I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the big screen adventures of “Supergirl” and the drama “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 38:44)
I sit with guest host Mark Towhey on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about a movie to watch to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The CN Tower, an animated version of “Survivor” coming soon to theatres, “Supergirl’s” flight onto the big screen and a very expensive piece of Ted Lasso swag.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
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 sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with guest host Andrew Pinsent to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about how a rogue line of code almost derailed “Toy Story 2” forever, Michael Caine’s Odyssey and then I review “Supergirl” and offer up a couple of super cocktails to enjoy with the film.
Listen to 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.
