I join CTV Atlantic anchor Todd Battis to talk about the stop-motion animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside” and the rerelease of “Seven.”
I join the CTV NewsChannel to talk about the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the epic “The Brutalist,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside,” the unrelenting evil of “Nosferatu,” the office romance of “Babygirl” and the wild biopic “Better Man.”
I sit in with CKTB morning show guest host Karl Dockstader to have a look at movies in theatres and streaming including the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the epic “The Brutalist,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside,” the unrelenting evil of “Nosferatu,” the office romance of “Babygirl” and the wild biopic “Better Man.”
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 tell you about the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the epic “The Brutalist” and the sports drama “The Fire Inside.”
SYNOPSIS: “The Fire Inside,” a new sports drama now playing in theatres, is the true story of one of the greatest female boxers of all time, Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, an athlete from Flint, Michigan who became the first woman in American history to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the sport.
CAST: Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry, Oluniké Adeliyi, De’Adre Aziza. Directed by by Rachel Morrison.
REVIEW: “The Fire Inside” is a story of struggle and success set against the world of boxing, but like all good sports movies it’s about so much more than corkscrew punches and bobbing and weaving.
An underdog story, when we first meet Shields (played by Jazmin Headley as a child, by Ryan Destiny as a young adult) she is an eleven-year-old from difficult circumstances looking for an outlet for the rage and frustration that plague her. She lands at the Berston Field House, a community centre where former boxer Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry) takes her under his wing.
Six years later, with his training, Shields becomes the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.
Cue the fist in the air and end credits.
Except that’s only part of the story. Most sports movies stop after the big game, or in this case match, but “The Fire Inside’s” script by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins deepens the movie by detailing Shields’s struggle post her first big win.
It’s a story of inequality—she is paid less in expenses than her male counterparts—and professional setbacks—no endorsement deals came after she medalled—that threatened to sink her personally and professionally. It’s here the specific story of a Flint, Michigan boxer becomes a universal tale of fulfilling your dreams, of overcoming obstacles and never saying no, despite the naysayers.
Cinematographer-turned-director Rachel Morrison does sturdy, propulsive work in her directorial feature film debut, vividly evoking the disappointment of what happens when glory fades and the fight for survival must continue.
“The Fire Inside” is a rousing, inspirational, heart-on-its-sleeve story of trauma and grit, with terrific performances from Destiny, whose ferociousness covers her hurt, and Henry, who radiates warmth and encouragement. It’s a sports movie with a twist, one that defies the usual triumphant formula to go deep and reveal the price of success and failure.
SYNOPSIS: “Transformers One” is the origin story of the two Transformers titans, Optimus Prime and Megatron, and how they altered the fate of Cybertron forever.
CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm. Directed by Josh Cooley.
REVIEW: “Transformers One” is the story of an ideological split that drives a wedge between two lifelong friends. Nope, it’s not the story of you and your college pal who has decided to vote for Trump, it’s the animated origin story of the leaders of the Autobots and the Decepticons, the twins towers of the “Transformers” series.
When we first meet them, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) are
Cybertronian workers who can’t shapeshift into cars, guns or anything else. They are designed for work, nothing more. Under the rule of Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), who they view as a kind and benevolent leader, the pair work in the mines harvesting valuable commodities.
Before they become frenemies they have a great vibe, and the film is a fast-paced blast, filled with humor and heart. It’s a buddy movie, complete with good natured ribbing between the two, some slapstick shenanigans and a bit of playful competition before D-16 allows feelings of betrayal to colour his view of the world.
As their relationship sours, the film becomes darker, but that transformation brings with it an emotional element that while inevitable, also feels bittersweet.
Hemsworth, alongside Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 (ie: Bumblebee) and Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1, deliver solid voicework, but Henry is the MVP. On his way to becoming antagonist Megatron, D-16 has the biggest character arc, and Henry gives this bucket of bolts real personality and effectively conveys the sense of disillusionment that was the catalyst for his trip to the dark side.
The animation is slick and imaginative, although the battle scenes are often so frenetic it’s hard to discern who is fighting who. Still, the visuals sparkle, especially the inventive sci fi landscapes in the background of the above ground scenes.
“Transformers One” is a standalone movie, one that offers up copious Easter Eggs for longtime fans, and a top-notch, entertaining entryway for new fans.
Hot on the heels of 2023s “Godzilla Minus One,” the first ever Academy Award winner in the giant reptile’s decades long film career, comes “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” The Oscar winning movie focussed on drama more than destruction, but the new film is pure spectacle. A ballet of kaiju chaos for fans.
Set three years after “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the last entry in the MonsterVerse franchise, a new threat has emerged. “For most of human civilization, we believed that life could only exist on the surface of our planet,” says Kong Research Director Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall). “What else where we wrong about? This world has more secrets than we could possibly imagine.”
Having defeated Mechagodzilla the last time around, the Godzilla, and his atomic breath, and King Kong, the ruler of a subterranean ecosystem deep within the Earth called Hollow Earth, face a new threat.
When Andrews discovers large red hand marks on Skull Island, imprints that did not come from Kong, it becomes clear there is another giant ape with his eye set on taking over Skull Island, and beyond.
Even at 337 feet (102.7 m), and equipped with a giant axe and a mechanized power glove, Kong isn’t capable to do battle on his own.
“They don’t have to like one another,” says the “hippy dippy Ace Ventura” veterinarian Dr. Trapper (Dan Stevens) of Kong and Godzilla. “They just have to work together.”
