I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres and streaming this week, including the dark comedy “My Friend Zoe,” the survival drama “Last Breath” and make some Oscar predictions.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I talk about the deep sea survival movie “Last Breath” and I suggest cocktails that will put you in the mind of the ocean.
Listen to me on the life and legacy of Gene Hackman HERE!
Listen to the oceanic pleasures of Booze & Reviews 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 tell you about the dark comedy “My Friend Zoe,” the survival drama “Last Breath” and the feel good “Superboys of Malegaon.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Last Breath,” a new thriller starring Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu, and now playing in theatres, is the true story of deep-sea saturation divers as they attempt to rescue a crew member trapped hundreds of feet beneath the ocean’s surface.
CAST: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis, Djimon Hounsou, Mark Bonnar. Directed by Alex Parkinson.
REVIEW: A ticking clock survival drama, “Last Breath” juxtaposes tight spaces with the vast openness of the ocean depth to create tension.
The claustrophobia of the submersible is a nightmare for anyone (like me) with a fear of enclosed spaces, but the lonely, seemingly endless enormity of the ocean in the underwater scenes emphasizes the helplessness of feeling being stranded and deepens the movie’s impact.
The film’s atmosphere of danger is its most important asset and is used very effectively by director Alex Parkinson, who co-directed an acclaimed documentary of this same story in 2019.
Given that this is a well-documented story and the ending (NO SPOILERS HERE) is not exactly a surprise, Parkinson wisely mines the extremes in settings for all they are worth. Whether the actors are packed tight or left stranded in the underwater wilderness, Parkinson takes a very specific situation and makes it universal by playing on the audience’s primal fears.
The stars, Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole, take up much of the on-screen time.
Harrelson is the big-hearted jokester who leads with emotion and instinct. Liu is the stoic technician, who displays grace under pressure while Cole is the newbie, willing to take risks to prove himself. They are disparate characters, bonded by a sense of duty and compassion and the camaraderie between the men, who risk everything for a paycheque, is the film’s second big selling point.
“Last Breath” is a simple story of an extraordinary effort that succeeds because it’s not just about survival or the unusual situation, but because of the heroic, human effort that went into the rescue.
I’ll be hosting virtual Q&As at Cineplex theatres in Halifax, Toronto and Winnipeg with “Last Breath” director Alex Parkinson on Wednesday February 26, 2025. Check your local listings for a theatre near you! We’ll talk about how the story hits differently because it is a true story rather than a fictional feature, how he cast the film and much more!
Some info on the film:
SYNOPSIS: Set against the unforgiving backdrop of the North Sea, “Last Breath: recounts the true story of diver Chris Lemons. While conducting maintenance on an underwater oil rig, Lemons becomes untethered and trapped at a depth of 100 meters, with only minutes of oxygen remaining. What follows is a desperate, nail-biting rescue mission that tests the limits of teamwork, resilience, and human endurance.
ALEX PARKINSON (Co-Writer, Director) is an Emmy-nominated director who is making his narrative feature directorial debut with Last Breath. Parkinson’s other work includes HBO Max and Channel 4’s documentary, Lucy The Human Chimp, which he both wrote and directed. It follows psychologist Janis Carter taking on the seemingly impossible task of giving a chimpanzee raised as a human a new life in the wild. Directing documentaries for more than 20 years, Parkinson has also made films for a number of global broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, National Geographic, Animal Planet, History and Travel.
Five years ago “The Meg,” a prehistoric creature feature starring a CGI shark and underwater actionman Jason Statham, took a $500 million bite out of the worldwide box office. This weekend, Ben Wheatley, a director best known for the arthouse, satirical thrills of movies like ”High Rise” and “Kill List,” dives in for the sequel, hoping to make a splash by reteaming Statham with a super shark. Question is, will “Meg 2: The Trench” be fin-tastic or does it jump the shark?
The fishy business centers on billionaire philanthropist Jiuming (Wu Jing) and eco-warrior Jonas Taylor (Statham). Jiuming owns an oceanographic institute, home to its own captive Meg, a nickname for a megalodon—think Bruce the Shark from “Jaws” on steroids—once thought to have been extinct for about 2 million years. Taylor is a former U.S. Marine whose steely gaze is rivalled only by the dead eyes of the Meg.
