I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best shows and movies to watch this weekend, including the thriller “Drop” and the drama “The Amateur,” both playing in theatres, and the Netflix docu-series “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 14:40)
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the thriller “Drop,” the gritty “Warfare,” the Rami Malek revenge drama “The Amateur” and Prime Video’s “G20.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 15:00)
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!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about the thriller “Drop” and the gritty “Warfare.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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!
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!
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!
SYNOPSIS: In “Drop,” a darkly comedic new thriller now playing in theatres, Meghann Fahy plays a widow whose first date in years takes a strange turn when someone named Let’s Play “drops” a series of mysterious messages on her phone that threaten the lives of her sister, son and date. “You gotta be within fifty feet to send a drop,” says her date, Henry. “It’s someone in this restaurant.”
CAST: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan Spring, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, Travis Nelson. Directed by Christopher Landon.
REVIEW: Not since the high-flying blackmail of Wes Craven’s “Red Eye” has a movie embraced its unlikely premise with such conviction.
The story of the worst—but perhaps most memorable—first date ever, fully commits to its story of technical and psychological warfare, no matter how silly the situation gets.
Action-packed, “Drop” is not. Director Christopher Landon trusts the “WWYD?—What Would You Do?— situation and the characters to carry the show as Violet (Meghann Fahy) tries to follow the crazy, texted demands clogging up her phone without alerting her date (Brandon Sklenar). With stylish photography—including some splashy Hitchcock inspired visuals—and the sparkling chemistry between Fahy and Sklenar, the director crafts a rollercoaster ride of a movie.
So, as a viewer, it’s best to leave your disbelief at the concession stand. If you can do that, “Drop” will be a darkly fun and tension filled story that pays off just before you fall off the edge of your seat.
If not, you may find yourself wondering why Henry didn’t hightail it out of there after the first text.
SYNOPSIS: In “It Ends with Us,” a new domestic abuse drama based on the bestseller of the same name by Colleen Hoover, and now playing in theatres, Blake Lively plays Lily, a young woman who relocates to Boston to find a new life, and romance with wealthy neurosurgeon Ryle (Justin Baldoni). When the ghosts of the past revisit themselves on her new relationship, Lily must take control and take charge of her own destiny.
CAST: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj. Directed by Justin Baldoni.
REVIEW: “It Ends with Us” raises issues of the lingering, intergenerational effects of domestic abuse but is let down by its uncomplicated portrayal of the complex dynamics that motivate the characters. The film’s cycles of abuse themes are provocative, but director Baldoni (who also stars as Ryle), and screenwriter Christy Hall blunt the story’s impact by not digging deep enough. Abuse is a thorny, ugly subject, and nobody wants to see explicit representations of it on screen, but “It Ends with Us,” while well-meaning, simplifies the issue to the point of melodrama. Sincere melodrama, but melodrama none the less.
Lively is compelling as Lily, and her performance brings with it, when appropriate to the situation, heaping helpings of charm, warmth and courage. She nicely cast, as is Isabela Ferrer who plays young Lily in the flashback scenes. Ferrer not only looks like Lively but brings the same range to the role.
As Ryle’s sister and Lily’s BFF Allysa, Jenny Slate is also a welcome presence.
(MILD SPOILER ALERT) In theory Ryle is a walking contradiction. Charming and successful, he’s also a bit of a stalker with a violent streak. He’s a healer who breaks things when he gets angry. Baldoni plays him with a thin skin, as a man guided by his passions, for better and for worse.
Trouble is, the relationship at the heart of the film, between Lily and Ryle, always feels at arm’s length. Their meet-cute yearns to have a charming cat-and-mouse vibe, but other than some low-wattage sparkle, they don’t display a great deal of chemistry in this extended scene.
It doesn’t help that screenwriter Hall inserts exposition that is meant to be the kind of “naked truth telling” used so effectively in her movie “Daddio.” Unfortunately, the revelations feel less like “get to know you” confessions than hints of things to come later in the film.
When “It Ends with Us” takes a dramatic turn in its second hour, the stakes are raised and the culture of abuse themes come into focus, but over-all it feels padded by slo-motion montages (scored to the ironically named “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” by Cigarettes After Sex), Hallmark style dialogue and romance movie clichés. Still, it’s hard not to root for Lily as Lively guides her on her emotional journey.
