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Seven Psychopaths Reviews

As one character points out: “This thing’s got layers.”

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 23, 2022

In its efforts to be thought-provoking and unique, it nearly derails itself by transforming into something less than a whole, sensible project.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 2, 2020

This is a dark, screwball comedy-drama that constantly surprises.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 29, 2020

A testosterone-fueled, pseudo-road movie with a story that's smart, quick-witted, and self-referential.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 18, 2020

When the end result is quite as funny and off-the-wall as this, and the actors all quite as engaging and sharp, it's rather hard to care about the lack of lasting impact.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2020

A highly entertaining movie filled with laughs, violence and some wonderful performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 13, 2019

A slick little joy ride that manages to gives us another great incarnation of the one and only Christopher Walken.

Full Review | Aug 5, 2019

McDonagh's own script is too clever by half, and so over-torqued in the final act that it loses traction. But getting there is more than half the fun, as we watch the acting-notably the blithe tap-dance of Walken's splendidly off-kilter performance.

Full Review | Jul 31, 2019

McDonagh has mostly succeeded in crafting a funny, self-reflexive comedy thriller, yet fails to upturn the male-dominated cult of Hollywood when held under closer scrutiny.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 6, 2019

The baroque stories-within-stories and irreverent dialogue have been done immeasurably better in the films of Quentin Tarantino.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 1, 2019

It's pure pleasure -- for both those who like crime capers and those who like mocking them.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 20, 2018

I can't say this film is as brilliant as it professes to be; however, it is a funny, thought-provoking and oddly entertaining 90 minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 14, 2018

The film is incredibly quotable and full of memorable moments, making for a script that never stops delivering.

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Nov 1, 2018

Seven Psychopaths is one of those movies that's too cute by half.

Full Review | Oct 31, 2018

An underrated gem.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 31, 2018

It's a film that will leave you puzzled, especially after a rough first half hour, but the more you open your mind to will prove revelatory, entirely engrossing and incredibly funny.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 27, 2018

Watchable as ever, Walken and Rockwell provide two hilarious performances that should keep the audience entertained.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 23, 2018

Seven Psychopaths unspools with clever ease and buffoonish charm. It is effortlessly brilliant and always accessible but more important, it slavishly satisfies the first rule of comedy - make 'em laugh.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2018

A less successful picture, mostly because it's more concerned with its winking meta-textual framework than the larger humanistic concerns of his other work.

Full Review | Nov 14, 2017

Violence may be served up in copious amounts, but McDonagh also creates characters who have no qualms going gently into that good night.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 25, 2017

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Stephen King Succinctly Endorses Netflix's New #1 Movie

Godzilla minus one sets historic first-time ever record with simultaneous success on streaming & vod, netflix’s trending action movie with 98% on rt is the closest we’ve come to a great jurassic park movie in 31 years, seven psychopaths is a smart and well-executed dark comedy full of over-the-top violence and intriguing rumination on human nature and the joy of killing..

In 2008, writer/director/producer Martin McDonagh released In Bruges , starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes. Despite an underwhelming box office performance, the film found success among critics and as a cult favorite after its home format release. Four years later and McDonagh is back, once again teaming with Colin Farrell, for another black-dramedy, Seven Psychopaths .

McDonagh is aided in his efforts this round by an enormous ensemble cast that includes (in addition to Farrell) Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Walken, Harry Dean Stanton, Woody Harrelson, and Gabourey Sidibe, among others. Does Seven Psychopaths offer a movie experience that will be appealing to In Bruges faithfuls as well as casual moviegoers - so that the fan-favorite director can earn solid box office profits in addition to critical acclaim?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. While Seven Psychopaths retains the same ultra-violent dark-comedy approach of In Bruges , the cast of familiar actors, Los Angeles setting, not to mention the central dog-napping set-up, positions McDonagh's latest film for greater visibility this round - without undercutting the strength of his writing or storytelling. In Bruges fans who were worried that the sizable cast, not to mention the tense departure of Mickey Rourke and last minute casting of Harrelson, might have convoluted McDonagh's final product can rest easy. In many ways, Seven Psychopaths is a step up for the director - as he attempts to tackle larger questions about life, death, and psychopaths.

This time around Farrell is playing a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Marty, who spends all day drinking instead of writing. However, when Marty is kicked out by his girlfriend Kaya (Abbie Cornish), he's forced to take refuge on the couch of his best friend, Billy (Sam Rockwell) - a con man who, along with partner Hans (Christopher Walken), steals dogs and returns them to owners for reward money. Unfortunately, just as Marty hits rock bottom, Billy steals a Shih Tzu belonging to notorious crime lord, Charlie (Woody Harrelson), who goes on a blood-splattering rampage in search of the beloved dog. Through the highs and lows of the experience, Marty begins to fill in the pages of his screenplay, "Seven Psychopaths," reappropriating the various situations, and mentally unstable personalities, for life on the big screen - in addition to learning that some psychopaths aren't as bad as they might seem.

Moral ambiguity is a major focus of the performances - as many of the actors attempt to showcase the psychopathic extremes of their characters. Some are certainly more interesting than others: Rockwell walks a playful line (and provides an especially memorable monologue) while Walken's turn as Hans offers some of the film's most enjoyable as well as emotional moments. Farrell's Marty, while entertaining scene to scene, is pretty bland overall and, despite a large amount of time dedicated to establishing (and frequently mentioning) his personal story arcs, he's just an observer and doesn't really develop outside of writing the script.

The rest of the ensemble is massive and viewers will be treated to a steady stream of familiar faces in unique and entertaining roles but few of the characters stick around long enough to distract from the core story that McDonagh is telling. Instead, through Marty, who is attempting to make sense of the crazy situation he's been thrown into (while also trying to get his back on his feet), the director tackles a range of topics including society's preoccupation with violence, disinterest in meaningful storytelling, and fear of the unknown (both secular and religious) - all while tying together stories involving a range of psychopathic personalities: a Vietnamese soldier, a mask-wearing mercenary, and a pair of homicidal lovers/vigilantes, among others.

To that end, Seven Psychopaths is one of the craziest film experiences that audiences will ever see, while at the same time offering an equal number of exceptionally insightful moments, especially as the film presses into the third act. Throats are cut, heads explode, and even though the movie is outrageously violent at times, McDonagh still manages to use all that brutality for a purpose beyond merely entertaining viewers - managing to present a number of intriguing juxtapositions where brutal people show their vulnerability and vulnerable people show their brutality. In these grey areas, surrounded by an absurd and over-the-top premise, Seven Psychopaths manages to deliver one of the more honest and introspective film experiences in recent memory.

Despite its successes, with so many odd-ball characters running around, not all of the narrative threads in Seven Psychopaths come full circle. A few substantive plot threads are entirely abandoned and, in some cases, the movie prioritizes quick gags over previously established character development. Given the ambitions of the larger story and the size of the ensemble, it's not surprising that McDonagh couldn't payoff every single plot point but he definitely focuses his time and energy in the right places. In an especially strong example, one side-lined character actually delivers the most impactful moment of the film. Still, moviegoers who respond to some of the support characters, or showed up to advocate for a favorite actor, might find the focus of their enthusiasm suddenly removed to make way for the primary psychopaths - with little resolution. Admittedly, this happens all the time in movies, it's just that the amount of familiar faces in Seven Psychopaths makes it more noticeable.

Seven Psychopaths is a smart and well-executed dark comedy full of over-the-top violence and intriguing rumination on human nature and the joy of killing. The film sports an enjoyable ensemble and plenty of memorable performances - even if a few interesting plot threads get dropped in service of the larger project. Moviegoers who can handle philosophical musings accompanied by exploding heads will find that McDonagh has delivered another sharp and entertaining film.

If you’re still on the fence about Seven Psychopaths , check out the trailer below:

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Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.

Seven Psychopaths is Rated R for strong violence, bloody images, pervasive language, sexuality/nudity and some drug use. Now playing in theaters.

