LOGLINE: The Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) biopic “Back to Black,” now playing in theatres, details the chaotic relationship with husband Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell) that inspired the internationally best-selling album “Back to Black.”
CAST: Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan, and Lesley Manville. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and written by Matt Greenhalgh.
REVIEW: With all the depth and curiosity of a Wikipedia page, “Back to Black” attempts to tell the tale of a complicated artist who left a mark, but who left us too soon. Painted in the broadest of strokes, this sad story of sex, drugs and jazz is buoyed somewhat by Marisa Abela, who looks and sounds like the late singer, but instead of becoming a well-rounded character, Winehouse comes across as a walking, talking attitude with an impressive beehive hairdo and an alcohol problem.
An early scene detailing the writing of “What Is It About Men” hints at what is to come. Struck by a bolt of inspiration, she sings, “My destructive side has grown a mile wide.” It’s a shame, then, that “Back to Black” wallows in Winehouse’s self-destruction.
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson, working from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, tiptoes around many of the story’s landmines—the intrusive paparazzi, the exploitation she suffered by those close to her—to focus on the doomed romance with Fielder-Civil. “I need to live my songs,” she says, and her relationship certainly did inspire many of “Back to Black’s” songs, but the focus on her obsessive love, punctuated by the occasional musical performance, shifts the focus from the joy of making music to the story’s tawdry aspects.
Amy Winehouse was a singular artist, a fearless performer who made her own rules, and dug deep to create her art. So, it’s a shame her biopic is such a standard cautionary tale that skims the surface. Recommended instead is “Amy,” director Asif Kapadia’s 2015 documentary that carefully, and fulsomely, examines the life of a person who, as Tony Bennett says, didn’t live long enough to learn how to live.
LOGLINE: In the live-action/animated fantasy comedy “IF,” a tragedy gives teenager Bea (Cailey Fleming) the power to see the imaginary friends—“IFs” for short—left behind as their real life friends age and mature. When she discovers her adult neighbor Cal (Ryan Reynolds) has the same gift, they work together to reconnect adults with their childhood Ifs.
CAST: John Krasinski (who also directs), Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, Fiona Shaw, Alan Kim, Liza Colón-Zayas, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Steve Carell,
REVIEW: “IF” is a contemplative story about the importance of friends, imaginary or not, experiencing grief and loss and the power of imagination. Although told from a twelve-year-old point of view, it is more an exercise in wistful nostalgia than kid’s adventure. Writer and director John Krasinski has a lot on his mind, and infuses the story with an unexpectedly healthy dose of melancholy.
The storytelling is a little bumpy, and the pace a bit slow, but it packs an emotional punch as Bea comes to understand her life through interactions with the IFs and their humans. Fleming’s performance cuts through, standing apart from the flashier IF characters (voiced by a-listers like Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Awkwafina and Bradley Cooper) and even the perennial scene-stealer Reynolds, who hands in his least Ryan Reynoldsy performance in years.
Part “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” part Spielbergian childhood drama, “IF” is a tad darker than the trailers suggest, and tries a little too hard to strum the heartstrings but as it leans into sentimentality it pays off with a message of the importance connection.
Nihilistic and nasty, “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” part one of a proposed rebooted “Strangers” trilogy of films, and now playing in theatres, doesn’t deliver on the promise of it premise.
After a quick prologue and an F.B.I. public service announcement on the frequency of random violent crime—“There have been 7 acts of violence since you’ve been watching this film,” a title card screams—the action begins with a good looking young couple, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez), on a road trip from New York to Portland, Oregon. Things turn creepy on day three of their trip when they veer off the main road to grab a bite in the least friendly town in America, Venus, Oregon, population 468.
It’s a strange place, with judgy locals, a menacing car mechanic and weird kids who stare at them as they perform the cardinal sin of ordering vegetarian food in a country diner.
After an uncomfortable dinner, their car mysteriously won’t start. One busted alternator later, they’re stuck in Venus for the night. A local suggests they stay at the local “internet house,” an Airbnb cabin in the middle of nowhere.
As they settle in, romance blossoms. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Maya says.
