Tag: philanthropist

How to Make a Killing

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 12 March 2026
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Director – John Patton Ford – 2026 – UK, France – Cert. 15 – 105m

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A disinherited son culls the seven family members standing between him and the fortune of his super-rich family one by one – US reimagining of Kind Hearts and Coronets is out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 13th

Sentenced to death for murder, Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) asks for a priest to visit his cell on death row so he can recount the long story behind his incarceration. The priest arrives, and Becket starts to tell his tale…

Mary Redfellow (Nell Williams) has a child, Becket (Grady Wilson), with a man her wealthy family, the Redfellows, consider beneath her station. As a result, they cut her off. She nevertheless teaches the child to be mindful of gaining his true inheritance. She has him learn archery and piano. At a piano recital as a child, he meets Julia (Maggie Toomey), a monied girl his own age, and the two immediately hit it off.

As an adult, the family’s rejection of Becket and his mother is made crystal clear to him when his mother dies and he attempts to get family funding for her funeral, the refusal coming in the terse form of a three-line letter delivered by chauffeur-driven car to the family estate gates where Becket is waiting.… Read the rest

Tags Alexander Hanson, anchor, anchor rope, archery, artist, banknotes, Bianca Amato, Bill Camp, birthright, business, chauffeur-driven car, crime caper, culturally redundant, death by drowning, death row, decision, despatch, disinherited, drunk, Ealing Comedies, earn a living, Ed Harri, entitlement, explorer, family estate, family fortune, family head, family mausoleum, family members, France, fraud, funeral, girlfriend, Glen Powell, Glenn Powell, Grady Wilson, helicopter, How to Make a Killing, inheritance, Jessica Henwick, John Patton Ford, launch into space, Maggie Toomey, manipulation, Margaret Qualley, murder, Nell Williams, nepotism, orphans, ostracism, party animal, philanthropist, photographer, piano, pool party, priest, prison cell, privilege, Raff Law, red line, religious guru, retail assistant, romance, sentenced to death, shop, squandering the family fortune, super-rich, Topher Grace, UK, uncle, Wall Street, widow, yacht, Zach Woods

Features Live Action Movies

Jurassic Park

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 16 July 1993
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(Review originally published in Third Way, May 1993.)

Director – Steven Spielberg – 1993 – US – PG – 127m

*****

A wealthy philanthropist brings dinosaurs to life from preserved fragments of their DNA to populate his island theme park – in cinemas from 16th July 1993 and back out again on Friday, September 1st 2023

“God creates dinosaurs.

God kills dinosaurs.

God creates man.

Man kills God.

Man creates dinosaurs.”

– Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), chaos theoretician.

“Dinosaurs kill man.

Women take over the world.”

– Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), palaeobotanist.

“Creation is an act of will: next time, it’ll be flawless.”

– John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), creator of Jurassic Park.

Set to become the biggest grossing movie of all time (if it hasn’t already done so by the time you read this), Steven Spielberg’s latest offering concerns a theme park built around the dream of rich industrialist John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to delight children with wonders come to life. The wonders are dinosaurs, cloned from dino DNA ingested by prehistoric insects subsequently drowned and preserved in amber. For more on this aspect of the story, read co-screenwriter Michael Crichton’s original (and best-selling) novel; Spielberg, who races through small chunks of plot as quickly as he can, isn’t interested in them half as much as he is in dinosaurs.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

The Batman

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 28 February 2022
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Director – Matt Reeves – 2022 – US – Cert. 15 – 175m

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A reinvention of the popular superhero alongside his iconic villain adversaries in a Gotham City run by corrupt elites and gangsters – out in cinemas on Friday, March 4th; home premiere available to rent from Tuesday, April 19th

The posters for Warner Bros.’ second Batman movie Batman Returns (Tim Burton, 1992) announced it with the names of three iconic characters: The Bat, The Cat, The Penguin. They could have done similar here, although The Bat, The Cat, The Penguin, The Riddler doesn’t quite work as an animal-themed slogan. However, The Batman is a very different movie – and not just because of the addition of the Riddler.

Of all the superheroes, Batman is arguably the richest in terms of raw material and its potential for reinvention. This new film is quite unlike the Nolan films which preceded it which in turn is quite unlike the Burton films which preceded them which are quite unlike the art deco animated Batman TV series which in turn is quite unlike the sixties TV series which preceded that.

In movies as in comics, Batman, Gotham City and its accompanying cast of characters appear ripe for reinvention in a way that no other superhero and their world quite does.… Read the rest