El arte de matar

Patrice (Uma Thurman) owns a struggling art gallery in the superficial moneyed New York City high art scene. She's approached by neighbor store owner Gordon (Samuel L. Jackson) to launder his money. She reluctantly accepts, but she still needs real paintings for the sales. Gordon assigns the painting chore to his assassin Reggie (Joe Manganiello).

I love the skewering of the high art crowd. I like this premise. I like these actors. It's all working great until Reggie shows up at the gallery. I thought the whole point of Bagman is that he remains anonymous like Banksy. The writing needs some subtlety and more smarts. I get where the premise is trying to go with the story. It goes on the wrong track a bit.

Reading through these reviews I am once again fascinated how some people can drill down to the slightest detail and pick a movie apart. I, on the other hand, tend to watch something and rate it on my level of enjoyment.

This was OK. It didn't blow me out of the water, but it also wasn't as bad as some of these reviews either.

One thing that disappointed me a bit, was that Reggie's identity was revealed to the public so early, especially given his profession. I thought more could have been done with that. How did he think it was going to be kept a secret from his "bosses"?

Otherwise, it was a good send up of the world of the uber wealthy, all of whom seem to be arrogant and pretty thick. Not only in this movie by the way.

The movie is not great, the critics are right about that. But you cannot understate what the actors gave us with the little they had. Samuel l jackson is as always giving out a very believable performance as crook gone art fraud, uma thurman was less believable as she stuttered at every businesslike word that was supposed to paint her as a serious art gallery owner. It was kind of hard to watch how played eccentricity can backfire . The side cast was doing a stellar job as well. I felt completely immersed in this bizarre and backwards underground art world. It just never came together, there was no real plot, awkward dialogue and a dissappointing ending. So not as bad as people would want you to believe but not good either.

The casting was remarkable, luring viewers in with excessive temptation from the start. As the story unfolds, you'll discover that the narrative and plot are indeed worth investing your time in. However, as the movie progresses, it loses momentum and ultimately, the execution falls disappointingly short.

The film explores the concept of selling something you don't desire but end up purchasing because everyone else is doing so. In essence, it delves into the notion that if you have an abundance of wealth, you become a pawn in one way or another. Uma Thurman dominates the screen throughout, delivering a performance in line with her character. Regrettably, the movie's conclusion is so devoid of meaning that it extinguishes any remaining excitement.

Whether you choose to watch it or not, hardly any difference.

I'm not going to say that 'The Kill Room' is the greatest film even, but I did find it on a streaming service and it looks like it was made specially for that platform. In other words, compared the dross which is mere 'content' you can find there, actually coming across a film with recognisable actors really was a breath of fresh air. It's because of this that I probably enjoyed it more than it probably deserved.

Uma Thurman plays a struggling art dealer who gets a 'break' in terms of selling art when career criminal Samuel L Jackson drops by and offers her a business proposition. It starts out well and her gallery takes off, but soon she realises that she has effectively made a deal with the devil, or at least the kind of organised criminals you really don't want to invite to your high class cocktail parties.

I quite liked the dialogue. Yes, the characters themselves may be - deliberately (?) vapid and shallow - but they were at least funny. Or rather they were suitably scathing to other - equally shallow and vapid - art critics who infest the high-brown scene. Thurman's intern may be a little bit annoying, but, apart from her, the combination of Thurman and Jackson carry the film with ease.

No, it'll never be up there with their other offerings like 'Kill Bill' or 'Pulp Fiction,' but if you're a fan of either actor, you'll definitely get something out of the film. Or, if you're just tired of films on steaming services that cost about as much as a glass of milk to get made, at least this one had a budget that the film-makers bothered to spend on a script and competent actors who could make the most of it.