Shameless Self Expression

Liam Neeson stars as a roguish ex-Marine and proficient bank robber of several years, with a proficiency in explosive devices in particular. Unfortunately, he has fallen in love with Kate Walsh, and he feels the need to end his criminality. He decides to call up the FBI and reveal that he’s the elusive ‘In and Out Bandit’ and would like to turn himself in and hand over the money he has acquired over the years…which he has kept locked up in a storage locker. He’ll gladly accept the recommended prison sentence, though he’s hoping honesty will get him enough of a reduced sentence that he can go back to his life with Walsh (Who knows nothing about his past, so I’m not sure how that was expected to work). Jaded and glib FBI agent Jeffrey Donovan is completely disinterested, handing the job over to younger agents Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos. Courtney and Ramos are bent, decide to take the loot for themselves, framing Neeson for murder in the process. With Donovan now leading the pursuit o...

Scott Adkins leads an elite Navy SEAL team who arrive at a high-security CIA black-ops prison site. There they are met by CIA analyst Ashley Greene-Khoury as they are to escort a British citizen with possible terrorist ties (Waleed Elgadi) off the island the prison is situated on. He claims to be an innocent man, but the CIA feel he knows vital information about an impending terrorist attack. Meanwhile, a group of Algerian insurgents (led by Jess Liaudin and Lee Charles) arrive to rub out the prisoner, and a shootout/siege ensues. Ryan Phillippe plays the prison head with a distrust of Greene-Khoury, whilst Terence Maynard (from Adkins’ enjoyable “Accident Man” ) turns up as an underling of Phillippe’s.   So far as one-take films go, this 2021 action flick from director James Nunn (Adkins’ quite watchable “Eliminators” ) and his co-writer Jamie Russell (whose previous experience is short film scripts) has one thing over Alfred Hitchcock’s experimental “Rope” – Nunn doesn’t app...

In 786AD, the Vikings are battling the Brits, with Brit Sir Rutford (Andrea Checchi) greatly overpowering the Viking forces, eventuating in Viking King Harald meeting his maker in Valhalla. His surviving sons Eron and Erik grow up in different countries, Erik is taken in by Queen Alice, wife of British King Lotar (Franco Ressel), who unlike Sir Rutford, never wanted any blood spilled. Meanwhile, Eron stays in his Viking homeland and 20 years later he has become the new king of the Vikings (and is now played by Cameron Mitchell), unaware that his brother survived the attack all those years ago. Somehow, the duplicitous Sir Rutford has managed to become an important ally to the new Viking ruler (despite orchestrating the original attack), and he helps Eron launch an attack on the British, even kidnapping Queen Alice for good measure. Once Erik (now played by George Ardisson) hears of this he sails north to rescue her, setting up an inevitable brother vs. brother showdown.   Good-...

In a near-future L.A. where society has gone to shit and riots are commonplace, disgraced medical professional Jodie Foster (with haggard, aged makeup) runs a top-secret medical facility called Hotel Artemis. It’s a safe sanctuary and patch-up place for criminals and undesirables (for a price, of course). Dave Bautista plays her chief security man, and there are strict rules to adhere by including no weapons on the premises, no cops allowed, and only members allowed admittance. Arriving at The Artemis this evening is bank robber Sterling K. Brown, whose accomplice (Brian Tyree Henry) is severely wounded and in need of medical care. Professional assassin Sofia Boutella and all-round arsehole arms dealer Charlie Day are also staying at the hotel. Things get complicated when Foster breaks her own rules and allows wounded cop Jenny Slate (!) to come in, which won’t please the other guests should they find out. Meanwhile, powerful gangster (and financial backer of The Hotel Artemis) Jeff Go...

Set in the 1960s, George (Kevin Costner) and wife Margaret (Diane Lane) live on a ranch in Montana with their son and his new wife, and their young boy. Unfortunately, early in the film George and Margaret lose their son in a tragic, sudden death. Cut to a few years later and former daughter-in-law Lorna (Kayli Carter) has just been married to a guy with the clearly douchebag loser name of Donnie Weboy (played Will Britain). When Margaret is out shopping one day she witnesses Donnie being physically abusive to both Lorna and the kid. When she later goes to confront the couple about this, she finds they have suddenly vanished. Undeterred, Margaret and a rather reluctant George travel to North Dakota in search of other members of the Weboy clan in the hopes of finding Lorna and their grandson. Lesley Manville plays the Weboy family matriarch, with Jeffrey Donovan another of the clan.   Put “Taken” , “The Searchers” , and “No Country For Old Men” in a blender and you might get so...