All the trademarks of Alfonso Cuarón’s most popular work is carried over to his latest film “Roma;” there’s long uninterrupted takes and stylish, innovative visual style. The movie’s most remarkable feature, however, the thing you’ll remember long after viewing, is its humanity.
Set in the Roma section of Mexico City of Cuarón’s youth, this semi-auto-biographical slice of life plays like a sense memory, a dream. Although based on his early childhood Cuarón focuses the story on Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), maid to a middle-class family. She raises the kids, cooks and cleans up after the dog who cannot seem to stop pooping. Dutiful, she loves the family as if they were her own, a feeling that is mutual despite their occasional dismissiveness.
The family is like many others, rambunctious kids barely kept in line by Cleo and her boss Sofia (Marina de Tavira). The father, a doctor who always seems to be away at a medical convention—a cover for his philandering—is mostly absent. Cuarón lovingly details Cleo’s daily routine at the house and even spends time on her off hours as she goes to the movies with her intense boyfriend Fermín (Jorge Antonio Guerrero).
It’s a slice of life, not plot driven. It feels like a recollection of the long-ago time brought to life. When crisis comes both for Cleo and Sofia the power of their humanity and family solidarity comes to the fore.
Shot in beautiful black and white this Spanish language film is a tribute to Cuarón‘s second mother, the maid who he dedicates the film to.
It may put you in the mind of other movies like “Amarcord,” films that could be described as intimately epic, telling stories about people set against a backdrop of wide societal change. It is picturesque but occasionally horrific, naturalistic yet heightened, a film as a snapshot of a place and time and its people. It drips with empathy and affection for its characters, particularly Cleo, played by first time actor Aparicio. She grounds the movie with a performance that is both warm and stoic, never once betraying her character’s fundamental sense of decency and humanity.
Movies like “Roma” don’t come around often anymore. Daring in its simplicity and lack of sentimentality it has the power to devastate and uplift, sometimes in the same scene.
Zombies are hot right now. Recently the movies have given us funny zombies, undeadly serious zombies, Nazi zombies and even romantic zombies. “Anna and the Apocalpyse,” starring Ella Hunt in the title role, goes one further. It’s the first zombie Christmas musical.
Set in a small town high school “Anna and the Apocalypse” begins like many teen movies before it. We meet Anna, a high school senior whose best friend John (Malcolm Cumming) is not so secretly in love with her. Anna has recently split with Nick (Ben Wiggins), a bully with a devil-may-care attitude. Then there’s film nerd Chris (Christopher Leveaux) and his girlfriend, the theatrical Lisa (Marli Siu). At the school newspaper is muckraking wannabe journalist Steph (Sarah Swire) whose work puts her at odds with the school’s tyrannical head master Mr. Savage (Paul Kaye).
The day after the annual Christmas pageant—and Lisa’s controversial performance of a Christmas tune that put the X in Xmas—Anna and John go to school, headphones on and turned up, oblivious to the massive zombie apocalypse that happened over night. “Justin Bieber is a zombie!” says one of Anna’s classmates excitedly after checking the singer’s Instagram. Will they survive long enough to be reunited with their friends and family? Are there any friends and family left to be reunited with?
Part “High School Musical,” part “Shaun of the Dead,” “Anna and the Apocalypse” succeeds mainly through its audacity. Power pop ballads and full-blown dance numbers collide with zombie headshots, creating a weird marriage of glitter and gore.
The charming cast sells the heck out of the tunes and fun dance numbers helps keep things moving, but this is essentially a one-joke premise that bogs down in the last half hour. Luckily, at ninety tight minutes, it is daring enough, smart enough—“We deserve to go extinct,” says John when he spies the Instagram hash-tag #evacselfie—and blood soaked enough to entertain.
Every now and again when I’m at the movies a deep-rooted feeling of ennui sneals up me. That, “What the heck am I doing wasting my time watching ‘insert title here?’ It has only swept over me a handful of times usually in what I call Seatbelt Movies, films so uninspired I need a seatbelt to keep me from fleeing the theatre.
That familiar creeping feeling came over me during a recent screening of “Henchmen,” a new superhero animated film starring the voices of James Marsden, Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, Jane Krakowski and Rob Riggle. I stayed, trapped by professional duty to make it to the end credits, but it tested my patience in ways few other movies have.
