Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun,” the body horror rom com “Together” and the stylish kid’s flick “The Bad Guys 2.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic anchor Todd Battis to talk about the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun,” the body horror rom com “Together” and the stylish kid’s flick “The Bad Guys 2.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the stylish cartoon action of “The Bad Guys,” the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with guest host Andrew Pinsent to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the stylish cartoon action of “The Bad Guys,” the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun” and the body horror rom com “Together.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “The Bad Guys 2,” the animated sequel to the 2022 hit “The Bad Guys,” reunites the above-the-title stars, Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina in a story about trying to do the right thing. “Things sure have changed,” says Bad Guys leader Mr. Wolf. “Not everyone believes it, but the Bad Guys went good.”
CAST: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, Alex Borstein, Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, Natasha Lyonne. Directed by Pierre Perifel.
REVIEW: Based on the children’s book series “The Bad Guys” by Australian author Aaron Blabey, “The Bad Guys 2” the titular naughty characters, ringleader Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), master of disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson) and the gang’s short-tempered “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), have gone straight.
Or at least they’re trying to.
Framed for a series of robberies they didn’t commit, they’re kidnapped by the Bad Girls, a band of baddies led by a devious snow leopard named Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), who blackmail them into one last heist. “Life is like is like a car chase,” says Mr. Wolf ((Sam Rockwell). “There will be bumps along the way.”
Like a riff on “Oceans 11” but for kids and with an outer space component, “The Bad Guys 2” has a groovy soundtrack that mostly sounds like it escaped from a mid-Sixties Matt Helm movie, stylish animation and the quick pacing of a kid’s adventure movie.
“It’s not the action, it’s the distraction,” says Mr. Wolf about the movie’s elaborate cons, but he may well have been speaking about the movie. There are big action sequences sprinkled throughout “The Bad Guys 2” but that is just the distraction from the clever character work from the voice cast.
Sam Rockwell voices Mr. Wolf with an appealing George Clooney swagger, so much so I’m surprised George isn’t asking for residuals, and the rest of the cast keeps up, delivering fun and funny characters that round out the cast. MVP Awards belong to Marc Maron for his lovestruck delivery of Mr. Snake and Richard Ayoade as the diabolical Professor Rupert Marmalade IV.
Unlike “Jason X,” the tenth installment of the Friday the 13th series which was buried by a trip to outer space, “The Bad Guys 2,” and (NO SPOILERS HERE) their trip to the cosmos plays pretty well although it goes on a bit too long, dragging out the film’s finale, without the sharp writing of everything that came before it.
Still, it’s a funny movie for the whole family about doing the right thing, even if it isn’t the easiest option, that has entertainment value for all ages.
September 23, 2022 at the Jane Mallet Theatre! Join us for an advance screening of episode 2 and more sneak peeks from Season 2 of the highly anticipated, critically-acclaimed HBO comedy series, Los Espookys, hailed by Vanity Fair as “bilingual genius.” The series follows a group of friends who turn their shared passion for horror into a peculiar business, providing horror to clients who need it, in a dreamy Latin American country where the strange and eerie are just a part of daily life.
Following the screening, we’ll hang out with the co-creators, writers, executive producers and stars of the show, Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres as they discuss the upcoming season, reveal behind-the-scenes stories and answer your questions about what “espookys” them the most.
The series returns to HBO & HBO Max in the U.S. and CRAVE in Canada on Sept. 16.
Season two of LOS ESPOOKYS is created by Fred Armisen & Ana Fabrega & Julio Torres; executive produced by Lorne Michaels, Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres along with Broadway Video’s Andrew Singer and Alice Mathias; co-executive produced by Nate Young; produced by Sharon Lopez and Andy Garland. Produced by Broadway Video, Antigravico and Oscar®-winning Chilean production company Fabula. Written by Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega, Bernardo Britto and Mara Vargas Jackson. Directed by Ana Fabrega and Sebastian Silva.
