“All the Old Knives” (2022) / Z-View

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All the Old Knives (2022)

Director:  Janus Metz

Writer:  Olen Steinhauer based on his book

Starring:  Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Laurence Fishburne and  Jonathan Pryce.

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Eight years ago terrorists hijacked an airplane with over 200 men, women and children aboard.  A C.I.A. team came together to create a plan to save the passengers.  As negotiations with the terrorists continued it appeared that they were getting information from a mole within the C.I.A. team.  The terrorists ended up killing everyone on board the plane including themselves.

Now, new information has surfaced that there was indeed a mole feeding the terrorists intel.  Henry Pelham (Pine), a CIA operative and member of the original team is sent to interview the others to determine the mole.  He is then to terminate the traitor.  Complicating matters is that one of the main suspects is the woman (Newton) he loved and who suddenly left him after the plane tragedy.

All the Old Knives introduces the suspects while taking us through their roles in attempting to thwart the terrorists.  This allows us to try to determine the mole along with Pelham.  I’m proud to say I figured out the mole’s identity but then there was a twist which made the movie even better.   All the Old Knives rates 4 of 5 stars.

“The Last Victim” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The Last Victim looks like a winner.  Deal me in.

The Last Victim follows a group of modern-day outlaws (led by Ineson), pursued by an aging sheriff (Perlman), who deal with the fallout of a crime gone wrong in the harsh landscape of the American Southwest. When a young professor (Larter) and her husband cross paths with the gang, they are drawn into a chain of vengeance where morality is ambiguous and survival is the only priority. DECAL will release The Last Victim in theaters and on VOD on May 13th.

“The Northman” – The Poster and 2nd Trailer are Here!

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The Northman is getting a ton of positive buzz and from the looks of the trailer, the buzz is well deserved.  I’m moving The Northman to my movies to watch list.

From visionary director Robert Eggers comes THE NORTHMAN, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father’s murder. With an all-star cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.

Only in theaters April 22nd.

“The Takedown” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Despite the generic poster, The Takedown looks like a fun ride.  Since it is on Netflix, it’s a no-brainer to check it out.

Ousmane Diakité (Omar Sy) and François Monge (Laurent Lafitte) are two cops with very different styles, backgrounds and careers. The unlikely pair are reunited once again for a new investigation that takes them across France. What seemed to be a simple drug deal turns out to be a high scale criminal case wrapped in danger and unexpected comedy.

Watch The Takedown, only on Netflix May 6

“The Bolt Connection” – Animated Robot Noir Short!

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The Bolt Connection features stylish animation with a futuristic, noir feel.  Bravo!

After a heist that goes wrong, a frail robot who was the driver of a robot mafia ends up being in possession of some loot he shouldn’t have, a human heart. Tempted by the opportunity of being like his bosses, he grafts the heart to himself and discovers the feeling of being alive. But those brief instants of life have a price.

It is a CGI animation film made by six students of Supinfocom Valenciennes in France during their Graduation Year. The Directors are Nicolas Lebas, Mathilde Dourdy, Maurine Lecerf, Shih-Hui Pan, Claire Cartier and Thibault Grunenberger. It’s a violent film largely inspired by Film Noir and Gangster movies.

Source: GeekTyrant.

“Frank & Penelope” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Frank & Penelope may not be for everyone.  Heck, it may not be for me, but I like the poster’s design and the trailer looks like drive-in fun.  Who doesn’t like a good crime/horror mashup.  The question is: Will Frank & Penelope be good?

I’ll let you know.

While on the run from the law, Frank and his stripper girlfriend Penelope come upon a small motel and diner and decide to rest for the night. The next day, after robbing the diner, they become immersed in a hellish nightmare when the proprietor — a psychotic, cannibalistic Bible-thumper with a sadistic family — take them on a life and death journey, where escape is just a heart-pounding breath away.

CAST: Kevin Dillon, Billy Budinich, Caylee Cowan, Sean Patrick Flanery, Donna D’Errico, Johnathon Schaech, Sonya Eddy, Lin Shaye

DIRECTOR: Sean Patrick Flanery

“Find Her” – Written, directed and starring Nick McCallum – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I like the poster and trailer for Find Her.  Deal me in.

