I join the CTV NewsChanel to talk about the return of the king in “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” the dark comedy “How to Make a Killing,” the heist film “Crime 1201” and the inspirational “I Can Only Imagine 2.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with guest host Andrew Pinsent to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the return of the king in “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” the heist film “Crime 101,” the dark comedy “How to Make a Killing” and the horror movie “Diabolic.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about the collaboration between Dreake and McDonald’s Canada, why Ian McKellan doesn’t likie the Oscar nominated movie “Hamnet,” the Super Bowl Bad Bunny boost, the hybrid documentary/concert film “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” and I’ll suggest some epic Elvis cocktails top enjoy with the movie!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to sing “Hm, ooh, yeah-yeah, yeah” Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the return of the king in “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” the dark comedy “How to Make a Killing” and the horror movie “Diabolic.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “How to Make a Killing,” a new class satire now playing in theatres, a man whose mother was disowned by his wealthy family decides to “prune a few branches of the family tree” and reclaim the family fortune. “Since the day I was born my mother told me we were different. Yes, she had been disowned by her family but someday I would become the sole heir. I just had to wait… for all of them to die.”
CAST: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Ed Harris. Directed by John Patton Ford.
REVIEW: A riff on the coal black 1949 British comedy “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “How to Make a Killing” is a lighthearted look at revenge and murder.
The thin line between life and death is all that stands between 9-to-5er Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) and a windfall inheritance. When he was born out of wedlock, his mother was disowned by her obscenely wealthy family. Broke, and wanting to live the “right kind of life” promised by his late mother, he hatches a plan to stage “accidents” to knock off the family members standing between him and the cash. “There were seven of them,” he says. “Seven rich pricks between myself and $28 billion.”
Told mostly in flashback with narration, “How to Make a Killing” is tightly composed. Perhaps too tightly. Swiftly paced, it rips along at top speed, never pausing long enough to allow the impact of the killings to sink in. In keeping with the movie’s pedal to the metal pace, Becket’s fall into murder and mayhem happens in the blink of an eye. As the bodies quickly pile up, the murders feel a little easy, a little too no-muss-no-fuss, to build any palpable tension.
The movie wants the audience to relate to Becket’s tough luck, but his overall demeanor is so stoic it’s hard to root for him, even as an anti-hero. Powell’s megawatt grin conceals Becket’s psychopathy, but the character is too glib to be funny, too offhand to be dramatic.
It’s in that mushy middle that Becket and the film sit. Not funny enough to be a comedy, it’s not quite dark enough to be a full-on drama.
It does comes loaded with ideas about class mobility, moral ambiguity and plays up the lengths Becket will go to gain social status, but the rapid pacing doesn’t provide time for meaningful exploration.
Some of that exploration may have disappeared in the movie’s plot holes. Large enough for Powell to fly the Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet he piloted in “Top Gun: Maverick” through, they are black holes that suck logic (particularly surrounding the final killing) into the void.
If you buy a ticket, check your suspension of disbelief at the concession stand.
“How to Make a Killing” has an intriguing premise, some fun performances—mainly Jessica Henwick as Ruth, Becket’s grounded girlfriend, the ever-reliable Bill Camp as a mentor figure and Zach Woods as the irritating cousin Noah—but its ambition, like its main character’s, exceeds its grip.
SYNOPSIS: In “Diabolic,” a new horror film now on VOD, a young woman, raised on a fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints compound, must confront the trauma of her youth.
CAST: Elizabeth Cullen, John Harlan, Kim Mia Challis, Genevieve Mooy, Robin Goldsworthy. Directed by Daniel J. Phillips.
REVIEW: An unsettling take on religious horror, “Diabolic” puts a new spin on a typical tale of possession.
When we first meet Elise (Elizabeth Cullen) she is a young woman undergoing a “baptism for the dead” ritual in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As she is repeatedly dunked into a pool of water an elder says, Larue (Seraphine Harley), the name of an evil spirit.
Cut to ten years and one excommunication later, Elise’s baptism trauma manifests itself in blackouts, nightmares and self-harm. Determined to put an end to her suffering, she revisits the remote FLDS compound of her youth. Alongside her boyfriend Adam (John Kim) and BFF Gwen (Mia Challis), she undergoes an “exposure therapy” ceremony aided by hallucinogens offered by local healers.