“Silicon Valley’s” Thomas Middleditch is Lester a self described comic book nerd and orphan. On his sixteenth birthday he auditions at the Union of Evil—“The best of the worst!”—only to be assigned Henchman Third Class. A janitor. His dream of one day making his super villain persona, The Orphan,” a reality will have to wait. He’s assigned to Hank (Marsden), a disgraced former First Class henchman (he was too nice a guy to be bad), now pushing a mop. On a visit to the Vault of Villainy Lester accidentally winds up wearing an old super villain suit. Taking advantage of Lester’s newfound powers Hank sees a way to change his life. Using Lester’s ray gun hands he tries to free a chip of What-ifium—a substance that can change the past—from a giant crystal block. Before he can go back in time mega-baddie Baron Blackout (Alfred Molina), who put me in the mind of Kate McKinnon’s Jeff Sessions impersonation, asserts his intention to take over Super Villain City. Will the What-ifium save the world and make all their dreams come true?
There’s more—a team of superheroes called the Friendly Force Five, and a goopy gangster called Gluttonator who wants to use radioactive cheese to bring his foes to their knees and shouts “What the feta??!!” when his plan goes south—but why prolong this any more than I have to?
Set to a soundtrack of sound-alike classic rock songs “Henchmen” is about as imaginative as you can expect from a movie where all the criminals live in a place called Super Villain City. From the uninspired voice work to animation that looks like next wave cheapo Hanna-Barbera style animation without any of the organic charm, “Henchmen” is little more than a collection of cartoon clichés. Very small children might find distraction in the colourful design or the bullet proof underpants or the ‘Bad guys always lose’ moral but all others beware.
I took no joy in writing this review but then again I could find no joy in “Henchmen” either.
Some people turn their noses up at cover bands. One critic I read called an early Elvis Presley impersonator “heretical.”
I see it differently. I never got to see Elvis shake his hips in person, but through the magic of tribute artists I feel almost like I have. I certainly know that I’ve seen hundreds of happy faces in audiences, enjoying the chance to see a de facto Presley in person and that’s what’s important. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but for me Acts like AC/DCShe—an all female AC/DC cover band, or the ABBA mimics Björn Again or even MacSabbath, a Black Sabbath cover band in which all the members dress up as McDonald’s characters—are more than flattering their inspirations, they’re triggering happy, nostalgic memories and doing what live music is supposed to do, show people a good time.
A new documentary, “Almost Almost Famous,” has a look at The Class of ’59, a cover band featuring rockabilly musician Lance Lipinsky as Jerry Lee Lewis, R & B singer Bobby Brooks as Jackie Wilson and the “Elvis from Orlando”, Ted Torres. Set against the backdrop of the band on tour we learn about the dynamics of being on the road and discover why these artists chose the tribute act route rather than playing originals. For some it’s money, for some it’s for the love of being on stage and for one of them it’s a surprise tribute to a person they never met.
“Almost Almost Famous” doesn’t dig deep. We learn the backstories of the performers but only one of the characters, Bobby Brooks, has a history truly worthy of a feature (NO SPOILERS HERE) but director Barry Lank spends much time focussing on Lipinski, the terminally tired Jerry Lee Lewis impersonator.
He’s framed as the villain of the piece, a tribute artist who dismissively refers to his Class of ’59 gig as a day job. He’s always late, misses cues and is often less than inspired on stage. A talented singer and piano player, he has bigger things on his mind than aping sixty- year-old rock ‘n roll songs for an audience who stopped buying new music sometime around the time Elvis went into the army. Instead he wants to make neo-rockabilly for a younger crowd and it consumes his on and off stage moments. He’s a self-styled provocateur who wears an oversized Trump-Pence button on his lapel in interviews. Trouble is, he comes across as a one note, a brat, not a character you really want to spend time with.
Like the music it presents “Almost Almost Famous” doesn’t feel completely fresh but the peak behind the gold lame suits is interesting enough to keep tribute fans happy.
Richard speaks to Emily Mortimer in the pages of the December issue of WestJet Magazine.
