In his new film former werewolf Taylor Lautner gets a premium rush out of making exactly the kind of movie you’d think Taylor Lautner would make.
In “Tracers” he plays Cam, the annoying kind of bike courier who pops wheelies on the sidewalk and stunt drives through traffic. In other words he’s the kind of bike courier who only exists in the movies.
On one of his wild rides through NYC he crashes into Nikki (Marie Avgeropoulos) a cute parkour enthusiast and thief. He hangs out with her and her crew—a group of like-minded hustlers who spin and twirl and jump where normal thieves might creep and tip-toe—learning the tricks of the trade and falling under the spell of Miller (Adam Rayner), a Fagin-like character who sets up their robberies and says things like, “That’s the past, all we have is the present.”
Cam owes beaucoup bucks to a loan shark (Johnny M. Wu) and in and attempt to make some fast cash, and impress Nikki, he joins the gang and commits several crimes. When Miller announces he wants to do one last, big score, the stakes are raised.
“Tracers” is the kind of teen movie that thinks anyone under the age of twenty will be satisfied with the barest minimum of entertainment. A pastiche of loud music, good looking young people, brooding glares, and, of course, star-crossed-parkour-loving lovers, it’s a music video writ large with the emotional depth of 1980s metal power ballad.
Front and canter is Lautner who undisputed mastery of the running and jumping required to ace the role suggests that he may have a bright future as a gymnast should this acting thing not work out for him.
Rayner brings some brooding intensity to the role of Miller, but everyone is saddled with either clichéd or silly dialogue. When handing out parkour advice to her young student Nikki channels Yoda and tells him, “If you want to vault the car, don’t look at the car, look at where the car isn’t.” With that in mind if you want to get something more than flash and trash out of “Tracers” don’t look at the movie, look at where the movie isn’t.
Richard Crouse interviews “Insurgent” star Mekhi Phifer on playing Dauntless leader Max.
“I didn’t know anything. That’s the thing with this series. I still don’t know where the character is going, that’s not typical for filmmaking. Usually you read the whole script and you know what’s happening from beginning to end and you adjust accordingly. So it is interesting playing this because I have no frame of reference to where he’s going.”
The visionary director of Pixar’s Up and Monsters, Inc. joins us for this onstage interview to discuss his extraordinary career in animation and screenwriting — which includes collaborations on Toy Story and WALL-E — and his upcoming animated feature Inside Out, featuring Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling.
Pete Docter joined Pixar Animations at the age of 21, and has since become a creative force behind the studio’s string of hits, including the Toy Story films (supervising animator), A Bug’s Life (storyboard artist), and WALL-E (story treatment). In 2001 he made his feature directorial debut with Monsters, Inc., which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature — a prize Docter would eventually take home for his acclaimed sophomore film, Up. He joins host Richard Crouse to look back at some of these extraordinary career highlights and chat about his upcoming feature Inside Out, which is voiced by an all-star cast: Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, and Lewis Black.
Docter returns with producer Jonas Rivera to introduce a special screening of their smash-hit animated adventure, Up, on March 23 at 9:15pm.
‡This screening is eligible for our Rush policy. Ticket holders must arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the screening in order to ensure entry. If this event goes Off Sale, tickets will be made available to the Rush line 10 minutes before the start of the screening.
When the rule of a hedonistic and mercurial king is questioned, rebellion, assassination and excommunication ensue, culminating in a chilling attempt to commit an atrocity against a child, whose mother’s anguished grief cannot atone for her blinkered ambitions for her son.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see Shakespeare’s King John, in a magnificent production by the renowned Stratford Festival, North America’s leading classical theatre company, whose HD production of King Lear, directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and starring Colm Feore, opened to rave reviews last month.
With commanding performances by Tom McCamus, Seana McKenna, Graham Abbey and Patricia Collins, King John was directed by Tim Carroll, whose recent Shakespeare productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night were the toast of Broadway.
Filmed in spectacular HD under the direction of Barry Avrich, King John will be in cinemas across Canada on Thursday, April 9, and throughout the U.S. on Wednesday, April 8. The Canadian encore screening is on April 12. U.S. encore dates vary. For more information visit www.stratfordfestival.ca/HD
“Deliciously contemporary.” J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
“Tom McCamus plays King John, rivetingly, as a neurotic narcissist. It’s a daring performance.” Robert Cushman, National Post
“This sublime King John has a remarkable intimacy, crystallized by the formidable actor Graham Abbey, whose relationship with the audience becomes one of the closest I’ve ever seen in a Shakespearean drama.” Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“The action is riveting, the political machinations delicious and all the performers,
royal or otherwise, take great delight in the parts they’re playing.” Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
Elvis is King: Costello’s My Aim Is True
By Richard Crouse
Before Elvis Costello was one of Rolling Stone’s greatest artists of all time, before he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was Declan P. McManus, an office drone with a dull suburban life and a side gig in a pub rock band. In 1976, under the guidance of legendary label Stiff Records, he transformed himself into the snarling, spectacled artist who defied the musical status quo to blaze the trail for a new kind of rock star with his debut album, My Aim Is True. In Elvis Is King, Richard Crouse examines how the man, the myth, and the music of this arrestingly original album smashed the trends of the era to bridge the gap between punk and rock ’n’ roll.
In his new film former werewolf Taylor Lautner gets a premium rush out of making exactly the kind of movie you’d think Taylor Lautner would make.
