SYNOPSIS: In “Nuremberg,” a new historical drama starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, and now playing in theatres, a U.S. Army psychiatrist studies high-ranking Nazi officers, including Hermann Göring (Crowe), the notorious former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s second in command, to determine their competency to stand trial for war crimes.
CAST: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall, John Slattery, Mark O’Brien, Colin Hanks, Wrenn Schmidt, Lydia Peckham, Richard E. Grant. Directed by James Vanderbilt.
REVIEW: Based on Jack El-Hai’s non-fiction book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist,” “Nuremberg” is a handsomely mounted, old-fashioned drama that aims to comment on timely issues.
Set at the end of World War II the film sees U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) spearheading the world’s first International Military Tribunal. Among those accused of committing atrocities are Hitler’s right hand man Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and 21 other members of the Nazi high command.
To determine the prisoner’s fitness for trial Army psychologist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is brought in to assess the men and their mental states. Entering into a “battle of wits” with the charismatic and intelligent Göring, Kelley attempts to understand the true nature of evil.
“Nuremberg” clarifies its intent in the film’s final moment when a title card reading, “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done,” a quote from English philosopher R.G. Collingwood, appears on the screen. Writer, co-producer, and director by James Vanderbilt (best known as the writer of “Zodiac” and “The Amazing Spider-Man”) makes an urgent plea for today’s audience to never forget how fascism can take hold. In our modern world, where intolerance is on the rise, the lessons of the past echo loudly and demand our attention.
I just wish the film was a more powerful vehicle for the messaging.
Despite scenes of trauma, suicide and a downbeat ending, “Nuremberg” is too restrained to leave a mark on viewers. Crowe and Malek spark in their scenes, creating a cat-and-mouse game in which the power dynamic is ever shifting, and while thier performances have dramatic heft, there’s a melodramatic edge to the storytelling that blunts the impact of the film’s central premise.
“Nuremberg” is packed with big, timely lessons but its stilted presentation doesn’t deliver the emotional impact to accompany its warnings.
SYNOPSIS: A likeable documentary about a likeable subject, “John Candy: I Like Me” is a straightforward look at a comedian whose work is still entertaining audiences three decades after his passing.
CAST: John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Macaulay Culkin. Directed by Colin Hanks.
REVIEW: Martin Short told “John Candy: I Like Me” documentary producer Ryan Reynolds and director Colin Hanks (whose famous father co-starred with Candy in “Splash”), they would not be able to find anyone with anything bad to say about John Candy. Short was right. Everyone in the doc speaks glowingly of Candy, his generosity of spirit and luminous talent, but this isn’t a straight up hagiography.
Those nearest and dearest to the late comic actor, like his children Jennifer and Chris, widow Rose, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd and Catherine O’Hara, paint a colorful portrait of a larger-than-life character who battled weight issues and an anxiety disorder.
Thirty years after his passing on a film shoot in Durango, Mexico, Candy’s work remains as funny and endearing as it was when first released. Hanks’s film offers up copious evidence in the form of clips from “SCTV,” “Uncle Buck,” “Splash,” “Spaceballs,” “Home Alone,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (it’s a line in the latter that gives this movie its name: “I like me,” Candy says as Del Griffith. “My wife likes me.”) and many others, and while it’s lovey to revisit those moments, it’s the picture of Candy off screen that compels.
New interviews with school friends, family and colleagues like Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and Steve Martin tell the tale. From growing up in a working-class Toronto family, to his father’s passing of heart disease at age 35 when John was four years old, to putting his dreams of football stardom aside after a knee injury to discovering acting in college, we learn how each of these events shaped the trajectory of his life and career from the people who were there with him.
Everyone describes him as a charismatic character, the first one to pick up the tab in the early days, even though they were all making the same money. He was a people pleaser, but as Conan O’Brien points out, “The hazard of this business is that it’s very unhealthy for people pleasers.”
More up-close-and-personal are the remembrances of his Chris, Jennifer and Rose. They provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse of a man who, as his daughter says, “took care of people” but didn’t necessarily take care of himself. He liked a drink, a cigarette and, as anxiety entered his life, became convinced he would die early, just as his father had.
Ultimately, “John Candy: I Like Me” is a straightforward, heartfelt documentary with a bittersweet ending. Candy passed at age 43, but the wealth of material he left behind, the TV shows and movies, still entertains, three decades after his passing.
SYNOPSIS: A likeable documentary about a likeable subject, “John Candy: I Like Me” is a straightforward look at a comedian whose work is still entertaining audiences three decades after his passing.
CAST: John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Macaulay Culkin. Directed by Colin Hanks.
REVIEW: Martin Short told “John Candy: I Like Me” documentary producer Ryan Reynolds and director Colin Hanks (whose famous father co-starred with Candy in “Splash”), they would not be able to find anyone with anything bad to say about John Candy. Short was right. Everyone in the doc speaks glowingly of Candy, his generosity of spirit and luminous talent, but this isn’t a straight up hagiography.
Those nearest and dearest to the late comic actor, like his children Jennifer and Chris, widow Rose, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd and Catherine O’Hara, paint a colorful portrait of a larger-than-life character who battled weight issues and an anxiety disorder.
Thirty years after his passing on a film shoot in Durango, Mexico, Candy’s work remains as funny and endearing as it was when first released. Hanks’s film offers up copious evidence in the form of clips from “SCTV,” “Uncle Buck,” “Splash,” “Spaceballs,” “Home Alone,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (it’s a line in the latter that gives this movie its name: “I like me,” Candy says as Del Griffith. “My wife likes me.”) and many others, and while it’s lovey to revisit those moments, it’s the picture of Candy off screen that compels.
