I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the brutal and blood “Mortal Kombat II,” the family film “The Sheep Detectives” (and a taste of my interview with star Nicholas Braun) and the road trip drama “Omaha.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:21)
I sit with host Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about a lawsuit against James Cameron, newly unearthed interviews of Arthur Miller discussing his wife Marilyn Monroe, blue dot fever and I review the action flick “Mortal Kombat II” and the family murder mystery “The Sheep Detectives.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis to talk about the bloody “Mortal Kombat II,” the family murder mystery “The Sheep Detectives” and the road trip “Omaha.”
Watrch the whole thing HERE!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the bloody “Mortal Kombat II,” the family murder mystery “The Sheep Detectives” and the road trip “Omaha.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 14:56)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the bloody “Mortal Kombat II,” the family murder mystery “The Sheep Detectives” and the road trip “Omaha.”
Watch 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 bloody “Mortal Kombat II,” the family murder mystery “The Sheep Detectives” and the road trip “Omaha.”
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 your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the bloody “Mortal Kombat II,” the family murder mystery “The Sheep Detectives” and the road trip “Omaha.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: The sequel to the 2021 reboot, “Mortal Kombat II” sees the champions of Earthrealm forced to into battle to thwart the rule of Shao Kahn, emperor of the Outworld realm.
CAST: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada. Directed by Simon McQuoid.
REVIEW: A mix-and-match of the videogame “Street Fighter II,” fantasy, and martial arts films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Bloodsport,” “Mortal Kombat II” is action-packed, blood-soaked fan service that grabs the spirit of the games for the big screen.
The ultimate clash of the realms begins with the Mortal Kombat champions of Earthrealm—Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and Kano (Josh Lawson)—joined by Jean-Claude Van Damme wannabe Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) to fight in the Outworld Mortal Kombat tournament. “I got a Saturn Award for best fight scene in film,” Cage says, “so don’t mess with me.”
Determined to expand the realm of Outworld, Genghis Khan-style Emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) launches a campaign to conquer Earthrealm. “Earth belongs to me,” he says.
As alliances are formed and betrayals brew, the hammer-wielding villain triggers bloody, no-holds barred battles, forcing the Earthrealm warriors to defend their sovereignty. “I hope your ancestors are watching,” Kahn cackles.
There’s more. Way more.
There is an amulet that turns men into immortals, a zombie queen, a vengeance hungry royal daughter (Adeline Rudolph), giants with rows of external, razor-sharp teeth and loads of gushing plasma. Director Simon McQuoid, working from a script by Jeremy Slater, crams a lot of backstory, character work and snappy one-liners into the 116-minute runtime, but let’s be real, the narrative is just the stuff in between the fights.
It’s a simple story of good vs. evil, of a dark lord who craves power, immortality and territory and the heroes who fight back. It’s complicated by alliances and intrigue that nonfans may struggle with, but it’s not about the details. It’s about big IMAX action played out on a screen the size of a basketball court.
On that score “Mortal Kombat II” delivers what fans expect, big eye-popping mano-et-mano battle scenes colored with impossible wuxia style flying kicks and airborne leaps. It’s cool, stylized fight choreography that showcases the franchise’s debt to Hong Kong kung fu and martial arts films.
The cast is game, particularly Karl Urban, who brings some much-appreciated humor to the role of Johnny Cage, a self-described “dinosaur doing karate poses.” He refers to the tournaments as a “Squid Game murder party,” and feels it’s unfair that the others have special powers while, “I’m just incredibly handsome.” His presence breaks up the scenes of squirting plasma and helps establish the homage to New Line Cinema’s 1980s–90s action/horror movie era.
Based on the best of the OG games, “Mortal Kombat II” is a throwback, with brutal battles, to the games and the generation that produced them.
What do Point Break, Independence Day and Beauty and the Beast have in common? All are movies released in the 1990s and all have been remade, re-imagined or rebooted in recent years.
Brand happy Hollywood is in overdrive repurposing Saturday morning superhero cartoons, big screen hits and other touchstones of 90s pop culture and audiences have mostly lapped up the nostalgia from the Clinton years. Independence Day: Resurgence and Point Break tanked but Beauty and the Beast, to use a 90s term, was all that and a bag of chips box office wise.
Soon we’ll see a live action Lion King, a new Jumanji and even more Bad Boys. This weekend it’s morphin time once again as the Power Rangers are resurrected for the big screen.
Featuring familiar characters but an all new cast, Power Rangers sees the helmeted heroes rescue the world from a powerful witch, an army of stone golems called Putties and Goldar, a giant golden monster born on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.
It’s a blast from the past designed to draw in new fans while appealing to grown ups who came of age in the 1990s but is it possible to feel nostalgia for four actors in plastic helmets?
The dictionary tells us nostalgia is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.”
Science tells us more.
As a recent study showed when we get bad news or are feeling down nostalgic, misty memories of a simpler time almost automatically kick in. Call it protection. Call it wistfulness. Call it whatever you like; Hollywood calls it money and exploits it ruthlessly because movies are a natural nostalgic go to. It’s their very essence, that dreamlike quality that takes root in our subconscious, swirling around our brains to create happy memories. They are the stuff from which dreams are woven and the feelings associated with them can give us comfort when the going gets rough.
We now live in unsettled times so perhaps the neo Power Rangers will bring back recollections of carefree Saturday mornings spent watching the TV show. Or mom and dad buying candy at a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie matinee in 1995. Or a long ago Halloween costume inspired by Amy Jo Johnson (the popular Pink Ranger) but at the rate Hollywood is recycling ideas we’ll soon run out of things to get nostalgic about. Can you be nostalgic for nostalgia? We’ll find out in the years to come when another generation gets sentimental about the remake of the reboot of Power Rangers.
As I see it nostalgia is bad for the movies. It encourages lazy re-treads and reimaginings, not innovation and originality. If we demand new films to make memories with, to fall in love with, then Hollywood’s raiding of pop culture brands must stop. Romanian-American poet and novelist Andrei Codrescu says that in the grand collage that is art the “past and future are equally usable.” I’m just wishing Hollywood would look to the future more often.
To a degree all art is a combination of everything that came before, but interesting, original films like Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea and Get Out give me hope that some filmmakers have their eyes facing forward and aren’t simply wallowing in nostalgia.