Trouble is, that might not be very long if the masked, axe and knife wielding killers lurking outside have anything to do with it.
The promo for “The Strangers: Chapter 1” promises to reveal how the terrifying trio of masked marauders became the Strangers, but this isn’t an origin story. It’s more like a 90-minute trailer for the next part, which may, or may not be a bit more forthcoming about the backstory.
This movie is more about the randomness of the violence and the endlessly stupid decisions made by Maya and Ryan. The leads are so bland, and their actions so inexplicable, you actually find yourself rooting for the killers so the couple’s ordeal, and by extension, the audience’s ordeal will end.
The randomness of the violence has always been the calling card of “The Strangers” films, and director Renny Harlin squeezes whatever juice is left out of “The Strangers” IP, building a bit of tension here and there, but the film’s slow pace, repetitive action and decidedly non-gruesome violence sucks away the menace of the premise.
“I Saw the TV Glow,” a new existential drama starring Justice Smith, and now playing in theatres, is a coming-of-age story about someone who never quite comes-of-age.
When we first meet Owen (Ian Foreman), he’s an awkward, suburban seventh grader drawn to Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a ninth grader obsessed with a young adult TV show called “The Pink Opaque.” He’s interested in the series, an “X-Files” for teens with a villain called Mr. Melancholy, but it’s on after his bedtime.
The pair share a love of the show—he clandestinely sleeps over at her place to watch the show on the weekends—and troubled home lives.
In “The Pink Opaque” they find an escape.
Jump forward two years. Owen, now played by Smith, still can’t stay up late enough to watch the show, so he voraciously consumes it on the VHS tapes Maddy makes for him.
On the eve of the show’s cancellation, Maddy disappears, leaving Owen at the mercy of his cruel stepfather Frank (Fred Durst). Years later, she re-enters his life, with a wild tale of where she has been, as his grip on reality slowly slips away.
“I Saw the TV Glow” owes a debt to the surreal stylings of David Lynch. In their telling of the story director Jane Schoenbrun embraces Lynchian themes of appearance vs. reality, surrealism and often impenetrable storytelling. It can make for a confounding experience, as the exploration of pop culture’s effect on identity and individuality reveals itself in increasingly inscrutable ways.
“I Saw the TV Glow” is audacious in its execution, introspective in its narrative and interesting in its aesthetic, but it’s also a bit of a schlep, more ambitious than actually entertaining. It is not a feel-good movie, and has no aspirations in that direction, but as the storytelling becomes opaquer, the film loses its way, revelling in Owen’s awkwardness and mundanity rather than what makes him interesting. The result is a movie that confuses impenetrability with depth.
I’ll be doing an on-screen introduction for “Mad Max” at Cineplex’s Classic Film Series this May.
George Miller has made pigs talk and penguins tap dance. He’s been a doctor and a film director. Among the bold-faced names on his resume are the titles “Babe: A Pig in the City,” “The Witches of Eastwick,” “Happy Feet” and “Lorenzo’s Oil.” One name, however, looms larger than the rest.
The great man has left us. The legendary Roger Corman has passed at the age of 98, leaving behind 400 movies and legions of admirers. Spoke with him many times. Here’s one conversation I did with him for Metro years ago.
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The man who gave us movies about humanoids from the deep, crab monsters and wasp women is at it again. The release of Dinoshark on DVD brings legendary producer Roger Corman full circle, right back to the creature feature movies that made him famous in the 1950s.
“There have been creature features since the inception of films,” said the 85-year-old Corman in a recent phone interview. “What we’re doing now with Dinoshark and Shartopus is we’re going father and farther and it intrigues the audience. I don’t want to use the word outlandish but certainly they are the farthest out type of creature we’ve seen.”
The films—Dinoshark and Sharktopus—were made for the SyFy Channel in the US, and feature all of Corman’s trademarks—a little bit of star power (Eric Roberts stars in Sharktopus), a sense of humor and, of course, a wild hybrid creature.
