Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the singular “Dead Lover.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit with Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to go over some of the week’s biggest entertainment stories and movies playing in theatres. We look at a new drama based on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the latest meme-worthy edition to the Australian National Film and Sound Archive, Keenan Thompson’s “Unfunny Bunny,” a new book for kids and I review “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the uncom rom com “The Drama.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel’s Scott Hirsch to talk about the uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the singular “Dead Lover.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I review “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” for ctvnews.ca, the #1 digital news publisher in reach!
“I wasn’t expecting a kid-friendly “Super Mario’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but the film’s emphasis on eye candy and Easter eggs over detailed storytelling or character arcs lessens the movie’s impact…” Read the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the sequel to 2023s billion dollar hit “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” Mario, Luigi, Peach, and others go on a journey across cosmic worlds.
CAST: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kevin Michael Richardson, Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, Brie Larson. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
REVIEW:
Made with Nintendo fans in mind, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is a visually spectacular, but chaotic theme park-style distraction for aficionados that’s light on story but heavy on action.
The last time around in 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the evil Koopa king Bowser’s (Jack Black) plan to marry Mushroom Kingdom ruler Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) was thwarted by mustachioed plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day).
Shrunken down to the size of a small toy by Peach and imprisoned in a jar by Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), Bowser’s reign of terror appears to be over until Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), the power-hungry heir to the Koopa throne, kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) in a mission to save his father and restore his family’s power. “From the ashes of his father’s defeat rises a new conqueror,” he says. “The Bowser name shall be feared once more!”
To prevent the Bowsers from creating cosmic chaos, the brothers team with Princess Peach, Toad, and a green dinosaur named Yoshi (Donald Glover) on an intergalactic adventure to outwit, outsmart and outplay Bowser Jr.
A blast of colorful pop art adrenalin for Mario enthusiasts, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” blazes through its breakneck 95-minute runtime without ever taking its foot off the gas pedal. Packed with Easter Eggs, unexpected cameos, endless merchandizing opportunities and galactic scale nostalgia, it is so overstuffed there’s barely any room to tell an interesting story.
The previous film grossed $1.36 billion worldwide and is the highest-grossing film based on a video game ever, so a sequel was inevitable, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Even when the unnecessary additions are fun, as it is with the introduction of Fox McCloud (Glen Powell) from “Star Fox,” the superfluous stuff doesn’t add much to the overall effect. Less would have been more.
Pratt, as the titular character, leads a high-energy, all-star voice cast including Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi) and Donald Glover (Yoshi) but it’s Jack Black and Benny Safdie as Bowser and Bowser Jr. who steal every scene they appear in.
They stand out in a sea of characters mouthing forgettable dialogue because the father and son duo are given most of the movie’s best lines and share a tender familial connection that brightens up their scenes.
Not that there’s anything dreary about “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” It all pops. But when there are only peaks and no valleys in the storytelling, it becomes overstimulated; all bang and no buck.
Ultimately, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s” maximalist approach creates something that feels like a sensory experience, ram packed with IP, rather than a proper movie. I wasn’t expecting a kid friendly “Super Mario’s 2001: A Space Odyssey,” but the film’s emphasis on eye candy and Easter Eggs over detailed storytelling or character arcs lessens the story’s impact.
It’s family entertainment, intended for younger gamers and nostalgic parents, but just because it’s aimed at the whole family doesn’t mean it can’t level up.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Gorge,” a new thriller now streaming on Apple TV+, Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller star as elite snipers, one Lithuanian, one American, posted for a yearlong hitch as guards on either side of a deep gorge. “Do we need to stop people from going on the gorge?” asks Levi (Teller). “No,” comes the reply. “You need to stop what’s in the gorge from coming out.”
CAST: Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver, Sope Dirisu, William Houston. Directed by Scott Derrickson.
REVIEW: A mix of science fiction, horror, action with a dollop of romance (it’s coming out on Valentine’s Day after all), the genre-bending “The Gorge” is about two mad, bad and dangerous people who fall in love. Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Levi (Miles Teller) are star crossed lovers, but before they can be together, they must first battle some zombie-ish baddies.
