I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the whale of a tale “Whalefall,” the pulpy and pious “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” the documentary “You Can See Everything” and the rock ‘em, sock ‘em action “Street Fighter.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko to talk about the whale of a tale “Whalefall,” the pulpy and pious “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” and the rock ‘em, sock ‘em action “Street Fighter.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to wind your watch. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the whale of a tale “Whalefall,” the pulpy and pious “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” and the rock ‘em, sock ‘em action “Street Fighter.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Street Fighter,” a new martial arts film based on the iconic Capcom video game of the same name, a battle between estranged fighters Ryu and Ken uncovers a wide-ranging conspiracy. “This tournament isn’t what you think it is,” says Chun-Li (Callina Liang). “If you want to save your brother, then you must fight.”
CAST: Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i, David Dastmalchian, Cody Rhodes, Eric André, Andrew Schulz, Vidyut Jammwal, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jason Momoa. Directed by Kitao Sakurai.
REVIEW: The “Street Fighter” franchise returns to the big screen for the first time since the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raúl Juliá (in his final role) and Kylie Minogue team up earned a 20% rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Set in 1993, the new movie sees estranged friends and martial artists Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) brought together by Chun-Li (Callina Liang), an envoy of power mad dictator Lord M.Bison (David Dastmalchian), to battle in the second World Warrior Tournament. “The fiercest, strongest, deadliest fighters on Earth. This is Street Fighter!”
Fists fly, but when Ryu and Ken learn of a deadly conspiracy to siphon the fighter’s “Psycho Power” to energize Bison, a Hurricane Kick to the face or a Buffalo Headbutt will be the least of their problems.
There’s more, but the story doesn’t matter much. It’s mostly a framework to showcase the fights, which are plentiful and should please fans who want their kung fu action unencumbered by a coherent plot. Highlights are a 2D anime-inspired flashback to the Ryu vs. Sagat fight, a showdown between Jason Momoa’s big green fighting machine Blanka and Ryu and a slapstick infused hotel room fight between Ryu and Ken. The fight choreography takes its lead from the games, and provides the rock ‘em, sock ‘em action fans expect.
Apart from the visceral fight fun, there isn’t much here for those unfamiliar with the games.
Noah Centineo, Cody Rhodes, who plays the elaborately coiffed fighter Guile, and ring announcer Eric Andre understand the assignment, fully embracing the silly, ‘90s throwback vibe.
“Street Fighter” is pure fan service. It’s more faithful to its source material than the 1994 version and comes with plenty of spectacle but the slack pace and disregard for story will likely test the patience of non-fans.
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Matt Skube to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join NewsTalk 1010 host Deb Hutton to talk about Owen Gleiberman’s notorious pan of “Supergirl” and the role of the film critic in the arts.
Listen to 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 adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Supergirl,” a new DC Comics superhero film now playing in theatres, Milly Alcock plays Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl. “My cousin and I,” she says, “have very different ideas about what it means to be a hero.”
CAST: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa. Directed by Craig Gillespie.
REVIEW: “Supergirl” has an obvious affection for not only DC Comics, but also “Star Wars,” “John Wick” and a handful of post-apocalyptic flicks but allows those influences to get in the way of establishing a style and personality of its own.
After spending the first fourteen years of her life on Krypton, watching everyone and everything she loved be destroyed, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) finds herself more flawed than fierce. “Krypton didn’t die in a day,” she says. “The gods are not that kind.”
After a life of loss—and a wild interplanetary bender to celebrate her twenty-third birthday—she discovers a sense of purpose when she meets Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), a heartbroken child looking for vengeance after merciless villain Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), destroyed her home and killed her family.
Together they set off on a mission of interstellar justice that uses their pain to find strength.
Loosely based on the “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” comic book series, the origin story is darker in tone than you might expect. What could have been a “Guardians of the Galaxy” style space romp is, instead, more of a mixed bag.
A raw and physical performance from Alcock, who channels both the character’s heroic spirit and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’s?” drunken, unpredictable Martha, lies at the film’s center. It’s highwire work with a lot of grit—have we seen a superhero vomit on screen before?—and emotional depth. Her trauma has left her scarred; cynical about her place in the world, and Alcock goes for it, embracing both the character’s hedonistic, haunted and heroic sides.
Her trauma drives the story, and, for a time, it feels unique. As the story develops, winding its way from a revenge drama to a more traditional superhero narrative, however, it becomes generic. The large-scale battle scenes are cluttered and so frenetic, it’s often impossible to follow the action. When you can, despite some good fight choreography—Supergirl is an agile, animated brawler—the fights are chaotic, but not fresh.
“Supergirl’s” real kryptonite, however, is in its desire to both defy audience expectations while, at the same time, making a big budget superhero flick. Director Craig Gillespie, working from a script by Ana Nogueira, smooths off the rough edges that make Supergirl interesting in favor of a generic, derivative approach. The result is a movie that folds a unique character into the usual collection of big battles, laughs and cool creatures. It feels familiar, which maybe doesn’t breed contempt in this case, but it does evoke a certain kind of apathy.
SYNOPSIS: In “A Minecraft Movie,” a new fantasy-comedy based on the 2011 video game “Minecraft,” and now playing in theatres, four misfits are sucked through a portal into the Overworld, a strange, cubic wonderland where imagination is king. “In the Overworld anything you can dream about, you can create!” To escape, they team with Steve, an expert crafter who will help them reconnect with their imaginations and get back to the real world.
CAST: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, and Sebastian Hansen. Directed by Jared Hess.
REVIEW: The world of imagination that fuels the Overworld is very much present in “A Minecraft Movie.” It’s a standard action-adventure video game adaptation, colored with creativity and exuberant performances from Jason Momoa as Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, Jack Black as Steve, a pioneer who treats the Overworld like his own personal sandbox, and Jennifer Coolidge as Marlene, an oversharing vice principal who says she stayed in a bad marriage for twenty years “for the dogs.”
All three let their freak flags fly. Especially Black, who seems a lock for Most Over-The-To Performance at this year’s Oscars. He plays Steve like a Tenacious D song come to life. Your enjoyment of the movie may be directly related to your tolerance for his antics, but I thought he was a hoot and perfectly understood the assignment.
The film’s conceit, borrowed from the game, allows for unfettered silliness, even if you’ve never played the game. Director Jared Hess, best known for 2004’s “Napoleon Dynamite,” brings his off-kilter sensibility to the material, creating an anything-goes universe populated by likeable oddballs.
It’s a deeply slaphappy movie that features a cube shaped orb, hot lava cooked chicken, and a real estate agent who runs a mobile zoo out of her car. It’s these little details that provide some solid laughs—for kids and adults alike—and keeps the fast-paced story humming along between the big action set pieces.
“A Minecraft Movie” wallows in its absurdity, but underneath the zany escapades are not so madcap messages about the importance of being true to oneself, and the importance of embracing imagination in the real world as well as the Overworld.