Val Lewton and generations of horror/suspense directors who followed, kept their monsters off screen as long as possible. It was less-is-more filmmaking, that understood your brain would fill in the blanks; that what you didn’t see would be scarier than anything they could show you. It allowed the imagination to run wild, but “Godzilla x Kong” leaves nothing to the imagination. It is a bigger-is-better movie, the cinematic equivalent of a Monster Truck Rally.
It’s all about Kong, Godzilla and new characters like the 318 foot (96.8 m) tall simian Titan Skar King and an adorable-but-feisty mini-Kong named Suko, loud and proud, in action, leaving a trail of carnage behind them.
The human characters exist only to explain things, provide occasional comic relief, utter lines like, “What the bloody hell is that?” and look in awe as the Titans do battle. On the plus side, Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens do look like they’re having fun.
The CGI is dodgy from time to time, the clunky story is essentially an excuse to pit Kong and Godzilla against other Titans and it doesn’t have the grace or emotion of “Godzilla Minus One,” but “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” turns it up to 11. It’s a crowd pleaser, although milage may vary depending on your level of fandom of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em action, that comes in and goes out with a roar.
After sitting through all two-and-a-quarter hours of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the latest animated adventure of the universe jumping superhero, your spidey senses won’t be the only thing left tingling.
A wild pop culture pastiche of visual styles that jumps off the screen in ways that will give your eyeballs a Charles Atlas style workout, it is a full-body experience on the big screen.
Gwen Stacy (voice of Hailee Steinfeld) and Miles Morales (voice of Shameik Moore) return from 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Both are he off-spring of police officers, and both have secret identities as Spider-Woman and Spider-Man, respectively.
When Gwen becomes estranged from her father, she disappears into the Spider-Verse, a series of connected but independent universes, each with its own brand of Spider-People. As The Spot (voice of Jason Schwartzman), a villain covered in portals that allow him to transport from place to place, threatens to shred the very fabric of the Multi-Verse, Gwen and Miles go interdimensional to fight the new threat.
There they find Spider-HQ, sore of a Quantico for all various and sundry Spider-Folks, like Spider-Woman (voice of Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (voice of Daniel Kaluuya) and alpha arachnid Miguel O’Hara (voice of Oscar Isaac). When Mile inadvertently disrupts the Spider-Verse he learns an important lesson about the sacrifice required to be a Spider-Man.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is a spider web of Marvel mythology, relationship drama, action and some very funny moments, combined with extraordinary, state-of-the-art visuals. In the action scenes, co-directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson pull out all the stops to create a singular experience that has more to do with the anarchic spirit of the original comic books than the recent spate of superhero movies. Stylish and frenetic, the action scenes are so colourful they often look like an artist’s paint-palette exploded on the screen.
When the film isn’t in motion, it takes the time to explore the relationships between parents and kids, with the added twist of superheroes trying to figure out their place in the world (or should that be worlds?), while trying to navigate their teens. It adds themes of loneliness, responsibility vs. obligation and having autonomy over one’s own life. Through Gwen and Miles, and a heaping helping of action, the importance of writing one’s own life story is the focus of the story.
Ultimately, the success of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” isn’t simply about the eye-popping nature of the visuals or the humour or the emotional aspect of the story. All are great, but what makes it special is that it feels fresh. It’s a superhero movie, with all the world saving tropes you expect, but it feels more like a comic book come to life than most, if any, other superhero flick.
In the low-key drama “Causeway,” now streaming on Apple TV+, Jennifer Lawrence once again shows why she is one of her generation’s best actors. She delivers a performance driven by subtlety, without a hint of affectation.
Lawrence plays Lynsey, a young woman, born into poverty, who used the military to get away from a negligent mother (Linda Emond) and junkie brother (Russell Harvard). “Don’t turn into your Aunt Lesley. Or anyone from your father’s family. Or mine,” says her mom.
While serving in Afghanistan with the Army Core of Engineers she is badly injured in an IED blast.
Now, back at home, living in her New Orleans childhood home with her negligent mother, her road to recovery is paved with difficulty. She suffered a brain injury, is prone to anxiety attacks, and the daily rituals of her past life, like brushing her teeth, remain just out of reach.
She longs to get back to the army to escape the memories of the trauma of growing up as a bright young woman in a home marred by substance abuse. “I just have to get out of here,” she says. But before she can be redeployed, she takes a job cleaning pools. “It’s just temporary until I can go back,” she says.
The job brings her in contact with a lonely but kindhearted auto mechanic names James (the brilliant Brian Tyree Henry), who becomes the person who grounds her, while coping with his own demons.
“Causeway” is a movie about the healing power of friendship and choosing, as Armistead Maupin said, your logical, not biological family.
Director Lila Neugebauer, working on a heartfelt script by Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh and Elizabeth Sanders, has crafted a movie that defies the usual “coming home” drama in favor of a quiet, slice-of-life story that is actually a character study of broken people who find comfort in the company of one another.
Lynsey and James have a lovely, unspoken way of communicating. There’s no (well, very little) sexual tension, just deep affection and positive pal vibes. This is a story of broken people who form a platonic friendship because they enjoy one another’s company. They are open and raw with one another, because they understand the other’s pain and the link between trauma and depression.
“Causeway” is not so plot driven. It’s a slice of life; a beautifully performed, low-key character study of people coping with past trauma who find comfort in one another’s company.