Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) is a retired hitman with the colorful nickname “The Gravedigger”. Quite possibly, he’s retired from the Taken movie series, though I fear there are more of those in the pipeline. But Neeson’s basically the same character in Run All Night. The difference this time is that he’s protecting his estranged son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) rather than rescuing his kidnapped daughter or wife. Everything goes south when Jimmy’s childhood buddy, mob boss Shawn…Read More
Review: Snowpiercer
Through a happy coincidence, a friend invited me over to watch the English-language Korean release of the sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer. The US distribution rights have been purchased by The Weinstein Company and it’s scheduled for a US release on June 27, so this review is of what’s possibly a slightly different version (though industry buzz is that the changes that TWC asked director Bong Joon Ho to make were all rejected). I’m a sucker for apocalyptic…Read More
Review: Pain & Gain
There are two fundamental problems with the action “comedy” Pain and Gain: First, Michael Bay is the wrong director for this sort of material, and second, whoever cast the likable Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson in the film made a terrible mistake. I like Wahlberg and Johnson, and that’s the problem: In the film the criminal masterminds they portray are such losers that it’s just wrong to have these two popular actors in these roles….Read More