I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Scott Hirsch to recap the final days of TIFF and talk about the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 13:09)
I join CP24 to talk about the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres and streaming this week including the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues” and the Netflix doc A.K.A. Chatlie Sheen.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres including the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
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 review the rockin’ “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” and suggest a cocktail to enjoy while watching the movie.
Click HERE to listen to Shane and me talk about how to correctly pronounce Denzel Washington’s name (you’ve been doing it wrong), a new Davbid Bowie musical and an unlikely stand up comic.
For the Booze & Reviews look at the rockin’ “Spinal Tapo II: Last Rites” and some cocktails to enjoy with the movie click 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 harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” a new mockumentary now rockin’ in theatres, sees the estranged members of metal legends Spinal Tap thrown together for one last gig. Times have changed, but have they?
CAST: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Fran Drescher, Questlove, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Kerry Godliman and Paul Shaffer. Directed by Rob Reiner.
REVIEW: “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” the legacy sequel to the forty-one-year-old classic mock rock doc, captures the spirit of the original, but does not turn the volume of laughs up to 11.
Following a fifteen-year break, the estranged members of heavy metal band Spinal Tap— David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls (Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer)—are forced to reunite for a one-off show in New Orleans.
Their acrimonious split sent them in different directions. Guitarist Tufnel has a shop called Nigel’s Cheese & Guitars, where he trades cheese for musical instruments. Singer/guitarist McKean writes scores for b-horror movies like the retirement home horror “Night of the Assisted Living Dead”, and bassist Smalls runs a glue museum called Stick to It.
Reluctantly reunited, they are once again under the scrutiny of documentarian Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner) who captures the backstage drama, ego trips and the search for a drummer.
The original film was groundbreaking, a masterful mock doc that set the template for everything from “Bob Roberts” and “Borat” to “The Office” and “A Mighty Wind.” The new film, however, feels like nostalgia. We’re used to the form, and while it’s nostalgic fun to spend time with silly-but-sweet rockers, our familiarity with the original blunts the impact of the new one.
There are some laugh out loud moments in “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” but the satire doesn’t land in quite the same way it did forty-one years ago. British comedian Chris Addison’s portrayal of the music hating concert promoter is bang on. He’s the embodiment of the ruthless music executive who, with a straight face, suggests it would secure the band’s legacy if, “during the gig at least one, but ideally no more than two of you were to die.” When he’s on screen the spoof is sharpened to a fine point.
It’s when the film gets awkwardly reflective with a mix of satire and emotion that it hits a flat note. As old wounds are opened and an air of mortality hangs over the band, the jokes become fewer and further between. A new song, “Rockin’ in the Urn,” is a reflection on aging, but it hits the expected tone, self-serious, over the top and metal as hell. That scene hits the right chord, managing laughs with the band’s reflections on refusing to stop rockin’ in the face of their own impermanence.
“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” is a cover version of a fan favorite. Guest, McKean, Shearer and Reiner, who directs as well as appears as Marty Di Bergi, are game, but the looming specter of the original casts a long shadow over the proceedings.
Liam Gallagher calls it “a national treasure.” “Music seeps from the walls,” said Elton John. Film, composer John Williams called it the “mother of the music that was birthed there.”
The place is London’s Abbey Road Studios, one of the most famous recording studios in the world, and the subject of “If These Walls Could Sing,” a new documentary/hagiography now streaming on Disney+, directed by Mary McCartney, eldest child of Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman.
From playing home to everyone from cellist Pablo Casals and Cliff Richard to Pink Floyd and Kate Bush to Fela Kuti and all the above-mentioned stars to, of course, the Beatles and so many other 20th and 21st century luminaries, the studio has made an indelible impact on recording arts and popular culture.
Broken into sections defined by era, McCartney presents an engaging nuts and bolts history of the studio, from its grand opening in 1931 to early rock and roll, to the heady days of Beatlemania and onwards to the young artists who create new music there, while soaking up the vibes of everyone who came before. The mix of archival footage, music and talking heads from the musicians who recorded there, paints an affectionate and informative portrait of the people and the place.
The stories are fun. Did you know Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin played acoustic guitar on Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” in Abbey Road’s Studio Two? That Linda Eastman brought a pony named Jet, who would later inspire the famous Wings’ song, to the studio? That Elton John, then still called Reginald Dwight, played piano on The Hollies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”?
There are more tales from the recording studio, by-and-large, told by those who made the music, including Kanye West in a segment obviously shot some time ago, but the movie lacks real depth. When Paul McCartney is asked what makes Abbey Road so special, he says, “It’s a great studio. All the microphones work. It sounds silly but you go to some studios…” It’s not the most illuminating answer, but if you want details, John Williams goes deeper later in the film, describing the studio’s “nice face” and “nice sound.”
“It’s a gift to music,” he says. “I have to tell you.”
“If These Walls Could Sing” is nostalgia dolled up in a pretty package, with all the rough edges shorn off. Rock docs probably shouldn’t be this respectful, still, as music movies go, this one mines rich, entertaining territory.
