I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres including the friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!” and the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres including the friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the grip it and rip it sequel “Happy Gilmore 2” and the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!” and the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I review “The Fantaastic Four: First Steps” and tell you about some fantastic drinks to enjoy while watching the movie.
Click HERE to listen to Shane and me talk about the “anti-woke” “Basic Instinct” remake, some everything-old-is-new-again music from Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham and why rock music os cool again.
For the Booze & Reviews look at “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and some fantastic cocktails to pair with it, click 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 friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!” and the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: Set on the 1960s-inspired parallel Earth-828, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the new Marvel movie now playing in theatres, sees Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) defend Earth from the gargantuan planet-devouring villain Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his emissary, the cosmic surfboard riding Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).
CAST: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, and Ralph Ineson. Directed by Matt Shakman.
REVIEW: Like a lot of great speculative fiction, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” isn’t really about the spectacle or the saving the world. Sure, there’s a humungous villain who makes the Statue of Liberty look like a Lego Minifig and the fate of mankind hangs is in the hands of the Four, but that stuff is there simply to act as a delivery system for a story about community, hope and family.
A standalone film—you won’t need to read the MCU wiki page to get up to speed—it dispenses with the origin story in a zippy newsreel that explains how scientists Reed Richards and Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and test pilot and astronaut Ben Grimm gained superpowers after exposure to radiation cosmically altered their DNA during a space mission, transforming them into Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing.
With that out of the way, director Matt Shankman gets to the world building.
Set in a retro-chic 1960s-inspired New York City, the film’s look is part “Mad Men,” part “Jetsons,” and reflects the Camelot style optimism of the era.
That it’s a tip of the hat to 1961, the year “The Fantastic Four” debuted, and visually sets the film apart from all other MCU movies, are nice thematic and visual bonuses.
More importantly, director Shakman and screenwriters Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer blend the existential threat of the end of the world (What’s a superhero movie without the threat of the end-of-the-world?) with a surprisingly intimate portrait of The Fantastic Four as a close-knit family.
Sue and Reed are expectant parents, managing the anxiety of having their first child who may, or may not, inherit their altered DNA. Sue’s brother, the hot-headed Johnny, who can burst into flame at will, and family friend Ben, who has permanently morphed into the gentle giant The Thing, are set up to be doting uncles when they aren’t goofing around or saving the world.
None of it would work if the cast didn’t click.
Pascal brings intelligence and emotional depth to Reed while Quinn plays Human Torch as an impulsive but warm-hearted character. The movie’s heart and soul, however, comes from Moss-Bachrach’s motion-capture performance and Kirby’s portrayal of a mother who will sacrifice everything to protect her child.
Even under a digital mountain of CGI, Moss-Bachrach finds pathos in Ben/The Thing’s situation. He’s a genial presence in the family unit, bringing warmth and humour, but it’s the truncated scenes with love interest Rachel Rozman (Natasha Lyonne) that humanizes the craggy, 500-pound character. They’re brief and under-written, but Moss-Bachrach makes the most of them.
Fierce yet vulnerable, compassionate yet steely, Kirby delivers a version of Sue Storm that has depth, as a maternal character and a superhero.
The emphasis on family, community and character are at the very heart of the film. There is spectacle, and the movie ultimately submits to a busy climax, but it’s not an all-out Action-A-Rama. The fireworks come from the characters, not the battle scenes, and while it may be a tad earnest and a bit straightforward for fans looking for loud ‘n proud battle scenes, it succeeds because it takes interesting, thoughtful first steps into a new superhero franchise.
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 the thrills of “Black Bag,” the speculative “Can I Get A Witness?” and the psychological satire of “Opus.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Opus,” a new psychological satire starring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich and now playing in theatres, a rookie journalist gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she’s invited to a junket, with a group of experienced reporters and influencers, to visit the remote compound of a legendary pop star, known as “The Wizard of Wiggle,” to listen to his first music in thirty years. Once there, however, she discovers there’s more to the weekend than music.
CAST: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami and Tatanka Means. Directed by Mark Anthony Green.
REVIEW: “Opus” has a lot on its mind. Writer/director Mark Anthony Green attempts a satire of celebrity culture and the press’s complicity in spreading ideology, personal and political, but as well intentioned as the film may be, Green hits many wrong notes.
To really sell the story of a reclusive pop star, one able to make people worldwide bend to his will, you need an iconic, alluring actor and songs that feel like they could have lit up the charts and the imaginations of millions of people. In John Malkovich you have the star power and the off-kilter charisma to make the pop star Alfred Moretti really pop on screen. From his laconic, vaguely menacing dialogue delivery to his ornate Michel Jackson-esque costumes, he blends Jim Jones and Marc Bolan to create an image of a celebrity as a borderline fascist figure.
It’s a shame then that the music, a key part of the character’s legacy, falls flat. Written by the legendary songwriter/producer/performer Nile Rodgers and The-Dream, the songs have a dreamy house music vibe, but in no way live up to the hype the movie gives them in its first twenty minutes or so.
It’s one of the things that makes “Opus” feel half baked.
A mix of dark comedy, horror and coming-of-age story, it lightly touches on each, culminating in its final moments (NO SPOILERS HERRE) with a talky reveal of Alfred Moretti’s grand plan. Again, no spoilers here, but within the film’s final few moments is a chilling look at celebrity culture and the press’s response to it. It’s a fascinating coda but feels like it could have done without all the window dressing that came before.
“The Bear’s” Ayo Edebiri, as the neophyte journalist, is the “final girl,” the audience proxy and we experience the bizarre goings on through her perspective. Skeptical of Moretti and his motives, she is the only rational person on-screen, and while her performance is grounded, it’s not enough to keep this indulgent and scattershot satire on track.
If director Peter Berg’s oeuvre could be boiled down to one sentence it might read something like, “American heroes battle against overwhelming odds.“ Films like “Lone Survivor,“ “The Kingdom“ and “Patriot Games“ have carved out a singular niche for Berg in the action genre. True to form, his new film “Mile 22 “ pits Berg regular Mark Wahlberg and a small team of “problem solvers” against the military might of a corrupt government.
Wahlberg plays CIA operative James Silva, a fast talker and thinker who “only responds to two things, intelligence and pain.“ He heads a team who fight the “new wars,“ the conflicts that don’t make the front pages. They live in a world of violence and “unknown knowns.” “This is dark work,“ Silva says.
Their search for deadly radioactive powder, fear powder as Silva calls it, leads to Li Noor (Iko Uwais), a Southeast Asian informant who wants out of Indonesia. The informant has a disk containing the location of the deadly stuff but will only give the code to open the disc if they guarantee his safe transport out of the country. Trouble is, the corrupt government will do whatever it takes to keep him in their borders.
“Mile 22“ is a violent movie. How violent? The GNP of some small countries probably couldn’t cover Berg’s bullet budget. By the time the informant is scraping one of his victims Max back and forth against a broken, jagged window you may wonder how many more unusual ways there are to off a person. Their handler, played by John Malkovich, says they are involved in “a higher form of patriotism” but the film’s hyper kinetic editing and palpable joy in blowing away the bad guys suggest their elevated patriotism may have a hint of psychopathy mixed in.
Large sections of the film play like a first person shooter video game. There’s even a “scoreboard” where the vital statistics of the team are listed and then go dark as they are killed.
“Mile 22“ wants to make a statement about the murky depths our protectors brave to keep us safe but ends up expending more ammunition than insight.