The unlikely pair lead a dangerous mission to an “ancient ecosystem untouched by man,” an oceanic trench twenty-five thousand feet under the surface of the ocean. The mission goes sideways when an illegal mining operation sets off an explosion that creates a breach in the thermocline, trapping Jiuming, Jonas and crew six kilometres deep, surrounded by colossal, Megs and all manner of aggressive, primordial undersea creatures. “Three massive Megs and who knows what else have escaped the breach!”
Midway through “The Meg: The Trench” Statham rasps, “This ain’t good.” It’s a meta moment that feels like the actor has broken the fourth wall to comment on the movie. He hasn’t of course. The movie isn’t clever enough to have that kind of built-in self-awareness.
But he’s not wrong.
From the reams of cliched dialogue seemingly borrowed from other, better action movies and half-hearted homages to “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park” to the rehash of Statham Stock Character #2—the man with a past who must protect a young, innocent child—and lame attempts to create a catchphrase (“See you later chum.”), “The Meg 2: The Trench” doesn’t add up to much until it becomes a creature feature in its last half hour. Even then, the alleged giant octopus is left mostly to the viewer’s imagination and seen only as a tentacle or two sticking out of the water.
“Meg 2: The Trench” spends much of its runtime underwater, which makes sense, because for 95% of its running time, it’s all wet.
On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Mark Critch. He is an actor, comedian and author, who, since 2003 has starred on the political parody show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He’s photo-bombed Justin Trudeau, offered Pamela Anderson a million dollars to stop acting, and poked fun at characters like Rex Murphy, Don Cherry and Donald Trump.
The show turns thirty years old this season, making it the longest running comedy show on Canadian television. As if that wasn’t enough to keep Mark busy, his other show, the hit CBC sitcom “Son of a Critch,” is now on its second season. The show is a biographical look at growing up in Newfoundland and Labrador, and in a fun twist, he plays his own father on the show.
Then, we get to know Raymond Knowles, and he is the world’s number one Avatar fan. To prove it, he has tattooed 95% of his body with Avatar related tats, named his Edmonton Alberta based carpentry company Mr. Avatar, and has seen the movies more times than you can count.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Here’s some info on The Richard Crouse Show!
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
Listen to the show live here:
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“Avatar: The Way of Water” harkens back to a time when Hollywood bigshots thought, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a 3D picture is worth a million words.” The original film, 2009’s “Avatar” was director James Cameron’s grand experiment in the audience’s tolerance for 2 hours 42 minutes of images popping off the screen.
Thirteen years ago, the million words theory worked. “Avatar” was a massive hit, grossing almost 3 billion dollars worldwide, as rumors of a series of sequels hung in the air. Delay after delay kept the blue people off screens for so long, four presidents came and went while Cameron tinkered with the story and the technology to bring his vision to life.
The tinkering is finally over. Cameron returns to theatres with the first of four planned sequels, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” an epic 3D sequel that mixes astonishing visuals with eye-rolling teenagers, a character with the b-movie name Z-Dog and a 3 hour and 12-minute tale of colonialism.
Set on Pandora, an Earth-like habitable extrasolar moon from the Alpha Centauri System populated by the Na’vi, the 9 to 10 feet tall Indigenous peoples, the movie picks up the action more than a decade after the events of the first film. Former Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who left his human body behind to permanently become Na’vi, lives on the peaceful planet with wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and children.
Their idyll is interrupted with the return of the Sky People, humans who want to“pacify the hostiles” and takeover Pandora.
“Earth is dying,” says General Frances Ardmore (Edie Falco). “Pandora is the new frontier.”
Despite having been killed off in the original, the Pandora-bound team is led by the ruthless Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a genetically engineered “recombinant” or avatar version of the late Marine, implanted with his mind and emotions. “We have been brought back in the form of our enemy,” he says of he and his team. He plans on taking Pandora at any cost, and getting revenge on Sully, who he sees as a traitor.
Forced into hiding with Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), Ronal (Kate Winslet) and the reef people clan of Metkayina, Sully and his family learn the way of water—”no beginning and no end”—and fight to defend their world.
So, the big question is: Was “Avatar: The Way of Water” worth the wait?
As a technical achievement, yes, unquestionably. The visuals are stunning, particularly in the underwater scenes. Cameron’s camera has a nimbleness often missing in 3D films, which often feel locked-down. His fluid camera roams, on land and sea, capturing some of the most eye-popping, breathtaking scenes of this, or any other, season. Each and every frame is carefully considered, and most could be cut out, framed and hung on the wall to great effect.
