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The hit man has been a recognisable figure in our dramatic literature since at least the time Richard III and Macbeth hired anonymous murderers to do their dirty work, though the actual term didn't become widely used outside the American underworld until the 1960s. There are now so many around that they take in apprentices, especially when they start ageing. In serious Hollywood thriller The Mechanic (1972), hitman Charles Bronson offers informal indentures to Jan-Michael Vincent, as does Jean Rochefort to Guillaume Depardieu in the French comedy Wild Target (1993). A tradition of sorts is now developing. In Stephen Frears's The Hit (1984), dead-keen pupil Tim Roth is taken on as assistant to jaded hitman John Hurt, Thirty years later, in The Liability, Roth has become Roy, a middle-aged hitman who engages a teenager to help him carry out his final killing.

The Liability is a black comedy,...

Matt here… with a little introduction to Adam Rayner’s Top Ten Films of 2010 article that you are about to enjoy.

Joining the Owf staff in August of this year, Adam Rayner has become one of my top contributors for his considered, passionate and entertaining reviews and also for his top quality interview write-ups which in the brief few months he has been with us includes chats with Eli Roth, Jackie Earle Haley, Denzel Washington, Carice Van Houten and more!

The great thing about Adam is the honesty in his writings. His review of the latest Harry Potter movie might be legendary. Here’s his best of 2010 and keep an eye out for lists from the majority of Owf writers over the next few days as the year winds down to a close.

10. Up in the Air

Released in the U.K. this year, George Clooney provided a performance that...

It's odd what films make you a believer in the auteur theory. A few years before I had ever heard of Andrew Sarris or really started to dig into Cahiers du Cinema, I had watched a review of the Michael Richards-Jeff Daniels comedy "Trial and Error" on "Siskel and Ebert" where Roger Ebert showered praise on the film's attention to detail, particularly how Charlize Theron looked both ways for traffic before crossing the street. The film was the second courtroom-set comedy directed by Jonathan Lynn, a journeyman if there ever was one after coming to the U.S. following a career in British television (most notably as a writer on "Yes, Minister").

This is worth mentioning since "Wild Target" bears all the hallmarks of Lynn's best films, despite being, even at a tidy 90 minutes, a bit too long. It is silly but not stupid, conforms nicely with the conventions of screwball comedies,...

Here's a charming trailer to a new british hitman comedy called Wild Target, which stars Rupert Grint, Emily Blunt, Bill Nighy, Rupert Everett and Eileen Atkins.

The film was directed by Jonathan Lynn who made the movie My Cousin Vinny almost 20 years ago. Wild Target is a remake of the 1993 French film Cible émouvante. It looks like it could be a fun movie, but I think I'll wait for it to come out on DVD. 

Synopsis:

Victor Maynard is a middle-aged, solitary assassin who prides himself on his own peerless reputation for lethal efficiency. His professional routine is interrupted when he finds himself drawn to one of his intended victims, Rose who sold a forged Rembrandt to one of his clients. He spares her life, unexpectedly acquiring a young apprentice in the process, Tony. Believing Victor to be a private detective, his two new companions tag along, while he attempts...

Wild Target is Jonathan Lynn's remake of a 1993 French hitman comedy called Cible émouvante. Yep, another assassin movie. But this one is meant to be funny, and it certainly has a strong cast: Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint, Martin Freeman, Rupert Everett, Eileen Atkins and more. It's been a while since Lynn really made a picture that hit (My Cousin Vinny was almost 20 years ago!) but with that cast, maybe he'll have something here. Watch the trailer after the break. Ignore the terrible low-rent 'straight to DVD" voiceover on the trailer and pray that the madcap, fast-paced silliness seen throughout will carry through the whole picture. There's at least one good little dialogue exchange ("Who did this?" "...Rembrandt." "Give me his address.") and no small amount of deliberately over-serious posing by Nighy. That might be enough to get me into the theater. Here's a killer synopsis: Victor Maynard is a middle-aged,...

