Well, the weather was just “icky” enough for me last weekend to say the heck with any chores. I braved the slippery roads and headed for the Cinema. I was actually a little leery about this new flick called “Kingsman”. Kingsman is the English version of the Secret Service, with Michael Caine as the agency leader and all agents have the code names of the members of King Arthur’s Round Table. When I first saw the trailer for the film I was thinking it might be a James Bond “rip-off.” Harry Hart played by Colin Firth recruits a youngster who he thinks has promise, to become a Kingsman after one of his fellow agents dies. We split the film into two stories, one of young “Eggsy” training into try to become an agent, and Samuel L. Jackson who plays the villain Valentine who plans to solve the problem of climate change with the help of free sim cards to everyone on earth which then turns into a giant battle royal. We get the two stories back together for the climax of the film.

One thing that was interesting about the props in the Kingsman is that we go back to the really neat stuff from all the James Bond movies of the past. There was a quote from one of the special effects people from the Bond movies that they couldn’t make up new weapons because everything they dreamed up was actually being produced by the time the film came out. It was nothing new.

Kingsman brings back the classics and most of us didn’t care if we’ve seen them before. I’m talking of the umbrella shield and rifle, knife in the shoe and of course every kind of gun you could imagine, poison pens, and more… The action is hard and it’s bloody and well deserving of its R rating. But I went on the suggestion of a friend and was very glad I did. So skip “Shades of Grey” for now and try out “Kingsman”.

The Fargo Film Festival

Emily Beck of the Fargo Theatre and the board of the Film Festival have pulled out all the stops for their 15th Anniversary March 3rd through 7th.

“It Follows” will be screened during the festival a week before its national release a week later. This horror film was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014 and was nominated for the Critics Week Grand Prize. It has major success at numerous international film festivals and at the 2015 Sundance. Plus a real rarity! A 100% rating from critics on the website RottenTomatoes.com. Produced by Northern Light Films with Fargo natives Jeff Schlossman, Bill Wallwork, and Eric Rommesmo , there will be a Q & A session after the screening.

The other surprise will be the screening of “Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter”. A young woman from Tokyo finds an old grainy copy of the Coen Brothers “Fargo” and thinking it’s a documentary comes to North Dakota to seek the money buried in the snow by the character played by Steve Buscemi in the film “Fargo”. “Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter” is a dark comedy based on the urban legend.

For a complete rundown of this year’s festival checkout www.fargofilmfestival.org.