Richard speaks to “CTV News at Six” anchor Andria Case about the best movies and television to watch this weekend. This week we have a look at the Alanis Morissette documentary “Jagged,” now streaming on Crave, the Norman Jewison retrospective on Hollywood Suite and the South African crime drama “Reyka” on BritBox.
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 19:44)
Richard joins CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” the fourth film in “Ghostbusters” franchise, the inspirational new Will Smith movie “King Richard” and the Alanis Morissette documentary “Jagged,” now streaming on Crave.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including the rebooted “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” the fourth film in “Ghostbusters” franchise, the inspirational new Will Smith movie “King Richard,” Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Power of the Dog” and the Alanis Morissette documentary “Jagged,” now streaming on Crave.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
After the 1995 release of Canadian singer Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” it seemed like songs like “You Oughta Know,” “Hand in My Pocket” and “Ironic” were pouring out of every radio, turntable and CD player in the world. The album was a juggernaut, vaulting to the top of the charts and making Morissette a superstar in the process.
“Jagged,” a new documentary from director Alison Klayman, details Morissette’s early Canadian success, her rise to fame, the making of the album and the exploitation she suffered as a teen star.
At its bedrock “Jagged” features an amiable interview from Morissette, barefoot, curled up in a chair recounting the events of her life. It should be noted that the singer has since denounced the film as “salacious” and “reductive” and “not the story I agreed to tell.” Nonetheless, in the interview she appears to be open, forthright and helps capture the excitement of her sudden ascent to fame.
The early years section covers her as a young pop star, often treated as a commodity by the record industry. Puberty brought with it an eating disorder, sexual harassment and a dip in popularity. A move to Los Angeles offered an opportunity for reinvention, and, working with co-writer Glen Ballard, she crafted the rock-oriented “Jagged Little Pill” which would on to sell more than 33 million copies globally.
Here the film makes good use of concert footage and home movies to portray the whirlwind of the journey from unknown to superstar, from clubs to stadiums. It provides context in terms of time and place and the fortunes of women in rock at the time.
The one question everyone seems to want answered—Who, exactly is “You Oughta Know” about?—however, goes largely unanswered.
What “Jagged” does best is give Morissette her due as someone who weathered the storm of worldwide success, and emerged on the other side, bloodied but unbowed.
While occasionally feeling like a music video, “Jagged” does capture the surreal energy that comes along with roaring to “overnight” fame.
Four years ago a restaurant tour by two British comedians resulted in one of the most charming films of 2010. “The Trip” was an improvised journey not just through Northern England’s culinary scene but through the psyches of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they comment on life, usually while doing spot-on Michael Caine impressions.
The Michael “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” Caine impressions are back in full force in “The Trip to Italy,” as are the laughs and the self-aware conversations.
This time around Coogan and Brydon rent a Mini Cooper and retrace the steps of the Byron and the other Romantic poets’ grand tour of Italy set to the music of Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill.” They eat, banter and take in the view from Liguria to Capri. Between a hysterical re-imagining of the dialogue from “The Dark Knight Rises”—“I can Hardy understand what Tom’s saying.”—and a one-sided conversation with a preserved corpse in Pompeii, is a study on everything from fatherhood to fame to faithfulness.
Director Michael Winterbottom luxuriates in the chemistry between the two men. They are naturals, an intellectual version of The Two Ronnies, who riff on everything from pop culture hot buttons like Batman and pop music to the carnal exploits of Lord Byron. Their interplay is the key to keeping the rambling narrative on track and it is enough. They are the film’s glue and the sheer joy of watching them spar prevents the film from dipping into self-indulgence. That, and the gorgeous scenery.
“The Trip to Italy” is a riotous comedy that finds time for self-reflection, Roger Moore impressions and the timeless Alanis Morissette vs Avril Lavigne debate and it is intimate and infectious.
