Movie Review: How to Make a Killing

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It is never a good sign for a new movie release when a key fact on the poster does not match the movie. The main character, Becket Redfellow, can inherit 18 Billion Dollars (from the movie), not 28 Billion Dollars (from the movie poster). From ChatGPT, this could be about movie marketing, but for me, this looks like a glaring error right from the start.

After one of the women in a wealthy family marries the wrong man, whom she later divorces after having a son, she is barred from having anything to do with the family or their money. What doesn’t make much sense in the movie’s main premise is how her son could have any claim to the 18 billion dollar family fortune after she was banned from the family, and later dies. Why would her son somehow be able to kill the seven relatives in the family who are the remaining heirs, and then be somehow unbanned from the family because he is the only remaining relative? It also does not appear that the son or his mother are the kind of people who would consider mass murder for money. Why would anyone think they could kill seven people in a row and get away with it? From the start, this logline or movie concept should never have been greenlighted.

“How to Make a Killing” stars Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow, Margaret Qualley as Julia who is a former insane girlfriend of Becket, Jessica Henwick who plays the love interest in Becket and Ed Harris as Whitelaw Redfellow, who is the head of the family and the subject of a hunting rifle and bow and arrow scene with Becket at the end of the film – one of the few impressive scenes in this below average movie. Unfortunately, this movie does not work on several levels, including the rare attempts at humor or irony.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are a correct and very low 48%, and I agree with this rating and do not recommend this film.

Movie Review: Wuthering Heights

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The book, “Wuthering Heights” , written by Emily Brontë, was published in December 1847 and is one of the most well-known books of its kind in history. Five movies have been produced from 1939 to 2011; with this new version, starring Margo Robbie and Jacob Elordi, the sixth. This new movie is only inspired by the original book and is not a faithful adaptation. For those thinking that this movie is a typical love story with a happy ending, you will be disappointed. The main message I received from this film is that love can bring out the best and the worst in people. Love can invoke extreme anger, jealousy, rejection, fear, ego, cruelty, depression, and revenge. Far too often, the joy that comes with love can be followed by an equal amount of unhappiness and anger.

This story starts with a poor family adopting a homeless boy, and over the years, the boy, Heathcliff, becomes more than brother and sister to his new sister, Cathy. Their father is a very unhappy, cruel man, played by Martin Clunes, who gambles away all their money. By a fluke of luck, Cathy is taken in by a wealthy family, which forever separates her from Heathcliff, providing the major conflict of love and loss for the remainder of this story. When Cathy and Heathcliff reunite after many years, their reunion creates a great deal of anger and revenge, not happiness. Within a few weeks, Heathcliff marries a young woman, Isabella, played by Alison Oliver, who is part of the wealthy family, even telling her that the only reason he is marrying her is to hurt Cathy. What follows are scenes of Heathcliff abusing Isabella, with one disgraceful and unnecessary scene where he has Isabella crawl around on the floor and bark like a dog. Why the hell have a scene like this in any movie like this one? We get it. Love can hurt. We know this, we also do not need to see someone being cruely treated and abused.

The ratings for this movie are correctly low with both IMDB and with the critics. If there was any chance for this film to receive high ratings, the abusive, cruel scenes, and the depressing, too-long story killed any chance of positive reviews. It is hard to understand why a movie like this was made, and why rising and famous actors like Margo Robbie and Jacob Elordi would read a screenplay like this and then agree to take the part.

The IMDB rating of 64% and the Rotten Tomatoes rating of 63% are correct, and I rate this movie 50% and advice to steer clear of this too-long, dark, depressing mess.

Movie Review: Crime 101

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The new movie “Crime 101” that stars many known actors: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Monica Barbaro, Nick Nolte and Halle Berry, tells the story of a worn-down police officer, Ruffalo, a jewel theif, Helsworth and an unhappy employee of a high-end insurance company. This story is not told sequentially like most movies, but within a series of parallel events where about 6 different stories are told simultaneously, and at the conclusion, several of these stories intersect in a climactic scene. This kind of storytelling is innovative, but most of the scenes are about jewel heists, chase scenes, and gunfights that we have all seen before.

By far the best part of this movie is the story about Helle Berry, who plays Sharon, an 11-year employee of a large, upscale insurance company that caters to the super-rich. Now at age 53, Sharon has been lied to for years and promised a promotion to a partner of the firm she works for, and has been strung along for years, with lies including “we will see in January”, “just hold tight”, “we are putting a pin in this for now”, “it is right around the corner”. Sharon’s frustrations about years of being lied to, understandably, turn into overwhelming anger, leading her to make a huge mistake – becoming involved with a criminal named Davis, played by Hemsworth. The one scene with Sharon confronting the lowlife CEO of the insurance company when he tries to groom a much younger employee to take Sharon’s place is extremely well written and well-acted. This one scene makes it worth seeing this movie, for all of us who have worked for companies and have been lied to, and treated with injustice and disrespect.

As far as the ending, I thought it was very close to not being believable, considering the circumstances and the decisions of the long-suffering police officer, Lou, played by Ruffalo, that in the real world he would very likely never make.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for Crime 101 is a too high 86%, with my rating around 80% and a moderate recommendation.