‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre’ Review: Guy Ritchie Hits a Home Run in a Spy Thriller Starring Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant

From the opening moments of “Boston Strangler,” writer and director Matt Ruskin makes it clear he’s thought through exactly how he wants to depict the true crime at the heart of the film. The camera refracts a killing off the surface of a television, sparing the gruesome sight of strangulation as the titular troublemaker strikes once again.

Full Disclosure: Sue me but not only have I never played 80’s iconic video game Tetris, I had never heard of it before encountering this new film, Tetris, which world premiered tonight at SXSW and comes from Apple Original Films, I realize that probably makes me a bit of an oddity to the Gameboy generation, but I can only say my lack of knowledge on this product did not hurt one bit in being wildly entertained by a movie that tells its origin story. In fact it seems to be part of an encouraging, but unlikely, new genre this young year: movies all about the backstory of well known products – Blackberry from IFC and Paramount; Flamin’ Hot from Searchlight; and now Tetris from Apple. All three have been on display this week at SXSW (Blackberry actually premiered at Berlin), and if you think watching the emergence of a smart phone, a Cheetos brand, and a single player video game is , well uh, less than compelling, think again.

EXCLUSIVE: Dav Patel is set to headline and executive produce The Key Man, a limited series telling the story of disgraced financier Arif Naqvi. Set in the Middle East, the project hails from Miramax Television. It is part of the company’s increased international focus, signaled by the hire three years ago of former NBCUniversal International Studios executive Marc Helwig — who has deep European TV industry ties — as Miramax’s Global Head of Television.

At more than a few points during Jamie Lloyd’s hypnotic Broadway revival of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, you could swear that stars Jessica Chastain and Succession‘s Arian Moayed are confiding in you, whispering their secrets to no one else. This stark, sometimes chilly production is an eavesdropper’s paradise, so intimate and conversational that all but the most guarded among us will be immune to its frequent enticements.

A satisfying stew of genre tropes and classic sci-fi and monster movie influences, “65” is a popcorn movie that isn’t quite the intense thrill ride it gives the impression it wants to be, although it definitely has its moments. READ MORE: ‘65’ Trailer: Adam Driver Transforms Into An Action Hero Fighting Dinosaurs In Sci-Fi Thriller From Sam Raimi Adam Driver plays Mills, a pilot who agrees to take a two-year space mission so that it will give him the money he needs to help pay for his sick daughter’s medical treatment.

Hugh Grant, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh have become the latest A-list names to join the star-studded list of presenters at this year’s Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The British household names will appear alongside fellow industry heavyweights including Antonio Banderas, Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks at the annual event on Sunday, as the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science rewards the best and brightest film talent to have emerged in the last twelve months.

Julia MacCary editor Apple TV+ dropped the trailer for the upcoming rom-com turned thriller “Ghosted,” which stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. The trailer shows Evans’ character Cole certain that Sadie (de Armas) is not just “ghosting” him, or ignoring his texts, after one date. Convinced they are meant to be together, he travels to London in what he hopes to be a romantic gesture, only to discover Sadie is not the person he thought, and is actually part of the CIA. What ensues is a spy-thriller where “action speaks louder than words.” De Armas joins the film after her recent Oscar nomination for “Blonde.” Her credits also include “Deep Water,” “Blade Runner 2049” and “No Time to Die.” Evans has played Captain America in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films, as well as performed in “Before We Go,” “Gifted” and “Playing It Cool.” Evans and de Armas previously acted together in “Knives Out” and “The Gray Man.”

Check your local listings to find it in a theater near you.It heads to Amazon Prime on March 7 in the UK.Super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Reluctantly teamed with some of the world’s best operatives (Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone), Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) to help them on their globe-trotting undercover mission to save the world.As the title “Ruse de guerre” (ruse of war) suggests, there’s plenty of scheming.

Guy Ritchie‘s new movie Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is now in theaters and lots of fans are ready for an action-comedy to be back in the cinema.

Television might have more highly anticipated releases coming out in March, but the film world certainly isn’t slacking with an eclectic lineup that samples from a bit of every genre. There are superheroes in two ways, from the standard DC and major studio format to the bizarre with “Smoking Causes Coughing.” Multiple tough-to-watch coming-of-age stories have made the rounds on the festival circuit as well as high-profile science fiction films looking to attract a larger audience.

