YOU TUBE: THREE MOVIES/THIRTY SECONDS! FAST REVIEWS FOR BUSY PEOPLE!
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Posts Tagged ‘Ewan McGregor’
CTV NEWS AT 6: RICHARD ON MOVIES AND TV SHOWS TO STREAM THIS WEEKEND!
I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the two dinosaur movcies in theatres this weekend, “The End of Oak Street” and “PAW Patrol 3: The Dino Movie.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:50)
CTV ATLANTIC: RICHARD AND TODD BATTIS ON NEW MOVIES IN THEATRES!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Stephanie Tsicos to talk about the biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street,” the kid’s flick “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” and the stoner comedy “The Wrong Girls.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
CTV NEWS TORONTO AT FIVE WITH ZURAIDAH ALMAN: RICHARD ON WHAT TO WATCH!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about the biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street,” the kid’s flick “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” and the stoner comedy “The Wrong Girls.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 15:06)
CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!
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 biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street,” the kid’s flick “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” and the stoner comedy “The Wrong Girls.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
THE END OF OAK STREET: 4 STARS. “a cut above the recent “Jurassic” reboots.”
SYNOPSIS: In “the End of Oak Street,” a new sci fi survival film starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, and now playing in theaters, the Platt family finds their quiet neighborhood overrun by dinosaurs when their suburban street is transported to a dangerous prehistoric realm. “Gather supplies. Grab anything you can use as a weapon.”
CAST: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery. Directed by David Robert Mitchell.
REVIEW: Is Amblinesque a word? It’s not, but it should be because it’s the best way to describe “The End of Oak Street.” A heaping handful of classic Spielberg tropes, some genuine shocks and laughs, the movie feels like the kind of popcorn flick Amblin would have made in the 1980s.
Set in 1982, “The End of Oak Street” centers on unhappily married couple Greg and Denise Platt (Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway) and their kids, typical treen Brian (Christian Convery) and the Carl Sagan-quoting Audrey (Maisy Stella). They live lives of quiet desperation on Oak Street in the fictional town of Flowervale, Michigan. Greg has lost his job, but can’t bring himself to tell the family, so he delivers pizzas at night to keep a few dollars coming in. Denise dreams of divorce and is secretly writing a book about a frustrated housewife.
The film’s action begins with a simple question. “Is this the end of the world?” asks Brian (Christian Convery).
“I think our house, our neighborhood, our whole street has moved,” says Denise (Anne Hathaway). “I think our house is somewhere else now… in the past.”
With their suburban street transported to a prehistoric place and time, they find themselves battling bloodthirsty dinosaurs, who come complete with paleontologically correct feathers and fur. “Gather supplies,” commands Denise. “Grab anything you can use as a weapon.”
Their fight for survival brings them closer as a family but will their new family bond be enough to defeat the deadly dinosaurs who see the family as an afternoon snack.
“God’s not gonna let us die here,” says Brian.
“Greg, you only go to church at Christmas,” replies Denise, “and now you’re telling the kids God’s looking out for us?”
“What about the people who are out there getting eaten?” adds Audrey.
Call it “Jurassic Suburb” if you like, but no matter how obvious the references in “The End of Oak Street” feel, it’s not just a Valentine to the blockbusters of yesteryear. Director David Robert Mitchell mines everything from Spielberg ‘s big dino movies, “Poltergeist’s” suburban terror, and the sci fi of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” but grafts on a family drama that adds emotional investment and raises the stakes.
At a brisk 99 minutes it barrels along but allows time for character development of the core four before unleashing the dinosaurs. That combo—compelling characters and hungry dinos—goes a long way to hide the film’s absurd aspects. From the silly science behind the street’s move to prehistoric times, the dino sex and pooping, and some truly boneheaded family survival decisions, much of the story exists in a logic free zone that makes the Oak Street situation itself seem reasonable.
Still, “The End of Oak Street” is a cut above the recent “Jurassic” reboots, delivering a blast of late summer faux Amblin adrenaline on the big screen.
MOTHER, COUCH: 2 STARS. “a dark comedy drenched in metaphor and allegory.”
LOGLINE: In this absurdist comedy, three adult children (Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans and Lara Flynn Boyle) must figure out why their mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, refuses to leave a green couch on the second floor of a rundown furniture store. With the help of the store managers (Taylor Russell and F. Murray Abraham) the siblings go on a voyage of self-discovery as they work on getting their couch potato mother out of the store.
CAST: Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lake Bell, F. Murray Abraham, Ellen Burstyn. Written and directed by Niclas Larsson.
REVIEW: A mystery with no real solution, “Mother, Couch” is a family drama that examines themes of parenting and toxic relationships through a dreamlike lens. It offers loads of existential atmosphere, but no easy answers. Writer/director Niclas Larsson, adapting the novel “Mamma i sofa” by Jerker Virdborg, presents a strange mix of surrealism and sentimentality that never quite gels.
