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 biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street” and the slasher flick “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Stephanie Tsicos to talk about the biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street,” the kid’s flick “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” and the stoner comedy “The Wrong Girls.”
Watch 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 blues and Morgan Freeman, Judge Judy and the passing of the gavel, more “Hacks” and on Booze & Reviews I review “Tony” and suggest a cocktail Anthony Bourdain noted will make you wonder what happened to your pants after drink number three!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Tony,” a new biopic of late author, television star and chef Anthony Bourdain, a nineteen-year-old Bourdain spends one life-changing summer working at a restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
CAST: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas. Directed by Matt Johnson.
REVIEW: Long before Anthony Bourdain was Anthony with a capital “A,” author of the bestselling memoir “Kitchen Confidential” and host of “Parts Unknown,” he was a self-described, “a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking,” who preferred to be called Tony (“The Holdovers” star Dominic Sessa).
It’s 1975, he’s a nineteen-year-old Vassar student convinced he’s about to be awarded a writing fellowship for a novel he admits is more of an “idea for an idea” than an actual book. When the fellowship falls through, he licks his wounds with a trip to Provincetown, Massachusetts to track down his high school crush Nancy (Emilia Jones) who’s working there at a pizza joint for the summer.
Still trying to pass himself off as a writer, he ends up broke, with a black eye and no prospects until he takes a job as a dishwasher in a seaside restaurant called The Flagship in return for a place to stay with the Chef (Antonio Banderas).
In the kitchen he finds a community of misfits, like the reckless Sal (Leo Woodal), who show him the ropes, as in how to shuck oysters and chase away hangovers with a morning beer or a line or two of cocaine.
A coming-of-age story with a little Sex, Drugs and Oyster Shucking mixed in for good measure, “Tony” is not an imitation of Bourdain’s worldly television persona. As played by Sessa, he’s a self-absorbed hothead, with a loose relationship with the truth, still trying to make his way. Sessa captures Bourdain on the rough edge of adulthood. Out of his depth, personally and professionally, he’s a teenager desperate to be a grown up in the face of one humbling experience after another.
He’s a complex character, equal parts intellect, hubris and underdog energy, a lump of clay not yet molded into the man he would become. Sessa captures him in a soulful performance that doesn’t shy away from the unsavory or obsessive parts of Bourdain’s personality, one that run parallel to the film’s opening quote—”spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout,” etc—but adds in just enough charm to make us care about what happens to him.
Unsurprisingly, he is the movie’s beating heart—it is a biopic after all—but director Matt Johnson populates his world with interesting characters to add color to the tale. From the chaos and camaraderie of the kitchen, provided by Woodall, Stavros Halkias as the big-mouthed Stavros, Michael Jibrin as the steady-handed Tyrone and Antonio Banderas as the Chef who changes Bourdain’s life with tough love and buckets of water (you’ll know what I mean when you see the film) to the love interest Nancy, played by Emilia Jones, the film creates an interesting community with a nice dollop of Ptown’s 1970s boho vibe thrown in.
Johnson’s trademark energy and play fulness are fully on display, particularly in the kitchen scenes.
This isn’t like five-star vibe of “The Bear.” With no hope of ever getting reviewed or being awarded a Michelin Star, this kitchen is a home for odd ducks cranking out food for tourists. Johnson’s intimate style paints a vivid picture of the controlled chaos that goes into a lunch or dinner service. He even stages an oyster shucking scene that, for anyone who’s ever been handed a sharp knife and an oyster, will play like a scene from a horror movie.
Given Bourdain’s exalted stature in popular culture, “Tony” could easily have slipped into hagiography. Public sentiment for his unique brand of exploration and pop cultural philosophy still burns bright eight years after his death, but like the man himself, the movie rejects mythology and goes for authenticity over artifice to serve as both a reminder and eulogy of a fascinatingly confounding character.
SYNOPSIS: In “Paddington in Peru,” the marmalade loving bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw, searches for his cherished Aunt Lucy who has gone missing in the Peruvian jungle. Helping Paddington on his dangerous quest are Oscar winner Olivia Colman as a cheery singing nun, a brave boat captain played by Antonio Banderas and his adopted parents Henry (Hugh Bonneville) and Mary (Emily Mortimer, replacing Sally Hawkins).
