Female Film Critics 24/375
This is 70-year-old Liam Neeson’s 100th film! I just wish it were better. Based on The Black-Eyed Blonde by Irish novelist John Banville, writing under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, it’s not even one of Raymond Chandler’s original Philip Marlowe tales. Leisurely scripted by William Monahan (The Departed) as a vintage film noir, it’s self-consciously directed by Neil Jordan.
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It’s not February without Liam Neeson hunting someone down and killing them. This time he tries Noir on for size as he follows the fingerprints of a long list of famous actors like Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum and James Garner by playing the 1930’s sleuth, Philip Marlowe. Neeson is no stranger to the cop turned detective role in this, his 100th film. While he can still beat up multiple men half his age all in one punch, Liam utters once again, “I’m getting too old for this.” making him a rather worse for wear gumshoe. Give Neeson credit for continuing to try to please his fans and tackling a slightly different style, but Marlowe is just mediocre
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It has been two and a half months since we last saw Liam Neeson kill someone. Well, in the Hollywood timeframe context, that’s just too long. The filmmakers who produce Liam Neeson movies must have a short memory because all Liam Neeson’s films are the same: I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you. In Memory, Neeson plays the bad guy with a heart — an assassin who won’t kill children.
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At age 69, grizzled Irish actor Liam Neeson (The Grey, Non-Stop, Cold Pursuit) has become one of Hollywood’s most steadfast leading men, accustomed to coping with catastrophic situations. This time, he’s a rugged, long-haul trucker based in North Dakota.
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Having established himself as the screen’s most reliable, older action hero, Liam Neeson comes to the rescue again in this action-thriller, set in Naco, Arizona along the Mexican border. Neeson plays rancher Jim Henson, a decorated Vietnam War sharpshooter who’s still grieving over the death of his beloved wife from cancer a year ago. Behind on his mortgage payments and facing eviction, his only friends are his faithful dog Jackson and his step-daughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), a border patrol agent.
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In this gentle, heartwarming father/son drama, Liam Neeson plays a widower/artist who returns to Italy with his estranged son (Micheal Richardson, his real-life son) to sell his late wife’s villa in rural Tuscany.
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James D’Arcy’s filmmaking debut is a lilting and lighthearted look at a father and son coming together after they’ve been estranged for some time. If you want to get lost in a lovely and moving little film, Made In Italy is a comforting bowl of risotto with extra butter and Parmesan, decidedly simple, and filling.
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Do not confuse Made in Italy with The Burnt Orange Heresy. Yes, both are set in beautiful, sunny Italy and both are about art and artists and art dealers. Whereas The Burnt Orange Heresy centers on stealing and head trips, Made in Italy focuses on an estranged widower and his motherless son’s finding each other.
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Liam Neeson, best known as the tough guy with the “special set of skills” in actioners like Taken, Run All Night and Non-Stop, shows a softer and more compassionate side in his latest movie Made in Italy. Directed and written by actor James D’Arcy (Avengers: Endgame and Dunkirk), Made in Italy is a slow moving, yet gripping drama set in beautiful Tuscany, Italy.
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The film begins and ends on a walk. Tom and Joan, long married, urge each other one along the quai. They move together, her short legs taking two steps for every one of his long limbs’. They are at ease with each other from years of shared experiences and bantering affection.
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