I join the host of NewsTalk 1010’s “The Rush” for a segment called “Entertainment Court.” Each week I serve as the judge, Reshmi as the juror, and we render a verdict on the week’s biggest pop culture stories.
This week we ask, Are we so jaded that romance and comedy are now old hat? Is this typical Hollywood hyperbole or is Tom Cruise a pandemic hero for figuring how to get audiences back in theatres? Is it appropriate to resume shooting even if the new cinematographer donates her salary to charity in honor of the late Halyna Hutchins?
I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres. Today we talk about the MCU adventure “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the hardboiled “Marlowe,” the “What’s-in-a-name” documentary “The Other Fellow” and the documentary “Cat Daddies.”
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at the MCU adventure “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the hardboiled “Marlowe,” the “What’s-in-a-name” documentary “The Other Fellow” and the documentary “Cat Daddies.”
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the MCU adventure “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the hardboiled “Marlowe,” the “What’s-in-a-name” documentary “The Other Fellow” and the documentary “Cat Daddies.”
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” now playing on theatres, kicks off Marvel’s phase five with a talky sci fi story, heavy on the scientific blather. Instead of “Quantumania,” a more appropriate subtitle could have been: More Fun Than Physics Class!
“It’s a pretty good world,” says Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a.k.a. Ant-Man. He’s a member of the Avengers, gifted with the power of size manipulation and some funny dialogue. “I’m glad I saved it.” Basking in the glow of his heroic contributions to mankind, he’s written a book titled “Look Out for the Little Guy,” and shamelessly drinks in the praise of his friends and fans.
His family, however, thinks he is resting on his laurels, and, in secret, are still working on ways to help the planet. His romantic partner Hope van Dyne, a.k.a. Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) and the original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), have created a sort of satellite for deep space, except it connects them to the Quantum Realm, a subatomic level where the realities of space and time don’t exist.
Having spent 30 years trapped in the subatomic world, Hope’s mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) is horrified by their experiments. “Do you know how dangerous the Quantum Realm is? Turn it off now.”
Of course, Cassie and Co learn too late that the connection to the Quantum Realm goes both ways, and they are all sucked into the satellite and transported to the strange world, a place that looks like a Yes album cover from 1973 come to life.
Separated into two groups, Scott and Cassie are captured by freedom fighters led by Jentorra (Katy O’Brian), while Hope, Hank and Janet are cut loose, on the run from Janet’s old nemesis, a destroyer of worlds called Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).
Kang needs the Pym Particles, the subatomic particles developed by Hank which can increase or reduce mass as well as density and strength, to exit the Quantum Realm and travel through time and bring havoc to the real world.
Only Ant-Man and his ragtag gang can stop him and his interdimensional threat, but only if they can navigate the Quantum Realm and come together as a group.
There is a lightness of touch to “Quantumania.” Rudd’s charisma sees to that, and he provides some genuinely funny moments in the film. Majors brings the secret sauce as a great cartoon villain, but the talky script and messy action scenes suck away much of the fun.
You may be thinking, “But Michael Douglas talks to a giant ant. How can that be bad?” True enough, it is something I never would have expected to see, and I got a kick out of it, but for every nifty moment like that, there is sea of exposition, as if the filmmakers don’t trust the audience to understand what is happening unless it is spelled out for them.
The loud, CGI-overload climax fills the screen but doesn’t grab the imagination. There are cool creatures and action enough for any two movies, but it all feels thrown at the screen, willy-nilly. There is a lot of it, but none of it is memorable or particularly original.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is a let-down, a movie that feels more like an introduction to the next batch of MCU movies than a standalone.
There’s an old proverb that reads, “Words have meaning, names have power.” “The Other Fellow,” a new documentary now paying in select theatres and on VOD, examines the power, along with the blessings, curses and the potentially life changing effects, of sharing a name with one of the most famous fictional characters of all time, super spy James Bond.
Like any good 007 film, “The Other Fellow” hops around the globe from Canada and the United States, to Guyana, Baghdad and Sweden, among other exotic locales, to tell its story. But unlike the proper Bond movies, this globe-trotting doc isn’t about high tech gadgets or supervillains. This is a study of identity, of the power of a name, thrust upon the film’s subjects at birth, to influence the path of the bearer’s life, particularly in our digital age.
From the amusing—several “Bonds” complain about hearing the same “shaken not stirred” jokes everyday of their lives—to the sinister—an African American Bond describes being jailed for 60 days for obstruction of justice for “playfully” saying his name to a police officer—director Matt Bauer examines the issue from several viewpoints.
The result is a funny, yet poignant film that entertains as it tackles big societal and personal issues. There’s a murder mystery, a story of abuse and a name change, all woven together to complete a portrait of how the aura of masculinity of the associated name comes loaded with challenges and unwanted attention.
Some have capitalized on the name. A New York theatre director reluctantly does a Bond style commercial for a casino, even though he has nothing in common with the character except the name. “He has a six-pack. I have a keg.”
Gunnar Schäfer, a Swedish man abandoned by his Nazi deserter father, filled the familial gap in his life with Bond, changing his name and adopting a 007 lifestyle and even opening a James Bond museum. In the embrace of the name, his story differs from the rest, but his obsession sheds light on the way a name can change the path of a life.
“The Other Fellow” isn’t a James Bond film, or a film about James Bond films. Instead, it is an intriguing and well packaged look at what it is like to be James Bond, or at least carry his name.
I join the host of NewsTalk 1010’s “The Rush” for a segment called “Entertainment Court.” Each week I serve as the judge, Reshmi as the juror, and we render a verdict on the week’s biggest pop culture stories.
