Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make a sandwich. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street” and the slasher flick “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Stephanie Tsicos to talk about the biopic “Tony,” the dino drama “The End of Oak Street,” the kid’s flick “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” and the stoner comedy “The Wrong Girls.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about the blues and Morgan Freeman, Judge Judy and the passing of the gavel, more “Hacks” and on Booze & Reviews I review “Tony” and suggest a cocktail Anthony Bourdain noted will make you wonder what happened to your pants after drink number three!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Tony,” a new biopic of late author, television star and chef Anthony Bourdain, a nineteen-year-old Bourdain spends one life-changing summer working at a restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
CAST: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas. Directed by Matt Johnson.
REVIEW: Long before Anthony Bourdain was Anthony with a capital “A,” author of the bestselling memoir “Kitchen Confidential” and host of “Parts Unknown,” he was a self-described, “a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking,” who preferred to be called Tony (“The Holdovers” star Dominic Sessa).
It’s 1975, he’s a nineteen-year-old Vassar student convinced he’s about to be awarded a writing fellowship for a novel he admits is more of an “idea for an idea” than an actual book. When the fellowship falls through, he licks his wounds with a trip to Provincetown, Massachusetts to track down his high school crush Nancy (Emilia Jones) who’s working there at a pizza joint for the summer.
Still trying to pass himself off as a writer, he ends up broke, with a black eye and no prospects until he takes a job as a dishwasher in a seaside restaurant called The Flagship in return for a place to stay with the Chef (Antonio Banderas).
In the kitchen he finds a community of misfits, like the reckless Sal (Leo Woodal), who show him the ropes, as in how to shuck oysters and chase away hangovers with a morning beer or a line or two of cocaine.
A coming-of-age story with a little Sex, Drugs and Oyster Shucking mixed in for good measure, “Tony” is not an imitation of Bourdain’s worldly television persona. As played by Sessa, he’s a self-absorbed hothead, with a loose relationship with the truth, still trying to make his way. Sessa captures Bourdain on the rough edge of adulthood. Out of his depth, personally and professionally, he’s a teenager desperate to be a grown up in the face of one humbling experience after another.
He’s a complex character, equal parts intellect, hubris and underdog energy, a lump of clay not yet molded into the man he would become. Sessa captures him in a soulful performance that doesn’t shy away from the unsavory or obsessive parts of Bourdain’s personality, one that run parallel to the film’s opening quote—”spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout,” etc—but adds in just enough charm to make us care about what happens to him.
Unsurprisingly, he is the movie’s beating heart—it is a biopic after all—but director Matt Johnson populates his world with interesting characters to add color to the tale. From the chaos and camaraderie of the kitchen, provided by Woodall, Stavros Halkias as the big-mouthed Stavros, Michael Jibrin as the steady-handed Tyrone and Antonio Banderas as the Chef who changes Bourdain’s life with tough love and buckets of water (you’ll know what I mean when you see the film) to the love interest Nancy, played by Emilia Jones, the film creates an interesting community with a nice dollop of Ptown’s 1970s boho vibe thrown in.
Johnson’s trademark energy and play fulness are fully on display, particularly in the kitchen scenes.
This isn’t like five-star vibe of “The Bear.” With no hope of ever getting reviewed or being awarded a Michelin Star, this kitchen is a home for odd ducks cranking out food for tourists. Johnson’s intimate style paints a vivid picture of the controlled chaos that goes into a lunch or dinner service. He even stages an oyster shucking scene that, for anyone who’s ever been handed a sharp knife and an oyster, will play like a scene from a horror movie.
Given Bourdain’s exalted stature in popular culture, “Tony” could easily have slipped into hagiography. Public sentiment for his unique brand of exploration and pop cultural philosophy still burns bright eight years after his death, but like the man himself, the movie rejects mythology and goes for authenticity over artifice to serve as both a reminder and eulogy of a fascinatingly confounding character.
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 “Tuner,” a new drama starring Leo Woodall, and now playing in theatres, a piano tuner with perfect pitch and very sensitive hearing, played by Leo Woodall, discovers his talents are good for more than just tuning pianos when his mentor Harry (Dustin Hoffman) gets hit with massive medical bills.
CAST: Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno, Dustin Hoffman. Directed by Daniel Roher,
REVIEW: “Tuner’s” takes familiar genres, the rom com and crime thriller, mixes and matches them to create something fresh and new.
Leo Woodall stars as Niki, a former piano prodigy whose career was cut short by hyperacusis, a condition that requires him to wear headphones and hearing aids to protect his ears from the aural onslaught of everyday life.
While working with veteran piano tuner and mentor Harry (Dustin Hoffman), Niki meets and falls for composition student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). His life is complicated when Harry falls ill and can’t pay his medical bills. Wanting to help, Niki uses his finely tuned hearing to help a group of safe crackers for cash, a dangerous side gig that threatens his romance with Ruthie.
What begins as a surrogate father and son story becomes a crime drama with a romantic twist.
