Greedy People

2024 Lionsgate Films

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 52min

Action ~ Comedy ~ Crime ~ Thriller

Directed by: Potsy Ponciroli

Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Tim Blake Nelson, Traci Lords, Jim Gaffigan, Uzo Aduba and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

FINDER$ KEEPER$

Will (Himesh Patel) and his expectant wife Paige (Lily James) have just moved to the small coastal Island Town of Providence, South Carolina. Will is starting a job as a Police Officer in the town’s Police Department. Will heads in for his first day on the job and after meeting Police Captain Murphy (Uzo Aduba), he is assigned to be Officer Terry Brogan’s partner. Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has been with the police force for sixteen years and takes Will on a tour of the Island, starting with Tilly’s Coffee Shop where they can get free coffee. Then to Al’s Diner where they can get a free donut and a coffee.

Then Terry drives to a house where he tells Will that he needs to step inside and see his Chinese girlfriend briefly, and if he sees a middle aged Chinese businessman to honk the horn very loudly. As Will is waiting a call comes over the radio for a reported burglary. Will responds and tries to get Will’s attention with the horn to no avail. As Will pounds on the door, the woman’s husband comes home and Will decides he should leave and answer the call himself. He pulls up to the address they received the call from, draws his weapon and enters.

Virginia (Traci Lords) is wearing wireless headphones in the kitchen chopping carrots, when Will sees her he accidently discharges his weapon but misses Virginia. Furious that he shot at her, Virginia attacks Will and in the struggle falls with Virginia on his back. She crashes into the wooden dining room table and it splinters and impales Virginia, who instantly dies. Terry arrives immediately after to find out that Will, on his first day on the job, has just accidently killed the wife of the most well known businessmen on the island. Wallace Chetlo (Tim Blake Nelson), owner of Chetlo’s Shrimp Company, supplies all the seafood on the island and is one of the most successful and influential people on the island.

As Terry and Will try to make sense of what happened, Terry accidently kicks open a wicker basket and discovers it is full of stacks of cash. After looking at the cash, they hatch a plan to take the money and make it look like a burglary. That will get them in the clear of being involved in a homicide and they decide to hide the cash and sit on it until things blow over way down the line. They trash the house, get their alibi’s in order, wipe the scene clear of their presence and head down the road to pull over a vehicle and write a ticket so they have a concrete time alibi.

Which opens up a Pandora’s box of events that no-one sees coming. There is a witness who they find out was in the house at the time of the unintended killing of Virginia. Who is he? Where is he? Why was a million dollars in cash in the house to begin with? Is Virginia’s husband Wallace innocent? Or is their an extra-marital affair behind the curtain? Did the cops stumble onto a conspiracy involving Murder, Adultery, Insurance Policies, Hitmen and Greedy People and in doing so become Greedy people themselves??

That is where the journey turns into a web of deceit and double crossing by half the people on the island. It is a little bit of Fargo, a dash of A Simple Plan and a Pinch of The Ice Harvest brewed up into one wicked cauldron of deceit and greed. It was a nice surprise to see Tim Blake Nelson and Jim Gaffigan in two hilarious roles. Tim as the innocent man who just lost his wife to an unknown murderer in his own house and Jim as “The Irishman”, the competition to Tim’s co-conspirator, the Columbian. Nobody is whom they seem on the surface once you start digging and they realize there is a tremendous amount of money involved. Greedy People!

It is funny, it is violent, it is a whodunit and why caper full of action and misdeeds that draws everyone deeper down a rabbit hole from which they cannot escape. It is a fun, action packed and hilarious ride deep into the abyss of Greed, with twists and turns you just don’t expect.

Is it worth a watch?

Heck Yes!

Make some popcorn, grab a beverage and Stream This Movie

on Amazon Prime & STARZ!

The Accountant 2

2025 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 12min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J. K. Simmons and Daniella Pineda.

DO YOU LIKE PUZZLES?

The Accountant 2 picks up eight years after the events of The Accountant. Ex Treasury Director Raymond King (J. K. Simmons) has been doing Private Detective work since his retirement from the Treasury Department. He meets with an assasin in a nightclub and is found dead with “Find The Accountant” and current treasury Director Marybeth Medina’s phone number written on his arm. She is informed and proceeds to find The Accountant and whoever is responsible for her Mentor’s death. Christian hears about her quest for him and approaches her first. Upon learning of Raymond’s death, Christian decides to help Medina and find out who is responsible.

He decides he must enlist the help of his once again estranged brother, and together they follow the leads to those responsible. They also uncover a larger conspiracy and go into combat mode to set things right. Which leads to a thrilling action packed chase to hunt down those responsible, and when they find out there are children involved, specifically an autistic child it gets personal and all hell breaks out. The Director Gavin O’Connor had stated that he wanted the sequel to focus more on the brothers relationship and The Accountant 2 does just that. There is a lot of bonding between the two of them as we get a better understanding of their tumultuous relationship.

