A couple of movies

November 16, 2012  •  Leave a Comment

Tonight's book/movie pick was "Red" starring Bruce Willis, Hellen Mirren and a lot of other really good actors, all having a wonderful time.  It is a violent movie (offscreen, except for lots of guns shooting) but in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion.  Willis plays a retired CIA assassin who wakes up one night to find a hit squad in his house.  After he foils that in a suitable nasty style, he goes on to gather some frineds to help him find out why.

The movie is very different from the book, which is a graphic novel that contains maybe 1/4 of the characters, 1/8 of the plot and none of the humor.

In a lot of ways, the movie reminded me of an older film, "Hopscotch", which starred Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, in which he is a CIA agent who decides to retire and write his memoir.  His former employer doesn't like either idea and therefore chases him around the world, always a step or two behind and not nearly as skilled.  The female leads (Mirren and Jackson), the Russians (Brian Cox and Herbert Lom) are very similar in both movies, and equally fun. 

You can catch Hopscotch on TCM occasionally and really should.  Both it and Red are well worth the time.


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