CAST: Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Carla Tous, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas and Ben Whishaw. Directed by Dougal Wilson.
REVIEW: If the world worked the way it is supposed to there would be a picture of Paddington the Bear next to the word ‘adorable’ in your dogeared copy of Funk and Wagnalls.
Since 1958, when the marmalade loving, spectacled bear first appeared in print, he has been an avatar for mischievous fun, kindness and overall, unescapable lovability.
Eight years after two perfectly perfect instalments of the bear’s adventures with his adopted English family comes “Paddington in Peru,” a new adventure that is sure to please family audiences, but the ambitious story doesn’t have the magic of the first two films.
The impossibly cute Paddington, voiced by Ben Wishaw, is still the kindhearted agent of mild chaos he has always been, but this time around his adopted family, the Browns, play a larger role. Emily Watson and Hugh Bonneville are up to the task, expertly riding the line between silly and sentimental, but the film Itself feels less whimsical than its predecessors.
Having said that, Olivia Coleman, as the singing nun at The Home for Retired Bears, brings a big dollop of fun in the “Sound of Music” inspired musical number “Let’s Prepare for Paddington.”
Paul King, director of the first two instalments, brought an eccentric charm to Paddington’s world that was undeniably wondrous. That world is still evident, but this time around director Dougal Wilson opts for action and adventure, most of which is very compelling, and character driven, but it doesn’t lift off the screen the way the first two films did.
Nonetheless, “Paddington in Peru” is a thoroughly enjoyable family film, one with timely subtext about immigration (Paddington gets his British passport in the film’s early minutes), identity and loyalty, and, of course, is laced with the bear’s good-natured way of seeing the best in everyone, even those who done him wrong.
SYNOPSIS: In “Babygirl,” a new erotic thriller now playing on theatres, a high-powered CEO, played by Nicole Kidman, risks her career and family over an affair with a much younger intern (Harris Dickinson).
CAST: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, and Antonio Banderas. Directed by Halina Reijn.
REVIEW: A story of sexual power, control and humiliation that extends far beyond a typical office romance story, “Babygirl” is risky and frisky with a fearless performance from Nicole Kidman.
Kidman is Romy, a high-flying executive who shares two daughters with husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas). Outwardly the couple are happy, but Romy harbors a deep dissatisfaction with their sex life. Then, when she interviews Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a confident young man applying to be an intern at her company, something happens.
As he questions her coffee intake—“You shouldn’t drink coffee after lunch,” he scolds.—sparks fly, and soon Romy tests the boundaries of the employer / employee power dynamic.
But this isn’t a typical movie about a cheating spouse or secret workplace trysts. In Samuel, Romy finds the thing she is missing in her marriage. She wants to be dominated, to relinquish her power within her sex life. She has the power in the workplace (unless they are alone), while relinquishing it extra-curricular-ly.
The difference between “Babygirl” and “50 Shades of Grey” comes down to consent. Romy finds satisfaction within the submission she offers Samuel. While subservient, she is getting what she desires out of their relationship.
As Romy, Kidman contains multitudes. Steely and vulnerable, daring and passionate, she doesn’t play shame. This is a story about finding one’s authentic self and while Romy may be submissive, she’s also a seeker.
“Fatal Attraction” this ain’t.
The movie belongs to Kidman, but she’s ably supported by Dickinson, who oozes confidence and charisma and Banderas, who charmingly plays against his sex symbol image.
“Babygirl” is a daring, unapologetically erotic film that explores the character’s sexuality and psychology.
The artefact at the heart of the action in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is a time shifting device called the Antikythera. This ancient, analogue computer with the power to find fissures in time, however, isn’t the only thing about the movie that revisits the past.
Everything old is new again in director James Mangold’s vision of the classic action-adventure. There’s the much talked about de-aging of Ford, the grand old man of action-adventure which effectively brings backs the classic Indy of the original film, and the reappearance of much-loved characters like John Rhys-Davies as Sallah. Even the new characters, like Helena, played by “Fleabag’s” Phoebe Waller-Bridge, feels like a throwback to the characters invented by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas when Ronald Reagan was still in office.
