SYNOPSIS: In “The Uprising,” a violent historical drama from director Paul Greengrass now playing in theatres, a rebellion rises against the tyranny of King Richard II’s and his onerous taxation.
CAST: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Cosmo Jarvis, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Katherine Waterston. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass.
REVIEW: Gritty and kinetic, “The Uprising” is a story of struggle for class equality that gets medieval on its subject.
Set against the true events of the 1381 English Peasants’ Revolt in the aftermath of the Black Death, “The Uprising” wastes no time jumping in action. To fund a lavish lifestyle, feudal serfdom and endless wars King Richard II (Woody Norman), and his cabal of self-interested advisors, send tax collectors to the countryside to forcibly extract money from every person aged fifteen and above, a tax the farmers simply cannot afford.
“The taxes,” shouts heretical priest John Ball (Jamie Bell), “you ask too much!”
When the King’s men assault the local women and children, a farmer named Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) reaches his breaking point and fights back, sparking a bloody uprising led by Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis) and Ploughman. Cobbling together an army of the oppressed from across the country, they stormed London, breached the Tower, and demanded justice from the King. “There will be no peace until we are free.”
A story of justice and treachery, “The Uprising” is not your typical historical drama. Heavy doses of grim mano-a-mano violence—so many beheadings—shot through director Paul Greengrass’s roaming, handheld camera give the film some frenetic forward motion, like a medieval video game.
The almost epic crowd scenes and the rampage through London are immersive—although the use of CGI to bulk up the mobs is noticeable and distracting—and captures the chaos of the large-scale battles but Greengrass’s in-your-face shooting style occasionally makes it hard to determine who’s smiting who.
As Ploughman, Andrew Garfield brings soulfulness and a haircut that seems too modern by about 600 years. His character is the instigator of the action, but he’s also a symbol of working-class resistance and as such carries much of the weight of the film’s political messaging. He’s up to the task, handing in a raw performance, tempered by rage and the grief he suffers in the wake of the loss of his wife and children during the plague, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that he’s a man out of time, too contemporary for the role.
“The Uprising” has none of the formalism of many other historical dramas. In the style of his Jason Bourne movies, Greengrass’s restless camera is always on the move, which brings immediacy to the action but threatens to overwhelm the film’s core study of class, tyranny and survival.
I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the family fantasy fiulm “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the Crave DC drama “Lanterns” with Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre and the witty and wistful “Late Fame” starring Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee.
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about the fantasy of “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the horrors of “Insidious: Out of the Further,” the character study of “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the drama of “Late Fame.”
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about the fantasy of “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the horrors of “Insidious: Out of the Further,” the character study of “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the drama of “Late Fame.”
I sit with NewsTalk 1010 guest host Mark Towhey on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about the US Army offering time off to play a new video game, how Janet Jackson got Matthew McConaughey to quit weed, then I review “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the fantasy flick “The Magic Faraway Tree.”
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the fantasy of “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the horrors of “Insidious: Out of the Further,” the character study of “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the drama of “Late Fame.”
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make a sandwich. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the fantasy of “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the character study of “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the drama of “Late Fame.”
SYNOPSIS: In “The Magic Faraway Tree,” a modern fairytale for kids and the young at heart, a family discovers what it means to be a family in this tale of dreams, childlike wonder and tomato sauce. “The magic of childhood is always forgot,” says Moonface (Nonso Anozie), “but this is the story of one who did not.”
CAST: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Nonso Anozie, Nicola Coughlan, Jessica Gunning, Jennifer Saunders, Rebecca Ferguson. Directed by Ben Gregor.
REVIEW: Adapted from Enid Blyton’s book series “The Faraway Tree,” the film is a cheerful and charming film that embraces its whimsical nature to provide both heartfelt and humorous moments.
