Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the singular “Dead Lover.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit with Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to go over some of the week’s biggest entertainment stories and movies playing in theatres. We look at a new drama based on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the latest meme-worthy edition to the Australian National Film and Sound Archive, Keenan Thompson’s “Unfunny Bunny,” a new book for kids and I review “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the uncom rom com “The Drama.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel’s Scott Hirsch to talk about the uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the singular “Dead Lover.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I review “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” for ctvnews.ca, the #1 digital news publisher in reach!
“I wasn’t expecting a kid-friendly “Super Mario’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but the film’s emphasis on eye candy and Easter eggs over detailed storytelling or character arcs lessens the movie’s impact…” Read the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the sequel to 2023s billion dollar hit “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” Mario, Luigi, Peach, and others go on a journey across cosmic worlds.
CAST: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kevin Michael Richardson, Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, Brie Larson. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
REVIEW:
Made with Nintendo fans in mind, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is a visually spectacular, but chaotic theme park-style distraction for aficionados that’s light on story but heavy on action.
The last time around in 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the evil Koopa king Bowser’s (Jack Black) plan to marry Mushroom Kingdom ruler Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) was thwarted by mustachioed plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day).
Shrunken down to the size of a small toy by Peach and imprisoned in a jar by Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), Bowser’s reign of terror appears to be over until Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), the power-hungry heir to the Koopa throne, kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) in a mission to save his father and restore his family’s power. “From the ashes of his father’s defeat rises a new conqueror,” he says. “The Bowser name shall be feared once more!”
To prevent the Bowsers from creating cosmic chaos, the brothers team with Princess Peach, Toad, and a green dinosaur named Yoshi (Donald Glover) on an intergalactic adventure to outwit, outsmart and outplay Bowser Jr.
A blast of colorful pop art adrenalin for Mario enthusiasts, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” blazes through its breakneck 95-minute runtime without ever taking its foot off the gas pedal. Packed with Easter Eggs, unexpected cameos, endless merchandizing opportunities and galactic scale nostalgia, it is so overstuffed there’s barely any room to tell an interesting story.
The previous film grossed $1.36 billion worldwide and is the highest-grossing film based on a video game ever, so a sequel was inevitable, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Even when the unnecessary additions are fun, as it is with the introduction of Fox McCloud (Glen Powell) from “Star Fox,” the superfluous stuff doesn’t add much to the overall effect. Less would have been more.
Pratt, as the titular character, leads a high-energy, all-star voice cast including Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi) and Donald Glover (Yoshi) but it’s Jack Black and Benny Safdie as Bowser and Bowser Jr. who steal every scene they appear in.
They stand out in a sea of characters mouthing forgettable dialogue because the father and son duo are given most of the movie’s best lines and share a tender familial connection that brightens up their scenes.
Not that there’s anything dreary about “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” It all pops. But when there are only peaks and no valleys in the storytelling, it becomes overstimulated; all bang and no buck.
Ultimately, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s” maximalist approach creates something that feels like a sensory experience, ram packed with IP, rather than a proper movie. I wasn’t expecting a kid friendly “Super Mario’s 2001: A Space Odyssey,” but the film’s emphasis on eye candy and Easter Eggs over detailed storytelling or character arcs lessens the story’s impact.
It’s family entertainment, intended for younger gamers and nostalgic parents, but just because it’s aimed at the whole family doesn’t mean it can’t level up.
SYNOPSIS: In “Play Dirty,” a new action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield, and now streaming on Prime Video, violent criminal Parker gets a chance at the score of a lifetime if he can outsmart, outlast and outwit a South American dictator, the world’s richest man and the New York mob.
CAST: Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Thomas Jane, Tony Shalhoub. Directed by Shane Black.
REVIEW: Based on the hard-boiled novels by Donald E. Westlake, writing under the name Richard Stark, “Play Dirty” is an overblown throwback to the action comedies of the 1980s and 1990s.
Director Shane Black opens the movie with a wild and wooly action scene that sees expert thief Parker, the movie’s antihero lead played by a strangely unengaged Mark Wahlberg, as part of a violent bank heist gone wrong. The resulting car chase, that sees the good guys and bad guys careening through a horserace, is nutso and sets the over-the-top tone of what is to follow.
