CTV ATLANTIC: RICHARD AND TODD BATTIS ON NEW MOVIES IN THEATRES!
I join CTV Atlantic anchor Todd Battis to talk about the thriller “Drop,” the gritty “Warfare” and the Rami Malek revenge drama “The Amateur.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Posts Tagged ‘Adrian Martinez’
CKTB NIAGARA REGION: THE STEPH VIVIER SHOW WITH RICHARD CROUSE ON MOVIES!
I sit in with CKTB morning show guest host Karl Dockstader to have a look at movies in theatres including the thriller “Drop,” the gritty “Warfare,” the Rami Malek revenge drama “The Amateur” and Prime Video’s “G20.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the thriller “Drop,” the gritty “Warfare,” the Rami Malek revenge drama “The Amateur” and Prime Video’s “G20.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
YOU TUBE: THREE MOVIES/THIRTY SECONDS! FAST REVIEWS FOR BUSY PEOPLE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to pickup what “Drop” is putting down, and tell you about the dramas “Warfare” and “The Amateur.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
THE AMATEUR: 2 STARS. “workmanlike with style but few actual thrills.”
SYNOPSIS: In “The Amateur,” a new thriller now playing in theatres, Rami Malek plays a CIA cryptographer whose life is touched by tragedy when his wife is killed in a terror attack. When the agency refuses to investigate he takes matters into his own hands. Despite being “just a nerdy guy who works on computers,” he vows to use his unique set of skills to get vengeance. “I want to face my wife’s killers,” he says, “look them in the eyes, and balance the scales.”
CAST: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Adrian Martinez, Danny Sapani and Laurence Fishburne. Directed by James Hawes.
REVIEW: “The Amateur,” based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Robert Littell, is a workmanlike thriller, with loads of style but few actual thrills.
The story of vengeance, set into motion after CIA cryptographer Charles Heller’s (Rami Malek) wife is murdered in a terror attack, aspires to be a layered look at grief, anger, the integrity of institutional organizations and the ethics of revenge, is instead a slackly paced movie that is all surface and no depth.
It begins with promise. There’s a cast headlined by Oscar, Tony and Emmy winners, a premise that reflects government conspiracy theories and worldwide unrest, and who doesn’t love a revenge drama? But as the story unfolds it becomes a jumble of ideas that are never pulled together in a tight enough package to become truly engaging.
Malek is in virtually every scene and acquits himself well as the smartest-guy-in-the-room-with-a-grudge, but there’s never any real heat around the character. We are told over and over how brilliant he is, so while he plays a life-and-death game of “Survivor” with the baddies, it’s almost a certainty that he will Outwit, Outplay and Outlast everyone. The predictable nature of his near misses and close scrapes becomes less interesting with every minute of the film’s runtime.
And don’t get me started on the underuse of Rachel Brosnahan, who is barely given any screen time, and when she is, is relegated to playing an idealized version of Charles’ wife. Laurence Fishburne fares better but is still a stock character. He plays a no-nonsense tough guy, ripe with gravitas. It feels like the original script called for a “Laurence Fishburn type” and then they were lucky enough to get Laurence Fishburn. It’s a shame they don’t give him more to do.
As a thriller “The Amateur” rarely raises the pulse rate, but it is as a vehicle for its supporting actors that it really disappoints.
RENFIELD: 3 ½ STARS. “Cage is equal parts creepy, campy and dangerous.”
“Renfield,” a new horror comedy starring Nicholas Hoult as the beleaguered familiar to the Prince of Darkness (Nicolas Cage), pays homage to the menace of Universal’s 1931 “Dracula,” while adding some fun with the addition of gory laughs.
Hoult is Robert Montagu Renfield, an assistant to the narcissistic Count Dracula, galvanized with just enough vampiric power to be able to subdue victims for his master’s pleasure.
“Renfield,” sneers Dracula, “your sole purpose is to serve me! Now let’s eat!”
Together for almost 100 years, Renfield spent most of that time eating bugs and risking life and limb to provide for Dracula’s voracious appetite. He’s at his wit’s end, but it’s not until his latest job, looking for potential victims at a counselling group for people trapped in toxic relationships, turns from a hunting ground to a self-actualization session, that he has a moment of clarity.
“I will no longer tolerate abuse,” he says, after listening to the stories shared by the group. “I deserve happiness.”
