I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the big screen adventures of “Supergirl” and the drama “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 38:44)
I join CBC’s Radio Noon Quebec with Shawn Apel to talk about why “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” remains iconic 40 years after its release.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I sit with guest host Mark Towhey on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about a movie to watch to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The CN Tower, an animated version of “Survivor” coming soon to theatres, “Supergirl’s” flight onto the big screen and a very expensive piece of Ted Lasso swag.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Matt Skube to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join NewsTalk 1010 host Deb Hutton to talk about Owen Gleiberman’s notorious pan of “Supergirl” and the role of the film critic in the arts.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to brush your teeth. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: A mix of classic stunts and new, never-before-seen deeds of derring-do, “Jackass: Best and Last” is a compilation of idiotic behaviour that will puzzle and please audiences in equal measure.
CAST: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, and Danger Ehren, Poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson. Directed by Jeff Tremaine.
REVIEW: Depending on your point of view, “Jackass: Best and Last” is either a masochistic pageant passing as entertainment or, as head prankster Johnny Knoxville says, “a celebration of friendship and stupidity.”
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
A mix of footage from the last twenty-five years of “Jackass” absurdity, plus new, never-before-seen pranks and interviews with the cast, the movie is a celebration of punishment in the name of fun.
Longtime fans will remember the wild Brad Pitt’s Abduction and the late Ryan Dunn’s Butt X-Ray gag, which are intercut with new stunts like Poopies’ Penis Shock Collar Balance Beam and the Steve-O’s Peanut Butter Robot Prostrate Exam. Guest star Paul Walter Hauser does not understate the case when he calls it, “Make-A-Wish if it was punishment.”
Not for the faint of heart, it’s a cavalcade of maltreatment and bad decisions that comes across as a love letter to a quarter century of “Jackass” and their unique brand of idiotic cabaret.
Knoxville and Company, though hobbled by age and infirmity, are as enthusiastic today as they were in the early 2000s to shove things in orifices where they don’t belong and risk life and disease in service of their own brand of absurdity. You have to admire the enthusiasm, even if some of the material, like the game of Colonoscopy Prep Twister, is some of the grossest stuff ever committed to film.
Audiences, I think, love the nasty stuff in the same way they like horror movies. Each scare delivers a safe jolt of dopamine and “Jackass” gives viewers that same rush without requiring them to take a kick to the groin.
A movie for people who don’t have enough nonsense in their lives, it’s like watching ninety minutes of bloopers and outtakes. There’s no story, no character arcs, just abuse and camaraderie.
But it is that sense of kinship that elevates “Jackass: Best and Last” from a gleeful Grand Guignol style stunt movie to a portrait of misfits who found a niche and a de facto family. It would almost be sweet if they didn’t spend so much of the runtime covered in feces.
With the release of “Jackass: Best and Last” the anarchic franchise goes the way of dial-up modems and phonebooks. As the curtain falls (allegedly for the final time) there is no epiphany, no lessons learned, just dangerous stunts, hysterical reactions and pure escapism. It’s slapstick that takes the idea that it’s always funny when someone falls and amps it up to eleven.
The very definition of a film that won’t be for everyone, it will leave fans with a sense of nostalgia but may leave non-fans feeling like cast member Ryan Dunn, who said, “I’m really questioning myself right now,” as he prepared to shove a toy car where the sun don’t shine.
SYNOPSIS: In “Blood Lines,” a new family drama now playing in theatres, an estranged Métis mother and daughter’s attempt at reunion are thrown into disarray when a woman arrives in their community looking for her biological family.
CAST: Gail Maurice, Tamara Podemski, Dana Solomon, David Webster, Melanie Bray, Derica Lyn Lafrance, Margaret Maurice, Mary Burnouf, Bertha Durocher, David Webster, Michaela Washburn, Ryan G. Hinds,
REVIEW: A study of cultural belonging, “Blood Lines” is a powerful, if uneven, look at reconciliation and healing.
