Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.
Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.
A young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.
Ivan Locke, a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his carefully cultivated existence.
In London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, attracting some of the city's scrappiest tough guys and its more established underworld types, all of whom are looking to get rich quick. While the city's seasoned criminals vie for the cash, an unexpected player -- a drugged-out rock 'n' roller presumed to be dead but very much alive -- has a multi-million-dollar prize fall into... See full summary »
The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament - a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged, older brother.
Adventurer James Keziah Delaney returns to London during the War of 1812 to rebuild his late father's shipping empire. However, both the government and his biggest competitor want his inheritance at any cost - even murder.
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Director:
Scott Cooper
Stars:
Johnny Depp,
Benedict Cumberbatch,
Dakota Johnson
The true story of London's most notorious gangsters, twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray. As the brothers rise through the criminal underworld, Ronnie advances the family business with violence and intimidation while Reggie struggles to go legitimate for local girl Frances Shea. In and out of prison, Ronnie's unpredictable tendencies and the slow disintegration of Reggie's marriage threaten to bring the brothers' empire tumbling to the ground.
A Parisian premiere to be attended by actress Duffy was scheduled for November 17, 2015 at the Olympia concert hall, however this event was canceled following the November 13 terror attacks in the French capital. See more »
Goofs
In the fight sequence between Reg and Ron in their club (Esmerelda's Barn), Reggie throws Ron over a table, Ron is seen lying on the floor with his glasses on, but in the next shot, Ron's glasses are lying on the floor next to him. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Frances Shea:
London in the 1960s. Everyone had a story about the Krays. You could walk into any pub to hear a lie or two about them. But I was there and Im not careless with the truth. They were brothers, but bound by more than blood. They were twins as well, counterparts. Gangster princes of the city they meant to conquer. Ron Kray was a one-man London mob. Bloodthirsty, illogical, and funny as well. My Reggie was different. Once in a lifetime do you find a street-fighting man like Reg. ...
See more »
Crazy Credits
"This motion picture used sustainability strategies to reduce its carbon emissions and environmental impact." See more »
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
A biopic of the most infamous gangsters ever to hail from the East End of London, Ronnie and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy), who have transcended East London folklore more than any other. Opening in the early '60s, the film charts Reggie's courting of the innocuous Frances (Emily Browning), Ronnie dealing with his homosexuality in less permissive times, as well as being declared insane, and the brothers takeover of the Richardson clans grip on the local crime scene. But with dogged Detective Read (Christopher Eccleston) on their backs, and their own destructive, excessive personalities driving them to their own demise, it all leads to a shocking, brutal end for both of them respectively.
It's surprising, given the popularity of the British crime thriller and, as I already stated, the unrivalled iconic status the Kray twins have in British folklore, that since they were at the height of their infamy in the '60s, only two films have been made about their exploits, in spite of the no doubt countless crime biographies and television documentaries that must have been shown about them. The '90s film, a much smaller scale affair, had the similar conundrum of casting two actors who looked alike enough to be twins, and ended up with the Kemp brothers, who at the time were still able to ride on their popularity as being part of the recently split up Spandau Ballet. Here, being one actor playing two roles, Hardy, as acclaimed a performer as he is, risks looking silly, adopting an on screen filming style made most famous by Jean Claude Van Damme in Double Impact. But if you can get over this, the film still has much to recommend it.
Telling a true life story, and not to mention a particularly brutal and savage one, inevitably the film will contain more than its fair share of violence, which director Brian Helgeland will quite rightly say is essential to tell the story. But the trick is to show it on screen without 'glamorizing' it, which, sadly, at times, Helgeland fails to do. A particularly unflinching moment is during a hammer wielding pub attack, where the brothers (or one of them, anyway) take out some of their competitors, only set to a rock n' roll backdrop which cheers along what any decent person would find unsettling. The film in general seems consistently unsure of the tone it wants to adopt, flitting between drama, romantic, and even comedy, which it matches with the plot, which lacks any real narrative structure and just plods along, showing various antics from the Krays life without really going anywhere.
Since his double performance is the talking point, all eyes fall on Hardy, who undoubtedly fits the roles better than anyone. He creates more of an impression with Ronnie, whose drawling, rambling and softly threatening persona make him distinctive in the same way as Hardy's Bane was from The Dark Knight Rises. As Reggie, he portrays a swaggering, posturing villain to whom appearance is everything, but in all honesty no different to your standard villain from such a film. I can't think of it as any better or worse than the 1991 film when the chips are down, to be honest, and it would be nice if something more structured and smooth could come along to depict the antics of these most timeless and unduly worshipped of real life villains. ***
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STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
A biopic of the most infamous gangsters ever to hail from the East End of London, Ronnie and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy), who have transcended East London folklore more than any other. Opening in the early '60s, the film charts Reggie's courting of the innocuous Frances (Emily Browning), Ronnie dealing with his homosexuality in less permissive times, as well as being declared insane, and the brothers takeover of the Richardson clans grip on the local crime scene. But with dogged Detective Read (Christopher Eccleston) on their backs, and their own destructive, excessive personalities driving them to their own demise, it all leads to a shocking, brutal end for both of them respectively.
It's surprising, given the popularity of the British crime thriller and, as I already stated, the unrivalled iconic status the Kray twins have in British folklore, that since they were at the height of their infamy in the '60s, only two films have been made about their exploits, in spite of the no doubt countless crime biographies and television documentaries that must have been shown about them. The '90s film, a much smaller scale affair, had the similar conundrum of casting two actors who looked alike enough to be twins, and ended up with the Kemp brothers, who at the time were still able to ride on their popularity as being part of the recently split up Spandau Ballet. Here, being one actor playing two roles, Hardy, as acclaimed a performer as he is, risks looking silly, adopting an on screen filming style made most famous by Jean Claude Van Damme in Double Impact. But if you can get over this, the film still has much to recommend it.
Telling a true life story, and not to mention a particularly brutal and savage one, inevitably the film will contain more than its fair share of violence, which director Brian Helgeland will quite rightly say is essential to tell the story. But the trick is to show it on screen without 'glamorizing' it, which, sadly, at times, Helgeland fails to do. A particularly unflinching moment is during a hammer wielding pub attack, where the brothers (or one of them, anyway) take out some of their competitors, only set to a rock n' roll backdrop which cheers along what any decent person would find unsettling. The film in general seems consistently unsure of the tone it wants to adopt, flitting between drama, romantic, and even comedy, which it matches with the plot, which lacks any real narrative structure and just plods along, showing various antics from the Krays life without really going anywhere.
Since his double performance is the talking point, all eyes fall on Hardy, who undoubtedly fits the roles better than anyone. He creates more of an impression with Ronnie, whose drawling, rambling and softly threatening persona make him distinctive in the same way as Hardy's Bane was from The Dark Knight Rises. As Reggie, he portrays a swaggering, posturing villain to whom appearance is everything, but in all honesty no different to your standard villain from such a film. I can't think of it as any better or worse than the 1991 film when the chips are down, to be honest, and it would be nice if something more structured and smooth could come along to depict the antics of these most timeless and unduly worshipped of real life villains. ***