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Seven Psychopaths (2012)

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SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Review

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Swings High for End of Re-Release Series at Domestic Box Office

July will be a bad month for tarantino fans, this '70s sci-fi gem was eerily ahead of its time.

[This is a re-post of my review from the Toronto International Film Festival. Seven Psychopaths opens today. ]

A way to work through writer's block is to write about the writer's block. At least you're writing, and you may get something more creative than if you had carefully mapped out your path. I'm not sure if writer-director Martin McDonagh suffered a case of writer's block on his way to creating Seven Psychopaths , but the end result is brash, brilliant, wickedly fun, and the best film about screenwriting since Adaptation. Psychopaths is viciously funny, delightfully clever, and meta without being cloyingly self-conscious. McDonagh's machine-gun script races with energy fueled by wild performances from stars Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell , and Christopher Walken . The movie doesn't simply break through writer's block; Seven Psychopaths gleefully blows the block to hell.

Martin (Farrell) is a screenwriter has a new screenplay called "Seven Psychopaths" but he's only got the title, and needs to find the eponymous characters. He's encouraged by his friend Billy (Rockwell), an actor/dog-kidnapper who kidnaps local dogs with his friend Hans (Walken). Billy and Hans end up kidnapping the wrong pooch when they heist Bonnie, a shih tzu owned by psychopathic gangster Charlie ( Woody Harrleson ). Martin, Billy, and Hans go on the run from Charlie and his goons, but the plot is more about its delightful digressions than its through line. Seven Psychopaths constantly detours to short stories about other psychopaths like Zachariah ( Tom Waits ), a serial killer of serial killers, who now goes around carrying a bunny.

McDonagh's skillful direction makes a character like Zachariah fit into a madcap world rather than exist as some kind of zany distraction. The entire film is McDonagh announcing his obstacle, charging at it, and screaming at the top of his lungs. One psychopath is a former Viet Kong soldier (Long Nguyen) dressed as a priest and wielding a snub-nose .45 pistol. "I just liked the image," Martin shrugs, and we know it was probably an idea McDonagh scribbled down at some point, and found a place for it because the entire flick is a mash-up that may seem like a mess of ideas, but they mesh together into a loud and proud statement on the insanity of writing.

But no one likes a preachy, self-important screenwriter (to Robert Redford I will repeat: no one likes a preachy, self-important screenwriter ), and Seven Psychopaths never comes off as pedantic in large part to Walken, Farrell, and Rockwell acting as the heart, the head, and the acid tongue of the picture, respectively. There's not a weak link in the cast, but the lead trio is operating at the top of their game. Walken brings a weary and sad vibe to the picture, but never forgets to bring his trademark strangeness (only Walken could find a fun new way to pronounce the word "hallucinogens"). Farrell once again gets to show off the comic knack he displayed in McDonagh's previous film, In Bruges , and he's an amusingly high-strung straight man who can't break away from his screenplay or his friends. And as for Rockwell, if the Academy ever noticed movies likes Seven Psychopaths , he would be a shoe-in for an acting nomination. His energy explodes off the screen, and his performance as Billy will be ranked among the best in a career of stellar performances.

These performances are essential for the lunacy of McDonagh's movie. You need actors who can control the comedy, and bring a sense of humanity and stability to a picture that could have easily gone off the rails if the cast didn't understand what their writer-director was trying to accomplish. McDonagh holds nothing back, and proudly bears his objectives, his genre critiques, and even his shortcomings (one character points out the paper-thin female characters in Martin's screenplay). The filmmaker has plastered the screen with the competing sides of his creative mind as Martin and Billy represent the Frosted Mini-Wheats of McDonagh's brain. The adult side wants a movie about psychopaths that isn't about violence but instead is about reconciliation and peace. Billy shouts "What the fuck?!" and demands a shootout to end all shootouts.

McDonagh never reconciles a straight story about seven psychopaths, and we should all be thankful for that. The movie shows why it makes no sense of have a sane story about a group of insane people, so why not circle back, go through multiple drafts, throw in short stories, and pepper the flick with razor-sharp wit with emotional depth? Why throw up a wall against taking big chances that could blow the audience away even if they might blow up in the filmmaker's face? Writer's block is no match for mad genius, and Seven Psychopaths is delightfully mad and surprisingly genius.

Entertainment

Seven Psychopaths Review

05 Dec 2012

110 minutes

Seven Psychopaths

Martin Mcdonagh made a lasting impression in 2008 with his debut feature, In Bruges — which has crept up many people’s favourite film lists, partly thanks to its quotability. Given that there’s been a four-year wait for a follow-up, and that Seven Psychopaths is about a blocked Irish screenwriter called Marty, there’s a possibility that McDonagh is flirting with autobiography here. Or maybe that’s as much a feint as anything else on offer.

In a set-up reminiscent of Adaptation and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, every film cliché is followed by a footnote. The funniest, most perceptive deconstructions of movie conventions come from a complete maniac. Billy (Sam Rockwell) notes that you can do anything on screen to a woman so long as you let a cute animal go unscathed.

Colin Farrell, so much better in indie dramas than product like the Fright Night or Total Recall remakes, plays it quizzical as the token non-psychopath, letting Rockwell seize the day as the hero’s collaborator/stalker/best friend. It’s the sort of role that would have a lock on a Best Supporting Actor nomination if only Christopher Walken, delivering the full-strength Walken for the first time in a while, weren’t in the same film. Walken gets a face-off moment, involving a cravat, with Woody Harrelson’s gangster that’s as good as his confrontation with Dennis Hopper in True Romance. There’s too much material here for it all to be digested, especially since the plot is basically a dance around the fact that there isn’t one… and the smart insights about lazy moviemaking still apply to this film as much as to the most average shoot ’em up.

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Seven Psychopaths – review

M artin McDonagh's new film premieres in the Midnight Madness sidebar at the Toronto film festival; that puts him in curious company. He's rubbing shoulders with Rob Zombie and Eli Roth, sharing programme space with the "backwoods road bandits" of No One Lives and the "ancient evils, transdimensional bugs and meat monsters" promised by John Dies at the End. And though you can't hurt a fly on film today without simultaneously supplying a post-modern commentary on the audience's enjoyment of its pain, it is hard to imagine that, say, Hellbenders (lecherous exorcists) pulls off quite such deft meta tricks as Seven Psychopaths. Nor that they're actually half so sick.

Colin Farrell – often happier in the back seat than shouldering a heroic lead – reteams with writer/director McDonagh after the success of In Bruges ; this time as straight man, rather than loose cannon. He's playing Martin, an Irish scriptwriter living in LA, alcoholic, cowardly, and a provocative exercise in self-portraiture. Martin made a mint a few years back with a blood-splattered comedy, but is now battling writers' block and wants to ditch the gristle and cook up something life affirming. But his best friend, played by Sam Rockwell with rewarding loopiness, is eager to collaborate on a script called Seven Psychopaths. He puts an ad in the paper, listing Martin's number, and requesting deranged tales. But in fact it's Rockwell's dognapping business – run alongside Christopher Walken – that winds up granting Martin first-person contact with a world he's only ever written about, after they snatch the beloved shih tzu of mob boss Woody Harrelson.

In some ways, Seven Psychopaths is a more conventional confection than its predecessor. And, by conventional, you inevitably mean Tarantino-esque. When it's good, it jigs over many of the same buttons: witty and inventive, cracklingly obscene and sheep-dunk bracing. And it suffers some of the same short-burn as a Tarantino flick, vividly impressive at the time, but all fireworks and no Aga, a film whose parts might be more than its sum. There are scenes of complete brilliance, Walken is better than he's been in years, cute plot loops and grace notes. Yet it doesn't quite cohere, for all its grounding in a world in which, for all its frayed ends and fringe insanity, McDonagh does now actually inhabit.

