Latest news with #Gremlins
Edinburgh Live
3 days ago
- Edinburgh Live
Sickening image of gangster who triggered Scotland's drug war after revenge slashing
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A sickening image of the man who sparked Scotland's violent turf war has been shared after he was brutally attacked. The individual, who is shown with severe slash injuries to his face, is the hood who set up the £500k cocaine deal to rip off Dubai-based Mr Big Ross McGill with a payment of fake notes, reports The Daily Record. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, arranged the meeting with McGill for associates of Edinburgh mob boss Mark Richardson earlier this year. McGill has since ordered a series of terrifying revenge attacks on Richardson and his close associates, Glasgow's Daniel crime clan. A source close his henchmen Tamo Junto (TMJ) claims the group tracked the drug deal middleman down to a bolthole in Thailand to carry out the vicious blade attack. The image of his injuries was released in a video on Friday as McGill's men warned Scotland's gang war is far from over just one day after reports of a truce emerged. The source said: 'McGill got the guy who arranged the deal kidnapped and brought to one of his men who slashed him right across the face. 'He was never going to get away with it. McGill has built up a massive network of connections who are more than willing to help him out. The middleman is lucky he wasn't killed, but McGill was already planning a bigger retaliation. 'He is going to bring down the entire Richardson crew and everyone associated with them. What you are seeing playing out on the streets of Scotland now is the result of people thinking McGill is a soft touch and that they could rip him off and get away with it.' The source said reports that a truce has been agreed by McGill and his top targets is hard to believe as Tamo Junto vowed to continue their campaign of violence in their latest video. TMJ state in the clip that anyone linked to either the Richardson or Daniel mobs remain at the top of their hit-list. A message in the footage reads: 'TMJ will continue to target anyone associated with the Daniel family or Mark Richardson. 'There will never be a truce between TMJ and the Gremlins. We have terrorised you since March and will continue to do so. 'Some of you have fled your homes. Some of you have fled Scotland. Some of you sleep with fire extinguishers. 'Some of you have bulletproof windows. Some of you have offered us money to leave you alone. Some of you have tried to contact us for peace. 'Some of you have offered us information on your own family and friends. We do our talking on the streets. We aren't going away. We will continue to target you. We have no rules or limits. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. 'We are coming for you.' The disturbing video also showed a number of firebombings, shootings and blade attacks that TMJ have claimed responsibility for across Edinburgh and Glasgow in recent months. Among them are two images of the middleman gangster with a huge slash mark running from his ear to his mouth as blood still oozing from the wound. The war broke out in March when a number of homes and businesses in Edinburgh linked to Richardson were targeted. The violence spread to Glasgow in April after a carpet and flooring unit owned by Daniel enforcer Craig 'Rob Roy' Gallagher was torched in Bishopbriggs. In an attack in the Milton area of the city, a female pensioner and 12-year-old boy were injured after hoods stormed their home looking for a high-ranking member of the Daniel family. McGill's men went on to target the home of Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel, as well as the properties of his mum Annette, uncle Norman and sister Kelly 'Bo' Green. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Earlier in May, two men were attacked with a machete at a garage owned by Robert Daniel in East Kilbride. We previously told how McGill was being fed information about the Daniel clan's movements by their arch enemies, the Lyons family. Mob boss Stevie Lyons removed himself from the feud amidst a police crackdown on the violence. The kingpin ordered his footsoldiers to concentrate on the family's own interests after reports on arrests across Glasgow and Edinburgh filtered through to his Dubai bolthole. A source said: He said: 'The heat from the police is getting too much for Steven and he wants nothing to do with it anymore. 'His mob are still very active in the north of Glasgow, while he is in Dubai and he wants to keep it that way so his lads are now under strict orders to keep out of the gang war. 'They still have their own feud with the Daniel family and if the opportunity presents itself to target any of them they will take it, but it won't be for Ross McGill.' The turf war has led to an equally dramatic police operation to catch the thugs. Chief Constable Jo Farrell named the crackdown Operation Portaledge. Incidents across the country have led to a total of 41 arrests.