Andrew Garfield is Tim, a stay-at-home dad to technology addicted teenagers Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy), Joe (Phoenix Laroche) and Fran (Billie Gadsdon) and husband to inventor Polly (Claire Foy). When she discovers the high-tech fridge she’s been working on is also being used to spy on its owners, she hastily quits. With her resignation goes the family’s company home and car, leaving them at a crossroads.
Hauling out their Dream Binder, a decade old collection of paintings of their hopes and dreams, the couple to run away and start a new life and a tomato sauce business in the country.
“The countryside is filled with the most amazing trees,” says Tim. “Literally the most boring things in the world,” says the dour-faced Beth, who can’t imagine an unplugged life.
On arrival they find a house that is not really a house. “It is more of a barn,” says Polly. The older, unimpressed kids can’t charge their gadgets, and Joe asks, “Are we going back in time?”
When youngest daughter Fran returns a purse dropped by a someone on the woods, she receives an invitation to the mystical Far Away Magic Tree by tree resident Silky (Nicola Coughlan). Despite being warned not to go into the enchanted woods, Fran makes the trip and discovers a world of fairies and new worlds, like the Land of Goodies.
Fran returns days later with her siblings who visit the Land of Birthdays, where Beth makes a wish that just might change the family’s lives and fortunes.
“The Magic Faraway Tree” shares the sentiment of “Toy Story 5.” Both films discourage screen use and encourage embracing the imagination and playtime of childhood but do so in very different ways. The Pixar film is dramatic versus the quirky, broad tone of “The Magic Faraway tree.” Part fantasy, part Benny Hill (but without the annoying music), it’s a heartwarming cross between an English pantomime, “Narnia” and the family dynamics of “Paddington.” Screenwriter Simon Farnaby, it should be noted, wrote “Paddington 2.” Then influences blends together like puzzle pieces, especially in the fantasy scenes.
“The Magic Faraway Tree” is a sweet natured, uplifting story of a family repairing broken bonds that delivers a dose of adult dreams tempered by child-like magic.
SYNOPSIS: Part rom com and part essay on what lingers after we’re gone, “We Live in Time” stars Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield as a couple who learn to cherish the short time they have together.
CAST: Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Adam James, Marama Corlett, Aoife Hinds. Directed by John Crowley.
REVIEW: Told with a broken chronology, jumping to-and-fro in time, “We Live in Time” begins as a light and frothy rom com but becomes a touching story of love and loss.
Before it becomes a four-hankie tearjerker, however, it acts as a showcase for the chemistry and charisma of its leads Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, as it captures their meet cute and the initial spark of their love. Those sections are playful, imbued with a sense of hope and expectation at where this relationship may take them.
When Almut (Pugh) is diagnosed with a recurrence of ovarian cancer, the film becomes less about the romance, and more about the transcendental nature of living life on a deadline. “Let’s just say I’m not sure I can go through all that again,” she says. Having gone through chemo once before—“All I did was go bald and puke my guts out,” she says—she opts for quality of life versus quantity opting to have six great months, rather than get treatment and live twelve “passive” months.
It sets the couple, and their young daughter Ella (Grace Delaney), on a journey to live as fully as possible in the time they have left together.
The film’s unconventional puzzle structure goes a long way in preventing the story from becoming a maudlin tale of a young mother’s demise. It can take a few minutes to acclimatize to the time travel, but once the film’s rhythm makes itself clear, the shifting between good times and bad tempers the movie’s innate tragedy.
Tempers, but doesn’t erase. When Almut says, “I don’t want my relationship with Ella to be defined by my decline,” it is as devastating an admission as we’re likely to hear in a movie this year.
Cue the Kleenex.
“We Live in Time” is funnier than you might imagine it will be, but it is still a weepie, although one that skirts easy sentimentality. That’s because of the richness of the characters, courtesy of Pugh and Garfield, the intimacy they create on screen, and director John Crowley’s insistence that a movie about death can still be life-affirming.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Uprising,” a violent historical drama from director Paul Greengrass now playing in theatres, a rebellion rises against the tyranny of King Richard II’s and his onerous taxation.
