I join the CTV NewsChannel to have a look at two new movies in theatres, the romance drama “Reminders of Him” and the horror flick “undertone,” and make some predictions for tonight’s Oscars.
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 take out the recycling, talking about Hollywood bringing bac k Conan the Barbarian, John Rambo and Tinkerbell, and I review “Reminders of Him” and “undertone.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to tune a violin. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the music doc “Nash the Slash Rises Again!,” the audio horror of “undertone” and the romantic melodrama of “Reminders of Him.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Reminders of Her,” a new romantic drama based on author Colleen Hoover’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, Maika Monroe stars as a woman who must confronts her past to move forward.
CAST: Maika Monroe, Tyriq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lainey Wilson, Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford. Directed by Vanessa Caswill.
REVIEW: “Reminders of Him” is a Nicholas Sparks style movie for those who find Nicholas Sparks too edgy. Although written by Colleen Hoover and Lauren Levine, it’s a roiling assembly of Sparksisms including forbidden romance, a nearly constructed dream house, kisses in the rain, a journal, a cute kid, a dead soulmate and the chance to start again.
“Reminders of Him’s” story stems from tragedy. “There was before you. There was during you. I never thought there’d be an after you,” Kenna (Maika Monroe) says after her boyfriend Scotty (Rudy Pankow) is killed a terrible drunk driving accident.
Jailed for seven years for her role in his death, she returns to their hometown in hope of reconnecting with their child Diem (Zoe Kosovic), a little girl being raised by Scotty’s parents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick Landry (Bradley Whitford). “I’m headed back to the place it all went wrong,” she says, “to see if I can get something right.”
She is not welcomed with open arms—“If it wasn’t for her, our son would still be alive,” says Paterick— until former NFL player and local bar owner Ledger Ward (Tyriq Withers) offers her a job. “Do you know how to wash dishes,” he asks. “Seven years’ experience,” she replies.
When his compassion turns to romance, their relationship deepens the rift between Kenna and the Landrys, who disapprove of her dating Ledger, Scotty’s former best friend and surrogate father to Diem.
As Ledger is forced to choose between his new love and his loyalty to Diem, Scotty and the Landrys, Kenna faces the hardest decision of her life.
Big issues are raised in “Reminders of Him, not to be explored, but simply to be overcome.
A collection of clichés from the Big Book of Romantic Melodrama, the movie uses Kenna, a traumatized character misunderstood by the Landrys, and her sad eyes, as a vehicle for the story’s overwrought contrivances.
Monroe perseveres, convincingly playing Kenna as a woman picking up the pieces after her life was shattered by death and prison. It’s hard not to root for her and it is that quality that prevents the film from suffocating under an avalanche of sentimentality.
“Reminders of Him” is a sincere-if-slight movie whose romantic tentacles are meant to tug at audience heartstrings, controlling them like marionettes, but instead puppets predictable romantic prosaicisms about redemption and second chances that will remind you of other, better movies.
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to scream seven times. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the return of Sidney Prescott in “Scream 7,” the northern noir of “In Cold Light” and the music doc “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In the crime drama “In Cold Blood,” starring Maika Monroe and Troy Kotsur, and now playing in theatres, a woman, fresh out of prison, is forced to go on the run when she witnesses a murder.
CAST: Maika Monroe, Troy Kotsur, Helen Hunt, Allan Hawco. Directed by Maxime Giroux.
REVIEW: The low-key English language debut of director Maxime Giroux, “In Cold Light” benefits from a steady hand on the wheel, and (eventually) pedal to the metal pacing.
Set mostly on one event filled night, Maika Monroe plays Ava, a felon fresh out of the joint after a drug bust. When her plan to go straight by cleaning out stalls for rodeo-riding father Will (Troy Kotsur) doesn’t work out, she is determined to reclaim her place in the drug business she left behind, now being run by twin brother Tom (Jesse Irving).
When a deal goes south, she witnesses a murder and is framed for the crime by corrupt cops and a cold-blooded rival in the form of drug lord Claire (Helen Hunt). To survive Ava—and a family secret—hoof it as her enemies close in.
“In Cold Light” takes few minutes to kick in.
Giroux takes his time with the set-up, establishing the family dynamics and Ava’s outsider status as she returns to a world and a business that is much different than the one she left behind. Once the stakes have been established, “In Cold Blood” proves itself to be a generic, but effective and stylish (thanks to cinematographer Sara Mishara) neo-noir.
Best known as a scream queen in films like “Longlegs” and “It Follows,” Munroe is a big reason “In Cold Light” remains compelling. Steely but vulnerable, she is given room in the sparse script to explore Ava’s physical and emotional sides. Ava begins as a gritty, mysterious character but slowly transcends the cliches of the crime thriller genre to become worthy of sympathy even as her behavior escalates.
As Ava’s father Will, Oscar winner Kotsur adds to the film’s emotional sweepstakes.
