SYNOPSIS: “Sorry, Baby” from writer, director and star Eva Victor, is a black comedy about sexual assault and survival.
CAST: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack. Directed by Eva Victor.
REVIEW: An idiosyncratic comedy, “Sorry, Baby” is a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking look at a very difficult subject.
Told on a broken timeline, the story of English professor Agnes (Eva Victor) is told in a series of chapters, beginning long after the movie’s inciting incident.
In the opening segment Lydie (Naomi Ackie), Agnes’s best friend and former roommate, comes to visit from NYC. Their deep bond is immediately apparent as they get caught up, share in-jokes and intimate details of their lives.
It’s also evident that something tragic hangs over Agnes like a dark cloud.
Later, in a segment titled “The Year with the Bad Thing” we learn about a sexual assault (NO SPOILERS HERE), and the long-lasting effects of that physical betrayal.
As Agnes’s rock and best friend, Ackie is a font of understanding, humor and ride-or-die friendship. It’s a lovely performance that reveals the character’s steeliness, vulnerabilities and concern. She always knows the right thing to say, and more importantly, in an extended scene in which Agnes recounts the assault, knows when to listen.
The star of the show, however, is Victor. “Sorry, Baby” is a remarkably assured debut as a writer and director, but it is her breakout performance as a person who uses humor and intelligence as a shield as protection from trauma, that is both devastating and captivating. Her deadpan humor and occasional silences mask a deep-rooted pain, and Victor carries the film’s emotional weight as she looks toward recovery.
“Sorry, Baby” is a layered look at trauma that allows Agnes room to heal. She was victimized, but she isn’t a victim. Instead, she’s on a complex journey of healing, with all the attendant, knotty emotions that accompany that process.
SYNOPSIS: “Heads of State” is a Prime Video action-comedy featuring Idris Elba as Sam Clarke, a former commando-turned UK Prime Minister, and John Cena as Will Derringer, a former action star, now President of the United States, who is as loose as Clarke is uptight. “He still hasn’t figured out the difference between a press conference and a press junket,” says Clarke. When an international conspiracy threatens world peace, they can save the world, but only if they can put aside their differences. “The universe keeps telling me I look cool with a gun in my hand,” says Derringer.
CAST: Idris Elba, John Cena, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jack Quaid, Carla Gugino, Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, Sarah Niles, Richard Coyle, Clare Foster, Katrina Durden, Aleksandr Kuznetsov. Directed by Ilya Naishuller.
REVIEW: If the title “Heads of State” sounds like a throwback title from the 1990s it’s because the film is a return to the action comedies of the Clinton years. It’s a crowd-pleasing mix of likeable leads, ridiculous action and humor that echoes movies like “True Lies” or “Rush Hour,” films that got the balance of laughs and action just right.
The “embarrassing popcorn president” named William Matthew Derringer—“Your initials are WMD?” Clark asks incredulously—and the pragmatic prime minister are the engine that keeps “Heads of State” on track. A stacked supporting cast, including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jack Quaid, Carla Gugino, Paddy Considine and Stephen Root, fill out the film’s edges, but it is Elba and Cena who hold its center, nicely playing off their opposite personalities.
Reteamed from “The Suicide Squad,” where they shared action-comedy moments as Bloodsport and Peacemaker, they are chalk and cheese with the chops to hold the film’s disparate tone together.
For the most part “Heads of State” avoids any heavy moralizing and sticks to its frenetic but lighthearted vibe. Sure, there is a disbanding NATO subplot, some America First banter and it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out who screenwriters Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Harrison Query are referring to when they have a character say, “The people elect a dopey actor as leader of the free world, of course their country can’t survive,” but “Head of State” isn’t about political discourse. It’s about chemistry and bombastic action, tinged with a hint of nostalgia for the buddy movies of the past.
I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best shows and movies to watch this weekend, including the film “His Father’s Son” in theatres, the docuseries “Call Her Alex” and the Apple TV+ series “Smoke” with Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett.
I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the weekend’s best movies and television including the Crave series “The Gilded Age” and the pedal to the metal “F1” in theatres.
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alamn to talk about new movies in theatres including the wicked quick “F1,” the AI action of “M3GAN 2.0,” and the family drama of “His Father’s Son.”
Deb is off, so I sit in with host Jim Richards on NewsTalk 1010 to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” We talk about Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve taking the helm of the next James Bond movie, some free screenings at the CFC and the whiz bang action of “F1.”
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the wicked quick “F1,” the AI action of “M3GAN 2.0,” and the family drama of “His Father’s Son.”
SYNOPSIS: “Sorry, Baby” from writer, director and star Eva Victor, is a black comedy about sexual assault and survival.