It’s a shame because the actor’s ensemble, led by McGregor, hand in solid, earthbound performances that keep this flight of fancy from spinning completely out of control. Standouts include McGregor, who plays the genuine befuddlement of the situation, allowing his long-suppressed emotions to overflow as things grow weirder and weirder, and Boyle, whose bitterness hangs over the situation like a shroud.
Drenched in metaphor and allegory, the dark comedy “Mother, Couch” breathes the same air as Charlie Kaufman and Ari Aster, but Larsson allows the metaphysical aspects of the movie to overwhelm the story’s true emotion.
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO: 4 STARS. “brings this wooden boy to life.”
“Pinocchio,” the wooden boy with a lie detector for a nose and dreams of becoming a real boy bouncing around his sawdusty brain, is one of the most reimagined characters in children’s literature. Earlier this year Tom Hanks starred in a traditional remake of the 138 year-old-story that echoed the classic Disney film.
The Oscar winning director of “The Shape of Water” takes the story in his own direction in “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,” a stop motion retelling, now playing in theatres and coming soon to Netflix. In what may be the only version of the story featuring a cameo by Mussolini, the movie travels a different, darker path than previous adaptations.
Del Toro keeps the original story’s Italian location, but places the action between World Wars I and II. Woodworker Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) is a skilled artisan, lovingly teaching his young son Carlo the ropes of the craft while working on large crucifix at a local church. When Carlo is killed in a bombing raid, Geppetto spirals into despair and alcoholism.
While soothing his loss with booze, the heartbroken Geppetto cuts down an Italian pine tree near his late son’s grave and builds a roughhewn puppet as a replacement for his boy. Gangly, with a long nose, the puppet sits slumped in Geppetto’s workshop until a magical Wood Sprite (voice of Tilda Swinton) breathes life into him and appoints Sebastian J. Cricket (voice of Ewan McGregor), a mustachioed insect who lives inside the puppet, as his guide and conscience.
The rowdy newborn, dubbed Pinocchio (voice of Gregory Mann), doesn’t make a great first impression on Geppetto or the local townsfolk. But as Geppetto warms to him, the locals, including fascist government official Podestà (Ron Perlman), don’t quite know what to make of him.
“Everybody likes him,” says Pinocchio, pointing to the still under construction crucifix. “He’s made of wood too. Why do they like him and not me?”
As Pinocchio tries to figure out his place in the world, he soon discovers that not everyone has his best interests in mind.
This is not your parent’s “Pinocchio.” Del Toro sticks to the bones of author Carlo Collodi’s original plot, but expands the story with a deep dive into what it means to be human, mortality, the weight of expectation and the horrors of fascism. It doesn’t sound particularly family friendly, but while there are some intense, nightmarish images, this is a fairy tale in the Brothers Grimm tradition. It speaks to the issues surrounding growing up, whether you’re made of wood or flesh and blood, and should be fine for kids ten and up.
Visually spectacular, the stop motion animation gives the movie a more organic feel than it may have had if rendered in computer generated images. Rich in detail and imagination, the film’s style mixes and matches dreams with nightmares to create a palette that paints the fanciful and the earthbound in equal measure.
“Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” does something remarkable. Just as the Wood Sprite breathed new life into Geppetto’s puppet, Del Toro breathes new life into a very familiar and often-told story. He is buoyed by fine voice work and visuals, but it is the auteur’s allegorical stamp that really brings this wooden boy to life.
RAYMOND & RAY: 4 STARS. “a low-key dramedy with a high-level ensemble cast.”
The main characters of “Raymond & Ray,” played by Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke, pack a great deal of emotional baggage on the trip to their father’s funeral.
The leads play estranged half-brothers reunited after five years, on the occasion of their abusive father’s death.
Ray is a clean-and-sober widower and former trumpet player with a temper. His life has been colored by his father’s abuse, and that fractious relationship has been a burden to him for decades.
Raymond, equally scarred by his upbringing, is outwardly more successful, but the cracks are beginning to show. He’s not allowed to drive because of a recent DUI and his marriage is in tatters.
They are not close, but are bonded by the bad treatment suffered at the hand of their father.
The funeral is the next day, hours away in Richmond, Virginia, and Ray is reluctant. “Are you really going to go, after the things he did to you?” he asks Raymond. “We don’t have to go,” says Ray. “He’s dead. He’ll never know.”
On the subsequent trip they rehash the sins of their father, and later confront the many surprises that await in Richmond. There are more half-siblings, an ex-lover Lucía (Maribel Verdú) and, most surprising of all, everyone speaks warmly of the man they feared.
This tragicomic story of suppressed rage, of confronting the past, healing and facing the future, is wonderfully brought to life by the leads.
The easy-going pacing allows McGregor and Hawke to bite down hard and make a meal of the characters of Raymond and Ray. McGregor hides a simmering rage under Raymond’s button-down façade, while Hawke gives Ray a world-weary roughness to the free-spirited former musician and addict. They bring a winning combo of frustration and humor to the movie, while Verdú provides real warmth in this existential look at life.
“Raymond & Ray,” now streaming on Apple TV+, is a low-key dramedy with a high-level ensemble cast that elevates the story of family trauma.
