Shameless Self Expression

Robert Redford stars as a 74 year-old bank robber and prison escape artist who just can’t stop himself from plying his trade no matter how old and hard-of-hearing he may be. It’s a life he’s been on since he was 15 years-old. Now with his similarly aging ‘Over the Hill Gang’ accomplices (played by Danny Glover and Tom Waits), Redford is a thorn in the side of determined cop Casey Affleck. Meanwhile, Redford spends the rest of his time talking sweet with a widowed rancher (Sissy Spacek), who doesn’t believe him when he calmly explains that he’s a bank robber.   This 2018 geriatric true-crime story from writer-director David Lowery seems like classic Clint Eastwood territory – think “Escape From Alcatraz” meets “The Mule” – but Robert Redford ( “The Hot Rock” , “Brubaker” , and “Sneakers” ) turns out to be the star of this one. He’s a very fine choice, and certainly more ingratiating company than Eastwood would’ve likely been. Looking older than one of those ancient turtles th...

Scott Adkins plays a troubled, down-on-his-luck former MI6 agent who turned his back on that life after a horribly botched incident years ago (His wife was killed). Now he’s a ne’er-do-well single dad who participates in the odd MMA skirmish, not always on the winning end. Even his daughter (Honor Kneafsey) makes bets on his opponent winning. Yeesh. One day, a Ukrainian journalist (Yuliia Sobol) whose dad was an associate of Adkins back in the day, approaches him with a big story involving nasty Russians and nerve gas. Not his problem, not his interest. When Russian agent/torturer Anna Butkevich kidnaps Adkins’ daughter, he’s tasked with locating the now missing journalist who apparently has some top-secret material that Butkevich and her employer badly want.   Watchable Ukrainian-financed 2020 near-miss from Dutch director Adrian Bol isn’t one of hard-working Scott Adkins’ more memorable films. The box-art calling this Adkins’ James Bond is ridiculous hyperbole, but it’s defin...