SYNOPSIS: Renee Zellweger returns as the title character in “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.” In this romantic comedy, now streaming on Prime Video, Bridget finds herself widowed with two children and a job as a television producer. Four years after the death of her beloved husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), she decides to restart her life, and meets a much younger man.
CAST: Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad. Directed by Michael Morris.
REVIEW: The general rule of thumb for sequels is that the further you get away from the source, the worse the movies get. The first cut is almost always the deepest, and while there are exceptions, by the time you get to the fourth movie and twenty-fourth year of a franchise, it’s all about diminishing returns.
One cinematic guest who hasn’t worn out their welcome, however, is Bridget Jones as played by Renée Zellweger. Since 2001 at the movies (and 1995 in Helen Fielding’s article and books) her quirky, and often messy, romantic adventures have entertained without a trace of sequelitis.
The new film, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” sees Bridget restart her romantic life after the death of her husband. “It’s time to live,” she writes in her famous diary.
Of course, there are complications. It wouldn’t be a Bridget Jones movie without them.
The awkward Bridget never met an embarrassing situation she couldn’t amplify, and lip filler is definitely not her thing. Those slapstick moments provide the nostalgic blast of the old Bridget we’ve come to expect, as do cameos by series regulars like Hugh Grant, as aging playboy Daniel Stern (who teaches Bridget’s kids to make a cocktail called a Bad Mommy) and Dame Emma Thompson as Bridget’s friend and gynecologist, but this time around it’s the story’s more poignant aspects that resonate.
Bridget Jones has grown up, somewhat, and so have the movies. This time around there is a melancholy vibe, the result of Mr. Darcy’s passing, and Bridget’s difficulties navigating life as a single mother.
The callbacks to the other movies serve as a reminder of how long we’ve been part of Bridget’s life. And while “Mad About the Boy” is loaded with familiar jokes and echoes the first film in terms of its romantic entanglements (no spoilers here), it is in its examinations of what it means to move on and maybe even find happiness, without leaving the past and someone you love completely behind, that it tills fresh ground. It’s a welcome new chapter for Bridget and for those of us who have known her for almost a quarter century.
SYNOPSIS: In “Paddington in Peru,” the marmalade loving bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw, searches for his cherished Aunt Lucy who has gone missing in the Peruvian jungle. Helping Paddington on his dangerous quest are Oscar winner Olivia Colman as a cheery singing nun, a brave boat captain played by Antonio Banderas and his adopted parents Henry (Hugh Bonneville) and Mary (Emily Mortimer, replacing Sally Hawkins).
CAST: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Carla Tous, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas and Ben Whishaw. Directed by Dougal Wilson.
REVIEW: If the world worked the way it is supposed to there would be a picture of Paddington the Bear next to the word ‘adorable’ in your dogeared copy of Funk and Wagnalls.
Since 1958, when the marmalade loving, spectacled bear first appeared in print, he has been an avatar for mischievous fun, kindness and overall, unescapable lovability.
Eight years after two perfectly perfect instalments of the bear’s adventures with his adopted English family comes “Paddington in Peru,” a new adventure that is sure to please family audiences, but the ambitious story doesn’t have the magic of the first two films.
The impossibly cute Paddington, voiced by Ben Wishaw, is still the kindhearted agent of mild chaos he has always been, but this time around his adopted family, the Browns, play a larger role. Emily Watson and Hugh Bonneville are up to the task, expertly riding the line between silly and sentimental, but the film Itself feels less whimsical than its predecessors.
Having said that, Olivia Coleman, as the singing nun at The Home for Retired Bears, brings a big dollop of fun in the “Sound of Music” inspired musical number “Let’s Prepare for Paddington.”
Paul King, director of the first two instalments, brought an eccentric charm to Paddington’s world that was undeniably wondrous. That world is still evident, but this time around director Dougal Wilson opts for action and adventure, most of which is very compelling, and character driven, but it doesn’t lift off the screen the way the first two films did.
Nonetheless, “Paddington in Peru” is a thoroughly enjoyable family film, one with timely subtext about immigration (Paddington gets his British passport in the film’s early minutes), identity and loyalty, and, of course, is laced with the bear’s good-natured way of seeing the best in everyone, even those who done him wrong.
