STORY: The Kingsmen aren't answerable to governments nor are they externally influenced. When one of them is killed thanks to agent Harry's (Firth) judgement error, he backs his fallen comrade's son Eggsy (Egerton) to become a Kingsman. Later, they will have to thwart tech tycoon Valentine's (Jackson) evil designs, involving mind control and mass murder.
REVIEW: Colin Firth's performance as an action man is nothing short of a revelation. When the impeccably-suited Harry first meets Eggsy while the latter is a young boy, he gives him a medal bearing an engraved telephone number, for whenever Eggsy is in dire circumstances.
Many years later, Eggsy, now directionless , dials it after a squabble with the law, gives the secret code ( " Oxfords, not Brogues " ) and is freed from police custody, no questions asked. Harry then rescues Eggsy from a brutal beating (Harry's motto being an emphatic "Manners. Maketh. The Man"), busts some smooth moves and Eggsy is impressed enough to want to become a Kingsman. Headed by Arthur (Caine) and trained by Merlin (Strong), Eggsy and the other recruits including a woman, Sophie (Cooks on), face a series of gruelling tests before becoming agents.
Part Bond parody, part serious and a whole lot of camp, you can't help but laugh (there are plenty of 'LOL' moments) at the obvious 007 dig when Eggsy tells a bartender that he'd like his martini with gin, not vodka ("obviously"), stirred a certain number of times whilst staring fixedly at a fresh bottle of vermouth!
Egerton delivers and Jackson is perfect as the villain Valentine whose environmentally-conscious concerns conceal a devious plan for global genocide. His sidekick Gazelle (Boutella) is a vamp plucked straight out a Quentin Tarantino wet dream as does a scene involving hyper-stylized mayhem in a small-town church. Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker, anyone?) also shows up as a genius scientist. Bulletproof brollies that fire bullets, dart spewing wristwatches and cigarette lighter grenades aside, there's a smooth balance of good humo u r, butt-kicking action and originality too. Kingsman: The Secret Service is a breath of fresh air in the spy movie genre.
Showing posts with label Movie Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie Review. Show all posts
Monday, 2 March 2015
Monday, 22 December 2014
Charismatic Singer Joe Cocker Dies At 70
Joe Cocker died Monday at his home in Crawford, Colo., after what his publicist described as a hard-fought battle with small-cell lung cancer. He was 70.
Cocker performed for five decades, recording 40 albums and dozens of hits. But he told NPR two years ago that "You Are So Beautiful" was his favorite.
"It was originally a gospel song, and Billy Preston rewrote the lyrics that made it more of a love song," Cocker said. "It kind of woke up something — that softer side."
Cocker's softer side was hardly in evidence early in his career. He was born in Northern England and, like The Beatles, started off playing pubs in skiffle bands. Then he blasted to the top of the U.K. charts in 1968 with a ferocious version of... a Beatles song. Cocker's performance of "With A Little Help From My Friends" at Woodstock made him a star in the U.S. His voice seemed to scrape the bottom of the ocean. Onstage, his hands were everywhere — flailing, jerking, ecstatic.
"I don't play piano or guitar," Cocker said. "I feel the music [is] channeled through my body. I would just do these motions like Ray Charles... or air guitar."
Cocker's vast reserves of energy and charisma nearly drowned him. His Mad Dogs And Englishmen tour in 1970 remains a legend of rock 'n' roll excess. Cocker toured constantly through the '70s, sometimes so drunk he would throw up on stage. Later, when he got clean, he joked it took years for the alcohol to drain from his body. When it finally did, Cocker found himself back on top of the charts with "Up Where We Belong," a 1983 duet with Jennifer Warnes.
"It's like sex without touching," Warnes says, describing singing with Joe Cocker to NPR. "Or maybe it's like jumping with him out of an airplane. You're not lip-syncing, you have no idea where he's going. You're just going and, to me, it's like extreme sports."
Joe Cocker got less extreme as he aged. He settled down in Colorado, where his hobbies turned to fly-fishing, hiking and growing tomatoes in his greenhouse.
Cocker performed for five decades, recording 40 albums and dozens of hits. But he told NPR two years ago that "You Are So Beautiful" was his favorite.
"It was originally a gospel song, and Billy Preston rewrote the lyrics that made it more of a love song," Cocker said. "It kind of woke up something — that softer side."
Cocker's softer side was hardly in evidence early in his career. He was born in Northern England and, like The Beatles, started off playing pubs in skiffle bands. Then he blasted to the top of the U.K. charts in 1968 with a ferocious version of... a Beatles song. Cocker's performance of "With A Little Help From My Friends" at Woodstock made him a star in the U.S. His voice seemed to scrape the bottom of the ocean. Onstage, his hands were everywhere — flailing, jerking, ecstatic.
"I don't play piano or guitar," Cocker said. "I feel the music [is] channeled through my body. I would just do these motions like Ray Charles... or air guitar."
Cocker's vast reserves of energy and charisma nearly drowned him. His Mad Dogs And Englishmen tour in 1970 remains a legend of rock 'n' roll excess. Cocker toured constantly through the '70s, sometimes so drunk he would throw up on stage. Later, when he got clean, he joked it took years for the alcohol to drain from his body. When it finally did, Cocker found himself back on top of the charts with "Up Where We Belong," a 1983 duet with Jennifer Warnes.
"It's like sex without touching," Warnes says, describing singing with Joe Cocker to NPR. "Or maybe it's like jumping with him out of an airplane. You're not lip-syncing, you have no idea where he's going. You're just going and, to me, it's like extreme sports."
Joe Cocker got less extreme as he aged. He settled down in Colorado, where his hobbies turned to fly-fishing, hiking and growing tomatoes in his greenhouse.
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