I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about the web slinging antics of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the R-rated comedy “I Want Your Sex” and the android dreams of “Sheep in the Box.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 13:47)
I join CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis to talk about the web slinging antics of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the R-rated comedy “I Want Your Sex” and the android dreams of “Sheep in the Box.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renée Rodgers to talk about the new releases in theatres including the web slinging antics of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the R-rated comedy “I Want Your Sex” and the android dreams of “Sheep in the Box.”
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 web slinging antics of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the R-rated comedy “I Want Your Sex” and the android dreams of “Sheep in the Box.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
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 web slinging antics of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the R-rated comedy “I Want Your Sex” and the android dreams of “Sheep in the Box.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “I Want Your Sex,” a new comedy thriller starring Olivia Wilde and now playing in theatres, a naïve young man becomes an intern and muse to a provocative conceptual artist.
CAST: Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida, Charli XCX, Daveed Diggs. Directed by Gregg Araki.
REVIEW: Christopher Nolan may be the bold face name of the cinema summer, but, in a lower-case way, Olivia Wilde is giving him a run for this money. A potential Oscar nominee for both director and star of “The Invite,” she hands in another memorable performance in Gregg Araki’s erotic comedy “I Want Your Sex.”
The film opens with a nod to “Sunset Boulevard.” A woman floats face down in the pool of an opulent mansion.
But she is no Joe Gillis, or Norma Desmond for that matter. She’s Erika Tracy (Wilde), world famous neo-pop artist and self-described “outlaw against a puritanical world.” In other words, she’s a conceptual artist whose work surveys various fetishes and straight up kinky behavior.
A job opening for an intern in the weeks leading up to her next big gallery show brings fresh-faced art student Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) into her orbit. He’s broke—his roommate Apple (Chase Sui Wonders) has been paying their rent—trapped in a deeply unsatisfying relationship with disinterested med student Minerva (Charli XCX), and looking for new adventures.
Which is exactly what he finds with his “work” with Erika as his intern role shifts from joe jobs like chewing endless wads of gum for an art piece to sexual muse to something more explicit. “The more I hung out with Erika,” he says, “the more under her control I became.”
As Erika makes Elliot her, “sexual astronaut exploring the outer reaches of experience,” he soon comes to learns to never play it safe.
Gregg Araki’s first film since 2014’s “White Bird in a Blizzard,” “I Want Your Sex” isn’t as subversive as his other works, but his frisky indie edge is still very much in play. A lighthearted rejection of repression, particularly sexual, it embraces the Brat doctrine (although Charli XCX, the Queen of Brat, is the film’s tamest character) of embracing the messiness of life.
The sharp script, co-written by Araki and Karley Sciortino, allows Hoffman’s laidback way with a line to shine. When asked what the difference between Erika’s work and porn is, his response—“Lighting, context.”—is perfect and deadpan hilarious.
His commitment to the role is obvious, from the sexual vulnerability to his sincerity, but it’s Wilde’s performance that rules. She’s fearless physically and steals every scene with a charismatic presence and a natural-yet-heightened line delivery.
“I Want Your Sex” is a peep show that provides a satirical look at the art world, and attitudes about sex and desire, but it wouldn’t work nearly as well without the funny, dedicated performances from the leads.
SYNOPSIS: Set in 1962 Florida, “Nickel Boys,” a new drama from visionary director RaMell Ross now playing in theatres, sees Elwood, a young African American man sentenced to the brutal Nickel Academy reform school after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Inside he survives with a guidance and friendship with the cynical Turner.
CAST: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. Directed by RaMell Ross.
REVIEW: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, “Nickel Boys” uses a unique style to tell the story of oppression, trauma and resilience.
Director RaMell Ross shoots the film in the first person, from the perspective of his characters. In other words, we see what Elwood is seeing, but only catch a glimpse of him in the odd mirror or reflective surface he may encounter. The perspective changes from time to time, depending on who is the focus of the action.
It takes a moment to get used to, but once acclimatized the POV camera immerses the viewer in the story, allowing them to take note of the details that create the character’s situational awareness. It is a beautiful and audacious method that generates understanding and empathy through observation.
A sensory experience as well as a narrative one, “Nickel Boys” captures and even heightens the themes of its Pulitzer Prize winning source material. Racism hangs like a shroud over the reformatory scenes, and there are some vicious examples of inhumanity on display, but Ross makes sure to highlight Elwood and Turner’s humanity in the face of adversity.
“Nickel Boys” is an emotional work of art that bends the form to create an audacious and powerful film.
Three movies in you wouldn’t think there was that much story left to tell in the Trolls Universe.
And you’d be right. There isn’t.
But “Trolls Band Together,” the new animated jukebox musical featuring the voices of Anna Kendrick and Justine Timberlake, and now playing in theatres, isn’t so much about the story as it is the frenetic, psychedelic experience of watching it all unfold.