SYNOPSIS: In “Captain America: Brave New World” the newly crowned Captain America, Sam Wilson finds himself at the center of an international incident after meeting with President Thaddeus Ross. “You may be Captain America,” says Ross, “but you’re not Steve Rogers.”
CAST: Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. Directed by Julius Onah.
REVIEW: When Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) handed his shield to former pararescueman Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a.k.a. The Falcon in the finale of “Endgame,” it marked an exchange of power that went on to be explored in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
The new film picks up the story as Wilson and President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford), who previously butted heads about how much latitude “enhanced individuals” should have, are on the same side with a plan to rebuild The Avengers. “Work with me and we’ll show the world a way forward,” Ross says.
It’s all hunky dory between them until a daring assassination attempt places them at odds. Unless Wilson, and his sidekick Joaquin Torres / Falcon (Danny Ramirez), can get some quick answers, a cherished friend and the future of a worldwide peace treaty are in danger.
“Captain America: Brave New World” gets caught between its (relatively) grounded conspiracy story and its high-flying aspirations.
Dragged down by stitching up loose story threads from other films, it over explains the action, showcases Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) a diabolical but dull villain—although catchphrase, “Please, don’t be boring,” is pretty cool—and feels more like a Disney+ show than a big screen event.
And yet, it does have entertaining aerial scenes and, in the Red Hulk, a role that allows Harrison Ford, the best angry man in movies, to let his freak flag fly. It’s also nice to see Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley, the Korean War era Captain America, make the leap from the miniseries “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” to the movie.
At the heart of the whole thing is Mackie. As a Captain America with no superhuman abilities, he is a more grounded character. Sure, he flies through the air with the aid of advanced technology, and his vibranium shield comes in handy when things go south, but his inner turmoil over his place in the world of superheroes and his progressive nature make Wilson a hero for the modern age.
The political conspiracy story of “Captain America: Brave New World” serves as an official introduction for Wilson as Captain America, but by the time the end credits (and the one post credit scene) rolls, it’s the Red Hulk antics that stick in the memory.
SYNOPSIS: Based on a real event, “The Order,” a new true-crime drama starring Jude Law and now streaming on Prime Video, gruff Idaho-based FBI agent Terry Husk (Law) identifies crime activity in the Pacific Northwest that could be related to Bob Mathews and The Order, his white supremacist militant group.
CAST: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver, Odessa Young, Marc Maron, Huxley Fisher, Sebastian Pigott, Phillip Forest Lewitski, George Tchortov, Victor Slezak, Philip Granger, Daniel Doheny. Directed by Justin Kurzel.
REVIEW: Set in the early 1980s “The Order” is an unsettling film, made all the more chilling in our time of rising white nationalism and extremist militant groups.
Jude Law is firmly in character actor mode as the disheartened Husk. Still stinging from a broken marriage and stationed in a town where, as the local sheriff says, “the only crime around here is catching trout without a licence,” he’s paunchy and world weary, but while he may be burnt-out, he still has a burning desire to find justice.
He is a standard issue rumpled cop with a past and a depressing present. Even more standard is his sidekick squeaky-clean cop Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan). Both are terrific, but how many times have we seen an older, dishevelled cop paired with a younger go-getter?
Their match up may be conventional, but director Justin Kurzel keeps the action taut enough, and the violence visceral enough, to make up for the more familiar elements.
As Matthews, Nicolas Hoult is the disturbing face of extremism. In his reckless pursuit of a racial revolution, he stages risky robberies, bombs synagogues and kills at will. The robberies are meant to finance his plans for an uprising and his followers, who, like him, don’t think the Aryan Nations are hardcore enough in their beliefs, would follow him into hell.
His motives aren’t political as much as they are ideological, and as such, he is more a cult leader than a soldier but Hoult’s cool demeanour and chiseled good looks give his portrayal of the controlling but charismatic Matthews a terrifying edge.
In many ways “The Order” is a run-of-the-mill police procedural about two men, one good guy, one bad guy, who are willing to do anything for their cause. We’ve seen that before, but the way Kurzel builds tension and shines a light on the dark underbelly of white nationalism elevates the traditional plotting.
