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 join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including 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! (Starts at 15:38)
I join “CP24 Breakfast” host Nick Dixon to talk about he uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the Netflix special “Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride.”
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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 Smashing Machine,” a new sports biopic now playing on theatres, Dwayne Johnson plays former MMA and UFC champion Mark Kerr.
CAST: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk. Directed by Benny Safdie.
REVIEW: Dwayne Johnson leaves his well-honed action hero schtick behind, opting to emphasize UFC champion Mark Kerr’s vulnerabilities over the character’s innate violence.
Focused on three years in Mark Kerr’s life, “The Smashing Machine” begins in 1997 during the beginning of the wild and wooly mixed martial arts era. Former wrestler Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) is an up-and-coming UFC star nicknamed The Smashing Machine for his no-holds-barred fighting style. “When you win,” he says, “nothing else in the world matters.”
When he’s not sticking his fingers in his opponent’s open wounds or pulverizing a rival’s face with his fists, he’s soft spoken and tender and likes to look at sunsets. His love life with girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt) also thrives. “My big strong man,” she says, “I love you.”
As his fame blossoms on the Japanese Pride FC circuit, the work takes a toll on Mark physically and on his relationship.
As his body aches, he finds a high greater than winning through the abuse of painkillers. “A day without pain,” he says, “is like a day with sunshine.”
As growing dependence on painkillers pushes his relationship with Dawn to the edge and affects his performance in the ring, a shocking loss in Pride FC pushes him further into drugs, leading to an overdose. With Dawn’s help, Kerr looks for personal and professional redemption.
A cautionary tale of addiction wrapped in a sports movie, “The Smashing Machine” reunites Johnson and Blunt, who have previously co-starred in “The Jungle Cruise” and “Red One,” but the tone here is much different. The action comedy of their earlier films is replaced with family drama, but their chemistry is very much intact. Dawn and Mark’s relationship is rocky, but they have the vibe of a couple who have experienced ups and downs.
It’s too bad that the movie doesn’t spend more time with them, or, generally, enough time with most of the major events in their lives. It’s a story full of drama, but director Benny Safdie chooses to skim through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Safdie attempts to mine emotion from the tribulations of Kerr’s life, but through a chatty, repetitious script that uses talk not action. The fight scenes are brutal, but brief (until the end) but the real fireworks happen off camera. It hard to shake the feeling that the movie’s depictions of Kerr’s drug use and time in rehab would have benefitted from more show-me and less tell-me.
On the plus side, Johnson delivers the best work of his career. As Kerr he delivers a real dramatic turn, aided by a terrific performance from Blunt and real life American mixed martial artist Ryan Bader who plays Kerr’s best friend and trainer.
“The Smashing Machine” is a step forward for Johnson but doesn’t really connect as a sports drama.
SYNOPSIS: “Happy Gilmore 2,” the Netflix sequel to Adam Sandler’s much loved 1996 golf comedy, begins with the sports legend in a bad way. “Remember Happy Gilmore?” asks newscaster Pat Daniels. “He’s making news on the golf course again, but not the good kind.”
Broke and unwilling to play golf after a tragedy during a tournament that plunged him into alcoholism, he’s a t rock bottom. When his daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) needs tuition for a prestigious dance school in Paris, he must pull his life together and pick up his old golf clubs. “There’s only one way to make that money fast,” says Happy’s brother Johnny (real life golfer John Daly). “Grip it and rip it.”
CAST: Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny, Ben Stiller, Dennis Dugan, Kevin Nealon, Sunny Sandler, Eric André, Jim Downey, John Farley, Marcello Hernandez, Oliver Hudson, Scott Mescudi, Haley Joel Osment, Kelsey Plum, Margaret Qualley, and Nick Swardson. Directed by Kyle Newacheck.
REVIEW: There are probably more celebrity cameos in “Happy Gilmore 2” than actual belly laughs, but I doubt Sandler’s fans will care. A mix of heart, rage and silliness, it’s a familiar underdog story that captures the spirit but not the magic of the original.
Fan service is the name of the game.
A tsunami of flashbacks, callbacks and refurbished jokes from the original, it’s like a cover version of “Happy Gilmore” or an echo from 1996 emanating from the screen. The more familiar you are with the original, the more enjoyment you’ll wring out of the sequel. Casual viewers may be left in the dark, even though director (and professional pickleball player) Kyle Newacheck does everything possible to remind you of Happy’s former glories.
Still, at the heart of it all is Sandler. Almost thirty years later he’s still able to play the rageaholic Gilmore as a tightly wound col ready to spring at any time. “I always power my drives the old-fashioned way,” he says of his unique golf swing, “with rage.”
The intensity is good for a laugh, and he still has a way of stringing words together in the most insulting way ever, but there’s more to Happy than the temper that so often gets him in trouble. Sandler’s natural likability doesn’t actually smooth down any of the ironically named Happy’s rough edges, they are still there, but because of his sincerity he’s an easy underdog to root for. It doesn’t feel new, but it does have a certain amount of charm.
With its surfeit of cameos, returning characters and Sandler movie regulars, “Happy Gilmore 2” seems like the kind of movie that was more fun to make than it is to watch. Some will find it lazy, pandering to Sandler’s fans without offering anything new, but for hard core aficionados of Sandler’s 90s comedies, it’s a blast from the past.
