Just got back from watching it.

Worth a look.

Had some really good bits and some bad bits.

A bit long in the tooth imo, getting sick of them like the superhero movies.

Jack Taylor.

Based on Ken Bruen's noir series about an ex-Garda (Irish police) officer turned private investigator in Galway.

Unfortunately, though I looked forward to seeing this film, it did not capture the true noir of Jack Taylor, with his absolute cynicism and drinking to extreme and propensity for violence and some very deep and dark associates.  Instead it gave us a rather sensitive character who cared deeply without being sufficiently innured to violence and nastiness and prepared to go the whole hog when driven to it.  Damn - it didn't even explore his possession of his old Gard coat and the perpetual conflict between the Gardae and Jack over its return as a piece of state property.

Also missed out on posing 'Ridge' - the female Garda officer - as 'straight' rather than lesbian and somewhat confused about it, and instead substituting the interplay between the two, Jack and the lesbian, with a developing romantic style attachment of a younger woman to the older and worn Jack.

Also failed dismally in trying to put together too many Jack Taylor strands in one - the film was loosely - and I say loosely - based on 'The Magdalen Martyrs' - a much darker and hideous tale than that portrayed, and which did not involve directly Jack Taylor's mother.

Would have been better served in developing the conflict between mother and son over a series, rather than trying to cast the whole thing in a short-cut style of thing in one film and laying the entire blame for the mother/son matrix on the Magdelen upbringing that his mother did not have in the books.

Also did not develop in any meaningful way the conflict between Jack and Father Malachi, but sort of coasted along on the assumption that any viewer had read the books.

In terms of characterisation, the lead male did not carry the character noir of Jack Taylor.... too 'snaggy' and too given to walking the straight and narrow, whereas Bruen's Jack Taylor was content to breach the rules at the drop of a hat and to resort to violence of the third kind as often as necessary. 

Far too soft for Our Jack in Galway and should have been more of the total drunk iconoclast sort of Jack Reacher type.

Should have been done as a series and not a film, and the director needs shooting.  I think it was somehow waylaid by an Irish kind of morality, where the lead character must in some way always be seen to be holy and somehow saintly, regardless of his actions.

Anyone wanting to view "Downsizing" as a proper movie to satisfy their macrophilia/microphilia fetish will be severely disappointed. Though, Downsizing does make for a good movie.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle



Brilliant...

mind you.. I should have watched the first one again before this one...

I haven't seen a good action movie for a long time... and I especially liked the London Taxi Cab "drifting" scene... 

especially good considering my huge TV and 7.1 surround sound system wiht twin 10" pumping sub woofer.. BOOM!!!!! 

I seriously was considering a Pitch Perfect 3 movie tonight, just to get out of this humid heat. But I think I will save my spare ticket for tomorrow's "All the money in the world". I have the day off tomorrow and will review it upon my return home.

All the money in the world

A fairly decent kidnapping movie. The story is based on JP Getty about his decision to not pay a ransom for his grandson. The story is embellished and changed for dramatic effect. Mark Walberg plays some negotiator who organises to try and reduce the ransom amount when it emerges that his employer, Getty, won't pay the $14 million ransom. Michelle Williams plays the mother of the kidnap victim, Paul. Christopher Plummer plays the role of JP Getty, the oil billionaire.

This movie was actually quite dull and did not hold much tension to interest me. Plummer was the only shining light in the movie, and he played his role with as much coldness as the role required. Wahlberg and Williams seemed both out of their element in this story. I felt that because of the re-write of the story with Plummer replacing Spacey, both Wahlberg and Williams seem tired from redoing their scenes.

Wait until this movie is out on dvd before watching it. You are not missing much.

Vic wrote on Jan 5^th, 2018 at 10:19am:


Did you think that the movie could have worked just as well if the "downsizing" element was not there? I thought the resizing part of the story was there to suck people in to going to see the movie. As in, that there was the idea that there would be more interaction with full size and miniature people? I thought there would be trod on moments.

Highly recommend watching "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

A terrific movie but be warned the language is pretty intense!     Great storyline and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.   Lots of "black humour" as well within the plotline.

9/10 for me