I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renée Rodgers to talk about the new releases in theatres including the alien adventures of “The Outer Threat,” the moody “Her Private Hell” and the existential sci fi of “Lars Shrike Walks the Night.”
Watch 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 alien adventures of “The Outer Threat,” the moody “Her Private Hell” and the existential sci fi of “Lars Shrike Walks the Night.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Her Private Hell,” a new sci-fi mystery thriller from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, and now playing in theatres, a mysterious killer comes into contact with characters in two timeframes.
CAST: Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, Hidetoshi Nishijima. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.
REVIEW: Few things are worse than listening to someone explain their nightmares. Watching the dreamlike “Her Private Hell” is one of them. Nicolas Winding Refn’s impenetrable endurance test strains patience as much as the most long-winded dream recounting.
A story of fathers, daughters and a nasty serial killed named The Leather Man, “Her Private Hell” is set against the surreal backdrop of a fog drenched netherworld that recalls a Billy Squier video from 1984. “Don’t fight the mist, just move through it.”
Sophie Thatcher plays actress Elle, star of a cheesy sci-fi film called “Candy Floss.” A cross between “Star Wars” and “Barbarella,” it also features Hunter (Kristine Froseth), a newbie obsessed with the trappings of fame.
Elle’s job is complicated when her movie producer father Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott) announces his wife, Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), who happens to be Elle’s former lover, will be taking over as producer.
“This movie’s gonna be hell,” Elle says and at this point it’s as if she’s warning the audience about the film they’re watching not the fictional one she’s starring in.
When Elle and Hunter witness The Leather Man gruesomely kill a young woman, the story suddenly switches to postwar Japan, and a GI named Kay’s (Charles Melton) quest to find and destroy The Leather Man.
Both beautiful and banal, “Her Private Hell,” Refn’s first film in ten years, is all style and no substance. It indulges in his trademarked aesthetic—scenes bathed in neon light, hypnotic long takes and graphic violence—while offering little in the way of a comprehensible story. Despite its gloss, and high-minded ideas about revealing each character’s personal hell, it is crushed under the weight of its own moody pretention.
Refn, who now goes by the brand name NWR, isn’t afraid to take chances—his story is all over the place and he even has his characters speak in a wolf language at one point—but it’s all in service to a story that is more punishing than pleasurable.
I join CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis to talk about the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 29:53)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to brush your teeth. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you wazzzzup with the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Power Ballad,” a new feel-good dramedy starring Paul Rudd now playing on theatres, a pop star, desperate for a hit, steals a song from a washed-up wedding singer.
CAST: Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Havana Rose Liu, Jack Reynor. Directed by John Carney.
REVIEW: Filmmaker John Carney infuses “Power Ballad” with his trademark emotional authenticity. The director of “Once,” “Begin Again” and “Sing Street,” uses music as a vehicle to tell a story of ambition and personal transformation.
Paul Rudd is Rick Power, an American musician who fell in love with an Irish woman while on tour. He relocated to Dublin, married and raised a daughter, leaving his dream of playing Madison Square Garden on the back burner. He pays the bills in a wedding band called The Bride & Groove, playing covers songs that provide a paycheque but no artistic satisfaction.
At a gig at an old Irish castle Rick meets Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) when the former boy-band star jumps up on stage to sing a spirited version of the Stevie Wonder standard “I Wish.” Later, over beers and a bottle of scotch, the two jam, building a tune around one of Rick’s old songs called “How to Write a Song (Without You).”
“I’ve been toying with this one for years,” Rick says. “You have to record that. That’s my song.”
Six months later, while walking through a mall, Rick hears the song again, this time as a fully finished track pouring out of a store speaker. “That’s my chorus and verse. I wrote that song.” As the tune rises on the charts, Rick fights for recognition.
Paul Rudd leaves the broad humor of “Anchorman” behind to blend humor and heart à la his work in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” or “I Love You, Man.” The script, co-written by John Carney and Peter McDonald, is gently humorous, milking laughs out of the situations rather than from outright jokes. There are laughs but they are touched by anguish, allowing Rudd to exercise his dramatic chops.
The showdown between Rick and pop star Danny, nicely portrayed by real life musician Nick Jonas, is a little too slapticky to provide a real emotional crescendo to the story but what that scene lacks in authenticity, the movie makes up for in a crowd pleasing, more personal, final act.
Carney uses music as the basis of “Power Ballad,” but it works best when it puts down the guitar and focusses on Rick’s personal tale and not just his chase for recognition.
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the World War II drama “Pressure,” the romantic crime drama “Tuner” and the existential horror of “Backrooms.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to brush your teeth. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the World War II drama “Pressure,” the romantic crime drama “Tuner” and the existential horror of “Backrooms.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