When an ex-cop arrives in a small town searching for answers to a murdered ranch owner and his missing daughter, it slowly becomes clear he has his own personal agenda to finding the truth.

Written, directed and starring Nick McCallum.  Also starring Richard Gunn, Anais Lilit, Stelio Savante and John James.

“Babylon A.D.” (2008) / Z-View

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Babylon A.D. (2008)

Director:  Mathieu Kassovitz

Writers:  Mathieu Kassovitz & Joseph Simas (screenplay) with Éric Besnard (scenario and dialogue) based on the novel by Maurice G. Dantec.

Starring:  Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Mélanie Thierry, Gérard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling.

Tagline:   Save the World One Child at a Time.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

In the near future, Toorop (Diesel), is an exiled American mercenary living in a dangerous gang-ridden Russian slum.  Toorop is hired to safely transport Aurora (Thierry) and her guardian (Yeoh) across the war torn continent and sneak them into the United States.  Under the best circumstances this would be a tough gig, but the fact that two different organizations have sent armed teams to kidnap Aurora for vastly different reasons makes survival unlikely.

Babylon A.D. is an under-rated and flawed film that I absolutely love.  Bad weather, budget over-runs, problems  between the director and 20th Century Fox all contributed to the end result.  20th Century Fox released a drastically cut (reports range from 15 to 93 minutes shorter than the director’s cut) theatrical version with almost zero publicity.  In 2011, Mathieu Kassovitz released a behind the scenes documentary of the troubled production called Fucking Kassovitz.  I’ve seen the documentary.  It is clear that problems with the production team meeting the director’s vision were enormous.

With that said, I still love Babylon A.D.  It has scope, vision and attempts to rise above the action genre film.  There’s so much to love.  The opening with Toorop in the Russian slum.  Gorsky (Depardieu), the Russian crime lord’s method of getting Toorop on board.  How Gorsky gets Toorop to the convent to pick-up Aurora.  Slowly seeing that there is more to Aurora than meets the eye.  The gradual development of respect and then friendship between Toorop and Sister Rebeka (Yeoh).  The parkour fighters.  Toorop “rescuing” Aurora from the monster cage fighter.  The submarine scene.  Escaping the drones.  The New York showdown and more.

Babylon A.D. is not a great movie.  As I said at the start, it is flawed.  But I love what they did get on film.  I’ve watched Babylon A.D. several times over the years and like it better with each viewing.  This is one where I expect the mileage will differ from mine with many viewers.  Why not give it a shot and see?  As for me, I rate Babylon A.D. five of five stars.

JACK REACHER: NO PLAN B by Lee Child and Andrew Child is Coming!

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Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novel are already best seller and with the popularity of the Reacher television series, they should sell even more.  We’ll find out this October 25th, when No Plan B, the new Jack Reacher novel premieres.

The gripping new Jack Reacher thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child. The plan: It’s coming Fall 2022. No Plan B.

In Gerrardsville, Colorado, two witnesses to the same tragedy give two different accounts. One guy sees a woman throw herself in front of a bus in what authorities will call a suicide. The other witness is Jack Reacher. And he sees what actually happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving like a shadow, pushed the victim to her death—before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away.

Reacher follows the killer on foot, not knowing that he is part of something much bigger and far-reaching . . . a secret conspiracy with many moving parts, with powerful people on the take, all involved in an undertaking that leaves no room for error. If any step is compromised, the threat will have to be quickly and quietly and permanently removed.

Because when the threat is Reacher, there is No Plan B….

THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias!

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The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias is on my to-be-read list.  I’m a fan of Iglesias’ Zero Saints and love the plot of The Devil Takes You Home.  Check it out and see what you think,

From Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author, Gabino Iglesias, comes a genre-defying thriller about a father desperate to salvage what’s left of his family, even if it means a descent into violence –both supernatural and of our own terrifying world.

Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

The Devil Takes You Home is a panoramic odyssey for fans of S.A. Cosby’s southern noir, Blacktop Wasteland, by way of the boundary-defying storytelling of Stephen Graham Jones and Sylvia Moreno-Garcia.