I have read, I think, and enjoyed all of Elmore Leonard’s crime novels. Several of them have been made into movies, but few were commercial successes (Out of Sight and Get Shorty). Killshot, starring the very aged Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane, fits the general pattern. Rourke, a hit man, inadvisedly teams up with an inexperienced punk to do a side job, which goes poorly and leads to eye witnesses–meaning that Rourke and the punk have to erase the witnesses. Worth watching.
I was hoping to really enjoy The Brothers Bloom, but I was expecting to be disappointed. I was not disappointed. Two brothers are long time cons–the older brother is the idea man, the younger is the actor. When the younger brother realizes that he can’t maneuver without his brother’s direction, he decides give up conning. But his brother pulls him back in for one last con. Me likey.
I’m not (too) afraid to admit that I like the Wilson brothers, so I was willing to watch Henry Poole is Here, starring Luke Wilson, without having an idea of the plot. Wilson is a quiet, somehow disturbed guy who buys a home but doesn’t furnish it or make any acquaintances. Seems like he’s getting ready to die. And then a neighbor spots a miracle–a Jesus-shaped water stain on the back of Wilson’s house. Though Wilson is an unbeliever, lots of others are believers and they are in Wilson’s backyard. And maybe they’ll change Wilson’s mind.
