Reno Rangan
I like heist movies, once they were making great ones, but not anymore. I have heard about this, though haven't seen it till now. Seems it's a decent film, but came at the wrong time of the history. You know, the same film 15-20 years ago would have made a better impact among people, as well as commercially. Nowadays, the youngsters want only superhero action-sci-fi films. That should not be the reason for a film's failure. Instead, they should have improved it in lots of areas. But still I liked a few things from it, like the information about mixing the real art with the fake ones, but still it remains as the real.The film is about two half-brothers. They are the art thieves and they have done many jobs together, but in their final one, one of them betrays. So the rest of the narration sets in a few years later when they join hands for another big art heist sidelining their differences. They form a big team and this time they are watchful over each other. Now comes the final act where the actual event takes place and with a twist the story comes to an end.An enjoyable film, little funny and had some good moments, But overall film was predictable, including the twist. Could be the director's best film so far. Kurt Russell was just okay, but expected a lot. The rest of the cast in this multi-starrer, does not look good, though contributed. Maybe the film characters were weaker than the story. They should have focused more on them to progress it, so it would have achieved the success they were looking for than what a few people praising it. I think it's okay for a watch with the low expectation.6/10
NateWatchesCoolMovies
Heist flicks are sneaky affairs, but that doesn't mean that awesome ones like The Art Of The Steal should just tiptoe past everyone's radar with no hubbub. When subpar stuff like Now You See Me is breaking waves and this one collects dust before a year since it's release, you know somethin ain't right. It's actually probably just budgeting and marketing, to chalk it up simply. Despite the cast (what a lineup) this one barely made a blip on the sonar when it came out a couple years ago. It's great fun, with a crusty lead performance from Kurt Russell as Crunch Calhoun, an ageing motorcycle daredevil who used to moonlight as an art thief. He is lured out of 'retirement' by his sleazy brother Nicky (Matt Dillon crosses off another notch on the old scumbag belt with this role) with the proposition of one last score, involving his old crew and the theft of a historical artifact owned by a hilarious Terence Stamp. Other members of their crew include a crafty Jay Baruchel and Kenneth Welsh as salty ladies man Uncle Paddy. Twists and turns lace the plot, as they should in these types of films, but it's the bawdy sense of humour that won me over. More than anything else this is a comedy, situational in nature and willing to give each weirdo of the bunch their own demented moment to shine. It's Russel's show though, a burnt out Evel Knievel type of dude who gets a face full of nonsense from his brother, edging him to the end of his rope. Russell owns it, egged on by the raucous chorus of characters accompanying him, and the nasty arc from Dillon that is the only piece which subverts the mostly lighthearted tone. Fun, little seen stuff that deserves a wider audience.
Finfrosk86
Just caught this on TV by chance. At first I was a wee bit skeptical, but it seemed kinda interesting, so I stuck with it, and I enjoyed it. Mostly.Just gonna get the problems out of the way first.. Accents. There are french accents, and Irish accents, and English accents here, and why are none of the actors with accents actually from the country their accents are from? (not that I can see, anyway) That I can't figure out. Because, well, for the most part they do OK, but here and there you notice something is a little off.Also, why not just get people that are the real deal? Or just drop the accents. Actors faking accents is so.. uhm, I don't know, what they did in the old days. It's like, typical Hollywood-ignorance. (the viewers won't notice, nooo) Anyway!Also, without spoiling, there are some stuff here that is wildly unrealistic. It has to do with paining, and time. (I know, because I paint myself) but I won't say more.This is a heist movie, and a pretty entertaining one. I liked Kurt Russel, and I liked Matt Damon. I liked most of it, really. The accent thing is just a minor annoyance. The story good. It's nothing too special visually, but gets the job done. There are a couple of slightly artistic "story-telling" sequences, that I enjoyed. Nice to switch it up a little. It's R-rated, so we are treated to some swearing. I like that. It's 90 minutes, (heist-movies tend to be long, which can be a drag) so it's short and pretty sweet. And I's ain't not gonna go on and on about it. I liked it.
Uriah43
After committing an art heist and subsequently being betrayed in Poland "Crunch Calhoun" (Kurt Russell) is sentenced to seven years in prison. Once he gets out he is left with very few options so in order to pay his bills he eventually becomes a motorcycle daredevil. Then one day he decides to return to his life of crime and enlists the help of an old colleague named "Paddy MacCarthy" (Kenneth Welsh). Not long afterward his disreputable brother "Nicky Calhoun" (Matt Dillon) also joins the group which now consists of Crunch's wife, "Lola Calhoun" (Katheryn Winnick), Crunch's apprentice "Francie Tobin" (Jay Baruchel) and another old acquaintance by the name of "Guy de Cornet" (Chris Diamantopoulos). Together they plan to steal a painting by Georges Seurat known as "Model from the Back" which is inadvertently being stored at a heavily secured customs storage facility on the Canadian-American border. Now rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this film has a both a little comedy and a few surprise twists to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, there wasn't much chemistry between the actors and the plot wasn't nearly as coherent as it should have been which hurt the film overall. That said, although it was adequate enough to fill the time, it clearly wasn't as good as it could have been and because of that I rate it as about average.
AD
