Shameless Self Expression

Sandra Bullock is Debbie Ocean, sister to George Clooney’s Danny, who was the lead character of a few dreary heist movies you might’ve seen. Like her brother, Debbie’s a crim, and fresh out of prison when we meet her. She’s got her next criminal enterprise already long-planned, one for which she’ll be joined by long-time acquaintance Lou (Cate Blanchett). The heist will involve the services of a thief (Awkwafina), a tech expert (Rihanna), a jeweller (Mindy Kaling), a party planner (Sarah Paulson), a fashion guru (Helena Bonham Carter), and unwittingly a top starlet (Anne Hathaway) set to be adorned with expensive jewellery at an upcoming awards ceremony. Richard Armitage is somehow figured into all of it as Debbie’s jerk ex, whilst James Corden appears late as a detective, and Elliott Gould provides a more concrete link to the previous three “Ocean’s” films.   When this 2018 all-female attempt at an “Ocean’s” movie was first released I was in two minds about whether I was i...

Robert Culp plays a wealthy industrialist whose wife (Susannah York) and kids are kidnapped by pre- “Friday the 13 th ” hockey mask-wearing terrorists of vaguely European extraction and taken to a mountain lair somewhere in Greece. The terrorists have a list of demands, but Culp instead turns to an unusual source; James Coburn, a sea-faring adventurer and the ex-husband of York. He’s also the biological father of one of the children. Whilst the local law (represented by Charles Aznavour, of all people) seem to be playing tiddlywinks, Coburn is looking at a local troupe of hang-gliding experts…and plotting a rescue mission.   Enjoyable nonsense from director Douglas Hickox (The top-notch “Theatre of Blood” , the rather loopy “Entertaining Mr. Sloane” ), is a very silly, faddish 1976 hostage rescue mission story with a perfectly cast James Coburn. Coburn to me was the coolest actor to have lived, and here he’s typically having a great time being James Coburn. In fact, the majo...