Director Scott Derrickson throws every genre in book at “The Gorge” but at the end, after the sci fi, horror, conspiracy, action and more, this is a story of soulmates finding one another. The other stuff, the sharp shooting and monster action, is set dressing. Pretty cool set dressing, but set dec nonetheless. The leap across the gorge, isn’t just a feat of derring-do, It’s a leap of romantic faith.
It’s a daring mix, that sometimes feels like a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces.
Surprisingly, it’s the romance that carries the day. The initial long-distance flirting—remember there is a huge gorge separating them—is goofy, but lighthearted. They hold up signs and dance, and while it isn’t perhaps exactly the kind of behavior you expect from two highly trained killers, it works. Even snipers can get smitten.
When all hell breaks loose—literally—“The Gorge” loses some of its uniqueness, even though the action sequences are large scale and well staged.
The creature designs, kind of a cross between Groot and a Yeti are cool and achieved through makeup and costumes. It gives the fight scenes a dynamic feel and heightens the stakes. Drasa and Levi aren’t battling CGI creations, they’re fighting creatures that feel organic.
At its heart, however, “The Gorge” isn’t really just a creature feature. It’s big budget actioner about human connection, but when it is running, jumping, shooting etc, it feels less inventive than it does when it focusses on the simple stuff, like the bond between two people who have searched for love.
The most famous plumbers since Thomas Crapper, the man who popularized the flush toilet, are back in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” The new animated film starring the voices of Chris Pratt, Charlie Day and Anya Taylor-Joy, and now playing in theatres, sends Mario and Luigi on an adventure that begins with a mysterious water pipe.
While working on a broken water main, Brooklyn, New York plumbers Mario (Pratt) and his fraternal twin brother Luigi (Day), leave the real world, sucked through the pipe into the Mushroom Kingdom.
“What is this place?” asks Mario.
Buried deep beneath the Earth’s surface, it’s the psychedelic principality of the strong-willed Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy), a ruler who shares her castle with Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), a humanoid mushroom aching to find adventure in his life.
But there is bad news.
“Your brother has landed in the Darklands,” Toad informs Mario. “They’re under Bowser’s (Jack Black) control.” Bowser, a giant, fire breathing turtle with world conquering ambitions, has Luigi, and it’s up to Mario to rescue his brother and save the Mushroom Kingdom.
“My little brother is lost,” says Mario. “He looks exactly like me, but tall and skinny. And green.”
With the help of the Princess and Toad, Mario’s quest begins.
“Excuse me, everybody,” shouts Toad. “Coming through! This guy’s brother is going to die imminently! Out of the way, please!”
There are questions you have to ask when reviewing a movie inspired by a video game. Is it good because it remains faithful to the game? Or is it successful because it transcends the game and embraces the big screen?
If you answered yes to the former and no to the latter, you may enjoy “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” The theatrical experience of the film is essentially like playing the game, without the inconvenience of actually having to play the game.
The beautifully animated movie mostly delivers what Nintendo has been successfully doling out for forty years; Mario, Luigi and the gang dodging Bowser in the Mushroom Kingdom. That formula earned the game accolades as one of the greatest video games of all time, so why tinker with success?
I’ll tell you why. Because by not tinkering with success, by playing it safe, by bowing down to fan service, directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic have created a movie with all the charm of a broken Game Boy. Loud and frenetic, it’s propped up by nostalgia for the game and little else.
“Amsterdam,” a quirky new film starring John David Washington, Margot Robbie and Christian Bale and now playing in theatres, is a convoluted story fueled by everything from fascism and birding to murder and music. If there ever was an example of a film that could have benefitted from the KISS rule, Keep It Simple Silly, this is it.
The madcap tale begins in 1933 New York City. WWI vet Dr. Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale), once a Park Avenue physician, he now runs a downtown clinic where he caters to the needs of soldiers who came back from the war broken and in pain.
When Berendsen and his best friend, fellow vet and lawyer Harold Woodsman (John David Washington), are hired by Liz Meekins (Taylor Swift), the daughter of their beloved commanding officer, to ascertain the cause of his death, they are drawn into a murder mystery involving secret organizations, ultra-rich industrialists and a crusty Marine played by Robert DeNiro.