Toronto film festival 2012
First look review
Toronto film festival
Colin Farrell
Comedy films
Woody Harrelson
Martin McDonagh

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Seven Psychopaths : Smart, Violent, Crazy Fun

Martin McDonagh convenes a killer cast for his shaggy Shih Tzu crime comedy

Two killers ( Boardwalk Empire ’s Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg) are debating the niceties of their next job — whether or not their victim should be shot in the eyeball — when a third figure, dressed in a Mexican wrestling mask, walks up and BLAM! , blows them both away. This is the opening scene of Martin McDonagh’s second feature (after the 2008 In Bruges ) about lowlife characters unfortunate enough to encounter murderers even more deranged than they. It’s an old-fashioned John Huston caper film extended to sulfurous comedy — from Beat the Devil to Meet the Devil .

Since its world premiere in the Midnight Madness section of last month’s Toronto Film Festival, Seven Psychopaths has acquired a cult patina, not just from its own trailer but also from an all-feline parody for a film called Seven Psychocats . That one might convince the 42-year-old McDonagh he’d finally made the big time. An award-winning playwright since his mid-twenties, with his 1996 The Beauty Queen of Leenane , he turned to the stage only after studios had rejected all his film scripts. In 1998, for a TIME story called “When O’Casey Met Scorsese,” he told our theater critic Richard Zoglin, “I want to write plays … that a film fan would be interested in seeing, like the new De Niro movie.”

(READ: Richard Zoglin’s profile of Martin McDonagh by subscribing to TIME)

Instead, in Seven Psychopaths , he assembles a killer cast of Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken and many other weird worthies for a Tarantinish crime comedy full of McDonagh’s trademark quirky-menacing stage conversation (“Talking!?” Rockwell says in annoyed astonishment; “What is this, a f—ing French movie?”) and to pursue the author’s favorite truism that life is even stranger, funnier and more painful than death. McDonagh’s plays — most of them set in his ancestral Galway, and dealing with family animosities that escalate to Armageddon level — don’t exactly mix the horrifying and the hilarious; they are both at once, evoking laughs that might be gasps.

Except for A Behanding in Spokane , whose main character did lose an extremity when hooligans tied it to a roailroad track and let a train sever it, McDonagh’s plays tend to be remembered not by their titles but by their graphic incidents. A Skull in Connemara is the one about the corpse with a gashed cranium; The Pillowman is the one about the fairy tales that inspire a child molester; The Lieutenant of Inishmore is the one with the dead cat (not a psychocat) and buckets of stage blood. For his movies, McDonagh has broadened the thematic focus from quarreling relatives to working stiffs — thugs, that is, whose business is to turn suspects into stiffs — who form their own kind of dysfunctional family. That was the story of In Bruges , a tale of two killers (Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) on a Belgian holiday in Hell. The new film, the script for which McDonagh wrote seven years ago, could be In Bruges gone meta: more, and more bizarre, characters, in a movie that doubles back, comments on and makes fun of itself.

(READ: Jumana Farouky’s chat with McDonagh in Bruges )

The one relative innocent in this L.A. vulture vita is Marty (Farrell), a screenwriter who has come up with the title for a movie — Seven Psychopaths — but no story. His actor pal Billy (Rockwell) helpfully places a want-ad calling on people who consider themselves psychopaths. That summons unusual visions of killers: one Amish, one a Buddhist monk and the third Tom Waits, petting a rabbit. Billy might also qualify. A hot-tempered type with a streak of inane self-justification, he says of one assault, “I didn’t want to break his nose. His nose just happened to be in the middle of where I was punching.”

Between acting jobs, which is always, Billy runs a scam with the older Hans (Walken) to steal the dogs of rich people and return them for reward money. Their mistake comes in filching a Shih Tzu named Bonnie from a gangster named Charlie (Harrelson), who loves only two things: his pet and killing the people who steal it. Billy and Hans should have realized the seriousness of their dognapping when they read Bonnie’s dog tag: “Return to Charles Castello or you will f—ing die.”

(READ: Corliss on Woody Harrelson in Rampart )

At one point the frazzled Marty asks, “What’re we gonna do?” and Billy and Hans chip in, “We could take on all the bad guys… maybe in a desert.” No, Marty says, “What do you think we should do in real life ?” Of course, this isn’t real life; it’s a movie, as the screenwriter doesn’t know but the actor does. At first, viewers may find it hard to tell whether the movie is winking at them or closing one eye for a better, fatal aim at its victims in the theater. But as, say, Hans describes a movie scene that is soon played out on screen, it should be clear that the filmmaker, the actors and the characters — the audience, too — are all meant to be in on the same rich joke.

Offering dark fun under the broiling California sun, the movie is essentially the fanciful autobiography of any writer stuck at the onset of the creative process. McDonagh’s solution was to let the macho side of his imagination run amok, and to enlist favorite colleagues (Farrell from In Bruges , Rockwell and Walken from the Broadway version of A Behanding in Spokane ) to gallop along with him. Any actors with a free day or two — Waits, Harry Dean Stanton, Olga Kurylenko, Zeljko Ivanek, Abbie Cornish, Gabourey Sidibe, plus Pitt and Stuhlbarg — were welcome to join this raffish caper. In this competition of reigning eccentrics, Rockwell is the surprise winner for his intense and acute bantam lunacy.

(READ: Corliss’s appraisal of Sam Rockwell in Moon )

Small in stature but consistently entertaining, Seven Psychopaths is a vacation from consequence for the Tony- and Oscar-winning author, and an unsupervised play date for his cast of screw-loose stars.

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Movie Review: Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Charlie Juhl
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7 responses
--> October 14, 2012

Seven Psychopaths (2012) by The Critical Movie Critics

With dognapped dog.

Seven Psychopaths may be the best movie title of the year. Martin McDonagh certainly has a way of coming up with apt and memorable titles for the audience to carry around with them, he is also responsible for “ In Bruges .” One could easily argue that Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson were also psychopaths in “In Bruges,” but “Two Psychopaths” doesn’t work nearly as well when you can cram a full seven in there instead (even better when one of them is Christopher Walken).

Two mid-level gangsters are hanging out griping about the gangster business, specifically about whether or not either of them has ever shot anybody through the eyeball. This is exactly the same conversation the two gangsters in McDonagh’s first film could easily have had. Hell, Seven Psychopaths looks like it might as well be “In Bruges 2: Los Angeles.” However, these two gangsters immediately stop their conversation when a hooded assassin somewhat casually walks up behind them, shoots them in the head, and leaves a jack of diamonds on each body — enter the Jack O’Diamonds killer. This was a good move by McDonagh. He sets the audience up with two guys spouting “ Pulp Fiction ” dialogue and abruptly offs them to let the audience know they better be careful, Seven Psychopaths is odd, unpredictable, and may take a 180-degree turn when they least expect it. It also means there is a fresh film here and not just a knock-off of something seen already.

There is a film within a film in Seven Psychopaths and it too is named “Seven Psychopaths.” Marty (Farrell) is a struggling screenwriter who thinks a bit of alcohol will take the edge off and let the ideas flow like wine. The problem is the glass of wine turns into a margarita and then into a bottle of bourbon. This is no way to reliably develop characters on the page. Billy (Sam Rockwell) is Marty’s actor friend and wants to motivate him but as any good friend does, he reminds Marty that since he is an Irish writer, there is no fighting alcoholism, it is in his blood. Billy tells Marty some good stories which he should put in his screenplay about the Jack O’Diamonds killer and a guy called the Quaker killer. Each time one of these stories is told, Seven Psychopaths breaks away from reality and shows us sort of a short story which is narrated by either Billy or Marty. The real seven psychopaths are not the characters in Martin McDonagh’s film, but in Marty’s screenplay.

Billy is only a part-time actor though. To make money, he works with Hans (Walken) to kidnap dogs, wait for the reward poster to be put up by worried owners, and then heads off to collect the dough. Naturally, they kidnap the wrong guy’s dog. Charlie (Woody Harrelson) loves his Shih Tzu Bonny. When Bonny turns up missing, Charlie and his goons start killing people. It’s not all bad news though, these violent segues are really helping out Marty’s screenplay even though the body count is starting to rise. Both Billy and Hans start contributing ideas for the screenplay: Character backstories, motivations, and even possible dream sequences and endings are in high demand. Running and hiding from a vengeful gangster can be nerve-wracking, but fleshing out an effective screenplay is a good hobby to take your mind off of your troubles for awhile.