This time around, the story begins years ago with Baby Branch (Timberlake) making his debut with BroZone, the all-Troll boy band consisting of Floyd (electropop sensation Troye Sivan), John Dory (Eric André), Spruce (Daveed Diggs) and Clay (Kid Cudi). The pressures of life at the top of the charts, of chasing the perfect sound, is wearing away at the band, and when their choreography goes wrong during a live show, they decide to call it quits.
“We’re not in sync,” says elder brother John Dory. “We’ve gone from boys to men, and now there’s only one direction for us to go… to the back streets.”
Cut to years later. Branch is now married to Queen Poppy (Kendrick), queen of the ever optimistic Pop Trolls, and hasn’t been in contact with his brothers since their last show. “My brothers walked out on me,” says Branch, “and never came back.”
Out of the blue John Dory shows up with bad news. Their brother Floyd is being held captive in a diamond prison by pop superstars Velvet and Veneer (Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells) who siphon off his talent to enhance their terrible singing voices. “I want to be famous,” says Velvet, “but I don’t want to work for it.”
The only way to rescue Floyd is to put the band back together and create the one thing powerful enough to shatter a diamond, the perfect family harmony of all their voices singing together.
The experience of watching “Trolls Band Together” is not unlike watching a great fireworks display. They both distract the eye, are often super cool looking and may cause temporary elation, but as soon as they’re over, so is the thrill. The frantically paced film is all spectacle, glitter and musical dance numbers.
There isn’t a moment for the audience or the movie to catch its breath, as though director Walt Dohrn edited out any moments without action, leaving behind all peaks and no valleys. The razzle dazzle may appeal to younger audiences but parents, despite the addition of adult level humor, may be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of imagery in every frame.
Still, it’s hard to dislike a movie that emphasizes the importance of family and community, has credible boy band songs (NSYNC perform “Better Place,” their first original song in 22 years) and 2D animation sequences inspired by “Yellow Submarine” and “Fantasia.”
Disney takes you back under the sea with “The Little Mermaid,” the latest of their photo-realistic, live action remakes of classic animated movies. Based on the 1837 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name, the new film places the titular mermaid in an undersea world that brings to mind your work computer’s aquarium screensaver.
Singer-songwriter and actress Halle Bailey stars as Ariel, the mermaid daughter of the Kingdom of Atlantica’s ruler King Triton (Javier Bardem). She is a free spirit, fascinated by the human world. Unlike his daughter, the overprotective King is no fan of humans and has forbidden her from visiting the “above world.”
But, like the song says, she “wants to be where the people are,” despite her father’s warnings. “I want to see them dancing,” she sings. “Walking around on those… what do you call them? Oh feet!”
Her dry land dreams are fulfilled when she rescues the human Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from drowning. She is immediately smitten, and determined to live above sea level.
“This obsession with humans has got to stop,” scolds King Triton.
“I just want to know more about them,” she says.
Following her heart, Ariel makes a deal with Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), an evil sea witch with glow-in-the-dark phosphorescence tentacles, who grants the mermaid’s wish to be with Eric in trade for her “siren song,” i.e. her voice.
“Here’s the deal,” she says. “I’ll whip up a little potion to make you human for three days. Before the sun sets on the third day, you and Princey must share a kiss, and not just any kiss. The kiss of true love. If you do, you will remain human permanently. But if you don’t, you’ll turn back into a mermaid and you belong to me.”
Ursula’s “premium package” comes at a high cost, however. A steep price tag that could cost King Triton his crown and Ariel her life.
You can’t shake the feeling, while watching the new “The Little Mermaid,” that it is competing with itself.
The 2023 photo-realistic animation is very good, presenting beautiful, fluid images, buoyed by theatrical flourishes from director Rob Marshall and strong performances from Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy. The new songs, by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, are good too, particularly the fun “Scuttlebutt.”
But it feels like something is missing. That’s the magic that made the ink and paint “Little Mermaid” an enduring classic.
There is plenty of razzmatazz. Marshall, a veteran of big musical extravaganzas like “Chicago” and “Into the Woods,” is at his best when applying a Broadway style gloss to the musical numbers. “Under the Sea,” a holdover from the first film, is a knockout. The psychedelic underwater cinematography will give your eyeballs a workout and it has a good beat and you can dance to it.
But for every Ziegfeld Follies style dancing sea slug number—super cool—there is yet another movie-stopping scene of Ursula’s endless exposition where she explains her nefarious plot or a padded action scene. Those slow spots give the storytelling a choppiness that would capsize a lesser vessel but Bailey’s strong, emotional vocals and star-making performance coupled with a fun turn from Daveed Diggs as the “educated crustation” Sebastian keep the ship from sinking.
“The Little Mermaid’s” message of a young person giving up their voice so they could be heard, is unchanged, and is still powerful, but feels waterlogged by comparison to the original.