The convoluted story then focuses on Parker, and his gang, which includes, freedom fighter Zen (Rosa Salazar), a South American criminal who instigates the theft of one of her country’s national treasures to bankroll a revolution that will topple her government, Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), a criminal with dreams of being an actor and scammers Ed and Brenda Mackey (Keegan-Michael Key and Claire Lovering).
Their complicated plan to steal a giant statue takes up most of the overlong two-hour runtime, but the fun isn’t in the heist, it’s in the characters. Black, who cowrote the script with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, has a knack for creating antiheroes with pizazz. Standouts include Stanfield, who easily steals scenes from Wahlberg, Salazar as a femme fatale with a way with a funny line and a weapon, and Nat Wolff, whose character Kincaid takes a licking but keeps on ticking.
They all hand in work that feels like they understand that the absurd nature of Black’s big set pieces and the film’s callous disregard for human life is cartoony in nature. It’s Wahlberg who doesn’t appear to be in on the joke. Parker is a hardened criminal, an unrepentant killer and thief, who only seems to come alive when he is un-aliving someone, which is a lot of the time, but not enough to animate the character.
“Play Dirty” has some of the trademark Shane Black verve. His best work is characterized by odd-couple dynamics, flawed leads, sharp dialogue and twisty-turny plots. He helped define the late 1980s action-comedy genre with the scripts for the “Lethal Weapon” franchise, and his underrated “The Nice Guys” is a near perfect buddy flick.
“Play Dirty” doesn’t stand up by comparison to those films—it’s mostly as generic as its title—but it has enough direct to streaming energy and charm to be earn a watch.
SYNOPSIS: In “Play Dirty,” a new action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield, and now streaming on Prime Video, violent criminal Parker gets a chance at the score of a lifetime if he can outsmart, outlast and outwit a South American dictator, the world’s richest man and the New York mob.
CAST: Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Thomas Jane, Tony Shalhoub. Directed by Shane Black.
REVIEW: Based on the hard-boiled novels by Donald E. Westlake, writing under the name Richard Stark, “Play Dirty” is an overblown throwback to the action comedies of the 1980s and 1990s.
Director Shane Black opens the movie with a wild and wooly action scene that sees expert thief Parker, the movie’s antihero lead played by a strangely unengaged Mark Wahlberg, as part of a violent bank heist gone wrong. The resulting car chase, that sees the good guys and bad guys careening through a horserace, is nutso and sets the over-the-top tone of what is to follow.
The convoluted story then focuses on Parker, and his gang, which includes, freedom fighter Zen (Rosa Salazar), a South American criminal who instigates the theft of one of her country’s national treasures to bankroll a revolution that will topple her government, Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), a criminal with dreams of being an actor and scammers Ed and Brenda Mackey (Keegan-Michael Key and Claire Lovering).
Their complicated plan to steal a giant statue takes up most of the overlong two-hour runtime, but the fun isn’t in the heist, it’s in the characters. Black, who cowrote the script with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, has a knack for creating antiheroes with pizazz. Standouts include Stanfield, who easily steals scenes from Wahlberg, Salazar as a femme fatale with a way with a funny line and a weapon, and Nat Wolff, whose character Kincaid takes a licking but keeps on ticking.
They all hand in work that feels like they understand that the absurd nature of Black’s big set pieces and the film’s callous disregard for human life is cartoony in nature. It’s Wahlberg who doesn’t appear to be in on the joke. Parker is a hardened criminal, an unrepentant killer and thief, who only seems to come alive when he is un-aliving someone, which is a lot of the time, but not enough to animate the character.
“Play Dirty” has some of the trademark Shane Black verve. His best work is characterized by odd-couple dynamics, flawed leads, sharp dialogue and twisty-turny plots. He helped define the late 1980s action-comedy genre with the scripts for the “Lethal Weapon” franchise, and his underrated “The Nice Guys” is a near perfect buddy flick.
“Play Dirty” doesn’t stand up by comparison to those films—it’s mostly as generic as its title—but it has enough direct to streaming energy and charm to be earn a watch.
SYNOPSIS: “Transformers One” is the origin story of the two Transformers titans, Optimus Prime and Megatron, and how they altered the fate of Cybertron forever.
CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm. Directed by Josh Cooley.
REVIEW: “Transformers One” is the story of an ideological split that drives a wedge between two lifelong friends. Nope, it’s not the story of you and your college pal who has decided to vote for Trump, it’s the animated origin story of the leaders of the Autobots and the Decepticons, the twins towers of the “Transformers” series.