Three psychopaths?

The first half of Seven Psychopaths is one of the best films of the year; unfortunately, the second half torpedoes what was shaping up to be a surprising success. The psychopath vignettes are original, creative, and the best part of the movie. An oddball named Zachariah (Tom Waits) pops up to contribute one you will not soon forget. Halfway though, with the real characters on the run from Charlie, the story becomes far too reminiscent of “ Scream .” In that series, the characters knew what was coming next because they were very knowledgeable of the horror genre. They described the types of characters who would not make it to the end and even in what order they would start to fall. Seven Psychopaths turns self aware and veers directly into similar territory, but with the action genre. Billy points out the best spot to have a final showdown, which characters will get shot and why, and he gets quite angry if Marty or Hans does something to interfere with how this is all working out in his head.

Notwithstanding Seven Psychopaths has an ill conceived second half, it is still bizarrely fun entertainment. Not as much as “In Bruges,” mind you, but enough to make this action/gangster/buddy movie a worthy sophomoric effort by McDonagh. And if nothing else, the casting of Christopher Walken as a psychopath is a brilliant piece of matching a man with a part. His spiked, “ Eraserhead ” kind of hair, blank stares and interesting delivery, would make even Hannibal Lecter remark, “Wow, this guys is nuts!”

Tagged: dog , kidnap , scam , writer

I like movies and they like me right back. You can find out how much by visiting my personal site Citizen Charlie .

Movie Review: The Gatekeepers (2012) Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures (2013) Movie Review: Warm Bodies (2013) Movie Review: Parker (2013) Movie Review: Mama (2013) Movie Review: 5 Broken Cameras (2011) Movie Review: Gangster Squad (2013)

'Movie Review: Seven Psychopaths (2012)' have 7 comments

October 14, 2012 @ 8:34 pm NotRob

Clever but never as clever as it wants to be or thinks it is.

October 14, 2012 @ 9:16 pm Phil Britton

In Bruges is the better McDonagh movie.

October 14, 2012 @ 9:57 pm Mojos1970

All I need is Christopher Walken. A looney Christopher Walken more so.

October 18, 2012 @ 3:20 pm electro

Is there another kind of Walken?

October 14, 2012 @ 11:14 pm Warner

I’d go further and say the ending was terrible.

October 15, 2012 @ 12:10 am Diptheria

Both Tom Waits and Christopher Walken as “psychopaths” is perfect casting. Everyone else is pretty good too.

October 15, 2012 @ 3:26 pm mjanes

Martin McDonagh has an interesting lens he sees the world through!

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Helena Barker & Emily Greene

What it's about.

If you like any of the following: Irish accents, Woody Harrelson, Pulp Fiction, or dark comedy; then this is the movie for you. This mix of violence, mafia, existential talk, and painfully comical situations might not be for everyone, but it has every component to make its target audience very pleased. And given how chaotic and crazy it can get, it should be enjoyed one take at a time, focusing on each delightful scene rather than the overall plot. Directed by Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths makes a perfect comeback after In Bruges , without veering very much from it (consequently if you like this movie make sure you check out In Bruges too).

Michael J Tobias

A struggling screenwriter gets caught up in the underworld of Hollywood after his friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved shih tzu. Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, this hilarious film is reminiscent of a more darkly funny version of “Raising Arizona.” Impeccably funny dialogue from the opening scene to the end. Brilliantly done.

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Movie Review – Seven Psychopaths (2012)

December 4, 2012 by admin

Seven Psychopaths , 2012.

Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh. Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Željko Ivanek, Michael Pitt, Kevin Corrigan, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Stuhlbarg and Harry Dean Stanton.

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved dog.

Before we begin, I have to confess – I didn’t really “get” In Bruges when I saw it at the cinema. I liked it don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t love it. It wasn’t until I saw it on DVD a few years later that I finally understood what the fuss was about. I get the feeling Seven Psychopaths will have the same effect on a lot of people because it’s a film where you get more out of it the more you think about it.

Explaining the intricacies of Seven Psychopaths is an incredibly hard job and one that I am not taking lightly. I have been staring at my laptop screen now for a good 20 minutes trying to surmise in words why this movie is subtle genius. What you get with Seven Psychopaths is a movie about a script that is being written but is playing out the same way the script is being penned (confused yet?). This isn’t an existential thing, this is how the film works (the scriptwriter character is Marty, the writer of the movie Martin McDonagh). The movie only really changes in pace and tone when one of Marty’s friends tells him how he thinks the movie should go. All the while there is a main plot that sort of acts like a sub plot at times involving Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell stealing the Shi-Tzu of crime boss Charlie (played by Woody Harrelson). It’s an incredibly bizarre and odd movie that will keep you thinking long after the movies credits have ended.

However this also makes it very hard to criticise because all of the things wrong with the movie are intentional. You could argue that the female characters are pointless and underplayed, but this is because Marty doesn’t know how to write female dialogue and it’s a trait of the genre he’s writing. The plot takes a little while to get going and find its feet, but this because Marty hasn’t written anything but the title and we only get new characters when he starts to write about them. The argument could also be made that the ending is a little lacklustre and it’s just three guys sitting in the desert talking – but that’s the ending that Marty wanted for his movie. Now, this could very well be this critic reading too much into the movie, but I’d like to think that this is subtle genius on the part of Martin McDonagh.

Seeing as though I can’t criticise the movie, I shall praise everything that I loved about it – mainly the cast of characters and the actors who play them. I’ve always been a defender of Colin Farrell and think that he just picks poor movies to star in, but here he shows just how great he can be with a decent script and a good director. His performance is so good that it seems a shame that it’s overshadowed by Sam Rockwell’s superbly crazy performance of Billy and Christopher Walken’s off-kilter-but-sweet-yet-still-nuts Hans. These two make such a great team-up that I sort of wish they had their own movie. Woodly Harrelson is fantastic as Charlie and it seems like a stroke of luck that Mickey Rourke had a falling out with the production team and left the movie because I couldn’t seem him doing as good of a job as Harrelson. And for only getting a couple of scenes, Tom Waits is awesome as the insanely mad Zachariah who, again, I wish was given more screen time.

McDonagh hasn’t just created a script that is genius in testing the attention levels of its audience, but also one with very well-written dialogue. It reminds me of the early days of Quentin Tarantino with its quick witted, snappy exchanges. It draws you into each and every scene and you find yourself hanging onto every word uttered by the characters. This, along with the wonderful performances, is just a great compliment to the intricacies of its bizarre plot.

Seven Psychopaths will not please everyone. I can imagine those who are just expecting a funny dog stealing romp (and who wouldn’t given the promotional material) might find certain aspects of the story to be fairly boring (even though its intentional), but those who want to get more from their movies will find a lot of entertainment here. You may not enjoy it straight from the outset, but repeat reviewing will reveal more and more of McDonagh’s genius. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s certainly one of the most interesting pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Luke Owen is a freelance copywriter working for Europe’s biggest golf holiday provider as their web content executive.

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Seven psychopaths, common sense media reviewers.

Graphic violence, strong language in clever crime comedy.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The characters discuss the option of telling a sto

The main character, a screenwriter, grows tired of

Many characters are shot and killed, with lots of

Characters are shown attempting to have sex (with

Very strong, frequent language includes uses of "f

A Milky Way chocolate bar is shown very briefly.

The main character is shown to have a drinking pro

Positive Messages

The characters discuss the option of telling a story without any violence or conflict, but their conclusion is that a good story needs a lot of violence.

Positive Role Models

The main character, a screenwriter, grows tired of violent stories and tries as much as he can to work toward something that involves introspection and discussion. He tries to save a wounded bad guy, even though the attempt backfires on him. Unfortunately, violence tends to win the day here. Additionally, this character is shown to have a drinking problem.