It is a bit lighter in tone than the first movie, but has way more action than the first one. We also see Christian start to come out of his autistic shell as he gets closer and more intimate with people. There is a scene where a cowgirl asks him to join her in a line dance and despite his objections she convinces him and he starts to have a really good time. He even gets her phone number. We didn’t get to see Dana (Anna Kendrick) and Christian get together in the first movie, but we see Christian opening up to the idea of a romance and relationship in this one. And apparently, according to Gavin O’Connor, we will see Christian develop more in that area in the third installment of the trilogy.

We shall have to wait and see on that one. There is a third installment in development as we speak. I liked this one, makes me anxious for the rest of the story. It did go in a little different direction than I thought and after eight years we see that Christian has changed. He has grown out of his autistic shell to some extent and is trying to grow and expand as person. Which includes being a better brother and getting closer to his brother.

I liked it, give it a go, and bring on the third one!

The Accountant

The Accountant 2 And 3

The Accountant

2016 Warner Brothers Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 8min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow.

CALCULATE YOUR CHOICES

Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff, an Autistic Accountant with hidden talents. He operates a small accounting office in Plainfield, Illinois, that serves as a front for his money laundering enterprise. He assists a farmer and his wife with their tax problems, and is seen living a regimented life in a suburban property. His criminal clients contact him via an unnamed woman, who also organizes his business, identities and life. Christian is hired to audit the firm Living Robotics after the company’s CEO, Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), and his sister Rita learn of accounting irregularities. They assign in-house accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), who discovered the issue, to assist Christian.

Meanwhile, Treasury Director Ray King (J. K. Simmons) meets with data analyst Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who has a criminal record as a juvenile but failed to disclose this on her federal employment application. He warns her she faces prison if he chooses to reveal the information and assigns her the task of finding a shadowy figure known as ‘The Accountant’ before King retires in a few months. Medina realizes that Christian is using a series of aliases, chiefly names of great mathematicians. She tracks the Wolff identity to the accounting office and adjacent businesses in Plainfield, realizing he is using them to launder money, most of which is then donated to Harbor Neuroscience.

Which is the key to uncovering who The Accountant is, his ties to The Harbor Neuroscience center. The race is on as Christian gets to the bottom of the cooked books and the missing money, The Treasury Department tracks down who, what and where he is, and the bad guys led by Christian’s estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) try to put a lid on the cooked books and the missing money. Along the way we find there is more to the Autistic Christian as he has special skills instilled in him by his Military father as a way to prepare his autistic child for a cold harsh and cruel world.

This is one of my favorites, I have seen it countless times. I went back and re-watched it last night before I watch the sequel The Accountant 2 tonight. Ben Affleck at his best along with Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons. Big fans of all of them, I did want to see more of a relationship between Christian and Anna’s character Dana, felt like that would have been a good road to go down storywise but it wasn’t in the script apparently as she is not in the sequel. So if you haven’t seen it you are missing a good one, give it a go. I hope the sequel measures up, we’ll see tonight.

The Accountant 2 And 3

The Accountant 2 Coming To Amazon Prime Thursday June 5, 2025

Inside Man: The Gemini Lounge

2023 Vertical Entertainment

Rated: 16+

Length: 1 hr 31min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Directed by: Danny A. Abeckaser

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Jake Cannavale, Lucy Hale, Ashley Greene, Vincent Laresca, Kyle Stefanski, James Russo and Robert Davi.

Bobby Bones is a Freaking Cop!

Emile Hirsch stars as Bobby “Bones” Belucci, a disgraced New York City Police Detective who sees an opportunity for redemption. Bobby came home early from work one afternoon to find his wife with another man in their house. Being a little hot-headed, Bobby loses his mind on the guy and beats him to a pulp. His wife subsequently leaves him and he is demoted at work over the incident. Bobby is placed on desk duty and relieved of his service weapon. Completely miserable, one evening after work he decides to stop at a bar and tie one on.

Bobby gets pretty drunk and as he is relieving himself in the men’s room, two guys are doing a drug deal in a stall next to him. Suddenly they bust out of the stall and the customer pulls a knife on the drug dealer. Bobby snaps and jumps the knife yielding customer and takes out all his life’s frustrations on the guy. The Dealer, being very grateful to Bobby for saving his life, asks him for a ride. Bobby drives the dealer, Chris Rosenberg (Jake Cannavale) to The Gemini Lounge. Afterwards Bobby does some research on Chris and discovers that he is tied to The Demeo Crew and The Gemini Lounge is their hangout.

