Tag: Russell Crowe

When The Exorcism is Better on VOD than at the Movies

Just who is worse, a person carrying a lot of guilt, or a demon that an embodiement of is the focus in The Exorcism. It just needs more than a single watch to recognise it.

The Exorcism 2024 Movie PosterNow available on VOD

Russell Crowe must love playing priests. After The Pope’s Exorcistand appearing in three other movies in between, he’s now in The Exorcism. This latest is a slow burn which sees him as an alcoholic actor who thinks he can do what’s right by trying to reconnect with his daughter (played by Ryan Simpkins) while at work. Unfortunately, he really does not know what he’s getting himself into! Casting this actor is the perfect choice, since he looks totally burnt out.

Despite a spooky introduction where an unsuspecting actor gets hurt in a faked haunted movie set, everyone remains oblivious. It’s a great start to what looks like an homage to The Exorcist, but everything that follows is the opposite. Much of the film is a slow burn.

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The Nice Guys Don’t Play Nice, They Get Nasty!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)The_Nice_Guys_poster

I knew I would be looking for Gil Gerard‘s potential return to the entertainment industry after talking to him about his career last year. He briefly talked about his appearance in Shane Black’s The Nice Guys, which wrapped filming but could not say much. This writer/director is also known for movies like Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Lethal Weapon. Due to his contractual obligations, he could not reveal too much about his role, but for an actor I grew to admire since playing two phenomenal leads, in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Side Kicks, I was keeping my eye out for him.

This neo-noir crime drama buddy film set in the late 70’s (there was a Jaws 2 billboard in the backdrop) has all the makings to set up a pair of unlikely detectives going out to solve a crime a la Starsky and Hutch. Although the year 1977 was prominently introduced, the shark movie was released a year later. Goofs aside, the fun energy from Lethal Weapon still carries in this film, and it sets up a nearly similar pairing. When Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is put on the case to find Amelia Kutner (Margaret Qualley) and she’s hired Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) to tell Holland to stay away, the case may seem easy to handle, but it’s not. Suddenly, they are thrust into the snuff film industry where she’s hiding out, and Misty Mountains becomes involved in the shenanigans because Kutner gets involved in a project where she reveals herself to be an activist. She wants to tear down the hold Detroit has in the automobile production and gas industry. Amusingly, March jokes about how electric cars will become the future. The subtext about the pollution problem (smog) in Los Angeles is glossed upon. Maybe a bit of hammering could have helped add to make this story all the more poignant.

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