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Daily Record
Gangster who sparked Scotland's violent drug war pictured after brutal revenge slashing
The man was abducted off the streets in Thailand and slashed in the face. Gangland enforcers have shared a sickening image of the man who sparked Scotland's violent turf war moments after he was brutally attacked. The individual, who is shown with severe slash injuries to his face, is the hood who set up the £500k cocaine deal to rip off Dubai-based Mr Big Ross McGill with a payment of fake notes. The man, who we cannot name for legal reasons, arranged the meeting with McGill for associates of Edinburgh mob boss Mark Richardson earlier this year. Furious McGill has since ordered a series of terrifying revenge attacks on Richardson and his close associates, Glasgow's Daniel crime clan. A source close his henchmen Tamo Junto (TMJ) claims the group tracked the drug deal middleman down to a bolthole in Thailand to carry out the vicious blade attack. The image of his injuries was released in a video on Friday as McGill's men warned Scotland's gang war is far from over just one day after reports of a truce emerged. The source said: 'McGill got the guy who arranged the deal kidnapped and brought to one of his men who slashed him right across the face. 'He was never going to get away with it. McGill has built up a massive network of connections who are more than willing to help him out. 'The middleman is lucky he wasn't killed, but McGill was already planning a bigger retaliation. 'He is going to bring down the entire Richardson crew and everyone associated with them. 'What you are seeing playing out on the streets of Scotland now is the result of people thinking McGill is a soft touch and that they could rip him off and get away with it.' The source said reports that a truce has been agreed by McGill and his top targets is hard to believe as Tamo Junto vowed to continue their campaign of violence in their latest video. TMJ state in the clip that anyone linked to either the Richardson or Daniel mobs remain at the top of their hit-list. A message in the footage reads: 'TMJ will continue to target anyone associated with the Daniel family or Mark Richardson. 'There will never be a truce between TMJ and the Gremlins. 'We have terrorised you since March and will continue to do so. 'Some of you have fled your homes. 'Some of you have fled Scotland. 'Some of you sleep with fire extinguishers. 'Some of you have bulletproof windows. 'Some of you have offered us money to leave you alone. 'Some of you have tried to contact us for peace. 'Some of you have offered us information on your own family and friends.' 'We do our talking on the streets. We aren't going away. 'We will continue to target you. We have no rules or limits. 'We are coming for you.' The disturbing video also showed a number of firebombings, shootings and blade attacks that TMJ have claimed responsibility for across Edinburgh and Glasgow in recent months. Among them are two images of the middleman gangster with a huge slash mark running from his ear to his mouth as blood still oozing from the wound. The war broke out in March when a number of homes and businesses linked to Richardson were targeted in the capital. The violence spread to Glasgow in April after a carpet and flooring unit owned by Daniel enforcer Craig 'Rob Roy' Gallagher was torched in Bishopbriggs. In an attack in the Milton area of the city, a female pensioner and 12-year-old boy were injured after hoods stormed their home looking for a high-ranking member of the Daniel family. McGill's men went on to target the home of Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel, as well as the properties of his mum Annette, uncle Norman and sister Kelly 'Bo' Green. And earlier this month, two men were attacked with a machete at a garage owned by Robert Daniel in East Kilbride. We previously told how McGill was being fed information about the Daniel clan's movements by their arch enemies, the Lyons family. But mob boss Stevie Lyons removed himself from the feud amidst a police crackdown on the violence. The kingpin ordered his footsoldiers to concentrate on the family's own interests after reports on arrests across Glasgow and Edinburgh filtered through to his Dubai bolthole. A source said: He said: 'The heat from the police is getting too much for Steven and he wants nothing to do with it anymore. 'His mob are still very active in the north of Glasgow, while he is in Dubai and he wants to keep it that way so his lads are now under strict orders to keep out of the gang war. 'They still have their own feud with the Daniel family and if the opportunity presents itself to target any of them they will take it, but it won't be for Ross McGill.' The turf war has led to an equally dramatic police operation to catch the thugs. Chief Constable Jo Farrell named the crackdown Operation Portaledge.
