Posts Tagged ‘Mark Strong’

Short Take: An impressively deft blend of legend and history

Director: Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Gladiator)

Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland (Green Zone, Mystic River)

Cast: Russell Crowe (American Gangster, 3:10 to Yuma), Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I’m Not There), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Oscar Isaac (Body of Lies), Max von Sydow (Shutter Island), William Hurt (The Yellow Handkerchief)

Length: 2h 20m

Synopsis: As a member of King Richard’s army which seeks to pillage and sack its way across Europe on the way back to England, Robin Longstride (Crowe) elects to leave such uninspired leadership and take a faster way back to his home. In the process he and a small group of followers get entangled in a conspiracy that connects Richard’s brother John to the King of France, who seeks to overtake an England on the verge of civil war. John’s ascension to the throne accelerates this plot, however Robin and his men, along with several nobles, fight to protect their land from the invading French as well as John’s tyrannical management. The gravity of the situation is as such that a losing effort could seal the fate of all of England, and such a fate looks dire to say the least. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Tons of action and laughs, as well as surprisingly introspective

Director: Matthew Vaughn (Stardust)

Screenwriters: Matthew Vaught and Jane Goldman (Stardust); based on comic books by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Cast: Aaron Johnson (The Illusionist), Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer), Nicolas Cage (The Bad Lieutenant), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Role Models), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes)

Length: 1h 57m

Synopsis: Dave Lizewsky (Johnson) was a painfully average teenage boy growing up in New York City. One day, however, he asked himself a very serious question: why hasn’t anyone actually tried to be a super hero? Although it’s not the most realistic or feasible endeavor to pursue – or safest for that matter – he convinces himself that he should nevertheless give the idea a serious try because standing up to crime is the right thing to do. Through his efforts Lizewsky discovers the serious drawbacks to his idea by getting beaten half to death, but after recouping he dusts himself off and, after some hard-fought success with dishing out justice, is rewarded with praise and admiration from the city’s populous. Unbeknownst to him, however, his fame and actions become a thorn in the side of one of the city’s biggest crime lords, Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong). But is this teen, self-named Kick-Ass, the real nuisance, or is it someone else? Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: No longer just a sleuth, Holmes is also a hero

Director: Guy Ritchie (RocknRolla, Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)

Screenwriters: Michael Robert Johnson (Début), Anthony Peckham (Invictus)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Tropic Thunder), Jude Law (Cold Mountain, Closer), Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Red Eye), Mark Strong (The Young Victoria, Stardust)

Length: 2 hrs 8 mins

Summary: The film begins with famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Law) finishing their last case together.  They stop Lord Blackwood (Strong) just before he commits another ritualistic murder and a few days later witness him hanged for his crimes.  However, Blackwood seemingly comes back from the dead and Holmes and Watson, with some help from Holmes’s old flame Irene Adler (McAdams), try to discover Blackwood’s endgame before he kills anyone else. Read the rest of this entry »