the lad’s inability to escape the ‘sins’ of the past, and that you can’t deny your true nature when confronted with the wrong ‘uns. And the redoubtable John Ortiz features – one of the best character actors out there.

Unfortunately, Sharon Stone was mostly annoying in a limp, unconvincing turn as a demented big momma crime lord, but I suppose that’s the point.

You’re rooting for Saul Goodman to tear her a new one.

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The Brutalist (2024). Wow.

This is what it’s all about.

A work of pure cinema with a mastery of style, I felt I was in the presence of Bernardo Bertolucci, Stanley Kubrick, and Martin Scorsese all at once.

Even the opening credits are some of the most enthralling I’ve seen; their arrival is unexpected, their form unorthodox in this monumental drama. It feels like a throwback to a time when a film was an event, but this marries the grandiose with the human element, searing, mind-blowing images sans any spaceships or capes.

The air of dread that simmers in this magnificent work is startling. You’re aware it’s all building to an unfathomable crescendo but can’t look away.

It’s always a privilege to watch a fucking amazing film.

This is one of them, privilege and film.

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The International (2009).

An intriguing first scene that takes place in Berlin promised a good thriller; anything featuring Berlin is promising.

Nice font on the opening title, and the once omniscient James Rebhorn is briefly in it. Good job.

It’s so boring, though, and anything germane it had to say about amoral bankers was lost in the relentless, mind-crushing tedium. I was hoping for Jason Bourne meets Interpol. What I got was the urge to jettison The International (2009).

I lasted 46 minutes. 

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Terence Stamp vs. Peter Fonda, a good 25 years ago.

Terence Stamp as ‘Wilson’ in the sublime crime thriller The Limey (1999), a true gem from the tail-end of a decade littered with far too many guns and crooks.

“You tell him … you tell him I’m coming. Tell him I’m fucking coming!”

His best role, without question.

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Last Man Standing (1996).

Another remake of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961), this neo-western is rubbish and not even in a curious way.

I did have high expectations for the flick as Walter Hill is a top filmmaker and this was peak Bruce Willis, that post Pulp Fiction (1994) era when he would veer seamlessly between actioner and risky movies with a bit more depth to them. This is atrocious, though, from the stupid voice-over to the stupid things every character does, to the stupid framing and the sheer stupidity of the premise, and I felt stupid for sticking with it rather than just watching A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

Stupidity is the theme.

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Die Hard (1988).

It’s funnier than all its considerable attributes as an action movie. For the carnage, it’s top tier, but it’s definitely more of a comedy than any other description.

Maybe it’s because so much of this ilk is a slew of totally witless dirge, Die Hard (1988) appears smart and a bit of an outlier.

And you see a character sparking up a fag in a limo.

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Matchstick Men (2003).

I was dreading this movie would be too reliant on the standard As Good as It Gets (1997) OCD schtick to drive the narrative but it smartly sidestepped all the easy mechanisms. A highly entertaining dramedy with two plots going on seamlessly, a con and a character study intertwined, this is another solid entry in the Cage compendium.

One wishes Ridley Scott would make inconsequential but breezy fare like this rather than all his insipid train wrecks of late, which are too numerous.

And Bruce McGill is in it, showing once again that he’s in everything. 

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The Bikeriders (2023).

My attention was drawn to this as my ears were piqued, tickled even, by Tom Hardy’s bonkers accent in the trailer – whatever accent it’s meant to be, I was intrigued. That or the feeling it was picking up the aesthetic mantel of The Wild One (1953), that seminal exploitation movie that barely merits a second viewing because it’s shite. But it does have Brando being a committed Brando.

Sadly, and this is where my faith in peculiar accents was misplaced, I was annoyed beyond composure with the lead lassie in this and her grating, stomach-churning voice, Marge Simpson scraped down a blackboard with a bit of Karen Hill from Goodfellas (1990) chucked in the vernacular mix. The entire 30 minutes I could manage this film I was telling myself, “This is so bad. My ears are in pain. I hate folk on motorcycles.”

Nice bit of scenery in the picture, open landscapes and all that; it would have been better if you just jettisoned the shitty accents, all the motorcycles, and the story, which I gave up on.

This will be the only movie starring both Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon that I’ll turn off. Sorry, lads.

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The Place Beyond the Pines (2012).

The biggest compliment I can bestow here is that Bradley Cooper isn’t annoying for one time only.

In addition to this magisterial feat, it’s a movie about misery that’s somehow captivating, and the third act is rather breathtaking in its audacity.

We have a proper movie on our hands.

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Chopper (2000).

It’s still incredible and funny as hell. In fact, this may be the funniest non-comedy movie ever.

‘Why would I shoot a bloke – BANG – and then put him in the bloody car and whiz him off to the hospital at a hundred miles an hour? It defeats the purpose of having shot him in the first place. What’s more, it’s bloody insulting, it’s bloody insulting. I mean, am I the only bloody standover man in the country who provides a medical plan for some of these characters?’

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