Axios
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Celebrating Cleveland Cinemas' 1980s series with our favorite movies
Cleveland Cinemas is launching its totally tubular "I Love the '80s" film series this weekend with screenings of 1985's"Pee-wee's Big Adventure." State of play: The series continues through mid-December with movies like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Lost Boys," "Gremlins" and more. Tickets are just $5. 👋🏻 Sam and 👊🏾 Troy are so psyched about this radical series, they couldn't help but offer their wicked '80s movies outside of the ones being shown in the series. Sam: Rob Reiner's "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) is probably my favorite all-time rom-com. Among other things, it's a showcase for aspirational late 80s fashion. Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (1982) is in the sci-fi pantheon for me, a triumph of literary adaptation with one of the decade's seminal scores by Greek soundtrack god Vangelis. Between the lines: How about a round of applause for my guy Werner Herzog, whose epic "Fitzcarraldo" (1982) is surely one of the most outlandish films of the decade. Though not especially "80s" in vibe, it's the perfect marriage between a madman director and a madman protagonist. The latest: I got a chance to see John Sayles' "Matewan" (1987) at the Cinematheque last year and was absolutely floored. It's an immersive labor organizing flick set in 1920s West Virginia coal country and is one of the most riveting, quotable movies I've seen from any decade. Troy: I routinely watch the last 20 minutes of "Purple Rain" (1984) to remind myself what true talent is. The 1980s featured my favorite romantic comedy of all-time in "Broadcast News" (1987) and my favorite sports movie, "Field of Dreams" (1989). Between the lines: I'm pretty sure the first movie I ever saw in a theater was "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1989). The latest: I recently rewatched "Vision Quest" (1985) in honor of its 40th anniversary.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A Hollywood Anachronism That Still Holds Up
There's a legendary bit of movie-nerd lore that sums up Hollywood's shift away from using intricate little puppets. During preproduction on Jurassic Park, the stop-motion artist Phil Tippett was working to create animatronic dinosaurs—and then a visual-effects demo helped convince Steven Spielberg that CGI was ready to handle the assignment. After watching the digitally created reptiles himself, Tippett exclaimed, 'I think I'm extinct,' a paraphrase of which made it into the script. He adapted to the new world of special effects, but the glorious art of puppetry has largely passed into cinematic antiquity. That history makes The Legend of Ochi, a new film from A24, all the more distinctive. The writer-director Isaiah Saxon's feature debut recalls the furry, freaky children's media of yore—movies such as Gremlins and Batteries Not Included, which existed to both spook and delight younger audiences. Set in a fictional, secluded land of mountains and lakes, Ochi follows a plucky teen named Yuri (played by Helena Zengel), who's been raised by her father to fear and hunt the reclusive little beasties called ochi. While on an expedition, she comes across an injured baby ochi—a discovery that sends Yuri on an adventure that broadens her compassion and understanding. If the plot sounds like routine kids-entertainment fare, well, it is. The Legend of Ochi places the classic themes of growing up and learning not to blindly follow your parents' prejudices into a fantasy realm. The story makes use of other family-friendly tropes too: Yuri has a slightly eccentric dad (Willem Dafoe, playing to type) and a grumpy older brother (Finn Wolfhard). She also has an absent mom (Emily Watson) who left the family in part out of her exhaustion with their ochi-hunting mania. The viewer doesn't learn much else about life on this strange island, which visually evokes the '80s; there's a lot of puffy neon jackets and wood paneling, akin to the works Saxon seems to have drawn from. [Read: The last great year in film for kids and young adults] Ochi's dedication to capturing the spirit of its influences, however, is also the movie's greatest strength. The film comes alive anytime that Yuri is interacting with her little ochi friend, an animatronic puppet with big eyes, ears, and fangs. The critter reminded me most of Gizmo, the adorable star of Gremlins who eventually gives birth to the meaner, monstrous imps that wreak havoc. But the ochi have a wilder, less automatically whimsical vibe. Saxon never lets go of the notion that this sweet-faced pseudo-marsupial is a wild animal, all growls and moans—much more capable of biting through the skin than aiming a knowing smile at the camera. Zengel, giving an internal, light-on-dialogue performance, dials up the lonely Yuri's more primal side, making the bond between teen and creature a symbiotic one. While watching, I also found myself thinking of How to Train Your Dragon and its sequels: another set of fables about a teenager learning that monsters with teeth aren't automatically bad, no matter what your parents tell you. But the Dragon films actually are about raising a pet, learning how to tame them and win their love. As a blend of live-action moviemaking and practical magic, The Legend of Ochi has a more mythic quality, and even an experimental angle to it; Yuri comes to understand her companion's needs and quirks through intense trial and error, including a nasty bite that she initially believes could be responsible for her psychic connection with the ochi. Saxon's storytelling is weird and folky, yet it's tinged with something almost druidic too—as much as Yuri comes to love her companion, there's an air of spiritual danger to her meddling with their world and habitat. [Read: An agonizing love story, with puppets] All of the work done to make the ochi feel so tangible compensates for the film's less accomplished moments. The characters' impressive