Tag: backer

Crime 101

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 14 February 2026
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Director – Bart Layton – 2025 – US, UK – Cert. 15 – 140m

*****

A high class lone operator thief and the rigorously analytical cop on his trail cross paths with a disillusioned insurance saleswoman to the wealthy – out in UK cinemas on Friday, February 13th

As coloured dots come into focus, they are revealed to be the lights of a Los Angeles freeway upside down, an image which bookends the movie. Davis (Chris Hemsworth) exercise in his sparse apartment before donning a suit. Detective “Lou” Lubesnik (Mark Ruffalo) shaves in his small, untidy bathroom. Sharon Coombs (Halle Berry), in her bathroom, goes through the laborious task of applying make-up.

This is essentially a four-hander – more of the fourth character later on.

Davis is a lone operator who thinks through his proposed robberies beforehand in such a way as to ensure that no-one gets hurt. LAPD investigator Lubesnik has become obsessed with a string of robberies he believes committed by the same person, to the detriment, as his colleagues and superiors see it, of his regular police work. Sharon works for a high end insurance company who have been stringing her along for years with hollow promises of board membership to use her now fading good looks to close sales to wealthy clients.… Read the rest

Tags agent of chaos, Alfred Hitchcock related, Angels of Death, baby in the back room, backer, bankroll him, Barry Keoghan, Bart Layton, bathroom, beaten up, before sunrise, bellboy, betraying client information, Beverly Wilshire Hotel, bike, bike helmet, biker, boss, case the joint, Chris Hemsworth, close sales, concealed face, cop, Corey Hawkins, crime, Crime 101, criminal underworld, criss-cross, cross paths, dating, detective, disillusion, Drew Powell, driving, embarking on a romance, exchange insurance details, fading good looks, firearm, following, fool, foolproof job, freeway, get things done, gun, Halle Berry, heist, high class, insurance company, insurance saleswoman, investigation, investigator, Jennifer Jason Leigh, jeweller’s shop, jewels, lack of clues, LAPD, lie detector test, lone operator, Los Angeles, make-up, man of action, Mark Ruffalo, marriage difficulties, Mexican stand-off, Monica Barbaro, motorbike, Nick Nolte, no-one gets hurt, obsession, one last job, order and chaos, Patricia Highsmith related, Paul Adelstein, Payman Maadi, plan, point-blank, police, police work, questioning, research, return mobile phones, robbery, Route 101, security, shoot, smash and grab, social media, sound and fury, street coffee vendors, survival, tailing cars, target, Tate Donovan, thief, UK, underworld, upside down, upside down world, US, victim, watching, wealthy, wealthy clients, work difficulties

Features Live Action Movies

Odyssey
(2025)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 7 November 2025
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(2025)
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Director – Gerard Johnson – 2025 – UK – Cert. 18 – 110m

****

A ruthless London estate agent with mounting debts finds herself at the mercy of criminal backers – out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 7th

This starts off no holds barred with protagonist Natasha (Polly Maberly from Muscle, Gerard Johnson, 2019) having a tooth removed at the dentist’s, then having her card declined as she attempts to pay the £950 bill, going out of the front door after the third failed payment attempt. Throughout what follows, she will consistently receive phone messages about the outstanding amount and ignore them, although you suspect they are slowly eating away at her soul along with most of the other influences in her life. Somehow the incident seems to define her character: a driven, self-made woman – or, more accurately, a self-making one who never quite got there and lives beyond her means to maintain the illusion.

Natasha runs a tight office with right-hand woman Safi (Kellie Shirley), tech guy Spike (Charley Palmer Rothwell) developing a game-changing app for her, and promising new girl learning the ropes Dylan (Jasmine Blackborow). But Natasha is the person in charge of everything, the place where the buck stops, and despite their undoubted talents the other three seem scarcely to matter: it’s all about Natasha as she struggles to see through a hostile takeover, or, as she frames it, merger.… Read the rest

Tags a woman in a man’s world, app, Austin Collings, backer, beaten up, Ben Shafik, bloodbath, bound and gagged, business, card declined, Charley Palmer Rothwell, co-operation, competitive, competitor, corporate video, credit card, criminal, debt, dentist, deserted warehouse, dog-eat-dog, doorway, economical with the truth, emergency, empowerment, estate agent, failed payment, feminine, funding, game-changing, Gerard Johnson, gun, Guy Burnet, hand weapons, hostile takeover, Jasmine Blackborow, Kellie Shirley, kidnap, loan, London, maintenance and repair; bags of rubbish, Matt Johnson, mattress, merger, Mikael Persbrand, nightclub owner, obstacle, Odyssey, office, old family friend, outstanding amount, Pentagram, phone messages, Polly Maberly, pubs and clubs, redemptive violence, rental property, rundown farm estate, running a business, ruthless, Ryan Hayes, self-made woman, selfish ethos, slave to her phone, struggling to get by, tech guy, tenants, The The, The Viking, thriller, tooth, toxic masculinity, trampling on others, UK, underworld, unhappy clients, where the buck stops

Features Live Action Movies

Fountain of Youth
(2025)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 23 May 2025
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(2025)
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Director – Guy Ritchie – 2025 – US – Cert. 12a – 126m

Two estranged, treasure-hunting siblings, with the help of a rich backer, pursue the trail towards the life-giving water source of legend, pursued by forces that want to prevent them from doing so – premieres globally on Apple TV+ from Friday, May 23rd

Films get made in a variety of different ways. According to the press handouts, this one came about initially through producer Tripp Vinson’s research into the legendary Fountain of Youth and the desire to have a globe-trotting hero searching for it. This idea was developed by screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Scream VI, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, 2022; The Amazing Spider-man, Marc Webb, 2012; Zodiac, David Fincher, 2007) into where the hero was not one but two people, an estranged brother and sister. When director Ritchie later came on board, he brought to it the idea of the journey being more important than the destination. This is not, therefore, a director-led project. In the process of making movies, however, it is ultimately the director, once they are on board, who is responsible for the myriad decisions that are taken in putting the film on the screen.… Read the rest

Tags accomplice, action, adultery, Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Arian Moayed, art, backer, Bangkok, Benjamin Chivers, bike, brothers and sisters, Cairo, caper, car chase, Carmen Ejogo, cipher, curator, custody, decode, divorce, Domhall Gleason, Egypt, Eiza González, estranged, Fountain of Youth, gallery, gangsters, Gleason, Guy Ritchie, helicopter, inspector, Interpol, Ireland, James Vanderbilt, John Krasinski, journey, Laz Alonso, library, London, Lusitania, museum, Natalie Portman, National Portrait Gallery, painting, prodigy, pyramid, Rembrandt, Royal College of Music, seventh commandment, shipwreck, Stanley Tucci, Steve Tran, stunts, Thailand, theft, thug, torpedoed, train, Tripp Vinson, UK, US, Vienna, villain, Wicked Bible