SYNOPSIS: In “Heart Eyes,” a new comedy slasher flick now playing in theatres, a serial killer with glowing hearts for eyes, murders couples on Valentine’s Day. When he mistakes Ally and Jay for a romantic couple, the co-workers spend their Valentine’s Day on the run from the Heart Eyes Killer. “He’s like Cupid with a kink.”
CAST: Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa, and Jordana Brewster. Directed by Josh Ruben.
REVIEW: “Heart Eyes” is a wild movie.
Is it a violent rom com? Yup. Is it a googly-eyed slasher flick? Also correct. By the time the end credits roll, director Josh Ruben has thrown teen comedy, rom coms and slasher flicks into a blender, and whipped up a tasty cocktail of “Scream” and “10 Things I Hate About You.”
The thrill killer with heart shaped eyes takes a back seat to Ally and Jay, nicely played by Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding. Ruben takes his time developing their relationship, whether it as two strangers who flirt, or a warrior duo doing battle against an unrelenting killer. It slows the film’s momentum, creating lengthy periods when there isn’t much happening.
At least by the standards of a bloody slasher flick.
By the time the going gets gory, the relationship is built, and Ruben has fun playing with genre conventions. As Ally starts to warm to Jay after a particularly gruesome Heart Eyes attack, she says, “Tonight should have been the worst night of my life, but it wasn’t.”
“Ditto” he replies.
In a different context those lines could have appeared in a hundred other cheesy rom coms, but here it is funny, a nod to the audience that “Heart Eyes” isn’t taking itself too seriously.
I’m not sure if “Heart Eyes” is a satire of slashers with some romance or the other way around. What I do know is that it is a snappy 90 minutes in which both rom commers or horror fans should find something to enjoy.
SYNOPSIS: In “Kinda Pregnant,” a new rom com now streaming on Netflix, Amy Schumer plays a woman who, when her hopes of settling down and starting a family are upended, fakes a pregnancy and falls for the man of her dreams. “The belly is fake,” reads the movie’s tagline. “The struggle is real.”
CAST: Amy Schumer, Jillian Bell, Will Forte, Damon Wayans Jr., Brianne Howey, Chris Geere, Alex Moffat. Directed by Tyler Spindel.
REVIEW: “Kinda Pregnant” is kinda funny, with laughs sprinkled throughout, but it works best when it shelves the outrageous stuff in favor of more heartfelt material.
In the movie’s early minutes of seven-year-old Lainy (Jayne Sowers) tells her best friend Kate (Julianna Layne), “being a mom is the best thing a human being can do.”
Cut to modern day. Lainy, now played by Amy Schumer, is a schoolteacher, still best friends with Kate (Jillian Bell) and still obsessed with starting a family when she is hit with a double whammy. Kate gets pregnant after her boyfriend Dave (Damon Wayans Jr.) drops a bomb on her, leaving her feeling that love is a lie.
Jealous of Kate’s pregnancy and despondent over Dave, Lainy, in true screwball comedy form, shoplifts a fake baby bump and discovers that when people think she’s pregnant they’re nicer to her.
Cue the misunderstandings and mayhem.
Those familiar with Schumer’s work will find a great deal of shared territory between her stand-up and “Kinda Pregnant.” Bold, unapologetic and relatable, Schumer’s stand-up is personal, a beguiling mix of social commentary, self-deprecation and gender politics.
Many of those themes are present here.
The movie, like her stand-up and her award-winning TV show “Inside Amy Schumer,” deals with body image, societal expectations placed on pregnant women, insecurities, the intricacies of friendship and the blossoming of real human connection, but the keenly observed insights of her stand up are blunted here, mostly reduced to broad generalizations and rude and crude punchlines.
But don’t get me wrong, some of the raunchy stuff works— South African-New Zealander comic Urzila Carlson is outrageous and funny, and Brianne Howey as the overbearing Megan, who says, “Kindness is my favorite hobby,” raises a few laughs—but it seems at odds with the more heartfelt aspects of the story.
“Kinda Pregnant’s” clichéd message of learning to love oneself before seeking it elsewhere comes a bit too late, long after our love for the movie has gone.
