Old Pros & Young Men
The Hatton Garden Job in London was big news. In 2015 a group of geezers and a guy in his 30’s shocked the world by stealing an estimated 14 million pounds worth of jewelry, gold and money from safe deposit boxes. Ten million of it has been recovered. There was a 2017 film of it that was hammered by critics, and a TV mini-series is in production. Last night I watched a 2018 version titled King of Thieves, courtesy of Netflix. It features a heavyweight cast of old Brits familiar to cinephiles: Michael Caine, 86; Michael Gambon, 78; Tom Courtenay, 82; Jim Broadbent, 70; Ray Winstone, 62; Paul Whitehouse, 61; Francesca Annis, 74; and Charlie Cox, who’s in his 30’s. Given the story and actors, I expected better. It’s not terrible, but it never quite flies above the familiar for more than a moment here and there. The best aspects are Benjamin Wallfisch’s hip score and the stylish way it was shot. James Marsh was at the helm. He has 19 titles listed under his name, many of them documentaries. Joe Penhall adapted the screenplay from a magazine article by Mark Seal. 7300+ users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of 5.5 on a scale of ten. I was unable to find any figures on the cost of production, but I’d guess the flick lost big. It brought in only $11 worldwide. It runs 1:48. Those outside the UK may have a tough time understanding the dialogue. I had the close captions running. There is no violence, but plenty of profanity. It closes with a great line, spoken by Caine. I was unable to find the exact quote. It went something like: “It’s not prison life I’m afraid of. It’s the afterlife.” Here’s the cast:
How many times is the phrase “We are approaching end of civilization” been used half-jokingly in regards to human behavior? Here’s another instance that conjures it. His team trailing 0–3 in the ninth inning, Matt Lipka of the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees double-A affiliate, bunted to reach base. It broke up a no-hitter by the Hartford Yard Goats. After the game, he received death threats from yahoos on social media. Although it is an unwritten rule that a player shouldn’t bunt to break up a no-no, in this case it was fine. If another batter had reached base, the tying run would have come to the plate. And the fact that four pitchers had combined on the effort also manifests the lunacy of the reaction. There are a lot of fools out there.
My thanks to the gentleman who purchased a dictionary of idioms, and to young Bek, who bought Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
by David Goggins, Brain Power: Learn to Improve Your Thinking Skills
by Karl Albrecht, Beyond the Horizon: Visions of the New Millennium by Walter Mercado, and Footfall, a sci-fi collaboration by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
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