Elise’s miracle cure brings with it an unexpected side-effect. When the long dormant spirit of the cursed witch Larue is unleashed, troubling, buried memories reveal themselves.
The addition of fundamentalism into “Diabolic’s” slow-burn mix of religion and the supernatural provides a fresh take on the possession genre but uneven pacing strips away some of the movie’s punch.
Australian director Daniel J. Phillips effectively blurs the line between real life religious practices and the supernatural to effectively create an off-kilter vibe that feels somehow unnervingly rooted in reality. It makes for some disturbing scenes which escalate until the climatic payoff of the last fifteen minutes or so.
Until then, however, except for some brief scary moments, it’s a basic story where the characters fall prey to the usual horror movie cliches while adding in unnecessary relationship complications between the lead trio.
“Diabolic” has several scares and some interesting ideas, but doesn’t quite know what to do with them.
SYNOPSIS: A hybrid of documentary and concert film, “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” now playing in IMAX, offers a front row seat to the King of Rock ‘n Roll’s seven-year Las Vegas residency at the International Hotel.
CAST: Elvis Presley. Directed by Baz Luhrmann.
REVIEW: An up-close-and-personal look at one of the most documented people in pop culture, “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” strips away the kitsch commonly associated with Presley’s Vegas years, to reveal the raw power that made him a superstar.
“EPiC” began when director Baz Luhrmann was working on 2022s “Elvis.” In his search for never-before-seen footage from “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is” and “Elvis on Tour” for inclusion in the biopic. The search yielded a treasure trove of sixty-eight boxes of 35mm and 8mm footage and outtakes stored in a Warner Bros. film archives in a salt mine in Kansas. Over the next two years the silent footage was paired with sound from the Las Vegas years which makes up the bulk of “EPiC.”
It is a technical feat for sure, but more than that, it’s a potent revisiting of a rock pioneer during an underrated phase of his career. The mere mention of Vegas Elvis conjures up visions of ornate jumpsuits, complete with capes and impossibly wide bell-bottoms, karate kicks, the large TCB ring designed to be visible from the back row and sideburns that bordered on parody with the consistency of shag carpet.
All that, and more, are on display in “EPiC” but more than a celebration of showiness of the latter part of Presley’s career, it’s a re-examination. His years as a sensation may have been behind him, but, despite years of substandard films and little to no Billboard chart action after 1965, save for 1969’s “In the Ghetto,” his mere presence was enough to whip an audience into a frenzy.
“EPiC” shows why.
Luhrmann has assembled a dream concert, cobbling together on-stage and behind-the-scenes footage that reveal the talent and star power that Elvis wielded so effortlessly.
Rehearsal footage reveals an engaged performer working with the band to hone their repertoire of hundreds of songs down to twenty. He’s loose, having fun, but with exacting ideas of what he wants to hear. It’s a portrait of a singer in complete artistic control of his craft, and it is exhilarating to watch.
The real payoff, however, is the concert footage. Luhrmann pieces together a montage of restored images, often combining two or more performances of the same song, to show Elvis at the peak of his powers.
He’s no longer changing the world, but with every movement, every note, he’s changing the atmosphere in the International Hotel’s ballroom. It’s electrifying footage that shows an in-command Elvis hold an audience in the palm of his hand. Sure, he takes liberties with the lyrics—”Do you gaze at your bald head,” he sings in “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” “and wish you had hair?”—and has an unnerving habit of inserting the microphone into his mouth, but even the silly stuff doesn’t dim his unvarnished charisma and the emotional impact of his versatile baritone voice.
Intertwine that with a recently uncovered 45-minute audio recording of Elvis telling his life story, and other archival footage, and “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” emerges as a re-evaluation of one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists. That it has a good beat and you can dance to it is an added bonus. Elvis is back in the building.
SYNOPSIS: In “Crime 101,” a new, all-star heist thriller starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry, and now playing in theatres, a relentless detective is on the case of the 101 Robber, a jewel thief who targets victims along the 101 freeway in Los Angeles.
CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Halle Berry. Directed by Bart Layton.