“The creature comes first, then we try and figure out why the creature exists. That’s why the first picture we made of this group, was Dinocroc, which I made independently and sold to the SyFy Channel and it got a very big rating. So I then wet for Supergator and Dinoshark and the SyFy Channel called me and said, ‘Roger, you’ve come up with all the title, now we have a title, Sharktopus. Do you want to make it?’
“I said no and gave them my theory, which I still believe in, now with some modification, which is that you can go up to a certain level of insanity with these titles and the audience is with you because they want to see it. But if you go over a level, what I call the acceptable level of insanity, and the audience will say, ‘Oh you’ve got to be kidding,’ and they’ll turn against you.”
So far audiences haven’t turned against Corman and his outrageous creatures. His next feature for SyFy is Piranhaconda, a movie he says, doesn’t “up the level of insanity, but it maintains it.”
Corman, however, is a realist. He’s been in Hollywood since Eisenhower was president, so to say he understands the ups and down of the film business is an understatement akin to saying Sharktopus gets a little bitey sometimes.
“I think [the business] is cyclical. You make a certain type of picture, it’s successful, other people make them too, you may remake or continue with that cycle, then the audience gets saturated with them. They grow tired and the cycle turns down. It never goes quite away. Then after a few years someone will make a good one with a slightly different point of view and the cycle will start all over again. I think we’re near the peak of that cycle now. My theory is that we can run another year or so but then the cycle will start to turn back down.”
But when the creature cycle burns out, will he stop producing movies and take a well deserved break? After all, he has produced almost 400 films.
“I simply love the process of making films,” he says. “It is creative, interesting, fascinating and occasionally lucrative. I like the combination of all those. I never intend to retire.”
On the September 18, 2024 edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Mary Badham. She had no acting experience before she auditioned for the role of the intelligent and unconventional girl Jean Louise Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Better known by the nickname Scout, the character is the daughter of Alabama lawyer, Atticus Finch, played by Gregory Peck in the classic film.
Mary Badham, at just ten years of age, became the youngest actress to that date to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
At age fourteen, after appearing in several other films and television show, including the final episode of the original Twilight Zone series, she retired from acting at age fourteen. She stayed close with Gregory Peck, who she always called Atticus, until his death in 2003.
To Kill a Mockingbird has never completely left her life, however, Mary has traveled around the world recalling her experiences making the classic film, and praising the book’s messages of tolerance and compassion, and now, in her debut as a stage actor, she plays, quote “the meanest old woman who ever lived,” Mrs. Dubose in the national touring production of Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, which features Richard Thomas in the role of Atticus Finch and is now playing at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto. Check mirvish.com for more details.
Then, Christian Sparkes, a film director and screenwriter from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. His new movie, “The King Tide,” is set in an isolated, struggling community, ten years after a child with miraculous gifts washed up on the beach. She is able to heal people, but after a decade of prosperity, her adoptive parents are forced to decide whether her safety is more important than their community’s prosperity.
Listen to the whole thing HERE! (Link coming soon)
Here’s some info on The Richard Crouse Show!
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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On the Saturday May 11, 2024 edition of the Richard Crouse we meet General Roméo Dallaire. A celebrated global human rights advocate, he is also a highly respected author, public speaker, political advisor, and former Canadian senator. Throughout his distinguished military career, General Dallaire served most notably as Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. He continues to work ceaselessly to bring international attention to situations too often ignored, whether the prevention of mass atrocities, ending the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on veterans and their families, or strategic solutions for lasting peace.
In his latest book “The Peace: A Warrior’s Journey,” general Dallaire shows us the past, present and future of war through the prism of his own life.
Then, we’ll meet Rose Sutherland, author of “A Sweet Sting of Salt.” Based on the classic folktale The Selkie Wife, it is a piece of historical fiction that sees a young woman uncover a dark secret about her neighbor and his mysterious new wife… and she’ll have to fight to keep herself—and the woman she loves—safe.
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across Canada via live stream on iHeartRadio.caand the iHeartRadio Canada app. iHeartRadio Canada stations are also connected through Alexa, Siri, and Google Home smart speakers.
LOGLINE: The Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) biopic “Back to Black,” now playing in theatres, details the chaotic relationship with husband Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell) that inspired the internationally best-selling album “Back to Black.”
