2,916 words
Where would cinema be without its paid assassins, hired guns, and hitmen? The profession of hitman seems a fairly straightforward job description, but the great hitman movies both differ enormously and are far from straightforward. The target, the contract, the money, the hit, right? Wrong. These various tales of men hired to kill other men forms a genre which comes at you from different perspectives and in varied cinematic styles. (more…)
2,353 words
Philippa Jayne Langley (Sally Hawkins) is an office frump in Edinburgh — and a depressed one. She is passed over for promotion because she isn’t charming enough, which is true. She dresses like she gets her clothes from a bad aunt’s closet, her hair is clipped, and her doleful eyes suggest a mousy wife whose marriage to John (Steve Coogan) is in freefall. Her two sons are obsessed with video games, and her husband openly tells Philippa that he has a mistress. This is not done out of bitterness; for all their marriage’s failings, John and Philippa are honest and rational. They may not be happy, but they are decent in the old English way. (more…)