The action begins in 1944. Indy (the de-aged Ford) risks everything to help his colleague Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) keep Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) from getting his hands on
a mysterious dial known as the Antikythera. Used properly, the dial has the ability to manipulate time, and say, change the outcome of a certain war. “Hitler made mistakes,” says Voller. “And with this, I will correct them all.”
Cut to twenty-five years later. America has just landed on the moon, and the nation is jubilant but it is a jubilation the weathered Indy does not share. In the wake of his separation from
Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and the death of his son, he starts each day with a shot of booze and a bad attitude.
On the eve of his retirement from teaching, a face from the past shows up. Helena Shaw (Waller-Bridge) is Basil Shaw’s daughter, Indy’s estranged goddaughter, an archeologist and a thief. Her interest in the Antikythera lures Indy back into a world of international adventure, former Nazis and the echoes of history come to life. “You’ve taken your chances, made your mistakes,” Helena says to Indy, “and now, a final triumph!”
Nothing is likely to ever live up to the adrenaline rush of seeing “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the first time. The expert balance of action, comedy, suspense and mysticism is a cut above and nearly impossible to duplicate. The retro newness of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is an attempt to recapture the magic, and it does deliver a hefty dose of whip-crackin’ thrills, but like the de-aged Ford in the film’s opening twenty minutes, it doesn’t exactly feel like the real thing.
It is, however, respectful of what came before. Mangold transcends the film’s recycled nature with some exciting action set pieces, and even if the stunts don’t feel as organic as they did the first time around, they deliver a welcome blast of vintage Indy action. There’s even a callback to Indy’s well-known fear of snakes. A highlight is a wild chase through the streets and alleyways of Tangier that mixes humor, action and peril in equal measure.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael captures the classic Indy look, an aesthetic and color palette that disappeared sometime around “Crystal Skull.” Visually, it’s like a warm hug that spans back decades.
Of course, the crucial element is Ford. He may need more CGI to hopscotch around on the top of trains and through sunken caves these days, but he brings the OG 70s movie star mojo and a Traveller’s hat full of charisma that has not diminished over the years. There is a poignancy to Ford’s lion-in-winter portrayal of the character, and, as a result, (NO SPOILERS HERE) there is an emotional component to the film’s final reel, as Indy confronts the anguish he feels, that may be the most touching moment in the entire series.
He’s ably assisted by the wisecracking Waller-Bridge and stoically evil Mikkelsen.
The story and action in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” gets slowed down from time-to-time by too much talk of the Lance of Longinus, Polybius Squares and the Ear of Dionysius. Mangold makes up for those moments with John Williams’s rousing, signature score and a wild, and unexpected third reel payoff. The movie may not turn back the clock to have the cultural impact of the original, but it is a lot of fun.
In 2011, I accused the first movie in the “Puss in Boots” franchise of neutering the once-charming character. We fell in love with the frisky feline, as voiced by Antonio Banderas, in the “Shrek” movies, but his journey from supporting to leading character was far from purrfect. The movies were predictable and worse, had none of the purr-sonality (OK. I’ll stop with the cat puns now) of the “Shrek” movies.
Now, one television series, sequel and video game later, comes “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” a movie, now playing in theatres, that raises the stakes.
The new film opens with the plucky ginger cat (once again voiced by Banderas) in a life-or-death battle against a fur-midable (last one, I promise) opponent. “I am known by many names,” he brags. “Stabby Tabby. El Macho Gato. The Leche Whisperer. I am Puss in Boots!”
He’s been in sticky situations before, but this one is different.
“I have bad news,” says the doctor who attends to his wounds. “You died.”
It looks like the end for Puss in Boots, until he reminds the physician, “Doctor, relax! I have nine lives!”
“And how many times have you died already?”
“Oh,” says Puss, “I’m not really a math guy.”
Turns out, Puss is on his last life and must give up his adventurous ways if he wants to survive.
Rather than become a lap-cat, the swashbuckling Puss, along with love interest Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and chatty therapy dog Perro (Harvey Guillén), sets off to into the Black Forest to find the mystical Last Wish and restore the lives he lost. “I need to get my lives back,” he says. “Without them, I am not the legend.”
But after eight lives lived, Puss has many enemies, all of whom want track him down. “I find the idea of nine lives absurd,” says the Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura), “and you didn’t value any of them.”
