The upcoming TV series ‘Westworld’ made me think of the original 1973 movie, which was fairly groundbreaking in its concept for the time.
The idea that we would have robots to entertain us and to allow us to live out our fantasies was just pure science fiction 40 years ago, but now as we move towards the reality of such entertainment the movie has a new meaning.
This is one of my all time favourite movies, it spares nothing in showing the filth and decay of the 18th-century. It features wonderful performances by Robert Carlyle and Johnny Lee Miller re-teaming after the huge success of Trainspotting.
The trailer begins very slowly, looking like a typical gentle British period drama, then suddenly bursting into life as our heroes take on a life of crime, the pace is fast and the action is as exciting as any car chase movie.
The modern soundtrack by Craig Armstrong stands out and greatly enhances the movie, this is a forgotten gem I highly recommend.
Storyline
Will Plunkett and Captain James Macleane, two men from different ends of the social spectrum in 18th-century England, enter a gentlemen’s agreement: They decide to rid the aristocrats of their belongings.
With Plunkett’s criminal know-how and Macleane’s social connections, they team up to be soon known as “The Gentlemen Highwaymen”. But when one day these gentlemen hold up Lord Chief Justice Gibson’s coach, Macleane instantly falls in love with his beautiful and cunning niece, Lady Rebecca Gibson.
Unfortunately, Thief Taker General Chance, who also is quite fond of Rebecca, is getting closer and closer to getting both: The Gentlemen Highwaymen and Rebecca, who, needless to say, don’t want to get any closer to him. But Plunkett still has a thing to sort out with Chance, and his impulsiveness gets all of them in a little trouble.
The title says it all ‘Natalie Portman as an 11 year old hitman’ I mean whats not to like? This American remake-spin-off of La femme Nikita, makes a clever point of telling you that something very strange is going on.
is a father figure who only has one skill to teach an orphan he finds himself suddenly forced to protect, how to kill people.
The trailer shows the gentle relationship developing between the odd couple while at the same time Miss Portman shows an astonishingly high level of skill when dismantling, cleaning, and using guns.
Throw in a crocked cop (Gary Oldman in arguably his best role ever) and you have an action packed but gentle trailer that lets you know, love it or hate it, this is a movie that is not easy to forget.
A true story from Stephen Spielberg is gripping and would just be another thriller if it was not an unbelievable retelling of actual events, very much worth seeing if you missed it.
After Black September’s assassination of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Prime Minister Golda Meir okays a black-box operation to hunt down and kill all involved. A team of five gathers in Switzerland led by Avner, a low-level Mossad techie whose father was a war hero and whose wife is pregnant. It’s an expendable team, but relying on paid informants, they track and kill several in Europe and Lebanon. They must constantly look over their shoulders for the CIA, KGB, PLO, and their own sources.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a movie that most people seem to have over-looked. It is Steve Martin and Michael Caine at their funniest,
The trailer gives away the plot pretty clearly, but there are so many laughs in this movie only a fraction appear in the trailer. In fact the very funny ending for the trailer does not even make it into the finished movie.
I think back in the 80s we all loved Mel Gibson he had a magnetic screen presence and made some great movies. then somewhere along the line he decided he would destroy his own career with so-so movies, religious extremism and lots of booze.
In my opinion he came back with the very underrated Get the Gringo
If you havn’t seen it take a look at the trailer you may like it
And now he is treading similar action ground with the August release Blood Father. The story looks like something we have seen lots of times before. Deadbeat dad try’s to save his long lost daughter from evil drug dealers.
But it does have a bit of that magic that Gibson used to produce without any effort, take a look for yourself.
