The HITMAN'S BODYGUARD Review — LOGAN LUCKY Review — Surprisingly Fun Fare for August
The Hitman’s Bodyguard Review — A raucous anti-buddy pic
The Hitman’s Bodyguard takes a threadbare genre: the cop and robber buddy movie, and somehow weaves it into something fun and fresh, mostly thanks to the clever pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, doing a few of the many things they do best.
Reynolds is a “Triple-A Rated Executive Protection Agent” who believes he can get back in the government game by safely delivering the world’s deadliest and coolest hitman (Jackson) to the Hague to testify against an evil dictator (Gary Oldman), who has tortured and murdered his way into power. Car chases, boat chases, motorcycle chases and romance, one of them involving the ever-gorgeous Salma Hayek, happen.
There are thrills, there’s suspense, there’s even a wee bit of tenderness, and if the fight scenes don’t match the stylish choreography of Atomic Blonde, director Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3, Red Hill) can be forgiven. It’s a decent way to chill on one of the last long hot weekends of summer.
Rated R
1 Hour 51 Minutes
https://youtu.be/tZlq3KsMxT4
Logan Lucky Review — Ocean’s 7/11
Nobody does the ensemble cast heist film better than Steven Soderbergh, who gave us Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13. Thank heavens he’s come out of “retirement,” because this (along with Baby Driver) is one of my favorite films of the summer of ’17.
I’d go see it for the cast alone. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver play Jimmy and Clyde Logan, a couple of brothers who straddle the North Carolina/West Virginia borderline, and have a legacy of bad luck. When Jimmy gets fired from his lowly construction job on the Charlotte Motor Speedway, he gets an ingenious idea to rob the place, and assembles an unlikely band of misfits to help him.
Nobody but Soderbergh would think of casting Daniel Craig as a hillbilly safecracker. Add Hilary Swank, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Dwight Yokum, Sabastian Stan and Riley Keough, all with their own brand of southern accent, and you’ve got an ensemble that not only steals the loot — they steal your heart.
As with all Soderbergh heist pics, nothing is as it seems at first, and no clue or cue is wasted. This is that rare breed of subtle comedy that engages your heart, mind and funny bone, all at the same time.
Rated PG-13
1 Hour 59 Minutes
Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.
The HITMAN’S BODYGUARD Review — LOGAN LUCKY Review — Surprisingly Fun Fare for August
by Lisa Johnson Mandell
[…] show “Dawson’s Creek” and has gone on to star in a number of television and film roles, playing Jackie Kennedy in two different productions. She was married to A-lister Tom Cruise from […]