Bobby decides to go to the Gemini Lounge to hang out and get in good with his new friend Chris. It isn’t long before Chris introduces him to the rest of The Demeo Crew and finds himself fitting in with the gang. He approaches his Captain and convinces him to let him officially go undercover and get evidence against the group and their leader Roy Demeo. His boss agrees and assigns Bobby a budget and a partner. And that’s where the rest of the movie takes us, on the journey Bobby takes being undercover with a ruthless Mafia group with ties to the Notorious Gambino Family.

There are drugs, pimps, prostitutes, murders, dismemberments, and assorted mob violence portrayed in the film. It is a true story and there is nothing pretty about Mob activities. One scene in the bathtub reminded me of a scene from Scarface with Al Pacino. Emile Hirsch does a good job of portraying the tough Bobby Bones Belucci with a short fuse, not afraid to get dirty with the mob to bring them down. Reminded me of his role in Walden, somewhere in that mild-mannered actor lives a very violent man.

It is an independent film that Vertical Entertainment picked up and released. it was originally called Gemini Lounge and was re-titled Inside Man by Vertical. They should have kept the original name so it wouldn’t get confused with the 2006 Inside Man Movie with Denzel Washington. I thought it was pretty good for an independent film, well shot and the movie itself flowed pretty good. Not a lot of huge plot lines like some indies. It is a True Story and I thought they did a good job of portraying the story and The Demeo crew. If you are a fan of the Mob/Mafia/Gangster movies, you should like this…..just remember it is not a big budget production like The Irishman.

If you are not a fan of that genre or don’t like gangsters and violence, you’re not gonna like it.

So there you have Inside Man/Gemini Lounge not to be confused with Inside Man starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster or it’s sequel Inside Man: Most Wanted.

Inside Man starring Emile Hirsch is currently Streaming On Amazon Prime

Walden

Inside Man

Inside Man: Most Wanted

Den Of Thieves

2018 STX Films

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 19min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by: Christian Gudegast

Starring: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, and Max Holloway.

“Loose lips sink ships.”

Synopsis:

Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) is the hard-drinking leader of the Regulators, an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) is the recently paroled leader of the Outlaws, a gang of ex-military men who use their expertise and tactical skills to evade the law. O’Brien, Merrimen and their crews soon find themselves on a direct collision course as the criminals hatch an elaborate plan for a seemingly impossible heist — the city’s Federal Reserve Bank.

THE REVIEW:

The movie starts out with:

2400 TIMES A YEAR. 44 TIMES A WEEK. 9 TIMES A DAY.

EVERY 48 MINUTES. A BANK IS ROBBED HERE.

THIS IS THE BANK ROBBERY CAPITOL OF THE WORLD.

LOS ANGELES

As a drone flying high slowly zooms down on an Armored Cash Truck driving at night on a street in downtown Los Angeles. The Truck pulls into a donut shop and two of the armed guards go inside for coffee and donuts. The Driver remains in the locked armored vehicle. Immediately after the two guards go into the doughnut shop two vehicles come flying into the parking lot in front and back of the Armored vehicle. Masked heavily armed men jump out and proceed to rob the armored vehicle. It quickly escalates and turns into an all out war as the police units start showing up. There is carnage, there are lots of bullets, there is lots of swearing, and there is tons of action. And that’s the first five minutes of Den Of Thieves.

It only gets more intense from there as we meet The Outlaws, the gang of ex-military men and convicts who use their past military skills to work as a criminal crew robbing anything that brings them a payday. And then there are The Regulators, the crew of tough corrupt policemen who operate somewhere between the Law and The Outlaws. Sometimes to catch the bad guy, you have to live like the bad guy. Both of these groups are hard core take no prisoner kind of guys. Not afraid to get down and dirty and spray the world with bullets. And each one of the groups is hell bent on achieving their goal at any cost. Heavily armed I might add.

Gerard Butler as Nick O’Brien, the hardcore hard partying streetwise cop not afraid to get his hands dirty is a complete bad-ass. As are all the men on both crews; Pablo Schreiber, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, and Max Holloway. O’Shea Jackson Jr. turns out to be the sly one out of all of them, in a twist you didn’t see coming. Every step of the way as you think you know what they’re doing and how they are doing it, it turns out ya just don’t know what’s really going on. It is high caliber action and drama with a thrilling shootout and surprise twist in the end.

As my Dad would say it’s a Bang Bang Shoot ’em up! I don’t remember seeing it before but don’t know how I would have missed it. This is right up my alley, I love high action heist movies with lots of twists and this definitely delivers. I watched this last night so I could watch Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera tonight on Netflix. Watch it with me and let me know what you think, after last night I am looking forward to seeing it!