The visuals facilitate Cameron’s world building, providing tantalizing views of the forest land of Pandora and the wet ‘n wild world of Metkayina, complete with giant whale-like creatures that could have sprung from the imagination of Ray Harryhausen, and lush, colorful flora and fauna.
It does not look like any other 3D film—even the original “Avatar”—and will engage the eye and stimulate the brain.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the story, which is as simple as the images are complex. Essentially, Cameron continues the colonialization themes of the first film, while adding in mysticism, traditional medicine, poachers and even a nod to Jonah and the Whale.
Most of all, it is a story of family, of parents and children. Apparently, Pandorian kids behave sort of like Earth teens, eye rolls, attitude and all. The family relationships add an intimate element to the epic story, but the visuals often get in the way of the storytelling.
Long action sequences, like a spectacular sea creature attack, take away from the movie’s main thrust, pushing the running time upwards, but not advancing the story. Perhaps they are scheduled in to accommodate bathroom breaks. Whatever the reason, they showcase Cameron’s mastery of the form but often feel spectacular simply for the sake of spectacle.
Loud and proud, “Avatar: The Way of Water” can be, by times, overwhelming, but it’s also the kind of grand scale movie that demands to be seen on the biggest, most immersive screen possible. Cameron shoots for the moon, but goes even further, to a place called Pandora.
The last time we saw Danny Torrance, son of Jack and Wendy Torrance by way of Stephen King, he was a young boy who had trapped his father in a deadly maze outside The Overlook Hotel. In Stanley Kubrick’s film “The Shining” little Danny has psychic powers known as the “shining.” A new film, “Doctor Sleep,” brings us up to date on Danny’s later life and the effects of family tauma.
Now going by the more adult name Dan (Ewan McGregor), Torrance is still haunted by the events of his youth. Alcoholic and unhappy, he pursues peace by working in a hospice, using his unique power to comfort the dying. His patients call him Doctor Sleep and soon his work, along with the help of AA, help him overcome his torment. His tranquility is undone when he meets psychic teenager Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran). “You’re magic,” Abra says, “like me.” “I don’t know about magic,” Dan replies. “I always called it “the shining.”
Abra’s abilities—“Her head is like a radio that sometimes picks up strange stations.”—have caught the attention of the True Knot, a tribe of demonic psychics led by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), an almost-immortal being who feeds off children’s telepathic abilities to prolong her own life. “They eat screams and drink pain,” says Dan’s mentor-in-shining Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly). To battle Rose and her evil minions Danny must face his greatest fear, returning to the psychological horrors of the Overlook Hotel.
The spirit of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” hangs heavy over “Doctor Sleep”—visual homages and callbacks abound—but where the 1980 film is an exercise in icy exterior thrills the new one, directed by Mike “Oculus” Flanagan, brings a thaw to the action. He has opened up the action and the characters. Kubrick created claustrophobia by setting the action mostly in the closed off rooms and hallways of the Overlook Hotel while Flanagan, who also wrote the script, lets the characters roam free, exploring the world around them and the inner workings of their extra-special-psyches. It makes for a much different feeling film that contains similar amounts of suspense—although it must be said, not nearly the same level of outright fear—but an added dose of emotional resonance and friendship.
McGregor is never quite as compelling as Jack Nicholson was in the original film but the supporting characters pick up much of the slack. As Abra, Curran is the most compelling character on screen. Fearless and resilient, she has an open heart and it is her friendship with Torrance that brings his lifelong journey for peace to a head. In one nicely rendered scene Dan speaks through her in a moment ripe with danger. Curran embodies the character and it is eerie to see the thirteen-year-old take on the weight of her adult counterpart.
Ferguson plays Rose the Hat as a bohemian villain. Callous and cruel, she brings a much-needed sense of unpredictability and danger to a story that isn’t particularly scary. It’s atmospheric and the character work brings us in, but it likely won’t haunt your dreams with the exception of one scene.
(MILD SPOILER ALERT) The True Knot believe that pain purifies the “steam,” the essence of their victims, which leads to a very unpleasant scene involving the demise of Jacob Tremblay as a young baseball player. You either remember him as the vulnerable child in “Room” or the foul-mouthed star of “Good Boys,” but this grim scene will give you new, nasty memories of his work.
“Doctor Sleep” often feels like a tribute to “The Shining” but brings enough of its own ideas on the effects of childhood trauma and the lingering pain of a shattered family to add richness and originality to the movie.
