Tag: Crime Drama

REVIEW: ‘Logan Lucky’ Is A Fun Southern Spin On The Ensemble Heist Genre

Steven Soderbergh is back with another heist film, this time without the swag and the suave characters.

“Logan Lucky” centers on the Logan family, including Jimmy (Channing Tatum), Clyde (Adam Driver) and Mellie (Riley Keough). The family is well known for being unlucky, and Jimmy is a great example. Once a promising college quarterback, the film introduces Jimmy as a man with a bad leg and out of work.

Because of the stress from being laid off and a situation regarding the custody of his daughter, he turns to his brother Clyde, an Iraq War veteran who lost his arm, with an idea for a heist. Jimmy’s plan is to steal from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, with help from Mellie and an expert safecracker named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig).

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REVIEW: ‘Elle’ Is A Dark, Disturbing Piece Powered By Isabelle Huppert’s Performance

For the first time since 2012 Paul Verhoeven returns to the director’s chair with arguably his most twisted feature film to date.

“Elle” follows the title character who’s more commonly referred to as Michele. A CEO of a major video game development company, Michele is a wealthy and rather powerful business woman living in France.

Her life, already quite complicated, becomes shattered in the opening scene of the film, though, when she’s attacked and raped at her home. What follows is an exploration of how the character deals with such a disgusting act, how it influences her decisions and how it relates to her past.

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REVIEW: ‘Hell Or High Water,’ A Modern Western And An Instant Classic

There’s been many good films released in 2016, but “Hell or High Water” is the first I can really call great.

The movie follows the Howard brothers, an ex-convict/roughneck Tanner (Ben Foster) and a divorced dad, Toby (Chris Pine). While the two are on good terms, they don’t exactly have the same way of doing things. However, the two decide to work together in a bank-robbing scheme to save their family’s ranch in Texas.

As a result, a duo of Texas Rangers are sent after the brothers. The pair includes Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) who’s about to retire and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), who has to put up with Marcus’ rough personality.

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REVIEW: Triple 9 Squanders Talented Cast With Disastrous Story

The cast of “Triple 9” includes Oscar winner Kate Winslet, Academy Award nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck and Woodey Harrelson, Golden Globe Nominee Aaron Paul and Independent Spirit Award nominee Anthony Mackie.

Simply put, this film was loaded with talent, and unfortunately it squanders it. The film follows a group of criminals who also happen to be corrupt police officers in Atlanta. The gang, which includes Michael (Ejiofor) and Marcus (Mackie) seem like they want to get out of the lifestyle they’ve fallen into, yet because they’re on the hook for the Russian mafia, led by Irina Vlaslov (Winslet), they’re forced into more heists.

Meanwhile Detective Jeffrey Allen (Harrelson) is investigating the recent heists and trying to solve who on the police force may be crooked.

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Sicario review

Director:
Denis Villeneuve
Cast:
Emily Blunt
Benicio Del Toro
Josh Brolin
Victor Garber
Rated: R

“Sicario” is directed by Denis Villeneuve, who helmed my favorite picture of 2013 “Prisoners.” The director returns for another dark film with “Sicario,” which follows an FBI agent named Kate Macer (Blunt) who joins up with an elite government task force to fight the drug war on the southern U.S. border.

Kate quickly finds out that the team, led by agent Matt Graver (Brolin) and an expert hired by the government named Alejandro (Del Toro) don’t exactly operate within all the boundaries of the law.

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Black Mass review

Director:
Scott Cooper
Cast:
Johnny Depp
Joel Edgerton
Benedict Cumberbatch
Kevin Bacon
Peter Sarsgaard
Rated: R

Johnny Depp plays real life gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in “Black Mass,” the latest film from Director Scott Cooper. The film starts in the mid-1970s and focuses on Bulger as a powerful crime lord in Boston and an FBI informant.

The film is told through flashbacks from the perspective of multiple true-to-life characters who are being interrogated by law enforcement.

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Run All Night review

Director:
Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast:
Liam Neeson
Ed Harris
Joel Kinnaman
Boyd Holbrook
Rated: R

“Run All Night” follows former mob hit man Jimmy (Neeson) who doesn’t exactly have the best luck in life. Jimmy is an alcoholic, poor and is estranged from his own son. The only person in the world who even gives him the time of day is his former boss and friend Shawn (Harris).

Problems increase for Jimmy, though when Shawn’s son gets involved in some bad crime and ends up killing another drug dealer. Jimmy’s son Mike ends up seeing the killing while on duty as a limo driver. This sets in motion a plot where Mike is on the run from Shawn’s cronies and needs the help of his father if he has any hopes of surviving.

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Inherent Vice review

Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast:
Joaquin Phoenix
Katherine Waterston
Josh Brolin
Eric Roberts
Rated: R

The story of Inherent Vice is centered on Larry “Doc” Sportello (Phoenix), a detective who has less than orthodox methods and also happens to be a fairly heavy drug user. In the midst of one of his times of getting high, Doc is visited by a person who wants him to investigate the disappearance of a former girlfriend.

As Doc begins his investigation, he uncovers numerous things going on behind the scenes and runs into a variety of interesting characters along the way.

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The Wolf of Wall Street review

Director:
Martin Scorsese
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jonah Hill
Kyle Chandler
Margot Robbie
Rated:
Trailer

Wall Street execs throw crazier parties than the guys from “Old School” and “Animal House” combined according to Scorsese’s latest flick.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is based on the true story of stockbroker Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio). Belfort, with the assistance of his eventual friend and business partner Donnie (Hill), open a firm called Stratton Oakmont. The firm becomes a billion-dollar company quickly and with that Belfort has easy access to drugs, alcohol and everything in between.

As the movie progresses, Belfort, Donnie and the firm gets richer and richer and the lifestyles become grander and more outrageous. The only problem is that what Belfort is doing at the firm isn’t considered legal and it doesn’t take long for the FBI to start an investigation.

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Out of the Furnace review

Director:
Scott Cooper
Cast:
Woody Harrelson
Christian Bale
Casey Affleck
Zoe Saldana
Rated: R
Trailer

Woody Harrelson was such a bad guy in this, I really wanted Bale to throw a Baterang at him.

“Out of the Furnace” follows Russell (Bale), a man who seems to have things going fairly well for him. He’s honest, hard working and tries to do the right things. His brother Rodney (Affleck), though, is a bit more troubled. Rodney is an Iraqi war veteran who has been on multiple tours because of the stop loss system.

Instead of looking for a steady job, Rodney enters into underground fighting rings. This gets him into more trouble, however, especially with ring leader Harlan DeGroat. After some issues Rodney ends up going missing and Russell, who’s life is going in a downward spiral, has to start thinking of making a decision on whether he should take the law into his own hands.

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