Twenty years ago today Shane Black's directorial debut received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, a limited release meant that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang  was not the blockbuster hit it should have been. Or as Robert Downey Jr. put it; it "tanked". What could have been the start of a series of adventures - imagine a trilogy of mysteries with Gay Perry and his two misfit associates - sadly drifted into obscurity. Anyway, by now you may wonder how I wound up here. Or maybe not. Maybe you wonder how silly putty picks shit up from comic books. The point is, I don't see another Goddamn narrator, so pipe down. I first became aware of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang when I read about it in a film magazine (probably Empire ). The article featured that hilarious image of Downey Jr.'s 'Harry Lockhart' dangling from the hand of a corpse. Said hand is protruding from a coffin caught on a traffic sign, which is attached to a bridge in Long Beach, California....

Ramadi, Iraq. 2006. A platoon of Navy Seals sets up an observation post in a house in order to provide cover for an operation carried out by the US Marines. But when their position is compromised they find themselves surrounded and up against an increasing number of insurgents. With several teammates badly wounded, the Seals have no choice but to evacuate quickly, under heavy fire. This is their story, as told by them. It all begins with a song - "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz. We are introduced to the men we will be following as they psych themselves up for their mission, and it's almost impossible to miss just how young they are, as they dance and sing along to Prydz's popular song. From there it's straight on to the mission, with the team infiltrating the neighbourhood in which they'll be operating. There's no politics to be found here. No examination of all the wrongs or the morality of this illegal war. This is about war itself, and showing as accurately ...

When Ray King is murdered, Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) reluctantly calls upon Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) and his brother, Braxton (Jon Bernthal) to help figure out what Ray was working on, and find his killer.  To the more cynical among us, the return of Christian Wolff could be described as just another Hollywood cash-grab - falling back on a successful property that doesn't really need a sequel, just to see if they can milk anything more out of it. And while it is true that we weren't exactly screaming for a sequel, thanks to his efficiency at both accounting and dispatching of villains, it's not exactly unwelcome either. The Accountant 2  begins exactly as you'd imagine (whether you knew the plot or not); with the death of one of the first movie's beloved characters. After all, how else are you going to get the band back together? From there our unhappy gathering of law enforcement and law-breakers bicker over how to go about findi...