I suppose I should be upfront with you: The major reason I was interested in screening Jonathan Lynn’s 2010 action/comedy “Wild Target” is because of Rupert Grint. As an unapologetic Harry Potter nerd, the budding careers of the franchise’s stable of post-adolescent stars is intriguing to me. Having seen these boys and girls do their thing in the Potter universe for almost a decade now, it’s hard for me to separate them from their characters, particularly Mr. Grint. It’s not that I think he’s a bad actor, mind you, but everything he seems to do reminds me of Ron Weasley. And while that assessment isn’t fair by any stretch of the imagination, it’s going to a problem for the guy until he accepts a role that allows him to try something a little different. “Wild Target” — a remake of the 1993 French film “Cible Émouvante...

First News Children's Newspaper has an interview online with Rupert discussing all things Wild Target, acting, and action flicks! For those of you who don't know, Wild Target is actually an English remake of a French film called Cible Émouvante. Rupert confirms to First News that he did watch the original to prepare for the role. He says, " I really loved it. It’s quite a confusing film, and we’ve changed the structure round a lot. Overall, it’s just a really funny story. It’s full of quite dark comedy." Click here to read the entire interview and find out more about Rupert, such as what question he's tired of being asked in interviews and the latest updates to his ice cream van!

Though they'll have gone a long stretch without a theatrical release, L.A based Freestyle Releasing are still kicking. Today comes the announcement that they've grabbed the rights to Brit comedy thriller Wild Target - a con job capper film that'll be released in the U.K shortly and will be set for a U.S release in October. Despite a big name cast, can't say the film by helmer Jonathan Lynn was on my radar. Lynn is the helmer of a whole bunch of comedies not worth mentioning here with the exception of My Cousin Vinny.     Based on the French film in Pierre Salvadori's "Cible Émouvante", this sees Bill Nighy as Victor Maynard, a middle-aged, solitary assassin, who lives to please his formidable mother, Louisa (Eileen Atkins), despite his own peerless reputation for lethal efficiency. His professional routine is interrupted when he finds himself drawn to one of his intended victims,...

There's no Us release date for Wild Target, but the new Brit comedy will hit theaters in the UK this June. It's a crime comedy starring Emily Blunt, Bill Nighy, and Rupert Grint, and the trailer's got that distinctively dry British wit.

Even though I'm a huge Bill Nighy fan and Emily Blunt has grown on me since The Devil Wears Prada, this one also features Martin Freeman, so I'm sold. It's a remake of a 1993 French film called Cible émouvante (same thing after the translation), which starred the great Jean Rochefort in the Bill Nighy role.

The problem is, the trailer's just not very effective. Funny in a couple of places, but pretty formulaic. Wouldn't be the first time a good movie had a bad trailer, but usually if one's bad, so is the other.

French actor Gerard Depardieu's son Guillaume Depardieu has died at a hospital in Paris after suffering from a severe bout of pneumonia.

The 37-year-old passed away on Monday at the Garches hospital.

He had been filming new movie L'Enfance d'Icare in Romania when he suddenly fell ill. He was taken to seek medical help at the weekend but died early on Monday.

A spokesperson for Depardieu Sr.'s agency Artmedia says, "He caught a virus which gave him a very severe pneumonia."

Guillaume Depardieu starred in a number of movies, including 1991's Tous les matins du monde, 1993's Cible emouvante, Pola X in 1999, and 2007's Ne touchez pas la hache.

He was a multiple-nominee of the Cesar Awards in France, and in 1996 he won the accolade for Most Promising Actor for his role in Les Apprentis.

But it was Guillaume's reputation as a rebel which attracted the most attention. In 2003, he was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence and fined $9,000 (GBP4,865) for threatening a man with a gun.

And in June this year, he was jailed for two months for driving under the influence (DUI). In addition, he has been in trouble with police over various drug offences.

He also suffered personal turmoil when he was injured in a severe motorbike accident in 1995, which later resulted in his right leg being amputated in 2003.

He is survived by his six-year-old daughter Louise with his ex-wife Elise Ventre, whom he divorced in 2006.