Violence & Scariness

Many characters are shot and killed, with lots of spurting blood. In one scene, a gangster shoots an innocent old lady in the head; blood is sprayed on the walls. A woman is shot in the stomach. Throats are sliced, and a character is shot with a crossbow. Heads explode. A character attempts suicide via a bombing. In a flashback, two killers shoot people, burn them alive, and saw victims' heads off. In an imagined finale, there's a ridiculously bloody shootout. Much of the violence is meant to be comical in a shocking way, i.e. the suddenness and randomness of the targets.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Characters are shown attempting to have sex (with noises), but they stop. A topless woman is shown. A main character is shown with a wet top, and her breasts are somewhat visible beneath.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Very strong, frequent language includes uses of "f--k," "motherf---r," "s--t," "p---y," "c--t," "bitch," "d--k," "ass," "bastard," "hell," "damn," "goddamn," "oh my God," "Jesus Christ" (as an exclamation), and derogatory terms such as the "N" word, "f-gs," and "homos."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

The main character is shown to have a drinking problem. It costs him his relationship with his girlfriend, and he turns to drinking for every problem he has. The problem is acknowledged, and it's assumed that he has stopped drinking by the story's end. Another character regularly smokes peyote.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Seven Psychopaths is the second feature film by acclaimed playwright and Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin McDonagh , who frequently uses crime, violence, and strong language in his smart-but-edgy stories. Seven Psychopaths is no exception: Expect lots of graphic, bloody images, including shooting and killing; spraying, splattered blood; victims burned alive; sawing a victim's neck; and an over-the-top bloody shootout with exploding heads. Language is very strong ("f--k," "s--t," "c--t," etc.), and there's a near-sex scene, a topless woman, and a woman wearing a wet, see-through top. A major character is also shown to have a drinking problem. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (3)
Kids say (10)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Too sexual to watch, I wouldn't watch or let my kids watch either

What's the story.

Screenwriter Marty ( Colin Farrell ) is having trouble with his new screenplay, Seven Psychopaths . He's getting tired of violence in movies and is trying to figure out how to tell his story peacefully. Meanwhile, his best friend, Billy ( Sam Rockwell ), and Billy's associate, Hans ( Christopher Walken ), are running a business kidnapping dogs, returning them, and collecting rewards. Unfortunately, they've just kidnapped a beautiful Shih Tzu, Bonny, who belongs to a sadistic gangster ( Woody Harrelson ). Meanwhile, a masked killer is on the loose, as well as several other psychopaths. Our trio ventures into the desert to try to make sense of it all, but will this trip result in self-discovery or a bloody showdown?

Is It Any Good?

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is terrific. Acclaimed Irish playwright Martin McDonagh won an Oscar for his short film Six Shooter (2005) and received a screenwriting nomination for his feature debut In Bruges (2008). Here, he continues to mix crime and dark comedy, but this time he adds a layer of self-awareness, deconstructing both the writing process and the need for conflict (and/or violence) in writing.

Miraculously, like Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation (2002), Seven Psychopaths manages to deftly juggle characters, humor, and its lofty ideas without dropping anything or giving anything away too soon. In spite of the movie's immense cleverness, it has a genuine affection for its trio of misfits, and they have a genuine affection for one another, too. Best of all is not so much McDonagh's one-liners but rather the conversations between characters, which tend to grow funnier the longer they go on (just listen to the one about "an eye for an eye").

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Seven Psycopaths ' violence . Is violence necessary to tell a good story? Why do the characters discuss violence? Do you agree with their conclusions?

How does the movie portray the main character's drinking problem ? Do the consequences seem realistic? How does it compare to other depictions in movies/on TV?

There's a brief comment about how the fictitious screenplay in the story has no strong female characters. How are women characters represented in the real movie? How does the comment relate to it?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 12, 2012
On DVD or streaming : January 29, 2013
Cast : Christopher Walken , Colin Farrell , Sam Rockwell
Director : Martin McDonagh
Studio : CBS Films
Genre : Comedy
Run time : 109 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong violence, bloody images, pervasive language, sexuality/nudity and some drug use
Last updated : April 20, 2024

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Seven Psychopaths | Review

Usual Suspects: McDonagh Gives Us a Light Killer Comedy With Latest

Martin McDonagh Seven Psychopaths Poster

Marty (Colin Farrell) is a struggling, alcoholic screenwriter trying to pen his latest idea concerning seven psychopaths…only he’s anti-violence and wants to make the film about peace and turning the other cheek. Marty’s best friend, Billy Bickle, wants him to finish the screenplay by any means possible, and is constantly looking to inspire him, though he is at odds with Marty’s distant girlfriend, Kaya (Abbie Cornish). Billy really wants to Marty to invite him on as cowriter, but the two have opposing ideas about the depiction of violence. And it’s Billy who keeps giving Marty ideas for psychopaths, both by using a current Los Angeles serial killer known as the Jack of Diamonds Killer and by telling him a crazy story about a vengeful Quaker. Billy’s an actor, but between gigs runs a dog catching scheme with Hans (Christopher Walken). But the duo kidnaps a Shih Tzu one day that happens to belong to a violent gangster (Woody Harrelson) and soon all three of them are running for their lives trying to figure out how to get Bunny off their hands. On the way, Marty gets plenty of input on his growing script idea from Billy and Hans….but happens to find out that some of Billy’s stories may not just be urban legend. A meeting of psychotic minds would seem to be inevitable.

Hands down, the number one reason to see Seven Psychopaths is a kooky, hilarious turn from Christopher Walken, giving us the funny side of his famed persona. Oh, and Sam Rockwell gives a zany and memorable turn as Marty’s friend, and you can guess what Bickle is an ode to. As Billy and Marty hammer out ideas for the script, their opposing views create the second half of the film, with Marty wanting to pen a formulaic action film that turns into three guys camping out in the desert for the climax (which, they actually get to do).

Of course, Billy’s insistence on a violent, explosive shoot-out has to be taken into consideration as well. Hans criticizes Marty’s inability to write women characters, claiming none of them are even able to put a sentence together. Likewise, the three females of Seven Psychopaths (Gabourey Sidibe, Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish) are all given short shrift. And there’s also a delicious subplot involving Tom Waits as a rabbit carrying weirdo who responds to an add Billy runs calling for psychopaths to share their personal stories. For as meta as the film ends up being, it feels decidedly short on lasting substance, and often feels like a series of scenarios sewn together by a great group of funny guys having a good time. Certainly, it doesn’t better McDonagh’s previous excellence, but it’s a slick little joy ride that manages to gives us another great incarnation of the one and only Christopher Walken.

Reviewed on September 07 at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival – MIDNIGHT MADNESS Programme. 109 Min

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), FIPRESCI, the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2023: The Beast (Bonello) Poor Things (Lanthimos), Master Gardener (Schrader). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.

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Movie Review: ‘Seven Psychopaths’

Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell in Seven Psychopaths

Coming off the excellent In Bruges , writer/director Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths had a lot to live up to. He brought back Colin Farrell and stuck to portraying a world that’s a bit seedier than the one most people live in. The comparisons generally end there, however.

Farrell plays a screenwriter looking for inspiration but drinking away his grip on everyday life. His best friend ( Sam Rockwell ) is in cahoots with Christopher Walken in a dog-napping enterprise which nets them the reward money distraught owners inevitably put up in order to be reunited with their furry friends. As fate (and McDonagh’s often all-too-clever script) would have it, they happen to steal the prized pooch of an unbalanced criminal (Woody Harrelson) who will go to any lengths to get his dog back.

Along the way, we’re introduced to characters that fill out the title billing and act as the basis for Farrell’s screenplay. It’s in the description and re-dramatization of these ancillary characters where the film shines, offering equal shades of bloody violence and unflinching comedy. However, unlike what the trailer may have you believe, the pacing of the movie is anything but brisk.

Despite a running time short of the two-hour mark, trudging through the meticulous layout of the story makes the experience feel much longer, and I even found my eyelids getting a bit heavy towards the end. It’s not that there aren’t some very funny moments, it’s that you’ve seen 75% of them in the trailer, and while awaiting another great exchange between Walken and Harrelson or hoping there’s another interesting character to grace the screen, watching Farrell’s character mope isn’t all that interesting. He’s a gifted actor but the script leaves him without much depth and on such a cliché development arc that there isn’t much satisfaction in seeing it play out.