His journey to a normal life begins with Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), a New Orleans traffic cop still stinging from the loss of her father at the hands of the violent Lobo crime family run by Ella (Shohreh Aghdashloo). When Renfield uses his Dracula-given powers to save Rebecca and others from mob enforcer Teddy Lobo (Ben Schwartz), he is seen as a hero for the first time in his life. Empowered, he now faces his greatest enemy, his employer Dracula.
“I will unleash an army of death,” Dracula threatens. “Everyone you care about will suffer because you betrayed me.”
Perhaps an alternate title for “Renfield” might have been “Dracula: I’m OK, You’re OK.” A mix of Bram Stoker and group therapy pioneer Joseph H. Pratt, it is a modern interpretation of the Dracula legend and therapeutic treatment that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The blend of self-help and horror is absurd, but director Chris McKay keeps his foot on the pedal, barreling through the story and recreating vampire lore–in this version, for instance, eating bugs isn’t a sign of madness, it gives Renfield superhero ability—with the efficiency of Van Helsing’s stake carver.
In on the fun are the dueling Nics, Hoult and Cage. This is the hapless Renfield’s story, so his search for freedom and redemption takes a chomp out of the film’s economical 90-minute running time, allowing Hoult to go from sniveling supernatural servant to empowered paladin at a quick pace. It’s a fun, lightweight performance, that works whether he’s opposite Awkwafina, who plays it broad, or Cage who is equal parts creepy, campy and dangerous.
With a mouthful of needle-like teeth, super strength and an uncanny resemblance to Bela Lugosi, Cage sinks his teeth into Dracula in a performance that benefits from the actor’s gonzo approach. He is supernatural, but his narcissistic “I’m the real victim here!” attitude is deeply human, often hilarious and is the lifeblood of the film.
“Renfield” is based on an original pitch by Robert Kirkman, co-creator of “The Walking Dead,” so you know it will deliver the old-school splatter, but it is the way it updates and pays homage to the Dracula legend, filtered through some very dark comedy, that gives it its bite.
Metro Canada: Adrian Martinez is proud of being “sidekick to the stars.”
By Richard Crouse – Metro Canada
Adrian Martinez is “that guy.” You recognize his face but probably don’t know his name. He’s the actor you’ve seen in everything from American Hustle to The Amazing Spider-Man to this weekend’s Focus, standing just to the side of the main actors. He’s the sidekick to the stars, a moniker he wears proudly.
“Sidekick to the Stars?” he says. “That’s absolutely cool with me. I’m working and it’s the best film school in the world.”
From Ben Stiller, his “teacher” and Secret Life of Walter Mitty co-star, he says he learned “how to compartmentalize your energy. Nobody works harder than Ben Stiller. He was acting all day, directing and then editing.”
“Will Ferrell,” he says, “is surprisingly not funny on set except during the takes when he’s hysterical. I took discipline away from him.”
In Focus Martinez plays Farhad, a computer expert and associate of scam artist Nicky Spurgeon, played by Will Smith. It’s a small but important role, which gave Martinez the chance to watch Smith in action as they shot the film in New Orleans and Buenos Aires.
“From Will Smith I learned gratitude,” he says. “This is a guy who’s been doing this a long while and every day on set he was absolutely invested in the well being of everyone. He would gauge the temperature of the room and if he felt people were dragging he would just start dancing. Literally get jiggy with it. I felt, wow, this guy doesn’t have to do anything and he’s doing everything to lead the pack into the right place.”
He puts those lessons to work in a variety of gigs from comedy to drama, from big screen to small.
“I do television and commercials,” he says. “I don’t care. I just work. The way I’ve always seen it is that commercials are the haiku of acting, TV is like the short stories and movies are the novels. Whatever format you use as an actor you’re still a character whether it is six seconds or an hour-and-a-half.”
Finding a way to balance his professional and personal lives was a lesson he learned from a source off set.
“I have a nine-year-old daughter and she keeps it in perspective fore me,” he says. “The other day we were talking and I said, ‘Isn’t this great? I’m in Los Angeles but we can facetime and see each other.’ She said, very cogently, ‘You can’t hug in a facetime daddy.’ She doesn’t fool around. She brings it right home. I flying back to New York today and I can’t wait to hug her.”
