If you’re in the mood for a noirish movie set in Detroit in 1954 with a brilliant cast, Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move will dazzle you. Curt Goynes, a petty criminal with a dark past (played by Don Cheadle), is soon joined by Benicio Del Toro’s charmingly conniver, Ronald Russo. Both men are supervised by Kieran Culkin’s Charley. The thugs make a surprise visit to the suburbs, where an attractive couple and their two kids live in a pleasant brick house. It takes a minute to realize what the men are about to do to the family that can never be undone. And every time a new set of characters is introduced, the screenplay, by Ed Solomon (Men in Black), ups its ante of suspense…and surprise.
The finely tuned ensemble in “No Sudden Move” also includes Bill Duke, Ray Liotta, and Jon Hamm. As the plot unfolds, Goynes and Russo realize they’re involved in a complicated scheme that could be a monetary bonanza for them…if they play it right.
My favorite character in No Sudden Move is Julia Fox, wife of a gangster, who is having an affair with Russo. Frankie Shaw plays a secretary who yearns for change, but gets something else. Amy Seimetz, as the mother of the hostage family, questions her whole life-style as a result of events.
No Sudden Move is the best movie I’ve seen in 2021 so far. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
They made a big deal of the film’s production since they were shooting in Detroit last fall during the pandemic. Not a lot of films were being shot then. I enjoyed it. Probably a solid B+. I did occasionally get distracted with the use of a fish eye lens.
Steve, I thought the scenes of Detroit in NO SUDDEN MOVE made the film feel authentic.
Always glad to see Cheadle in a good production (as opposed to, say BLACK MONDAY). Thanks for the tip!
Todd, you’re going to like NO SUDDEN MOVE!
Im not sure this is my cuppa tea, but it’s good to know Soderbergh has redeemed himself after that God-awful Oscars show he produced.
Deb, you would like NO SUDDEN MOVE with its tricky plot and the top-shelf cast!
Now, Deb, it wasn’t that good.
I guess we’ll get to this when “regular” HBO shows it.
Jeff-Don’t you get Max automatically once you pay for HBO? I do with Comcast.
We do, but our problem is that our television is too old. It won’t play in on it. Of course, we could watch it on the phone or tablet…
Patti, somehow we have both HBO Max and HBO with Spectrum. But our channel line-up constantly changes.
HBO Max, so far, is free to anyone who has HBO, George. We’ll see if that shifts…
Jeff, I think the HBO Max “originals” migrate to HBO after a month or two.
I thought this was quite good, certainly Soderbergh’s best film in a while. It was also the best of the HBO MAX premieres that I’ve seen. Great cast, especially Cheadle and del Toro, who I could watch in anything. I did find the plot a bit murky at times, but still most enjoyable. B+
Michael, I’m a big fan of del Toro, too!
It’ll be interesting to see what HBO does with MAX. The original plan of giving it free to all HBO subscribers was very shrewd because it gave them a big subscriber base right off the bat, putting them in a league with the other major streamers. I don’t see them dropping the deal. If all the now free MAX subscribers suddenly had to pay for it they’d just drop HBO and stick with MAX because if you have MAX you don’t NEED HBO. I hardly even notice it’s there anymore. I guess it would be useful if I wanted to record something to keep, but how often is that going to happen? I’m sure the people running HBO are shrewd enough to know that cable is dying. It won’t actually happen for a few years but, when it does, they’ll be ready for it. MAX is the first step.
Michael, many new movies will open in theaters AND be available on HBO Max. But, like you and Todd, I’m confused about the streaming strategy. Who pays…and who doesn’t pay???
Everybody pays, one way or the other. If you’re subscribing to HBO through your cable system, MAX is free, but you’re still paying for HBO. If you’re not an HBO subscriber you can subscribe to MAX just like you do with Netflix or any other streamer. I guess I don’t understand the confusion. I believe that what Jeff calls “regular” HBO will eventually disappear because the cable systems that carry it will be gone, or morph into something else.