SYNOPSIS: In” Bring Them Down,” a violent new drama starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott and now playing in theatres, a bloody feud with a rival family forces a sheep farmer to confront a traumatic incident from his past.
CAST: Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott, Nora-Jane Noone, Paul Ready, Aaron Heffernan, Conor McNeill, Susan Lynch, and Colm Meaney. Directed by Christopher Andrews.
REVIEW: Grim and gritty, “Bring Them Down” is a mishmash of resentment, gripes and tensions that makes “The Banshees of Inisherin” seem positively lighthearted by comparison.
The story of shattered relationships and open wounds, set in remote Ireland, begins with a car accident that leaves sheep farmer and driver Michael’s (Christopher Abbott) mother dead, and his soon-to-be-ex Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone) scarred for life.
Cut to years later.
Caroline is now married to rival sheep farmer Gary (Paul Ready) and is mother to Jack (Barry Keoghan). When Jack steals two prize rams from the farm Michael runs with his cruel father Ray (Colm Meaney), all hell breaks loose. The feud between the farmers turns violent, endangering not only their lives, but also their way of life.
The dreary rural Irish setting enhances the story’s inherent bleakness. Not that the subject matter needed much help.
The downbeat story offers little in the way of reprieve from its dour point of view, but director Christopher Andrews takes pains to delve into the complexity of the personalities involved. Using a nonlinear timeline Andrews shifts perspective to reveal the character’s backstories, and the toxicity, insecurity and hopes that push Michael and Jack to the edge.
It is a testament to Abbott and Keoghan’s fine performances that the characters pop as much as they do. In Abbott’s hands the deeply troubled Michael still manages some sensitivity. Keoghan’s Jack is quiet, but capable of extreme behavior. In the end, however, it is the weight of the pair’s commonalities, a mix of familial expectation and trauma, not their actions that threaten to crush both.
“Bring Them Down” is a brutal movie, both in its depiction of animal cruelty and its unneighborly blood feud, that paints an unrelentingly intense portrait of desperation. It’s gripping right up to, but not including its vague, final moments. The conclusion blunts the power of what came before, leaving behind only uncertainty tinged by sadness.
SYNOPSIS: “Universal Language,” a new surreal comedy now playing in theatres, mixes and matches three stories of human connection set within Winnipeg’s Iranian community. Two young girls try to retrieve money frozen in ice to buy glasses for a classmate, a tour guide explores Winnipeg’s most absurd landmarks and a civil servant moves from Quebec to Winnipeg to tend to his ailing mother.
CAST: Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi, Sobhan Javadi, Pirouz Nemati, Mani Soleymanlou, Danielle Fichaud. Directed by Matthew Rankin.
REVIEW: Touted as a “surreal comedy of disorientation” set “somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg,” “Universal Language” takes place in Canada, but in director Matthew Rankin’s idiosyncratic vision French and Farsi are the official languages.
The three, seemingly unrelated stories, form a narrative tryptic about how fate, luck and chance are key components to creating connection between people. While episodic in nature, it dovetails together in unexpected ways by the time the end credits roll, completing the sense of togetherness that lies at the film’s soul.
”Universal Language” is whimsical, both visually and thematically, but Rankin, while playful, takes his ideas seriously. The sense of belonging infused into the trio of tales is heartfelt, but never maudlin. It can be surreal (Why so many turkeys?) but it’s never saccharine. Instead it’s a nuanced look at the value people bring to communities, and how humanity burns bright, even in chilly Winnipeg winters.
I’ll be hosting a screening of the new Anne Marie Flemming film “Can I get a Witness?” and a Q&A with star Keira Jang on Saturday February 8 at 4:30 pm at the Vic Theatre (808 Douglas St, Victoria, BC).
The synopsis: Blending live action and animation, the film is set in a postapocalyptic world in which travel and technology are virtually banned, and people who reach the age of 50 have to submit to death to control the size of the population, while young people are tasked with artistically documenting their final moments.
SYNOPSIS: Renee Zellweger returns as the title character in “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.” In this romantic comedy, now streaming on Prime Video, Bridget finds herself widowed with two children and a job as a television producer. Four years after the death of her beloved husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), she decides to restart her life, and meets a much younger man.