When we first meet them, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) are
Cybertronian workers who can’t shapeshift into cars, guns or anything else. They are designed for work, nothing more. Under the rule of Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), who they view as a kind and benevolent leader, the pair work in the mines harvesting valuable commodities.
Before they become frenemies they have a great vibe, and the film is a fast-paced blast, filled with humor and heart. It’s a buddy movie, complete with good natured ribbing between the two, some slapstick shenanigans and a bit of playful competition before D-16 allows feelings of betrayal to colour his view of the world.
As their relationship sours, the film becomes darker, but that transformation brings with it an emotional element that while inevitable, also feels bittersweet.
Hemsworth, alongside Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 (ie: Bumblebee) and Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1, deliver solid voicework, but Henry is the MVP. On his way to becoming antagonist Megatron, D-16 has the biggest character arc, and Henry gives this bucket of bolts real personality and effectively conveys the sense of disillusionment that was the catalyst for his trip to the dark side.
The animation is slick and imaginative, although the battle scenes are often so frenetic it’s hard to discern who is fighting who. Still, the visuals sparkle, especially the inventive sci fi landscapes in the background of the above ground scenes.
“Transformers One” is a standalone movie, one that offers up copious Easter Eggs for longtime fans, and a top-notch, entertaining entryway for new fans.
“Migration,” a new animated film from Illumination Studios, starring the voices of Elizabeth Banks, Awkwafina and Kumail Nanjiani, and now playing in theatres, is a story about broadening horizons, set against the wild blue yonder.
The story focusses on the Mallards, a family of ducks who lead a quiet, happy life on New England’s bucolic Moosehead Pond. Mack (Kumail Nanjiani) is the protective father who keeps his kids, son Dax (Caspar Jennings) and daughter Gwen (Tresi Gazal), in line by telling them terrible stories of the perils of predators in the world outside their watery home.
When another flock uses the pond as a pit stop in their migration south, it sparks the imaginations of Dax, Gwen and mother Pam (Elizabeth Banks). Mack is not as inspired. He says he’ll only leave the pond if he can find a safer place for his family to live, but the rest of the family wonder what exciting things happening beyond their little corner of the world.
“I don’t want to miss out on life because you’re afraid to leave this pond,” Pam says, scolding Mack.
Mom and the kids are keen to hit the sky, see the world, and migrate to tropical Jamaica for the winter. Mack is reluctant, but is convinced to take flight with Pam, the kids and his curmudgeonly Uncle Dan (Danny DeVito) in tow.
“There’s a whole world we’ve been missing out on,” Pam says. “Things we didn’t even know existed.”
At a stop in New York City they liberate homesick Jamaican parrot Delroy (Keegan-Michael Key) from his prison inside a Manhattan restaurant, run by a Chef (Jason Marin) who specializes in Duck a l’orange.
“What’s Duck a l’orange?” asks Gwen.
“It’s you,” says Chump (Awkwafina), the hardnosed leader of an NYC gang of pigeons, “with l’orange on top.”
As they to stay off the Chef’s menu, the Mallard’s migration morphs from vacation, to journey of discovery as they are exposed to the great big world.
“We’re going to finish this crazy, wonderful adventure,” says Mack.
“Migration” is a fun, but slight, movie for the whole family with good messages about personal growth and overcoming fears. The lessons are simple, presented in a likable, fast-paced fashion, that don’t try too hard to moralize or teach. It’s a lighthearted adventure with none of the darkness implied by the presence of co-writer Mike White of “White Lotus” fame.
From the mild horror of an encounter with an elderly heron (Carol Kane) who may, or may not, have a taste for mallard chicks to the chaotic landing in NYC, the epitome of all of Mack’s fears, each of the big set pieces offer up a new high-flying adventure. It’s episodic, which offers up the chance for the Mallards to interact with new characters at every stop, providing variation in the story, and new opportunities in each chapter for situational humour.
“Migration” doesn’t have the same anarchic brashness as Illumination’s “Despicable Me” films. If you’re hungry for more Minions madness, be sure to arrive on time to see “Mooned,” a stand-alone short from the Minion Universe that opens the show. It rounds out “Migration’s” brief run time (under an hour-and-a-half) and contains a healthy dose of Minion magic.
Slight, but funny and fast-paced, “Migration” is an enjoyable, escapist movie with lively voice work—kids will love baby duck Gwen—and an adventurous spirit.
