I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the World War II drama “Pressure,” the romantic crime drama “Tuner” and the existential horror of “Backrooms.”
Watch 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 World War II drama “Pressure,” the romantic crime drama “Tuner” and the existential horror of “Backrooms.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Pressure,” a new World War II drama starring Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser, and now playing in theatres, a meteorologist plays a vital role in the scheduling of the largest amphibious assault in history.
CAST: Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina, Damian Lewis. Directed by Anthony Maras.
REVIEW: A study of courage in the face of uncertainty, “Pressure” is a ticking clock drama that takes a well-known historical event and infuses the story with suspense and high-stakes intensity.
Based on true events, “Pressure” takes place in the 72 hours leading up to D-Day in June 1944. The planned Allied forces’ amphibious invasion of Normandy, France is the largest seaborne invasion force in history, but there’s a catch.
“All the pieces are in place,” says Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser). “The only imponderable is the weather.”
Unpredictable weather in the form of two aggressive storms threaten to scuttle the mission.
“If you invade tomorrow,” says Britain’s tenacious chief meteorologist, Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott), “they’re going to be washed away.”
As Stagg attempts to convince the brass that moving ahead will come with the cost of thousands of lives, the ultimate decision lies with Eisenhower.
“The final decision on the timing of D-Day,” he says, “will be mine and mine alone.”
The wrong decision not only puts lives in jeopardy, but also the fate of the free world.
“The storms that I’m talking about are real,” says Stagg. “And the wrath of nature is real.”
“Pressure” is all about the weather and whether or not to postpone D-Day. It is a war epic, but only in the sense that the decisions made by Stagg and Eisenhower are epic in their scope. The movie itself is a rather intimate retelling of events that doesn’t bother diving deep into the inner lives of its characters.
Instead, the characters are broken down into stereotypes. Andrew Scott leaves behind his “Fleabag” Hot Priest persona to play Stagg as a meticulous meteorologist, uncompromising and curt. He does good work, bringing a quiet, internalized intensity to Stagg that effectively conveys the character’s coiled confidence.
As Eisenhower’s aid and left-hand Captain Kay Summersby, Irish actress Kerry Condon acts as an anchor, emotionally grounding her boss as he makes world altering decisions.
Chris Messina as Irving P. Krick, the American meteorologist who butted heads with Stagg, is brash, if a little bland.
It’s with the casting of Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower that the movie runs into stormy weather. Physically imposing, he opts for melodrama over gravitas, a choice that runs counter to the stoic real-life character.
Dialogue driven, “Pressure” is a chamber piece that values its intimacy over action but occasionally veers into theatricality.
SYNOPSIS: In “Train Dreams,” a new drama set in the early 20th century and now playing in theatres, Joel Edgerton plays Robert Grainier, a logger and railway construction worker who plays witness to the decline of the old frontier as the world as world is transformed by trains, automobiles and changing times. “It’s all going by so fast,” says Grainier’s wife Gladys (Felicity Jones).
CAST: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon and William H. Macy. Directed by Clint Bentley, who co-wrote the screenplay with Greg Kwedar.
REVIEW: Based on the novella by Denis Johnson, “Train Dreams” is an elegiac look at nature, love, life and the passage of time.
Joel Edgerton plays Robert Grainier, an itinerant worker as a logger and on the railway in the Pacific Northwest. Orphaned at a young age, his life is changed forever when he meets and marries Gladys (Felicity Jones), who brings stability to his life. Despite long, money-making stints in the logging camps, he becomes a devoted father to daughter Kate.
When tragedy strikes, Robert is left alone, “waiting to see what we were left here for.”
“Train Dreams” moves at its own speed. The lovingly considered, deliberately paced story of a man of few words, it’s a quiet movie that speaks loudly on the connectedness of the earth and the people who live on it.
Edgerton hands in a career best performance as the stoic Robert. He’s a tough man, unambitious, but unafraid of hard work. Happy with simple pleasures, his innate understanding that life is a series of moments to be savored reveals the heart of a poet. It’s that spirit that gives the movie its soul as Robert navigates his journey of joy, sadness and healing.
Beautiful cinematography by Adolpho Veloso captures the land’s ruggedness, creating a lyrical backdrop for the story’s beauty and brutality. As Robert comes to understand his connection to the land, the forest he helped decimate as a logger becomes a character in this man’s life story of loss and love.
“Train Dreams” is a lovely, contemplative movie about the attempts to understand the ephemeral aspects of life. There’s no spectacle, no grandstanding, just intimate, poignant grace notes of one man’s existence.
I join guest host Amanda Galbraith on the Vassy Kapelos Show to taklk about “F1,” upcoming summer blockbusters and more!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Feel the need for speed as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make a pitstop Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the pedal to the metal “Grand Prix,” the vroom vroom of “Rush” and the wicked quick “F1.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “F1 The Movie” Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a Formula One driver who became “the best who never was” after his career was sidelined in a terrible crash. Thirty years later he gets back into the game when his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), now the owner of a struggling Formula 1 team, recruits him to mentor rookie prodigy Joshua “Noah” Pearce for the Apex Grand Prix team (APXGP). “If the last thing I ever do is drive that car,” Sonny says, “I will take that life. A thousand times.”
CAST: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier Bardem. Directed by Joseph Kosinski.
REVIEW: A pedal-to-the-metal crowd pleaser, “F1” rides immersive racing scenes and dynamic lead performances to the finish line.