Set in the tightly knit Métis community of Wapamon Sipi, “Blood Lines” focusses on Beatrice (Dana Solomon) a Two-Spirited storyteller, local newspaper reporter and Eager Beaver store clerk. Her quiet life is upended when two women appear in her life.
First is Léonore (Gail Maurice), Beatrice’s estranged mother, who shows up after years away looking for a place to live.
“You can’t stay here,” Beatrice tells her.
“I’ll stay in the shack with my dogs,” says Léonore.
“Suit yourself.”
Around the same time Chani (Derica Lafrance) arrives in town looking for information on her biological roots. “It’s like a part of me is missing,” she says. “Like I can’t see part of myself.” Beatrice sparks immediately with Chandi and helps her track down her family.
Romance blossoms with Chandi, but Léonore’s return stirs up long buried resentment for Beatrice. “You chose alcohol over me.” As their lives intertwine, issues of intergenerational trauma, identity and the heartbreak of family collide.
With dialogue in both Michif, one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, and English, “Blood Lines” authentically captures the intricacies of life in its Métis community which, along with nice, natural performances, grounds the film with a lovely, lived-in vibe. Add to that comic relief from The Grannies (Bertha Durocher, Maggie Maurice and Mary Burnouf), a trio of meddling elder women who provide wisdom and laughs and you have a richly detailed portrait of life in Wapamon Sipi.
A late movie twist, however, doesn’t feel as organic. The turn feels a hair too melodramatic for a movie so based in tangible authenticity.
SYNOPSIS: In “Supergirl,” a new DC Comics superhero film now playing in theatres, Milly Alcock plays Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl. “My cousin and I,” she says, “have very different ideas about what it means to be a hero.”
CAST: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa. Directed by Craig Gillespie.
REVIEW: “Supergirl” has an obvious affection for not only DC Comics, but also “Star Wars,” “John Wick” and a handful of post-apocalyptic flicks but allows those influences to get in the way of establishing a style and personality of its own.
After spending the first fourteen years of her life on Krypton, watching everyone and everything she loved be destroyed, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) finds herself more flawed than fierce. “Krypton didn’t die in a day,” she says. “The gods are not that kind.”
After a life of loss—and a wild interplanetary bender to celebrate her twenty-third birthday—she discovers a sense of purpose when she meets Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), a heartbroken child looking for vengeance after merciless villain Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), destroyed her home and killed her family.
Together they set off on a mission of interstellar justice that uses their pain to find strength.
Loosely based on the “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” comic book series, the origin story is darker in tone than you might expect. What could have been a “Guardians of the Galaxy” style space romp is, instead, more of a mixed bag.
A raw and physical performance from Alcock, who channels both the character’s heroic spirit and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’s?” drunken, unpredictable Martha, lies at the film’s center. It’s highwire work with a lot of grit—have we seen a superhero vomit on screen before?—and emotional depth. Her trauma has left her scarred; cynical about her place in the world, and Alcock goes for it, embracing both the character’s hedonistic, haunted and heroic sides.
Her trauma drives the story, and, for a time, it feels unique. As the story develops, winding its way from a revenge drama to a more traditional superhero narrative, however, it becomes generic. The large-scale battle scenes are cluttered and so frenetic, it’s often impossible to follow the action. When you can, despite some good fight choreography—Supergirl is an agile, animated brawler—the fights are chaotic, but not fresh.
“Supergirl’s” real kryptonite, however, is in its desire to both defy audience expectations while, at the same time, making a big budget superhero flick. Director Craig Gillespie, working from a script by Ana Nogueira, smooths off the rough edges that make Supergirl interesting in favor of a generic, derivative approach. The result is a movie that folds a unique character into the usual collection of big battles, laughs and cool creatures. It feels familiar, which maybe doesn’t breed contempt in this case, but it does evoke a certain kind of apathy.
