Who is popular today?

The chemistry is dull, the story simplistic and the violence weirdly perverted. Even the cast seem to lack enthusiasm for this spinoff to the Ray Winstone-starring gangster filmOne of the pithiest pieces of dialogue of Steven Spielberg’s entire oeuvre is Jeff Goldblum’s remark in Jurassic Park that the dinosaur-resurrecting scientists “were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”. This sentiment also applies to Paramount+’s Sexy Beast – a late-in-life prequel to the 2000 movie. It is not the how, but the why that should have been given consideration.The series is set eight years before Jonathan Glazer’s Ray Winstone-starring thriller – a beloved film and university hall poster for many a geriatric millennial. It’s a film that holds up remarkably well, and is a far more accomplished piece of cinema than the faint memory of Winstone sunbathing in a pair of orange budgie smugglers would suggest. The film sees his anti-hero, Gal, happily retired in the Costa del Sol with his beloved wife Deedee, only to be roped in for one last job by his volatile former partner Don, played with jittery, simmering menace by Ben Kingsley. Continue reading...