A loud ‘n proud blockbuster by design, director Joseph Kosinski is all about spectacle. Whether that means sweeping sequences of Formula 1 cars whizzing around the track, or beauty shots of star Brad Pitt filling the screen with charisma, Kosinski entertains the eye.
The straightforward tale, however, won’t give your brain the same workout it gives your eyes.
Plot wise, it’s essentially an earthbound “Top Gun: Maverick.” A story of rivals, high speeds and a mentor with something to prove, it follows a very identifiable sports movie blueprint, but you’ll likely be too busy taking in the adrenalized spectacle to feel the déjà vu.
As washed-up racer Sonny Hayes, Pitt does a riff on his “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” character. Cocky and charismatic, he an older lone wolf bound to butt heads with rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Hayes may be a walking, talking cliché, a Jack Kerouac character forced to confront his past so he can have a future, but through sheer force of will Pitt makes him feel authentic.
Pitt shares an edgy chemistry with Idris. Their rivalry is the film’s heart—much more so than Pitt’s romantic involvement with Kerry Condon’s character Kate—and the evolving relationship between the “the best who never was” and the up-and-comer provides a human backdrop in a movie mostly driven by a need for speed.
The “F” in the title could stand for formulaic, but expertly shot racing sequences and pulse pounding tension make up for the familiar bits.
It’s an old-fashioned summer blockbuster, that, despite its setting, is driven by Pitt’s star power rather than the really fast cars on display.
“In the Land of Saints and Sinners,” a new Irish thriller now playing in theatres, sees Liam Neeson take a welcome step away from the generic action movies that have populated his IMDB page post “Taken.” He’s joined by an all-star cast of Irish actors, including Kerry Condon, Jack Gleeson, Colm Meaney and Ciarán Hinds, in a movie that mixes violence with compassion, revenge with redemption.
In what could be described as an Irish Western, Neeson plays Finbar Murphy, an assassin looking to leave his violent ways in the rearview mirror. His habit of planting a tree atop the remote graves of his victims has left behind a veritable forest, and now Finbar wants to concentrate on penance in the quiet coastal town of Glencolmcille. It’s a relatively peaceful enclave, far away from the political violence of most of 1974 Ireland.
At least it is until IRA team leader Doireann McCann (Condon) and her cohorts arrive, on the run after a car bombing kills several innocent children in Belfast. As Finbar’s life overlap with the newcomers, a deadly war of revenge begins that involves the entire village. “Mr. Murphy has done something,” says Doireann. “Something unforgivable.”
The action at the center of “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” sounds like it could sit nicely on the shelf with any of Neeson’s recent, more generic, actioners, but there’s a different, more nuanced, flavor to this one.
Much of that comes from the performances. The man-with-a-past/protector-of-the-innocent is a role Neeson has played many times before, but the combination of his natural gravitas and, perhaps counter intuitively, his empathy, set Finbar aside from the pack. He’s a stone-cold killer, but understands the toll a life spent holding a gun has extracted from his soul, and that quality adds something new to the Neeson oeuvre. Also, his interactions with up-and-coming-killer Kevin, nicely played by Gleeson, humanizes both characters, and enrich the film with a healthy dose of empathy.
Condon, best known for her Oscar nominated performance in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” plays Doireann as equal parts passion and compassion. She is an extremist, violent and driven by hatred, but Condon allows warmth to peak through the cracks in Doireann’s cold façade.
“In the Land of Saints and Sinners” succeeds because it delivers tension and interesting characters, but, just as importantly, because it drops some of the cliches of Neeson’s recent output in favor of authenticity.
Aquaphobia, the fear of water, is a real thing. But I’m not sure what you call the phobia at the heart of “Night Swim,” a new horror film starring Wyatt Russell and now playing in theatres.
Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the story of a haunted swimming pool begins as major league baseball player Ray Waller’s (Russell) career ends due to a degenerative illness.
“You’ll always be a baseball player,” his wife Eve (Kerry Condon) tells him, “but that’s not all you are.”
Rebooting his life, he moves into a fixer-upper with Eve, teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren).
The house has seen better days, but there is a great school nearby and Ray thinks the backyard pool is the perfect place for the kids to play and for him to work out as a form of physical therapy.
When the renovations are complete, the family enjoys the pool, swimming and playing Marco Polo. “This pool’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me,” Ray says as his health takes an uptick.
But soon strange things happen.
“My kids have seen things,” says Eve, “and I’m afraid something is happening to my husband.”
Voices and visions from the deep end of the pool torment them as a malevolent force somehow is able to identify the family’s wants and desires. But at what price?
“Night Swim” begins with a flashback to 1992 that effectively sets up the pool as a watery menace. Unfortunately, the movie belly flops from there. The idea of drowning is terrifying, especially if someone or something is pulling at your legs, or pushing your head under the surface, but in the theatre you’ll find yourself playing Marco Polo in search of actual scares.
Russell and Condon are blandly appealing in the leads. Both are overshadowed by the kids, Hoeferle and Warren, who, as siblings caught up in a supernatural water trap, raise the story’s stakes. You don’t want anything bad to happen to them, but you do want SOMETHING to happen other than jump scares.
By the time director Bryce McGuire reveals the source of the evil, and offers up an unspeakable solution to the family’s problems, the movie is waterlogged, too soggy to have much of an impact. “Night Swim” never gets out of the shallow end.
