Argylle (and other spylarks)

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Decided to hop out to a random movie on Sunday, and that turned out to be Argylle.

 

I think it's worth a watch (possibly on streaming), though spoilery notes ahead...

Spoiler

• The plot gets twisted - perhaps too much...
• ...and much as I love a movie that ain't what it seems, at least one shark is jumped... on ice-skates.
• It's a major achievement making Henry Cavill look unattractive, but the hair and the Nehru do it.
• And fun as he is, Sam Rockwell is a few inches short of what Bryce should be expecting, to my mind. 
• John Cena steals every moment he's in, and is rapidly growing into a proper comedic actor. (Cavill... could take some notes.)
• Also, Cranston and the ever-wonderful Catherine O'Hara deliver on their respective gigs.
• At least two too many ludicrous Austin Powers-y setpieces, though I'd have kept the smoke-bomb one.
• And the Oscar for Best Feline Stunts In A Movie goes to...
• Oddly, the backstory and tie-in book for the movie looks more fun than the movie itself - and while Argylle: Book One looks to be a stealth reboot of Vaughn's Kingsmen series, I'm quite looking forward to it if it ever happens.
• Music belongs to a much better movie...
• ...but Taylor Swift didn't write this, as was rumoured, or she would have had several reviewers killed by now.

 

On that note, I'm in the mood for a good spy caper (especially with my "Jayne Blonde" AC/AA Dominator running around Paragon).

Anything good I should add to queue?

Edited March 4 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Mr. Vee]

I assume you've seen Slow Horses, which has almost caught my favorite spy show Spooks (which I know you've seen from another thread), and the Americans. soooo Deutschland '83? A Spy Among Friends? The Informant? The Ipcress File (the recent show)? some of those are slow burns even at my watch speeds though. I've got nothing on the movie front as I barely watch them anymore.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Thanks. Have caught bits of Slow Horses, kind of gave up on Americans halfway through, and Informant has now been added to queue. Not heard of the Ipcress File remake, will take a look.

 

On the movie front, speaking of spy movies - and making Henry Cavill look weird...

 

...it's a Guy Ritchie war movie. Sort of. 

For those of you who aren't history nerds, the title is Churchill's nickname for WW2's Special Operations Executive.

SOE's ops weren't quite as colourful as the poster and movie make out, because they'd have stood out like sore thumbs.

But they did come from all walks of life, and were trained to blend in, while working as assassins, thieves, spies and military advisors/trainers to Resistance groups.

And their story does need to be told.

 

If you're interested in this kind of thing, you can get the SOE's collected Training Manual on Amazon - including self-defence techniques, how to fling an exploding rat, and a field guide to burglary "compiled with the help of professional and patriotic criminal sources."

[Mr. Vee]

One hopes it's the good Guy Ritchie rather than the other Guy Ritchie but 'from the director of Sherlock Holmes' bodes ill on that front. Speaking of Guy, interested to see what happens with the series version of the Gentlemen later this week. the expand-a-movie-into-a-series thing seems to be a whole genre now. Just finished the first season of Sexy Beast, which i liked quite a bit more than the movie which I remembered as fairly boring aside from Ben Kingsley yelling.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Speaking of Guy Ritchie: if you like his movies, you probably want to check out The Gentlemen series on Netflix that m'learned coll' mentions above.

 

It's not a reboot or remake so much as a massive expansion of the idea, taking the very basic set-up - a massive underground weed farm under a stately home - and pulling in a whole new cast of characters, setups and buckets of blood.

 

Ritchie has clearly benefited from having a much bigger writers' room for the series. It's still wordy as hell, but less awkward, and regularly gutlaugh funny ("Sorry, what's a... what's a leccy bill?").

 

It also gains from three solid leads in Theo James, Kaya Scodelario and Daniel Ings, plus a big ensemble cast who still all get enough to do, and guest stars like oily-smooth Giancarlo Esposito who gets to drop epic quotes in every appearance. ("You know what I love about the British aristocracy? They're original gangsters. 75% of everything they got, they stole"). And no Hugh Grant, which - if you've seen the movie - is a good thing for once.

 

Particular props to regular hard man Vinnie Jones - who's getting to show off a softer, more cerebral side a la Dave Bautista, and has clearly grown as an actor in the last few years. He's even a gentle, hesitant romantic, though it's gonna help a lot playing that against Joely Richardson. 

Edited April 2 by ThaOGDreamWeaver