creation especially stands out in scenes that otherwise lean too heavily on hazy filters and digitally inserted backgrounds. (That Saxon had to clarify that no AI was used in the making of the movie is perhaps unsurprising; there's a glossy look to its environments, so much precious attention to detail that it becomes a bit overwhelming to take in.) CGI animals tend to have an anonymous sort of squishiness on-screen; no matter how great the tech gets, it can't overcome the fact that the actors are actually staring at a tennis ball. Every mechanical eyebrow twitch, however, convinces us that the ochi are living beings. Their halting growls and askance glances have a lifelike touch precisely because they're being puppeted by someone off-screen who's, well, alive. The sense of tactility calls to mind how this anachronistic way of creature-creation used to be the norm; it's the kind I'd love to see revived. Most Hollywood monsters aren't being rendered on this intimate scale, but there's a craftsmanship to Ochi that the bigger blockbusters could stand to reclaim. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
A Near-Extinct Style of Filmmaking, Revived
There's a legendary bit of movie-nerd lore that sums up Hollywood's shift away from using intricate little puppets. During preproduction on Jurassic Park, the stop-motion artist Phil Tippett was working to create animatronic dinosaurs—and then a visual-effects demo helped convince Steven Spielberg that CGI was ready to handle the assignment. After watching the digitally created reptiles himself, Tippett exclaimed, 'I think I'm extinct,' a paraphrase of which made it into the script. He adapted to the new world of special effects, but the glorious art of puppetry has largely passed into cinematic antiquity. That history makes The Legend of Ochi, a new film from A24, all the more distinctive. The writer-director Isaiah Saxon's feature debut recalls the furry, freaky children's media of yore—movies such as Gremlins and Batteries Not Included, which existed to both spook and delight younger audiences. Set in a fictional, secluded land of mountains and lakes, Ochi follows a plucky teen named Yuri (played by Helena Zengel), who's been raised by her father to fear and hunt the reclusive little beasties called ochi. While on an expedition, she comes across an injured baby ochi—a discovery that sends Yuri on an adventure that broadens her compassion and understanding. If the plot sounds like routine kids-entertainment fare, well, it is. The Legend of Ochi places the classic themes of growing up and learning not to blindly follow your parents' prejudices into a fantasy realm. The story makes use of other family-friendly tropes too: Yuri has a slightly eccentric dad (Willem Dafoe, playing to type) and a grumpy older brother (Finn Wolfhard). She also has an absent mom (Emily Watson) who left the family in part out of her exhaustion with their ochi-hunting mania. The viewer doesn't learn much else about life on this strange island, which visually evokes the '80s; there's a lot of puffy neon jackets and wood paneling, akin to the works Saxon seems to have drawn from. Ochi 's dedication to capturing the spirit of its influences, however, is also the movie's greatest strength. The film comes alive anytime that Yuri is interacting with her little ochi friend, an animatronic puppet with big eyes, ears, and fangs. The critter reminded me most of Gizmo, the adorable star of Gremlins who eventually gives birth to the meaner, monstrous imps that wreak havoc. But the ochi have a wilder, less automatically whimsical vibe. Saxon never lets go of the notion that this sweet-faced pseudo-marsupial is a wild animal, all growls and moans—much more capable of biting through the skin than aiming a knowing smile at the camera. Zengel, giving an internal, light-on-dialogue performance, dials up the lonely Yuri's more primal side, making the bond between teen and creature a symbiotic one. While watching, I also found myself thinking of How to Train Your Dragon and its sequels: another set of fables about a teenager learning that monsters with teeth aren't automatically bad, no matter what your parents tell you. But the Dragon films actually are about raising a pet, learning how to tame them and win their love. As a blend of live-action moviemaking and practical magic, The Legend of Ochi has a more mythic quality, and even an experimental angle to it; Yuri comes to understand her companion's needs and quirks through intense trial and error, including a nasty bite that she initially believes could be responsible for her psychic connection with the ochi. Saxon's storytelling is weird and folky, yet it's tinged with something almost druidic too—as much as Yuri comes to love her companion, there's an air of spiritual danger to her meddling with their world and habitat. All of the work done to make the ochi feel so tangible compensates for the film's less accomplished moments. The characters' impressive creation especially stands out in scenes that otherwise lean too heavily on hazy filters and digitally inserted backgrounds. (That Saxon had to clarify that no AI was used in the making of the movie is perhaps unsurprising; there's a glossy look to its environments, so much precious attention to detail that it becomes a bit overwhelming to take in.) CGI animals tend to have an anonymous sort of squishiness on-screen; no matter how great the tech gets, it can't overcome the fact that the actors are actually staring at a tennis ball. Every mechanical eyebrow twitch, however, convinces us that the ochi are living beings. Their halting growls and askance glances have a lifelike touch precisely because they're being puppeted by someone off-screen who's, well, alive. The sense of tactility calls to mind how this anachronistic way of creature-creation used to be the norm; it's the kind I'd love to see revived. Most Hollywood monsters aren't being rendered on this intimate scale, but there's a craftsmanship to Ochi that the bigger blockbusters could stand to reclaim.