New interviews with school friends, family and colleagues like Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and Steve Martin tell the tale. From growing up in a working-class Toronto family, to his father’s passing of heart disease at age 35 when John was four years old, to putting his dreams of football stardom aside after a knee injury to discovering acting in college, we learn how each of these events shaped the trajectory of his life and career from the people who were there with him.
Everyone describes him as a charismatic character, the first one to pick up the tab in the early days, even though they were all making the same money. He was a people pleaser, but as Conan O’Brien points out, “The hazard of this business is that it’s very unhealthy for people pleasers.”
More up-close-and-personal are the remembrances of his Chris, Jennifer and Rose. They provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse of a man who, as his daughter says, “took care of people” but didn’t necessarily take care of himself. He liked a drink, a cigarette and, as anxiety entered his life, became convinced he would die early, just as his father had.
Ultimately, “John Candy: I Like Me” is a straightforward, heartfelt documentary with a bittersweet ending. Candy passed at age 43, but the wealth of material he left behind, the TV shows and movies, still entertains, three decades after his passing.
SYNOPSIS: In “Nobody 2,” the sequel to the 2021 action hit, sees Bob Odenkirk as assassin and family man Hutch Mansell in need of a break from the mayhem of his day job. On vacation with wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath), son Brady (Gage Munroe) and grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) at Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway amusement park, he stumbles into viper’s nest of illegality overseen by a corrupt theme-park operator (John Ortiz), a shifty sheriff (Colin Hanks), and a bloodthirsty crime boss (Sharon Stone). “I just want a break,” says Hutch.
CAST: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, RZA, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon, Billy MacLellan, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Christopher Lloyd, Colin Hanks, John Ortiz, Mckenna Grace and Sharon Stone. Directed by Timo Tjahjanto.
REVIEW: The trouble with “Nobody 2” is that the titular character, the nobody known as Hutch Mansell, is now a somebody. Fans of the first film know the character, know his backstory and know what to expect. It’s a sequel, so the fights are a bit longer, the explosions a bit louder, but even though it’s a lively time waster, it doesn’t deliver anything new.
Once again, Odenkirk is a charismatic everyman, a relatable guy who also happens to be a one-man army. Part of his appeal lies in his approachability. When he’s not swinging fists, he’s the guy you see on the subway, or at the dog park or at the coffee shop. He’s an Average Joe with a bad temper and a way with a line and Odenkirk finds the tricky balance between the hostility and the humor.
He punctuates violent scenes with an exasperated, “I just wanted a break,” and, after his son picks a fight in defense of his sister at the amusement park, Hutch says, “I understand protecting your sister. It’s instinctual but there are other ways.” It’s funny because Hutch’s method of dealing with issues usually leaves people in the hospital or worse, and the switch to giving fatherly advice is not only disingenuous, but in context, hilarious.
“Nobody 2” is a showcase for Odenkirk, and he remains a lot of fun in the role, so it’s too bad the movie isn’t as fun as he is.
Gravitas literally drips off the screen during “Parkland,” director Peter Landesman’s impressionistic look at the three days surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Somber music spills from the soundtrack, people fret and pray while Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley pontificate on “one of the more horrible days in American history.”
Trouble is, there’s no story.
Instead, it’s a character study of the folks, from the doctors and nurses at Parkland Memorial who tried to save JFK’s life (Zak Efron, Colin Hanks and Marcia Gay Harden) to secret service and law enforcement officers on the scene (Billy Bob Thornton, Ron Livingston) to Lee Harvey Oswald’s family (James Badge Dale, Jacki Weaver) to the reporters who broke the story (Mark Duplass) and the man who took the most famous images of the shooting, Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti).
It’s a sprawling cast who all vie for enough screen time to make an impact in this fast moving but ultimately ineffective study of the time.
The period details are all in place, and Giamatti, Dale and Thornton shine, but former journalist-turned-director Landesman’s lack of a point of view adds nothing to this often told tale.
In conversation Colin Hanks is an affable guy. He laughs easily, sounding a great deal like his famous father Tom. It’s a good thing he’s has a sociable disposition because he’s been spending a great deal of time lately doing something he doesn’t always enjoy—chatting to the press.
“You get asked the same things over and over again,” he says. “That’s the nature of the press junket. I’ve had some great press junkets that have been a piece of cake and I’ve had some that have been torturous. Like watching paint dry off of the inside of my eyelids. But, it’s part of the gig.”
He cites the example of being asked about his favorite color. “I don’t think about my favorite color. It’s just my favorite color. Now, talk about it for five minutes. I can’t!”
“I’m incredibly lucky to get to do what I do and this is another part of the job, which I don’t think a lot of people understand. They think that this is the fun part and it’s not. The fun part for me is the make believe.”
He is happy, however, to chat about his new movie.
High School is a stoner comedy about a MIT-bound student who smokes a joint a day before mandatory drug tests and a zero tolerance policy for weed are announced in his school. To avoid being expelled he concocts a plan to get everyone in his school high, figuring that if everyone fails the drug test no one will be expelled.
Hanks is Brandon, the school’s assistant principal, who “likes the kids, but hates his boss,” played by Michael Chiklis. “I don’t think it is any mistake that Brandon is able to put two and two together and find out what this familiar sensation is that he’s feeling and realize that the entire school is stoned.”
It’s an outrageous comedy, but Hanks chose to underplay his character. “It’s more fun that way,” he says. “I always like that kind of comedy. I like the big broader type guy and then you cut to the guy who is a little more subdued who is smirking and can’t believe the stuff he’s hearing. I always like that so I took a team player approach. I knew eventually you were going to see my character go off, and go nuts, and he has that moment, so why not work to that moment?”