Watching the film mainly had me wishing I’d re-watched In Bruges or another project McDonagh was a producer on, The Guard . Each of those delivers really fresh takes on the universe they inhabit and made for excellent cinema. The predominant emotion leaving the theater here was disappointment, and perhaps my expectations got the better of me.

Seven Psychopaths is almost like some weird mash-up of movies from the ’90s like True Romance , Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects . Yeah, you’d think that’s a compliment but trust me, it’s not. The whole movie feels dated and treads on territory that feels all too familiar. Walken’s performance and a few fun moments keep this from being a true waste of time, but justifying a $64 dollar movie ticket is hard to do. This one can easily wait for the movie channels.

Seven Psychopaths hits theaters on October 12, 2012 and is rated R for strong violence, bloody images, pervasive language, sexuality/nudity and some drug use.

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Seven Psychopaths (2012)

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'Lumberjack the Monster' Review - Takashi Miike's New Film Deserved Better

Lumberjack the Monster is a new Takashi Miike horror film worth your attention.
The film boasts sinister designs and gruesome violence, creating a deadly cat-and-cat mystery thriller.
Despite lacking robust promotion, the film builds to a bold and bloody finale that demands attention, standing tall against the odds.

It will always be disappointing how suddenly and without any fanfare Netflix will often drop films that should be exciting releases on its platform. It happened a couple of years back with the sinister vision that was The Stranger , and now it’s happened again with Takashi Miike ’s latest film, Lumberjack the Monster . The surprise drop was not like the recent release of Godzilla: Minus One , which already had a theatrical release, but represented the first chance that most audiences would have to see it. Why would you not shout about this from the rooftops? A new Miike vision is something most streamers would champion. Instead, it all feels like an afterthought, a reduction of cinema to just more content to throw into the void where it will be forgotten. Though not a new trend, moments like this do a disservice to the movies and the experience of watching them.

Sure, the director of films like the astounding Audition is certainly prolific, but Lumberjack the Monster sees him returning to horror in a new way . It isn’t his best work by any means, but there are still plenty of interesting things going on here. It’s not just appropriately grim, but it’s also frequently darkly funny, playing around with the genre in a manner that defies easy categorization. It’s the type of thing that stands out from the malaise that can too easily dominate the steamer. At least, it would, if it weren't just dropped without any sort of robust promotion or announcement. It would almost feel like it were an accident if it wasn’t part of an unfortunate pattern. One hopes it thrives on the platform as, even with its flaws, it’s still worth seeing rather than just getting potentially buried.

Lumberjack the Monster (2023)

After surviving an attack by a masked serial killer, ruthless lawyer Akira Ninomiya sets out on a path of revenge.

Release Date December 1, 2023

Director Takashi Miike

Cast Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Minosuke, Keisuke Horibe, Nanao, Kazuya Kamenashi, Riho Yoshioka, Shido Nakamura, Shta Sometani

Runtime 119 Minutes

Main Genre Thriller

Genres Thriller, Crime

Writers Mayusuke Kurai, Hiroyoshi Koiwai

What Is 'Lumberjack the Monster' About?

Based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Mayusuke Kurai , it all kicks off with a police raid, as we see how a husband and wife are experimenting on children that they have kidnapped. One of them is reading a book, a dark fairytale that gives the film its name and foreshadows the masked serial killer that we will then meet when it flashes forward. The design of this is borderline goofy in some regards, especially its eyes, but the ax that it wields is anything but. The killer becomes locked in a battle with Akira Ninomiya ( Kazuya Kamenashi) , who gets attacked in a parking lot and seriously injured. That he survived at all was quite lucky, as this killer is known for removing the brains of their victims. Akira will seek revenge and have to outrun the police to find the killer, so he can take justice into his own hands. We know he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty after a great introductory scene involving a car crash and a slitting of a throat. This isn’t the first burst of blood and it won’t be the last .

While the film will likely be described as a cat-and-mouse mystery, the reality is that it’s more of a cat-and-cat with both foes capable of brutally killing . Miike is never lacking in style in how he shoots with an eye for gruesome compositions, even as some of the conversation scenes can feel a little cold and static by comparison. When we then learn of how Akira has a chip that has been implanted in his head, which he doesn’t remember ever getting and only discovers when in the hospital, that adds a slight layer of mystery. Some of this can become perfunctory in the grand scheme of the film itself, but it does tie it together in the end, as we learn the full scope of what this technology does to people.

A key monologue gives it just enough emotional heft to pack a punch as well, ensuring that the final bloodbath that follows rips right through you. It’s not afraid to get gruesome in terms of gore, but there are also notes of unexpected grace sprinkled throughout. That it always still dives back further into darkness, with one outburst of laughter sending a chill up the spine, it shows that Miike can still be as relentless as ever . It’s a glimpse into a world where the psychopaths we think we know are merely the tip of the iceberg. Even when some moments of visual effects are a little lacking, the core that it finds after the layers of flesh are peeled back always works.

'Lumberjack the Monster' Builds to a Bold and Bloody Ending

Though it still has to battle the streaming forces that are working against it, the film’s ending goes all out in a way that may just break free of Netflix’s black hole . Just a final exchange in the rubble of a battle over a cigarette as time catches up to the film really lands. It’s a twist that could easily feel ridiculous in another film, but the sincerity of Lumberjack the Monster ensures a damning closing proclamation (“good luck with being human”) cuts deeper than any of the blows in the film. There is plenty of cheese to the bloody meal that Miike has prepared, but there is a fiery kick to it as well. Even when everything comes crashing down, this is a film that stands tall and rolls with the punches. It doesn’t deliver a knockout like some of Miike’s other films, but it still manages to beat all it has working against it into submission. One can only hope it manages to beat the odds again and find the audience it deserves.

Lumberjack the Monster is a flawed yet fun horror film from Takashi Miike that deserves better than the release it got on Netflix.

The film brings a sinister sense of style with plenty of gruesome compositions.
Miike proves to be just as relentless as ever, diving back into darkness when it counts.
The film builds to a bold and bloody ending with some key moments cutting deeper than any blow.
Some of the events playing out can feel a little perfunctory.

Lumberjack the Monster is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'Lumberjack the Monster' Review - Takashi Miike's New Film Deserved Better

Resident Orca: What Happened to Lolita the Killer Whale?

By Debangshu Nath

April 2024 saw the release of a tragic yet fascinating documentary titled Resident Orca . It is written, directed, and produced by Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider. This documentary delves into the story of Lolita, the killer whale .

Authorities captured Lolita when she was a baby. Throughout her life, she lived in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium and eventually died last year. She weighed 5000 pounds and lived in an 80-foot by 35-foot tank. Lolita was held captive for more than half a century. Although animal rights activists made several attempts to liberate her, she passed away tragically on October 2023.

According to Deadline , the synopsis reads, “After decades of failed attempts to bring her home, an unlikely partnership between Indigenous matriarchs, a billionaire philanthropist, killer whale experts, and the aquarium’s new owner take on the impossible task of freeing Lolita. Captured 53 years ago as a baby, only to spend the rest of her life performing in the smallest killer whale tank in North America.”

Resident Orca: What was Lolita’s cause of death?

According to CBS News , Lolita died due to old age and multiple chronic illnesses. At the time of her death, she was 57 years old. After her passing, authorities transferred her body to the University of Georgia, where they performed her necropsy. In March 2023, there were plans to move her to a natural sea pen in the Pacific Northwest. Furthermore, this plan would be backed by Jim Irsay, the owner of Indiana Colts. Unfortunately, it could have taken months or years for this plan to get a green signal.

Some of the animals’ other names were Sk’aliCh’ehl-tenaut and Tokitae. According to the Washington Post , “Her name, Tokitae — Toki for short — was given to her by the first veterinarian to care for her at the Miami Seaquarium; it was a nod to her region of origin, a Coast Salish greeting roughly translated as ‘nice day, pretty colors.’”

