I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renée Rodgers to talk about the dystopian rom com “One Night Only,” the rambunctious “Super Troopers 3” and the flavourless “Ice Cream Man.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit with guest host Jim Richards on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about big nme music artists offering $20 tickets to shows, a Celine Dion lotto, the latest “Heated Rivalry” swag and I tell you about the dystopian rom com “One Night Only.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with guest host Andrew Pinsent to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the dystopian rom com “One Night Only,” the rambunctious “Super Troopers 3” and the flavourless “Ice Cream Man.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the dystopian rom com “One Night Only,” the rambunctious “Super Troopers 3” and the flavourless “Ice Cream Man.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “One Night Only,” a new romantic comedy starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, now playing in theatres, two strangers attempt to make a connection on the one night of the year when pre-marital sex is legal. “How is anyone supposed to find something real on a night like tonight?”
CAST: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton. Directed by Will Gluck.
REVIEW: Like a mash-up of “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Purge” (only with sex instead of murder), “One Night Only” takes a provocative premise and applies strict rom com rules to the story of two singletons looking for something more than a one-night stand.
“One Night Only” takes place in an alternate New York City where premarital sex is illegal every day of the year except one. “We wanted to go back to a time when sex was reserved for the sanctity of marriage,” says a government official. “Since our resolution passed, teen pregnancy is near zero, STIs are at record lows, and now it’s a badge of honor to be an incel.”
On that day two love-starved strangers, a pizza shop owner Owen (Callum Turner) and a hopelessly romantic jingle singer Allie (Monica Barbaro) have several meet cutes—“Your ears look like car doors,” she says. “Your legs don’t make any sense,” he says.—and begin a flirty and often funny cat and mouse game that will lead them across the city in pursuit of something more than a quick roll in the hay.
“One Night Only” is the rare rom com that uses fascism as a catalyst for the amorous action. But the ban on premarital relations, while central to the story, isn’t the entire story.
The only truly provocative thing in this sex comedy (rated 14A in Canada, R in the U.S.) is the dystopian premise. Strip away the story’s underdeveloped Orwellian satire and you’re left with a charming, mostly chaste search for connection.
Central to the film’s likability are Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner.
Barbaro, an Oscar nominee for her work as Joan Baez in the Bob Dylan-biopic “A Complete Unknown,” channels Meg Ryan with a combination of charm and chutzpah. Equally at home with the dramatic and comedic demands of the role, she’s an effervescent presence whether she’s emoting or doing pratfalls.
Equal parts aw-shucks, sincerity and swagger, Turner clicks with Barbaro as their “After Hours”-style adventures (without the edge of the Martin Scorsese NYC classic) keep them in one another’s orbit.
On one hand “One Night Only” feels like a missed opportunity to examine traditional values in the face of governmental overreach.
On the other, it’s a straight-ahead rom com with nothing on its mind except the happiness of its main characters. It’s no secret how this movie will end. If it comes as a shock, you’ve never seen a rom com, because these movies aren’t about the destination, they’re about the journey, and “One Night Only” is a fun trip despite its reluctance to fully engage with its political premise.
By Richard Crouse – Metro In Focus
“I like to think of myself as a good actor,” says David Oyelowo, “but Martin Luther King, I ain’t.”
The 38-year-old British actor plays the venerated civil rights leader in Selma, a dramatic retelling of Dr. King’s 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights march.
It’s a stirring performance that has already earned him a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor in a Drama. He admits he wasn’t a natural fit for the part— “I would never have cast me in this role, a British actor, having not done much work in Hollywood.”—but the film’s producer Oprah Winfrey (who also has a heart-wrenching cameo) said, “I can see King in you.”
The actor, best known for his work on the British TV show MI-5, told an audience at the AFI he always felt like he’d play King at some point. “Very soon after my wife and I moved to this country, I was told from above that I would play this role on the 24th of July, 2007. I couldn’t believe it, so I wrote it down.”
With the help of his higher power, Oprah, director Ava DuVernay, research and a weight gain of thirty pounds—eat lasagna late at night he says—Oyelowo found the character and won the blessing of Bernice King, Dr. King’s daughter. “It was huge for me to bridge that gap between the production and the family,” OIyelowo told The Daily Beast.
Martin Luther King III, son of Martin and Coretta Scott King, called Selma, “a very emotional experience,” and hopes that the film’s success will spur Hollywood interest in his father’s life, work and legacy.
Steven Spielberg is reportedly working on a biopic and a new German film called Schwarzkopf BRD features King in a study of racial politics in Berlin.
In more traditional films Dr. King has been portrayed by everyone from Paul Winfield, who earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in King, a three hour TV miniseries, to Jeffrey Wright in Boycott, to son Dexter King in The Rosa Parks Story.
King siblings, Dexter and Yolanda, collaborated with filmmakers Rob Smiley and Vincenzo Trippetti on the most unique retelling of their father’s life. Combining animation and historical footage, Our Friend, Martin is a time travel story about a student sent back in time to meet King at significant moments in his life. The hour long film is difficult to find but features wonderful vocal performances from Angela Bassett, LeVar Burton, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Dexter King as his father at age 34.
