Tag: barry-keoghan

Film Review: A Heist Along The Highway

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Crime 101 turns out to be one of the better heist films that have been released in some time. It was written and directed by Bart Layton and was based on a novella by Don Wnslow.

Chris Hemsworth is in the lead and is joined by a formidable cast which includes Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, and Nick Nolte.

Hemsworth plays a scrupulous jewel thief named Mike who does his best to not actually injure anyone during his criminal escapades. He plans to retire after he hits a certain score and is pursued by a disheveled, yet relentless LAPD detective portrayed by Ruffalo. Halle Berry plays a frustrated insurance broker who eventually gets wrapped in the jewel thief’s latest heist. Mike’s plans to retire are complicated by a psychotic rival who is acting on behalf of their employer played by Nick Nolte.

This is one of those films where seemingly disparate characters are about to be intertwined in a catastrophic encounter which culminates in a bloody climax where everyone’s morals and boundaries get stretched to a breaking point.

The film has a lot going for it. The casting is quite effective. The three main actors, Hemsworth, Berry, and Ruffalo, are all compelling to watch. It was not entirely as predictable as it could have been and so many of these types of films are. The other significant characters were also interesting. Keoghan’s portrayal of the crazy biker was also pitched where he was actually pretty terrifying at times.

The movie did have some moments where it dragged a bit and could feel a little muddled due to the shifting of perspectives.

I thought it was pretty clever how the title was misleading in that one would think it had to with some kind of class. It really dealt with the close proximity to Highway 101 which runs through Los Angeles. If one is not familiar with the geography of L.A., it’s kind of a refreshing nugget of information.

There is kind of a modern noir feel to this film that I liked quite a bit, and the film had a sense of creativity that seems so rare in today’s cinematic selections.

Crime 101 is likely to be one of the better films to be released this year. It’s not likely to be a classic, but it’s a solid piece of filmmaking that ends up being worth the money.

Film Review: An Unlikely Friendship, A Very Strange Family

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Saltburn is a black comedy thriller written and directed by Emerald Fennell. The cast includes Barry Keoghan, Jacob, Elordi, Rosamund Pike, and Richard E. Grant.

This peculiar little story starts off in Oxford in the year 2006. Keoghan plays a student named Oliver Quick who is apparently on scholarship sop he does not quite fit in with his wealthier peers. He befriends one of the popular young chaps named Felix Catton, played by Jacob Elordi. As their relationship progresses, Oliver is invited to spend some time at Felix’s ancestral estate known as Saltburn where the aristocratic, eccentric Catton family welcomes the new visitor. Another intriguing addition the cast is Archie Madekwe’s Farliegh Start, an American cousin who has been staying there was also at Oxford. Oliver may not be quite as inept and awkward as he first appears. and long, windy deception begins that leads to murder and grief.

First of all, the story itself has a very intriguing atmosphere. The cast is quite convincing in their performances. Many of the cast members were pretty new to me. I have seen Pike and Grant who play the wealthy parents many times. The younger ones clearly were talented. The set design for the estate was quite striking. The film has some moments of real beauty in the look. The problem here is that Fennell felt the need to include some pretty graphic, sexually perverse behaviors that would have worked better as merely being implied. As far as this being considered a black comedy, well, much of the so-called comedy did not really come through. Fennell seemed to overindulge in the efforts to be shocking. Instead of being shocked or appalled, I found much of the gratuitous sex to be distracting and weird. There is a whole thing at a graveside that is just completely unnecessary and too disgusting for even me to get into, and I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to the macabre.

The disappointment I had in this film is even more acute because there seemed to be a real effort at some creativity, but some decisions were made that undermined the strengths and turned it into not much more than smut. Also, some of the revelations left a few unanswered questions that could be answered in a sequel I hope is never made.

It’s just a shame I didn’t enjoy this more. I should have researched this one a little better before I saw it, but I was too intrigued by a film could have been more uniquely creative than what we have been getting out of Hollywood lately. The story and the talent were there, but this could have been so much better if Fennell had used a little self-restraint and not tried to gross out her audience.