I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the return of everyone’s fabvorite mercenaries in “Expend4bles” and the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense.”
I sit in with NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the return of everyone’s favorite mercenaries in “Expend4bles” and the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense.”
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the return of everyone’s favorite mercenaries in “Expend4bles” and the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense.”
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the return of everyone’s favorite mercenaries in “Expend4bles” and the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense.”
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the return of everyone’s favorite mercenaries in “Expend4bles” and the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense.”
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to shut the door! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the return of everyone’s favorite mercenaries in “Expend4bles” and the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense.”
I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres. Today we talk about the financial drama “Dumb Money” starring Paul Dano, the best concert film ever made, “Stop Making Sense” and the crime drama “Reptile” starring Benicio del Toro.
The 4K restoration of the four-decade old concert movie “Stop Making Sense” is such an exercise in joyful exuberance it’s like time travelling back to the actual 1983 show.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, and shot over the course of three nights at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre at the culmination of the band’s “Speaking in Tongues” tour, the film begins on a bare stage as the camera follows David Byrne’s scuffed-up sneakers to center stage. Placing a portable tape player at his feet, he says, “Hi, I got a tape I wanna play,” and launches into the jittery “Psycho Killer,” accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and boombox beats.
Next comes bassist Tina Weymouth for a beautiful, stripped-down version of “Heaven,” the band’s pokerfaced view of paradise, a “place where nothing ever happens.”
As the track list expands, so does the show. Piece by piece, member by member, equipment and musicians populate the stage, until the full band, Byrne, Weymouth, Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry, Ednah Holt, Alex Weir and Bernie Worrell are in place, and playing as if making music was going to be declared illegal the next day.
From the exhilarating art-funk of “Burning Down the House” and “Life During Wartime” to the melancholic beauty of “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” and the gospel tinged “Once in a Lifetime,” the band deliver one banger after another, fronted by Byrne’s athletic and arty dance moves. It’s a document of a band working at the top of their game, capturing the love of music and performance in a way few other concert films have.
And it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.
The restoration is top notch, with a sharp image derived from the original 35-millimeter negatives, showcasing cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth’s inventive camera and lighting work, and crisp remixed digital sound that fills the air.
The picture and sound are improvements on the original, but the thing that hasn’t changed, the element that makes the movie special, is the performance. From Byrne’s iconic “Big Suit” to Weymouth’s crab-walk dance, it is, as Ed Sullivan would’ve said, a really big show, but it manages to feel intimate, even when blown up to IMAX supersize. The nonverbal communication between the players and the obvious love of the music, are highlighted, and add much to the overall experience.
“Stop Making Sense” tells a loose narrative, from the opening number with a solo Byrne, to the “formation” of the band and their subsequent collaboration. By the time they sing “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody),” it is clear this group of outsiders has found a place where they belong. Not a documentary, or an exercise in nostalgia, “Stop Making Sense” is a celebration, of music and of belonging. Watch it again for the first time.
The title of the new Meryl Streep movie, “Ricki and the Flash,” sounds like a comic book flick about a regular, but spunky teen and the DC Comic character known for super human speed. No, Streep hasn’t joined the ranks of elder actors lending credibility to superhero movies and there’s not a skintight red superhero outfit in sight. Instead, there’s the black leather and fringes of Meryl’s rock ‘n’ roll Ricki, lead singer of bar band The Flash.
Ricki is a rock ‘n’ roll road warrior who never cracked the big time. Twenty five years ago she left behind her comfortable Midwestern life and family—husband (Kevin Kline) and three kids (including Julie, played by Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer)—for a shot at stardom in Los Angeles. Her one album didn’t chart and now she staves off bankruptcy by day as a grocery clerk, by night playing Golden Oldie covers in a seedy San Fernando Valley bar.
Out of the blue her ex gives her a ring with bad news. Julie’s husband has left her for a younger woman and he’d like her to come to Ohio to comfort her distraught daughter. Despite not having seen Julie in years she returns. Cue the family drama as Ricki tries to make amends for choosing rock and roll over her family.
Streep may not be playing a superhero in “Ricki and the Flash,” but she does a superhuman job of carrying the movie. Ricki is a raw nerve who says what’s on her mind whether she’s on stage or off, and Meryl rocks it. She strums and hums her way through a contrived script by “Juno” writer Diablo Cody that doesn’t add much to the family drama or rock movie genres.
Kline, Rick Springfield and Gummer hit the right notes, but are saddled with dialogue that sounds melodramatically overwritten—“My heart is dead and rotten,” sobs Julie.—or like a Successstory platitude—“It doesn’t matter if you kids love you,” says Springfield, “it’s your job to love them.” Missing are Cody’s usual wit and director Jonathan Demme’s careful examination of his characters. Instead they’ve opted for a blandly crowd-pleasing movie that isn’t as crowd-pleasing as they might have hoped.
“Ricki and the Flash” is about the power of music to break down barriers and bring people together, but as well shot as the music scenes are—and they should be, Demme made one of the great music films of all time, “Stop Making Sense,” among many others—the movie hits the wrong notes when the music stops.