I joined CP24 Breakfast to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the misplaced heroics of “Sharp Corner,” the character study of “The Luckiest Man in America” and the Prime Video docuseries “Octopus!”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Steph Vivier to have a look at movies in theatres including the misplaced heroics of “Sharp Corner,” the character study of “The Luckiest Man in America,” the wild action of “Fight or Flight” and the infamous Western “Rust.”
Listen to 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 misplaced heroics of “Sharp Corner,” the character study of “The Luckiest Man in America,” the wild action of “Fight or Flight” and the infamous Western “Rust.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Fight or Flight,” an adrenalized comedy thriller now playing in theatres, Josh Hartnett plays disgraced secret agent Lucas Reyes. In exile in Thailand for two years, he accepts a job escorting a cyber-terrorist named The Ghost on an international flight to the United States. “Deliver him to us alive,” says his CIA handler Katherine (“The Mandalorian’s” Katee Sackhoff), “and you get your life back.” Trouble is, there is a bounty on The Ghost’s head, and the flight is packed with assassins who want to collect. “Are you telling me that plane is full of killers?”
CAST: Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Marko Zaror, and Katee Sackhoff. Directed by James Madigan.
REVIEW: A check-your-disbelief at the Concession Stand kind of movie, “Fight or Flight” is an hour of all out action at 37,000 feet. You might wonder how the passengers—all killers of some sport—manage to smuggle weapons—everything from Uzis to chainsaws—on board. If so, this isn’t a movie for you. It’s a buy the ticket, take the ride action flick with a silly premise and a sense of fun. Nothing more, nothing less.
As familiar as the idea of one man against an army of hitpersons is, Reyes is no John Wick. Hartnett, with dyed blonde hair and perpetually hungover look, finds the sweet spot between world weariness, ruthless brutality and dark humor. The kills are fierce—champagne flute to the eye, anyone?—and nicely choreographed for the small space aboard the aircraft. It’s not as slick as “Bullet Train,” or as elegant as “John Wick,” but there’s a b-movie scrappiness to it that feels right. Especially after Reyes is hit with a dose of toad venom that changes his perspective on everything.
“Fight or Flight” is fun, high-concept nonsense fueled by brawn not brains.
Trying to prove that someone was possessed by the devil when they did a bad thing is the kind of thing that generally only people in the movies do, and often not very convincingly. But a new film, Oculus, makes a creepy case for demonic interference even though the evidence is slight.
The story begins in present day with Tim (Brenton Thwaites) being released from a twelve-year stretch in a mental institution. The twenty-one-year-old was locked away at age nine after he gunned down his father (Rory Cochrane) who had just murdered his mother (Katee “Starbuck” Sackhoff).
His sister Kaylie (Karen “Dr. Who” Gillan), now a successful antiques dealer, lets him in on a family secret—she claims dear old dad was possessed by a demonic spirit that lives in a mirror. She has the ornate old looking glass and needs Tim’s help to destroy it.
Working in a tried and true supernatural genre—devil possession movies are a dime a dozen—director Mike Flanagan manages to find a new way to inject some life into the story of a haunted piece of furniture. Weaving together Tim and Kaylie’s past and present into one seamless whole, he flip flops through time, telling the story from the perspectives of the characters at different ages. It adds intensity to a tale that isn’t too far off from the terrible Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (the story of a ghostly lamp).
The horror elements work because this is a character driven story and while there are blood and guts aplenty it is the intensity of the story and the performances that will stay with you.