Debangshu watched a couple of Scorsese, Tarantino and Coppola films in seventh grade and developed an unhealthy obsession with criminals, psychopaths and serial killers. Fueled by his passion for Death, Thrash and Black Metal, he finds solace in writing about some of the most deranged people and incidents in human history.

Thank God for cats.

Cillian Murphy’s Small Things Like These Acquired by Lionsgate

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

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What to watch this summer: Here are the TV shows we're looking forward to

Eric Deggans

Aisha Harris

Linda Holmes

Glen Weldon

Clockwise from top left: Industry , My Lady Jane , The Bear , The Umbrella Academy , Clipped and House of the Dragon Nick Strasburg/HBO, Jonathan Prime/Prime Video, Chuck Hodes/FX, Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix, Kelsey McNeal/FX, Ollie Upton/HBO hide caption

It looks like we are in for a very hot summer . If you find yourself stuck inside looking for your next show, our critics can help — they've scanned the broadcast and streaming horizons to find the shows you should check out in June, July and August. Take a look:

Clipped , June 4, FX on Hulu

It sounds like a dated Saturday Night Live parody: a drama on the explosive impact of racist statements by then–Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, leaked to the public in 2014. But the elevated cast — Laurence Fishburne as Clippers coach Doc Rivers, Ed O’Neill as Sterling and LeVar Burton as himself — hints at more. Ultimately, the show explores class, race, sports and modern striving with surprising quality, including a meditation on how Black stars handle rage, which should get its own Emmy Award. — Eric Deggans

Fantasmas , June 7, Max Created, written, starring and directed by Julio Torres ( Problemista , Los Espookys ), this six-episode comedy series offers a queer (in every sense of the word) perspective on life in NYC. The plot: Torres loses an earring and goes looking for it. The execution: high weirdness, exquisitely wrought, as the loose narrative wanders through the lives of random New Yorkers whom Torres stumbles across on his quest. Smart, funny and scathing when it wants to be, Fantasmas is bracingly and idiosyncratically itself. — Glen Weldon

Queenie , June 7, Hulu There is something magnetic in watching a powerfully awkward protagonist stumble through life — especially Queenie, a 20-something Jamaican British woman caught between life as the daughter of immigrants and a painful breakup with a white boyfriend coddling vaguely racist relatives. Based on a bestselling novel, Hulu's series offers a deeply revealing urban comedy centered on a strong Black woman in London struggling to process her past so she can build a better future. Like most of us. — Eric Deggans

Presumed Innocent , June 12, Apple TV+ Presumed Innocent , a bestselling legal thriller by Scott Turow, became a Harrison Ford movie in 1990. Now, more than 30 years later, Jake Gyllenhaal steps in to lead a new TV adaptation for Apple. Gyllenhaal plays Rusty Sabich, a lawyer whose obsessive affair with a woman in his office becomes an existential threat to him after she turns up murdered. His mortified wife, played here by Ruth Negga, is forced to face the possibility that he murdered his lover and the fact that he had one. — Linda Holmes

The Boys , Season 4, June 13, Prime Video This cartoonishly violent and sexualized series — starring corporate-designed superheroes who are secretly psychopaths — evolved over three seasons from jabbing at the Marvel/DC comic industrial complex to satirizing media and MAGA-style conservatism. The new episodes amp up the dynamic, with a new hero who comes off like Lauren Boebert in a cape, supported by a propaganda-filled TV channel and a twisted Superman-like team leader whose detachment from humanity may be the world’s biggest threat. — Eric Deggans

House of the Dragon , Season 2, June 16, HBO, Max Yeah, that first season was very uneven. But it did what it had to do, introducing us to the individual chess pieces and carefully arranging them on the sides they're playing for: Team Black (Rhaenyra and her sweet-natured, albeit illegitimate sons) vs. Team Green (Alicent and her brood of monstrous sociopaths). But with the arrival of Season 2, the war known as the Dance of the Dragons is finally underway, and the whole dang chessboard is about to get engulfed in gouts of fiery breath. — Glen Weldon

The 77th Tony Awards, June 16, CBS, Paramount+ Always. Watch. The Tonys. Haven't taken in any Broadway this year? Doesn't matter. Where other award shows devolve into pompous self-congratulation, the Tonys broadcast is aimed squarely at us, as we sit on our couches at home. It's a collective siren song sent out by thousands of professional, desperate, try-hard theater people with one objective: to get us to haul our butts to NYC to see a show. As such, it's painstakingly engineered to entertain and enrapture. Always. Watch. The Tonys. — Glen Weldon

Orphan Black: Echoes , June 23, AMC, AMC+, BBC America Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter leads another Comic-Con-friendly franchise, a spinoff of Canadian science fiction series Orphan Black . Ritter is one of several women with missing memories who fear they are the product of a mysterious process wielded by a secretive organization. But don't worry — it's set nearly 40 years after the first show’s conclusion, and most viewers won’t need to know much about the mothership series to keep up with this tale of sisterhood, science and runaway progress. — Eric Deggans

My Lady Jane , June 27, Prime Video A breezy, girlboss alt-history take on Lady Jane Grey, who, in our world, ruled England for nine days before being imprisoned and beheaded as a traitor. In the world of the series — as in the novels it is based on — Jane lives to fight, and frolic, another day. Are there schemes and plots and twists? You betcha. It's the sort of quippy, performatively quirky show (this version of England is teeming with magical shape-changers) that goes down like an ice-cold Pimm's cup on a hot summer afternoon. — Glen Weldon

The Bear , Season 3, June 27, FX on Hulu The Bear has already put out two exceptional seasons and is so strong now that even when Jeremy Allen White is on the sidelines, the rest of the cast hits home run after home run. As the show returns, Carmy (White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are opening their new restaurant, and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is fresh off some tremendous training in service. It's not easy to keep churning out season after season that's absolutely top quality, but if anybody can, it's this team. — Linda Holmes

Rashida Jones in Sunny. Apple TV+ hide caption

Sunny , July 10, Apple TV+ Rashida Jones stars as Suzie, an American expat living in Kyoto, Japan, when her husband and son go missing following a plane crash. She’s gifted a domestic robot named Sunny (Joanna Sotomura), and the two form a bond as Suzie processes her loss. The series is based on Colin O’Sullivan’s novel The Dark Manual and looks like it has the potential to grapple with complicated questions around tech and human connection in our current era of AI paranoia. — Aisha Harris

Tulsa King , Season 2, July 14, Paramount+ This show’s first-season success always seemed like a happy accident — an implausible dramedy about an exiled New York mobster rebuilding his life in Oklahoma, buoyed by star Sylvester Stallone’s watchable charm and unlikely comedic skill. The new season adds another watchable actor — Justified alum Neal McDonough — but also sees former showrunner Terence Winter ( Boardwalk Empire , The Sopranos ) step down. Let's hope all that change adds up to more coherent stories the second time around. — Eric Deggans

Jon Stewart is back as one of the hosts of The Daily Show , which will be on the road at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. hide caption

The Daily Show and The Late Show at the RNC and DNC, week of July 15 (RNC) and week of Aug. 19 (DNC), CBS, Paramount+, Comedy Central Two of TV’s biggest political comedy shows gate-crash the electoral process. Comedy Central's The Daily Show , reportedly with part-time host Jon Stewart, heads to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention and to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Stephen Colbert's The Late Show goes live from New York for the RNC but broadcasts on the road for Democrats in Chi-Town. Pray to the comedy gods for a Colbert-Stewart tag-team ambush interview of Donald Trump and/or Joe Biden. — Eric Deggans

Those About to Die , July 18, Peacock It’s tough to know why the streaming service known for Poker Face and Bel-Air greenlit an epic, $140 million limited series about corruption and violence in ancient Rome’s gladiator contests. But it has Anthony Hopkins as a Roman emperor, Independence Day director Roland Emmerich as a co-director and lots of allusions to entertaining the public with bloody combat. So let the games begin. — Eric Deggans