2019’s “The Gentlemen,” he’d have the usually dapper Hugh Grant play a sleazy journalist who refers to England only as “Angleterre” in an East End accent, and in 2021’s “Wrath of Man” he showcased frequent collaborator Jason Statham’s ability to switch from hilarious to killing machine.With this director, we’re never so much watching an espionage or crime movie as enjoying another off-the-rails Guy Ritchie attraction. That is, until “Operation Fortune,” the co-writer and director’s most uninspired movie in a minute. Lazily bopping around to exotic locales like Cannes, France, Antalya, Turkey, and Doha, Qatar, it’s a generic collage of mega-yachts, luxe hotels, fancy parties, disguised identities and tame fights that add up to a big nothing.Worry not about your blood pressure at “Ruse de guerre.” One chase scene in sunny Antalya, with actor Max Beesley on a vespa, is downright soothing.

When a movie gets tangled up in all kinds of financial problems, delayed for over a year, played out internationally, sent straight to streaming in Canada, and then finally getting the green light to open in the U.S. via a new distributor and thrown into theaters with virtually no notice or time to mount a marketing campaign, you have to think there must be something very wrong here.

When it comes to the genre playgrounds he loves so much, is Guy Ritchie better off being himself or playing along? His brash, bad-lad calling cards (“Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch”) were never terribly original, but their style-to-burn derivativeness had spirit. His Hollywood larks (“Sherlock Holmes,” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”) never felt honest but the occasional glimpse of a bruiser’s cockiness made for colorful upgrades in the IP machinery.After Ritchie’s return to leaner (but never in the dialogue) roots with the comically shaggy, seedy gangster wingding “The Gentlemen,” and reteaming with his best contribution to cinema — Jason Statham — for the brackish vengeance puddle “Wrath of Man,” the British filmmaker is once again aiming for sleek and starry heights with the spy-driven action comedy “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.”Statham is the “Fortune” of the title, first name Orson, an elite for-hire operative with clever ideas and expensive tastes, hired by intelligence agency rep Nathan (Cary Elwes) to determine who’s interested in a stolen package rumored to be worth $10 billion on the open market.

Audiences know Guy Ritchie can direct action, they know he can write quotable, pithy dialogue, and they know he can create memorable characters. However, for the most part, “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” either fails to deliver or under-delivers on almost all fronts.

For years now, we’ve been seeing reports of movement on another sequel to Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” film franchise. But with all the talk of development, we have yet to see anything official that would suggest that Robert Downey, Jr.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Apple has given a series order to the drama “The Last Frontier” with Jason Clarke set to play the lead role, Variety has learned. The series hails from creators Jon Bokenkamp, who previously created the hit NBC series “The Blacklist,” and Richard D’Ovidio, who previously worked with Bokenkamp on the 2013 film “The Call” as well as on “The Blacklist” and “The Blacklist: Redemption.” In the 10-episode series, Clarke will star as US Marshal Frank Remnick, the lone Marshal in the barrens of Alaska. Per the official logline, “Frank’ s jurisdiction is turned upside-down when a prison transport plane crashes in the remote wilderness, setting free dozens of violent inmates. Tasked with protecting the town he’s vowed to keep safe, he begins to suspect the crash wasn’t an accident, but the first step of a well-crafted plan with international political implications.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “A Man Called Otto,” a heartfelt drama starring Tom Hanks as a cranky widower, has notched an important box office milestone, crossing $100 million globally. The film’s tally stands at $100.4 million, including $61.2 million in North America and $39.2 million internationally. Overseas, the top-selling markets are the United Kingdom ($6.28 million), Australia ($5.17 million), Mexico ($5.06 million), Spain ($2.6 million) and Germany ($2.5 million). In pandemic times, the $100 million benchmark is notable because only a few movies aimed at older audiences, such as Baz Luhrmann’s kaleidoscopic biopic “Elvis,” Tom Cruise’s sequel “Top Gun: Maverick,” Brad Pitt’s action-comedy “Bullet Train,” have managed to connect the box office since COVID.

There were lots of celebs in attendance at the Burberry fashion show during London Fashion Week, including hot couple Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

The trailer for Guy Ritchie‘s new action-comedy has been released!

EXCLUSIVE: Sky has picked up UK rights to Jason Statham and David Ayer action film The Beekeeper from Miramax.