I sit with Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to go over some of the week’s biggest entertainment stories and movies playing in theatres. We talk about actors covering musicians, how Matthew McConaughey trademarked likeness, voice, famous catchphrase to squash AI fakes, why Pamelas Anderson doesn’t want to sit next to Seth Rogen and a quick review of “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the CTV NewsChanel to talk about the fiery “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the crime drama “Dead Man’s Wire” and the shake, rattle and roll of “The Testament of Ann Lee.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about the first animal ever nominated (and then to win) in a major acting category typically reserved for humans, the nexty season of “The White Lotus,” and two David Bowie stories to make fans smile. Then, on Booze & Reviews I have a look at “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” and suggest some drinks to enjoy while watching the movie.
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 fiery “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the crime drama “Dead Man’s Wire” and the shake, rattle and roll of “The Testament of Ann Lee.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: The fourth installment in the post-apocalyptic “28 Days” film series, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” picks up with young Rage Virus survivor Spike (Alfie Williams) joining cult leader Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal’s (Jack O’Connell) notorious gang. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) bonds with a figure from the infected world. These alliances raise an important question: who should we fear, the ruthless survivors or the infected?
CAST: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry. Directed by Nia DaCosta.
REVIEW: A mix of brutality and compassion, and laced with dark humour, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” finds empathy amid chaos in a smart horror film heavy with subtext.
When the action picks up, soon after the events of last year’s grisly coming-of-age story “28 Years Later,” twelve-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), cut adrift in the Rage Virus infected mainland after the death of his father, is a reluctant member of a sadistic gang called the Jimmies, who model their look on notorious predator Jimmy Savile.
Led by sadistic cult leader Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (“Sinners” star Jack O’Connell), the self-proclaimed “favorite son of Old Nick,” the band of post-apocalyptic marauders—who all have names like Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), Jimmy Fox (Sam Locke), Jimmy Snake (Ghazi Al Ruffai), Jimmima (Emma Laird)—make the Droogs of “A Clockwork Oranges” look like do-gooders.
As they slice-and-dice their way through the world of the infected, inflicting their twisted ritualistic torture on anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path, elsewhere, former GP Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) discovers a kernel of humanity inside Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) the Alpha leader of the infected.
In Kelson’s Bone Temple, a wooded area decked out with skulls as a loving tribute to the dead, the Jimmies’ cruelty and Kelson’s indelible humanity collide.
“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” features many gross and gory images. Samson scoops brains out of the skull of one of his victims with his fingers, and several folks are flayed alive in one particularly unpleasant sequence, but it isn’t the horrific bloodletting that will stick in the memory. The gruesome stuff is effectively done and highlights the inhumanity of the situation, but it is one bravado sequence, laden with heavy metal swagger, that imprints.
No spoilers here, but Iron Maiden has never looked so cool or so threatening. After the sequence, and you’ll know it when you see it, the audience I saw this with cheered and burst into applause like they were at a rock concert.
Laced with commentary about empathy over evil and extremism, about the double-edged search for purpose—one that leads the ruthless Jimmies down a path to savagery, while Kelson chooses a more benevolent journey—and the power of connection, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” paints a vivid picture of moral complexity in troubled times. That it provides thrills, one fiery, knock-out sequence, and manages to make Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World” seem poignant, are added bonuses.
Rich in tone and story and propelled by terrific performances from Fiennes and O’Connell, it engages the head and heart.
SYNOPSIS: In “Eleanor the Great,” the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson now playing in theatres, June Squibb plays a woman who tells lies to fit in with a new group of people.
CAST: June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, Chiwetel Ejiofor. Directed by Scarlett Johansson.
REVIEW: A story of loss and grief, “Eleanor the Great” gives 95-year-old star June Squibb the best role of her decades long career.
When we first meet Eleanor (Sqibb) she’s living in Florida with Bessie (Rita Zohar) her best friend of 70 years. Their husbands have passed, and the two are so tight they share everything, including a bedroom equipped with twin beds. When Bessie has nightmares of her time in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, Eleanor comforts her with conversation and tea.
When Bessie passes away, Eleanor she moves in with her daughter (Jessica Hecht) in New York. Lonely without her best friend, she attends a support group, unaware it’s for Holocaust survivors. A convert to Judaism, Eleanor is Jewish but grew up in the Midwest, far from the horrors of the Holocaust. Flustered when she is pressed to share her experience, she co-opts Bessie’s stories, telling them as her own.
When Nina (Erin Kellyman), a young journalism student takes an interest in her stories, the lie gets bigger than she ever could have imagined.
For her directorial debut Johansson tackles a touchy subject. The use of the Holocaust as a plot device and the essaying the ethical implications of Eleanor’s fabrications is daring stuff, but Johansson and screenwriter Tory Kamen use the story to study themes of grief, community and friendship. Eleanor’s telling of Bessie’s experiences is her way of keeping her friend alive, in memory anyway. It is a lie, and a hurtful one, but it is her misguided expression of grief for the loss of her closest friend.
Squibb hands in a feisty performance. Eleanor is quick witted, with a bit of an attitude, but she exhibits an emotional depth that conveys the heartbreak that fuels the events of the movie.
“Eleanor the Great” is a solid, if uneven debut for Johansson, but it provides Squibb with a career high.
SYNOPSIS: The third film in the “28 Days Later” post-apocalyptic horror franchise, “28 Years Later” takes place, as the title suggests, thirty years after the Rage virus devastated the UK. A small group of survivors lives in isolation on a fortified island accessible only by a causeway connected to the mainland. When one of the islanders and his son goes to the mainland, they discover the grim reality of the outside world. “There are strange people on the mainland,” says Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). “That’s why our home is so precious.”
CAST: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Erin Kellyman, Edvin Ryding. Directed by Danny Boyle, written by Alex Garland.
REVIEW: A grisly coming-of-age story, “28 Years Later” has elements of graphic horror, but director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland focus on the emotional travails of its twelve-year-old protagonist Spike (Alfie Williams) to provide the film’s bleak tone. A mix and match of pulse racing action scenes and earnest introspection, it’s as much about the horror of growing up and learning about the harder edges of life as it is about the terror of the infected zombies.
Divided into two expeditions as Spike ventures into the mainland on a rite of passage with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to learn how to kill the infected—“The more you kill,” Jamie tells Spike, “the easier it gets.”—and later, as he goes back on a journey of discovery with his mother Isla (Jody Comer), the storytelling is episodic but bonded by the study of death in all its forms.
In a kill or be killed world, death is around every corner, and young Spike learns to process the existential idea of death as necessary to his own survival. His lessons deepen when death becomes personal and he learns to find meaning in loss, something that transcends the primal urge to survive.
Through death and loss, he learns about life and resilience. It’s this exploration of personal growth that separates “28 Years Later” from the previous films in the franchise which leaned into survival and systemic failures over emotional evolution.
“28 Years Later” features some unforgettable imagery. Partially shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max cameras, Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle adopt a guerilla style that adds a frenetic intensity to the action sequences.
An abandoned Shell petrol station with a sign missing the “S,” is a playful reminder of the terrible situation that transpired as the Rage virus turned the area into a living hell.
Later, a long sequence in Dr. Ian Kelson’s (a terrific Ralph Fiennes) “Memento Mori,” a wooded area decked out with bones as a loving tribute to the dead, infected or otherwise, is visually stunning as an eerie reminder of mortality.
Despite some choppy storytelling, and a sequel ready ending, “28 Years Later” is a welcome addition to the franchise. More reflective, it is both intellectually and emotionally intense.