Animation is generally thought of as entertainment for kids, but legends like Don Bluth and Ralph Bakshi made their careers creating films that addressed darker subject matter. Now, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is no “The Secret of Nimh” or “Fire and Ice,” but it is bleaker and more experimental than anything else in the franchise. Like the recent “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” treads into adult territory theme wise, with higher stakes than we’re used to in a film aimed at kids– the Cave of Lost Souls, anyone?—but does so with family audiences in mind.
The character of PiB may be in peril, but the flamboyance that made him such a scene stealer in “Shrek 2” is still on full display. He’s a huge personality in pocket-size, and Banderas brings a perfect combination of roguishness and righteousness to the voice work.
Fun, villainous voice work from Florence Pugh, John Mulaney, and Wagner Moura, as Goldilocks, “Big” Jack Horner and Big Bad Wolf / Death respectively, add some spice and beautiful animation lifts the adventure sequences skyward.
Best of all, the film’s underlying life lesson, that time is precious and we should enjoy it while we can—”When you only have one life,” says Kitty Softpaws, “that’s what makes it special.”—is nicely woven into the film’s fleet-footed, if slightly predictable plot.
Movies based on videogames are either entertaining or eye-rolling. An interactive videogame that works at home on your PlayStation may not offer the same dopamine rush when translated to the one-way interactivity of the big screen. For every “Detective Pikachu” that hits the mark there’s a dozen “BloodRaynes” or “Mortal Kombat: Annihilations.”
“Uncharted,” a prequel to the wildly successful PlayStation series starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, and now playing in theatres, is the latest entry in the videogame sweepstakes.
Holland plays Nathan Drake, who, unlike Spider-Man, the actor’s other cinematic alter-ego, uses his sticky fingers to steal stuff, not scale the outside of tall buildings. Either way, both characters are adventurers who live outside the margins. In Drake’s case, it comes naturally. He’s a direct descendant of 16th century pirate Sir Francis Drake.
By day Nathan is a bartender in New York, by night he’s a thief. Day and night, he hopes to reunite with his long-lost treasure-hunting brother Sam who he hasn’t seen since he was ten years old. Big brother hit the road, with a promise to return, leaving behind memories and some cryptic clues to the location of $5 billion worth of Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s lost gold. “The gold isn’t gone,” he said, “it’s lost and if it is lost, it can be found.”
When fast-talking slickster Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) asks Nathan to help track down the lost treasure, he agrees, hoping to find the gold and information on his missing brother. “There’s only one rule,” says Sully of their dangerous mission. “Don’t get caught.”
The pair, along with fortune hunter Chloe (Sophia Ali), travel the world in search of two crosses that serve as a key to the mystery, all the while trying to stay one or two steps ahead of ruthless rich guy Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who has a personal connection to the gold, and his team of mercenaries.
“Uncharted” mixes and matches the adventure elements of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Tomb Raider” and “National Treasure” into a generic action movie that loses its way early on. Not even the combined charisma of its stars, Holland and Wahlberg, can put it back on track.
Both play thinly sketched versions of characters we’ve seen before and better. When he’s on-screen Wahlberg plays a riff on his trademarked sarcastic smart alecky character but this is a Where’s Waldo style role for him. He disappears for long sections as Holland takes center stage.
Holland plays Nathan as a cocky young man with a special set of skills. Sound familiar? It’s like watching Peter Parker do parkour without the webs but with an unnatural gift for figuring out puzzles that have confounded others for centuries. He’s fun on screen but he’s not doing anything here that feels new.
Together they banter in playful dialogue that often has the all the charm of an in-gown toenail.
Then there are the action scenes. The movie opens with a frenetic fight scene, heavy on the CGI, that sees Nathan flying through the air, battling bad guys. It’s high-flying action, but don’t worry if you are five minutes late getting to the cinema, the scene is repeated later in the movie. The large-scale action scenes are loud, frenzied but often feel like leftovers from Pierce Brosnan era 007. They fill the screen, but the movie’s flippant, light tone ensures there is very little jeopardy involved for any of the main characters.
“Uncharted” does have a pretty good villain, and no, it’s not Banderas who does little other than speak in a low whisper. Tati Gabrielle as the ruthless killer and schemer Braddock brings some spark to her scenes, but not enough to kickstart this inert action flick.