“Emily Mortimer says inspirational people—both fictional and real—surrounded her while filming Mary Poppins Returns. “There were so many days on the movie where you wanted to pinch yourself,” says the English actress. “You couldn’t believe what was happening…” Read the whole thing HERE!
Watch the full episode of “Pop Life” from Saturday December 1, 2018. This week Richard speaks to celebrity chef Bobby Flay about his love for the restaurant business, Easy Bake Ovens and his start in the industry. Then the Pop Life panel, Baron Hau, chef & founding instructor Gusta Cooking Studio, Luke Hayes chef & owner L.U.S.T Supper Club and Janet Zuccarini, CEO of Gusto 54 Restaurant Group, share their take on what makes a chef great.
Film critic and pop culture historian Richard Crouse shares a toast with celebrity guests and entertainment pundits every week on CTV News Channel’s talk show POP LIFE.
Featuring in-depth discussion and debate on pop culture and modern life, POP LIFE features sit-down interviews with celebrities from across the entertainment world, including musician Josh Groban, comedian Ken Jeong, writer Fran Lebowitz, superstar jazz musician Diana Krall, legendary rock star Meatloaf, stand-up comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, actor Jay Baruchel, celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Nigella Lawson, and many more.
What makes a chef great? Our Pop Life panel Baron Hau, chef & founding instructor Gusta Cooking Studio, Luke Hayes chef & owner L.U.S.T Supper Club and Janet Zuccarini, CEO of Gusto 54 Restaurant Group, share their take on this and more.
Film critic and pop culture historian Richard Crouse shares a toast with celebrity guests and entertainment pundits every week on CTV News Channel’s talk show POP LIFE.
Featuring in-depth discussion and debate on pop culture and modern life, POP LIFE features sit-down interviews with celebrities from across the entertainment world, including musician Josh Groban, comedian Ken Jeong, writer Fran Lebowitz, superstar jazz musician Diana Krall, legendary rock star Meatloaf, stand-up comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, actor Jay Baruchel, celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Nigella Lawson, and many more.
Richard hosted a screening of the short feature “The Last Mile,” a mini documentary highlighting progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS since the 1993 release of the Oscar winning “Philadelphia.” Before the screening Richard spoke with Kim Snyder, director of “The Last Mile” featurette, Gary Lacasse, Executive Director Canadian Aids Society and Claudia Medina Toronto Fast Track Cities Spokesperson (not pictured).
For more information click HERE! Here’s the text of Richard’s opening remark:
I’m a film critic but I wanted to take a moment provide some context before talking about Philadelphia and kicking of the panel. I first moved to what was then called Toronto’s Gay Village in the early 1980s. The neighbourhood was amazing, so alive. People crowded the streets, the restaurants, the bars and stores. It was a colourful place to live, and I still live there today.
A few years after I moved in, however, the neighbourhood changed. The bars and restaurant weren’t as full. Halloween on the street, which had always been a big deal, wasn’t as vibrant. AIDS had hit, spreading fear and uncertainty. Soon I was visiting friends in the hospital more often than meeting for drinks.
In The Last Mile they talk about Tom Hanks signing the screenwriter’s script, “My life will always have two parts, before and after Philadelphia.” Many of us who were there, who knew people who passed away at this time feel the same way about that period and now, on the eve of World AIDS Day, I am reminded of those days, of friends who were taken before we got the chance to grow old together.
Film and television were slow to react. The first film was a 1985 TV movie An Early Frost but it wasn’t until Philadelphia came along that the misinformation, misunderstanding, fear and stigma around HIV/AIDS was addressed on the big screen. 1993.
I remember seeing the film the weekend it came out. I left the theatre I knew I had just watched the first major film not just about AIDS but also the condemnation of intolerance. I thought of the families who could finally see their experiences dealing with their ailing loved ones reflected on screen in a loving and brave way. The film critic inside me noted the film’s style. Jonathan Demme shoots many of the speeches in intimate close-ups, forcing the audience to confront their feelings about a generation of made ill by AIDS. Emanuel Levy wrote that Philadelphia had the rare chance to “Change public opinion about an urgent problem.” Today as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Philadelphia I think you’ll find the movie remains relevant today.
Last year, nearly 1 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses – that’s approximately two people every minute.