Moderated by Richard Crouse
September 25 at the Jane Mallet Theatre! Beginning as a stand-up comedian, Robinson first made his mark in the comedy circuit at the 1998 Montreal “Just For Laughs” Festival. Now headlining venues and festivals across the country, he does both solo acts as well as full-band sets with his band “The Nasty Delicious.” Before deciding to pursue his comedy career full time, Robinson was a K-8 teacher in the Chicago Public School System. He earned his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University and his Masters of Education from St. Xavier University. It was while Craig was studying education in Chicago that he also discovered his love of acting and comedy when he joined the famed Second City Theatre. Craig is best known for his portrayal of Daryl Philban in NBC’s “The Office” but has also starred in such movies as KNOCKED UP, THIS IS THE END, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2, MORRIS FROM AMERICA, TRAGEDY GIRLS, DOLEMITE IS MY NAME! with Eddie Murphy, TIMMY FAILURE, and MONA LISA AND THE BOOD MOON with Kate Hudson. Craig also starred in his very own sitcom, MR. ROBINSON on NBC, as well as GHOSTED on FOX.
“We may be bad,” says Wolf, in “The Bad Guys,” a new DreamWorks animated heist flick now playing in theatres, “but we are so good at it.”
Wolf, voiced by Sam Rockwell, leads a criminal organization of anthropomorphic animals, safecracker Snake (Marc Maron), master of disguise Shark (Craig Robinson), an apex predator of a thousand faces, Piranha (Anthony Ramos), a loose cannon with a short fuse and eight-legged tech wizard Tarantula (Awkwafina), who use their frightening reputations to strike fear into the hearts of their victims.
“Do I wish people didn’t see us as monsters?” asks Wolf. “Sure I do, but these are the cards we were dealt so we might as well play them.”
The gang is riding after a particularly daring bank robbery, but the wind is taken out of their sails when Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) shames them during a press conference, calling them second rate hacks, driven by anger, not intelligence. “They have all the classic signs of a crew in decline,” she says.
Her televised insults push the Bad Guys to plan the ultimate heist, the theft of The Golden Dolfin, a priceless award given to philanthropists and do-gooders. This year it will be awarded to Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), a hamster with a heart of gold.
When their heist goes sideways, the Professor Marmalade, from the goodness of his heart, makes a deal with the Bad Guys and the Governor. He will teach the reprobates to use the skills they developed being bad, to be good.
“Being good,” he says, “just feels so good and when you are good, you are loved.”
Question is, can these bad guys be rehabilitated, or is it time to take the “walking garbage” to the trash and lock them up forever?
Based on the New York Times best-selling graphic novel series by Australian author Aaron Blabey, “The Bad Guys” is kind of like “Ocean’s 11,” but for kids. The emotional undercurrents that Pixar weaves into their movies are missing, replaced with a snappy, stylish story that is more swagger than substance. The movie’s singular message—don’t judge a book by its cover—is a good one for kids, but it is hammered home with the subtly of a Don Rickles one liner. It’s a movie about not accepting stereotypes, that is ripe with stereotypes.
The animation is stylish, but not as sophisticated as we’ve come to expect from big screen offerings like this. Wolf’s fur is rudimentarily rendered and the overall look doesn’t have the zip of Pixar or other computer-generated films.
Having said all that, “The Bad Guys” succeeds through sheer strength of the characters and the humor in Etan Cohen and Hilary Winston’s witty script. There are silly characters kids will get a kick out of, like the flatulent piranha, coupled with jokes parents will appreciate.
Despite its shortcomings, in the end, “The Bad Guys” does good for the audience.
“Songbird,” a new film produced by Michael Bay and now on premium VOD, feels ripped from the headlines.
Like, today’s headlines.
The first film to shoot in Los Angeles during the lockdown details life during COVID.
Set in 2024, during the fourth year of pandemic, COVID has mutated, leaving the United States under martial law were infected citizens are forcibly removed from their homes. Treated like walking, talking biohazards they are housed in concentration camps called Q-Zones.