In a flashback to the final days of WWI, we learn their backstory and meet Valerie (Margot Robbie), a nurse who treats their wounds, physically and mentally. As a trio, they swear allegiance to one another during an extended bohemian get-a-way in Amsterdam, a city that becomes a metaphor for freedom and friendship.
Reviewing “Amsterdam” stings. The production is first rate, from Academy Award nominated director David O. Russell, to the a-list cast to the ambitious script that attempts to link events of the past to today’s headlines. But, and this is what stings, the film is definitely less than the sum of its parts.
From the off-kilter tone, part screwball, part deadly serious, to the glacial pacing, which makes the already long two-hour-and-fifteen-minute running time seem much longer, and the script, which casts too wide a wide net in hope of catching something compelling, “Amsterdam” flails about, lost in its own ambition. This is the kind of story, it’s easy to imagine, the Coen Brothers could make look effortless, but Russell does not stick the landing.
He does, however, forward some lovely ideas about embracing kindness and the full experience of being alive, but even those are muddied by the inclusion of heavy-handed, and not particularly original, warnings about domestic terrorism and authoritarianism. Ideas get lost in a sea of exposition and narration, that not even these interesting actors can bring to life.
There may be an interesting story somewhere within “Amsterdam,” but it is hidden, lost in the movie’s epic ambitions.
Robert Eggers is an idiosyncratic filmmaker whose previous films, “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse,” have more in common with silent era movies and formal stage presentation than they do with the blockbusters that rule today’s box office. His latest, the violent Viking drama “The Northman,” now playing in theatres, has all the hallmarks of Eggers’ work, but despite the inclusion of old Norse language, mysticism and its occasionally psychedelic tone, it may be his most accessible movie yet.
When we first meet Amleth, the Viking warrior prince, played as a teen by Oscar Novak, as a muscle-bound adult by Alexander Skarsgård, it is the year AD895 somewhere in the North Atlantic. He is a child about to enter the line of succession to one day take over from his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke).
An unspeakable act of betrayal interrupts Aurvandill’s plans for the future, forcing Amleth to flee the only home he has ever known, leaving behind his mother Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman).
Years pass. Adult Amleth is now a fierce warrior with revenge on his mind. When the would-be prince and his band of berserkers ravage a village, the locals who survived the carnage are sold off as slaves. When Amleth learns the purchaser is the man who betrayed his father, he disguises himself as one of the prisoners with a plan to get close to the man who destroyed his life and family, and earn back his honor. “I will haunt this farm like a corpse returned from the grave,” he declares.
On the journey he meets Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor-Joy), a sorceress who becomes his ally and love interest. “You are still a beast cloaked on man flesh,” she tells him. His strength, she tells him, will break their bodies. Her cunning will break their minds.
Amleth’s journey is also a spiritual one, driven by mysticism and the words of a whispering seeress played by Björk. ““Remember for whom you shed your last teardrop,” she says, sending him off on his mission. Eggers seamlessly blends the supernatural and the nature until the lines blur into one trippy whole.
“The Northman” is based on the Scandinavian legend that influenced William Shakespeare‘s beloved “Hamlet.” It’s a familiar story of payback, violent, visceral and vengeance-filled, but Eggers’ singular vision, and fondness for pathetic fallacy, ancient symbolism and psychedelia, make it a singular experience.
And don’t forget the violence. So much violence.
Amleth chews one man’s neck, killing him in a memorably bloodthirsty fashion, and that is before the revenge story comes into play. Eggers amps up the brutality, shooting long scenes in unbroken wide shots that provide full few of the action. This ain’t Michael Bay’s frantic cut and paste. It’s full coverage, carefully orchestrated violence that drives home the brutality of the battles. It’s ferocious, audacious—check out the showdown at the Gates of Hel—if occasionally unpleasant, stuff.
It’s not all fun and bloody games, however. The storytelling gets bogged down from time to time and Amleth’s frequent vocalizing of his mission mandate—avenge his father, kill his uncle and rescue his mother—gets old after a while.
Having said that, “The Northman” more than delivers on the director’s pure, primal cinematic vision. To Valhǫll!