Natalie Portman (left) and Moses Ingram in Lady in the Lake . Apple TV+ hide caption

Lady in the Lake , July 19, Apple TV+ Not to be confused with the Raymond Chandler story of a similar name, this miniseries is based on a novel by Laura Lippman about a homemaker turned investigative reporter who becomes preoccupied with the separate murders of a white girl and a Black woman in 1960s Baltimore. The subject matter alone is intriguing, but a cast led by Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram ( The Queen’s Gambit ) seals the deal. — Aisha Harris

Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson , July 26, NBC, Peacock For those only marginally interested in the Olympics, Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg made must-see TV out of side-splitting Games commentary in 2021. NBCUniversal is amping up that strategy this year, pairing Hart with SNL 's Kenan Thompson over an eight-episode Peacock series, while featuring SNL alum and superfan Leslie Jones in their coverage of the Paris events. I can’t wait to see some of comedy’s sharpest talents take on the biggest — and most rigid — sports establishment of them all. — Eric Deggans

The Umbrella Academy , Season 4, Aug. 8, Netflix All six episodes of this deeply, profoundly, ecstatically weird series' fourth and final season drop on the same day. I'll be there with a bowl of popcorn — and a phone open to the show's wiki to help me reorient myself. Look, any series that features fractious superpowered siblings, branching timelines, a masked assassin played by Mary J. Blige and a kugelblitz (look it up) would be a lot to deal with, but The Umbrella Academy ’s consistently wry, absurdist tone keeps it all grounded(ish). I'll miss it. — Glen Weldon

Myha’la Herrold as Harper Stern in Industry . Nick Strasburg/HBO hide caption

Industry , Season 3, Aug. 11, HBO, Max A show with this much dry and confusing finance jargon shouldn’t be this gripping; it stands as a testament to the great cast (especially Myha’la Herrold and Ken Leung) and well-paced drama that it is. When the series last left off, some primary players were in shambles because of exposed secrets, and power structures were realigned yet again. Succession may be long over, but at least we’ve still got the chaotic ecosystem of London’s cutthroat Pierpoint investment bank. — Aisha Harris

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Seven Psychopaths movie review (2012)
The film's climax takes place in the archetypal desert hills of a B-Western, where Marty, Billy and Hans find themselves hiding out from the relentless Charlie with the Shih Tzu. The logic of this action, which circles around the question of who can be trusted by whom, and for whose reasons, is sort of an elaboration of the elegant geometry in ...
Seven Psychopaths
Watch Seven Psychopaths with a subscription on Paramount+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video. ... 3/5 Dec 7, 2012 Full Review David Sexton London ...
Movie Review
Seven Psychopaths is McDonagh's first film since his 2008 debut feature, In Bruges, and it shares that picture's precocious archness. Characters trade barbs and quips like crazy blue jays, and the ...
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
Seven Psychopaths: Directed by Martin McDonagh. With Michael Pitt, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell. A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.
Seven Psychopaths
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 23, 2022. In its efforts to be thought-provoking and unique, it nearly derails itself by transforming into something less than a whole, sensible project ...
'Seven Psychopaths' Review
Seven Psychopaths is a smart and well-executed dark comedy full of over-the-top violence and intriguing rumination on human nature and the joy of killing. In 2008, writer/director/producer Martin McDonagh released In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes. Despite an underwhelming box office performance, the film ...
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
cummingsjosh7 26 October 2012. Seven Psychopaths is the best film to come out thus far this fall. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), this movie is a one-two knock out with entertainment around every corner. The movie stars Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Review
Seven Psychopaths review. Matt reviews Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths stars Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
Seven Psychopaths Review
A quick-witted caper with some solid performances by great actors. The quirky, dark comedy Seven Psychopaths is the kind of gem of an indie movie you might find squirreled away in some video store ...
Seven Psychopaths Review
04 Dec 2012. Running Time: 110 minutes. Certificate: 15. Original Title: Seven Psychopaths. Martin Mcdonagh made a lasting impression in 2008 with his debut feature, In Bruges — which has crept ...
Seven Psychopaths
Seven Psychopaths - review. Colin Farrell reteams with In Bruges director Martin McDonagh on a film that enjoys flashes of Tarantino-esque brilliance, but whose parts might be more than its sum ...
Seven Psychopaths
2012. R. CBS Films Distribution. 1 h 50 m. Summary A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu. [CBS Films] Comedy. Crime. Directed By: Martin McDonagh.
Seven Psychopaths
Seven Psychopaths is a 2012 satirical crime comedy-drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Martin McDonagh and starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken, with Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, and Željko Ivanek in supporting roles. The film marks the second collaboration among McDonagh, Farrell, and Ivanek, following the director's In ...
'Seven Psychopaths' Movie Review: Smart, Violent, Crazy Fun
Seven Psychopaths. Two killers ( Boardwalk Empire 's Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg) are debating the niceties of their next job — whether or not their victim should be shot in the eyeball — when a third figure, dressed in a Mexican wrestling mask, walks up and BLAM!, blows them both away. This is the opening scene of Martin McDonagh ...
Movie Review: Seven Psychopaths (2012)
The first half of Seven Psychopaths is one of the best films of the year; unfortunately, the second half torpedoes what was shaping up to be a surprising success. The psychopath vignettes are original, creative, and the best part of the movie. An oddball named Zachariah (Tom Waits) pops up to contribute one you will not soon forget.
Seven Psychopaths (2012) Movie Review
Directed by Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths makes a perfect comeback after In Bruges, without veering very much from it (consequently if you like this movie make sure you check out In Bruges too). A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's ...
Movie Review
Seven Psychopaths, 2012. Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh.Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Željko Ivanek ...
Seven Psychopaths Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 3 ): Kids say ( 10 ): SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is terrific. Acclaimed Irish playwright Martin McDonagh won an Oscar for his short film Six Shooter (2005) and received a screenwriting nomination for his feature debut In Bruges (2008). Here, he continues to mix crime and dark comedy, but this time he adds a layer of self ...
Seven Psychopaths
Usual Suspects: McDonagh Gives Us a Light Killer Comedy With Latest. Written before his hit film In Bruges (2008), Martin McDonagh has landed with another tongue-in-cheek comedy, though perhaps not of the same caliber as his first film, with Seven Psychopaths.Featuring a deliriously exciting cast of characters for his newest band of misfits, the mostly winning film employs us with dueling ...
Seven Psychopaths Movie Review (2012)
Review of Seven Psychopaths, the comedy starring Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, and Sam Rockwell, from writer/director Martin McDonagh.
Seven Psychopaths
From the team who created In Bruges, comes SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, an inventive, violent, hilarious and very black film that retains the deft writing and twisted creativity that made In Bruges a cult classic. Novice screenwriter Marty (Farrell) has come down with a bad case of writer's block and is struggling to find inspiration for his new script "Seven Psychopaths". All he needs is a little focus ...
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
Seven Psychopaths, the second feature written and directed by ace playwright Martin McDonagh, after 2008's playfully snotty In Bruges, is a film about witty, pop-culture addicted gangsters of the sort that you saw absolutely everywhere back in the '90s, after Pulp Fiction, a subgenre that hasn't been fresh, insightful, or really even tolerable ...
'Lumberjack the Monster' Review
Lumberjack the Monster is a new Takashi Miike horror film worth your attention.; The film boasts sinister designs and gruesome violence, creating a deadly cat-and-cat mystery thriller. Despite ...
Resident Orca: What Happened to Lolita the Killer Whale?
Bono, the two year-old child of pop duo, Sonny & Cher, feeding the captive killer whale, Lolita, at the Seaquarium in Miami, Florida, USA, 16th October 1973.
What to watch this summer: New TV shows we can't wait to see : NPR
Presumed Innocent, a bestselling legal thriller by Scott Turow, became a Harrison Ford movie in 1990. Now, more than 30 years later, Jake Gyllenhaal steps in to lead a new TV adaptation for Apple.

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Movie Review: Seven Psychopaths (2012)

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