REVIEW: If you’re making a cat-and-mouse cops and robbers movie you may as well borrow from the best. Despite interesting characters, twists and turns and high-octane action, “Crime 101” reverberates with echoes of Michael Mann movies like “Heat” and “Thief” with a side of Elmore Leonard thrown in.
Based on a Don Winslow novella, “Crime 101” is a Los Angeles noir; a thriller ripe with cynicism, sun dappled crime and obsessive, often morally compromised characters.
Chris Hemsworth is Mike Davis, a jewel thief who robs high value targets along the 101 freeway. Meticulous, he carefully plans each heist to avoid unnecessary violence and ensure a clean getaway. When things become difficult with his fence, the ironically named Money (Nick Nolte) who seems to be intent on keeping the money from their jobs for himself, Mike looks for one big score. One with “walk away” money. “That’s the thing about walk-away money,” he says. “You gotta be able to walk away with it.”
When he meets Sharon Combs (Halle Berry), a disillusioned insurance broker looking to put the screws to the company she thinks is passing her over for a promotion, he pumps her for information regarding one of her high-value clients.
His painstaking planning is disrupted by Ormon (Barry Keoghan), a violent biker Money sees as his new partner and Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), a detective determined to put an end to Mike’s crime spree.
“Crime 101” has a lot going for it. It’s a slick thriller that takes its time to let us get to know its characters. Each one of them has flaws, even the good guys have bad traits, which makes for textured storytelling.
The A-list cast provide enough star power to bring to life the ambition, obsession and disillusionment that fuel the gritty story.
And yet, for the all the positives, “Crime 101” feels as generic as its title. It’s entertaining and moody, but the story feels like Michael Mann Lite; a derivative collection of crime tropes bound together by a fancy bow.
SYNOPSIS: In “I Can Only Imagine 2,” a Christian biographical drama now playing in theatres, a successful musician battles inner demons to plot a path through personal adversity.
CAST: John Michael Finley, Milo Ventimiglia, Sophie Skelton, Arielle Kebbel, Sammy Dell, Trace Adkins, Dennis Quaid. Directed by Andrew Erwin and Brent McCorkle.
REVIEW: A sequel to 2018’s “I Can Only Imagine,” the new film sees John Michael Finley reprise his role as Bart Millard, frontman of Christian band MercyMe. The breakout success of the band’s single “I Can Only Imagine” made his dreams come true, but success didn’t bring happiness.
As the band prepare for a make-or-break arena tour, two members cash in their chips. Worse, at home things are strained between Bart and his wife Shannon (Sophie Skelton) in the wake of their 17-year-old son Sam’s (Sammy Dell) diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.
“It’s hard,” says Bart. “Why does it have to be so hard?”
MercyMe’s manager Scott (Trace Adkins) suggests Bart stay at home and concentrate on his family and writing a new single, but Bart wants to hit the road.
“It is the only place I feel I like I can breathe again. Stuff is falling apart at home. I need this.”
On the road, Bart learns life lessons from his opening act Tim Timmons (Milo Ventimiglia), a singer-songwriter with an unlikely name and an unusual form of cancer. “One of those rare ones,” he says. “There’s no roadmap for it.” From Tim, and with his faith, Bart finds the courage to face life’s uncertainties, and maybe even write a new hit song.
“What did you think,” says Scott, “you were going to ride off into the sunset with no more struggles, no more pain? That’s not how this thing works.”
“I Can Only Imagine 2” asks Bart what comes next after your dreams come true and your single tops the charts? But this is no sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll tale. It’s an inspirational faith-based road trip that leaves the spicy tour stories for “MTV’s Behind the Music.” Wholesome and somewhat predictable, it may avoid the clichés of most music movies but isn’t shy about leaning into the formula that made the original 2018 film a hit.
Bart’s inner battles with his rocky past relationship with his father (Dennis Quaid), and the present situations with his family and band, are a launch pad for the film’s messages of maintaining faith through anguish, and as such, are effectively portrayed. It’s a story of renewal of faith and spiritual growth that works when co-directors Andrew Erwin and Brent McCorkle lay off the sentimentality, which is not often enough.
Still, despite a predictable outcome with some soppiness along the way, “I Can Only Imagine 2” is an earnest, tuneful movie targeted at churchgoers, about how resilient faith can be.