Academy Award winner Daniel Roher‘s narrative filmmaking debut is a character driven piece centered around a star-making performance from Woodall. He’s all understated charm as Niki, but this isn’t simply a story of a good guy who gets in over his head. Roher, who also wrote the script with Robert Ramsey, crafts a finely tuned tale of the pursuit of perfection, loyalty and conquering life’s limitations.
It’s jaunty and playful, with a great deal of charm, much of which stems from the performances.
Woodall, best known for season two of ”The White Lotus” and the romantic comedy “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” does career best work, bringing charisma to an unconventional leading man role.
Liu elevates Ruthie from love interest to a fully rounded character while Hoffman provides warmth via his reliably ruffled persona.
“Tuner” is a low key, character driven movie that makes the most of its disparate elements to form a cohesive whole.
SYNOPSIS: In “Nuremberg,” a new historical drama starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, and now playing in theatres, a U.S. Army psychiatrist studies high-ranking Nazi officers, including Hermann Göring (Crowe), the notorious former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s second in command, to determine their competency to stand trial for war crimes.
CAST: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall, John Slattery, Mark O’Brien, Colin Hanks, Wrenn Schmidt, Lydia Peckham, Richard E. Grant. Directed by James Vanderbilt.
REVIEW: Based on Jack El-Hai’s non-fiction book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist,” “Nuremberg” is a handsomely mounted, old-fashioned drama that aims to comment on timely issues.
Set at the end of World War II the film sees U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) spearheading the world’s first International Military Tribunal. Among those accused of committing atrocities are Hitler’s right hand man Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and 21 other members of the Nazi high command.
To determine the prisoner’s fitness for trial Army psychologist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is brought in to assess the men and their mental states. Entering into a “battle of wits” with the charismatic and intelligent Göring, Kelley attempts to understand the true nature of evil.
“Nuremberg” clarifies its intent in the film’s final moment when a title card reading, “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done,” a quote from English philosopher R.G. Collingwood, appears on the screen. Writer, co-producer, and director by James Vanderbilt (best known as the writer of “Zodiac” and “The Amazing Spider-Man”) makes an urgent plea for today’s audience to never forget how fascism can take hold. In our modern world, where intolerance is on the rise, the lessons of the past echo loudly and demand our attention.
I just wish the film was a more powerful vehicle for the messaging.
Despite scenes of trauma, suicide and a downbeat ending, “Nuremberg” is too restrained to leave a mark on viewers. Crowe and Malek spark in their scenes, creating a cat-and-mouse game in which the power dynamic is ever shifting, and while thier performances have dramatic heft, there’s a melodramatic edge to the storytelling that blunts the impact of the film’s central premise.
“Nuremberg” is packed with big, timely lessons but its stilted presentation doesn’t deliver the emotional impact to accompany its warnings.
SYNOPSIS: Renee Zellweger returns as the title character in “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.” In this romantic comedy, now streaming on Prime Video, Bridget finds herself widowed with two children and a job as a television producer. Four years after the death of her beloved husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), she decides to restart her life, and meets a much younger man.
CAST: Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad. Directed by Michael Morris.
REVIEW: The general rule of thumb for sequels is that the further you get away from the source, the worse the movies get. The first cut is almost always the deepest, and while there are exceptions, by the time you get to the fourth movie and twenty-fourth year of a franchise, it’s all about diminishing returns.
One cinematic guest who hasn’t worn out their welcome, however, is Bridget Jones as played by Renée Zellweger. Since 2001 at the movies (and 1995 in Helen Fielding’s article and books) her quirky, and often messy, romantic adventures have entertained without a trace of sequelitis.
The new film, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” sees Bridget restart her romantic life after the death of her husband. “It’s time to live,” she writes in her famous diary.
Of course, there are complications. It wouldn’t be a Bridget Jones movie without them.
The awkward Bridget never met an embarrassing situation she couldn’t amplify, and lip filler is definitely not her thing. Those slapstick moments provide the nostalgic blast of the old Bridget we’ve come to expect, as do cameos by series regulars like Hugh Grant, as aging playboy Daniel Stern (who teaches Bridget’s kids to make a cocktail called a Bad Mommy) and Dame Emma Thompson as Bridget’s friend and gynecologist, but this time around it’s the story’s more poignant aspects that resonate.
Bridget Jones has grown up, somewhat, and so have the movies. This time around there is a melancholy vibe, the result of Mr. Darcy’s passing, and Bridget’s difficulties navigating life as a single mother.
The callbacks to the other movies serve as a reminder of how long we’ve been part of Bridget’s life. And while “Mad About the Boy” is loaded with familiar jokes and echoes the first film in terms of its romantic entanglements (no spoilers here), it is in its examinations of what it means to move on and maybe even find happiness, without leaving the past and someone you love completely behind, that it tills fresh ground. It’s a welcome new chapter for Bridget and for those of us who have known her for almost a quarter century.