Meanwhile, motorcycle courier Nico (KJ Apa) is immune. A recovered COVID patient, he has the antibodies to fight off the disease. When his locked-down girlfriend Sarah (Sofia Carson) is suspected of contracting the virus, Nico springs into action to save her from being taken away.
There are side characters galore, like Bradley Whitford’s sex-crazed record producer, a lovelorn veteran played by Paul Walter Hauser, Demi Moore’s protective mom and an over-the-top Peter Stormare as the evil head of the Los Angeles’ “sanitation” department–but most of them exist only to heighten the grim desperation of the situation.
“Songbird” isn’t a politicized screed about masks or the virus’ origin. Instead, it’s a star-crossed style romance—”You’ve never been in the same room,” says Sara’s mother, “but he loves you.”—set against the backdrop of the worst world event in decades.
It would be one thing if “Songbird” had something to add the conversation about COVID, but it doesn’t. Instead, it plays off our worst collective fears in clumsy and exploitative ways.
It’s likely to appeal to conspiracy enthusiasts who may finger their tinfoil hats in excitement at the mention of bracelets for “munies”—the immune—an unchecked department of sanitation who arrest at will, apps that will report you if your temperature is above normal and ever-present surveillance.
For those not inclined toward dystopian extremes, “Songbird” is a crass reminder of the real-life death, sickness, unemployment and heartache COVID has wrought. It feels tone deaf, and worse, it’s a bad movie.
Another franchise, another eccentric genius. Robert Downey Jr. laves Tony Stark behind to return to the big screen in a reboot of a remake of a classic story of a man who could talk to animals.
When we first meet Dr. John Dolittle (Downey) he’s at the Howard Hughes recluse stage of his life. The passing of his wife has left him despondent, unable to enjoy the company of humans so he lives in seclusion with only a menagerie of animals for company.
To pass the time he plays chess with a timid gorilla named Chee-Chee (voice of Rami Malek) and in conversation with the various animals who crowd his home, including his trusted macaw advisor Polynesia (voice of Emma Thompson) and Jip (voice of Tom Holland), a bespectacled dog.
“I don’t care about anyone, anywhere, anymore,” the doctor says.
Of course, that’s not true. When animal lover Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) shows up at Dolittle’s gate with an injured squirrel (voice of Craig Robinson)—“I’m too beautiful to die,” the squirrel says.—on the same day the doctor is summoned to Buckingham Palace to see the ailing Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley), he is brought back into the human world. Her Majesty is gravely ill and if she dies the treasury will take the animal sanctuary Dr. Dolittle calls home. Worse, all his animals will be thrown out into the world during hunting season.
To save the Queen‘s life he must embark on a journey to find the Eden Tree and its magical, healing fruit. It’s trip fraught with danger and is the same journey that cost his beloved wife her life. Add to that some palace intrigue, an island of misfits and thieves, turbo boosting whales, a vengeful squirrel and even a dragon and you have a new chapter in the life of the man who can talk to animals.
Kids will likely find “Dolittle’s” chatty animals amusing but this isn’t simply a movie about wise cracking beasts. At its beating heart it is a movie about pain, but, as one character says, not the kind of hurt inflicted by a bullet or a knife. It’s about the agony of losing someone. Dolittle’s heart is broken by the death of his wife, and that ache is the engine that propels the entire movie. So, while the young’uns may giggle at the animals but the movie’s underlying downer vibe and generic approach suggests that Dolittle’s wife isn’t the only lifeless part of this movie.
Downey plays the character with a sense of bemused confusion, topped with a mealy-mouthed Billy Connolly impression that changes from scene to scene. It’s a pantomime performance that makes the best of his finely tuned comic timing but feels sloppy and needlessly mannered.
“Dolittle” contains some good pop psychology for children about working together—”Teamwork makes the dream work!”—and facing their fears but overall a movie featuring talking animals shouldn’t be this banal.
