Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about “Young Werther’s” study of complicated friendships, the end of life drama “The Room Next Door” and the audacious “Nickel Boys.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres and streaming this week, including “Young Werther’s” study of complicated friendships, the end of life drama “The Room Next Door,” the audacious “Nickel Boys” and the diamond heist movie “Den of Thieve 2: Pantera.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CP24 Breakfast to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the audacious “Nickel Boys” and the diamond heist movie “Den of Thieve 2: Pantera.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the CTV NewsChannel to talk about “Young Werther’s” study of complicated friendships, the end of life drama “The Room Next Door,” the audacious “Nickel Boys” and the diamond heist movie “Den of Thieve 2: Pantera.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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.
“Paper Year” is a coming-of-age story about two people who should have already come-of-age.
Out-of-work actor Dan Delaney (Avan Jogia) and aspiring writer Franny Winters (Eve Hewson) are impulsive twenty-somethings who married quickly, without any kind of life plan. Unemployed and carefree for much of their first year of wedded bliss, the dynamic of their relationship changes when he comes home one day with an announcement. “I forgot to tell you,” he says, “but I got a job. A real adult person, adult job” looking after the mansion and dogs of a b-movie star. As he stays home looking after the dogs, she takes a job as a junior writer on the game show “Goosed.” “We’re going to be rich,” he says. “Can I get a Nintendo?” Her career is on an upward swing while he stays in lounging by the pool, watching porn and playing videogames. Will they make it to their first anniversary as their careers go in two different directions? “What do you mean work?” he says. “It’s just you writing for your dumb job.”
“Paper Year” is a low-key examination of relationships, brought to life by strong performances by Hewson who, if she continues doing work this strong will soon lose the label of “Bono’s daughter, and Delaney. The pair has an easy way about them as they navigate the landmines of an unplanned life. Writer-director Rebecca Addelman provides realistic dialogue and relatively low-stakes situations that allow her actors to shine. Harassment at work, respect at home and straying feelings are all delicately addressed. It’s never terribly dramatic but neither is it stagey. Addelman and company are more interested in keeping it natural, allowing the characters drive the situations, not the other way round.