“In Cold Light” is a moody thriller that is a little light on memorable situations or characters—save for Ava and Will—but at a tight 93 minutes, it delivers enough style to transcend its pulpy roots.
SYNOPSIS: In “Longlegs,” a new psychological horror film starring Maika Munroe and Nicolas Cage, and now playing in theatres, FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to a decades-old case of a serial killer who targets entire families. The case turns personal as she uncovers evidence of the occult.
CAST: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood, Kiernan Shipka. Directed by Osgood Perkins (son of “Psycho” star Anthony Perkins and photographer and actress Berry Berenson).
REVIEW More unsettling than scary, “Longlegs” is both thematically and visually dark. There’s not a lot of cracks to let the light in. As the mystery at the heart of this occult thriller unfolds, the action happens mostly at night or in darkened rooms, lending a heavy air of foreboding to every frame of this strange film.
Adding to the film’s otherworldly vibe is Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, the FBI agent assigned to Longlegs’ case. She is Clarice Starling with a carefully defined introspective side; a sixth sense that helps to unravel her cases. “It’s like something tapping me on the shoulder,” he says, “telling me where to look.” Analytical in the extreme, Munroe, in a quiet performance, allows us to see the gears turning in her head as the clues begin to add up. Her process gives Harker a brooding demeanor that perfectly matches the film’s tense, subdued tone.
On the other end of the scale is Cage as the titular serial killer. His unhinged, chaotic work makes his other gonzo performances in movies like “The Wicker Man,” “Face/Off” and “Vampire Kiss” seem positively understated by comparison. Jame Gumb has nothing on this guy. It’s an over-the-top display and individual mileage may vary, but his Tiny Tim inflection, creepy rendition of “Happy Birthday” and repulsive leer will not soon be forgotten.
Despite Cage’s larger-than-life-and-death performance, “Longlegs” values restraint. Other than a quick flash of decomposing bodies, a gallon or two of blood and a handful of jump scares, Perkins is more interested in burrowing into your subconscious with a nightmarish story that unfolds in the dark corners of Harker’s mind. The story’s psychological underpinnings are where the true horror lies. where the discomfort comes from.
By the time the end credits roll, you’ll leave the theatre unnerved, even after they turn on the lights.
The name Mark Felt was one of Washington DC’s best-kept secrets for years. From 1972 to 2005 theories and rumours echoed through the halls of power as to the real name of Deep Throat, the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward that kick started the Watergate scandal. Now that it’s known that the mysterious figure was actually Mark Felt, the Deputy Associate Director of the FBI, how is it possible to make a cloak-and-dagger thriller out of the story when even the name, the lengthy, “Mark Felt – The Man Who Brought Down the White House,” gives away the plot?
The film begins as stone-faced keeper of secrets Felt, played by Liam Neeson, learns his boss of thirty years, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, has died. It is presumed that, given his years of experience and service—he’s the G-man’s G-man—that he’ll be offered the top job. “You’re the chief dragon slayer and keeper of the American dream,” says his wife Audrey (Diane Lane).
His new case looks promising as well. He and his team are investigating a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington. It’s a case that Felt feels will have major repercussions, perhaps leading to the very top office in the land, President Nixon’s Oval Office.
His dreams of running the F.B.I. and breaking the explosive Watergate case are scuttled when Hoover’s job goes to an assistant attorney general from Nixon’s Justice Department, L. Pat Gray (Marton Csokas). “Hoover is gone,” Felt is told. “You’re alone now holding the end of your own leash.” Felt, once the second in command is now the odd man out. More than that, Gray wants the Watergate investigation shut down. “You are never going to find what you were looking for,” says Gray. “End it. Shut it down.”
Felt knows the burglars are all ex CIA and FBI with connections to the Committee to Re-Elect the President so rather than let it drop he turns to the press and becomes the most famous—and for a time anonymous—whistleblower in American political history.
“Mark Felt – The Man Who Brought Down the White House” is a timely look at the role of the FBI versus the White House. Much of Felt’s dialogue—lines like, “No one can stop the driving force of an FBI investigation. Not even the FBI.”—feel like they could have been lifted from James Comey’s Congressional testimony. The story predates Presidents Ford, Jimmy Carter, two Bushes, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama but feels ripped from today’s headlines.
Déjà vu aside, there isn’t much else here of interest. Neeson is the very model of a company man, someone who gave his life to the FBI only to see outside forces—i.e. Nixon’s White House—compromise the Bureau’s effectiveness. “We don’t answer to them,” he grunts. “The White House has no authority on the FBI.” It’s a compelling reason but Neeson is so stoic he’s barely a character and more a mound of finely sculpted grey hair with an attitude. As Felt he has a very particular set of skills. Skills he has acquired over a very long career. Skills that include stoicism. If you don’t give him what he wants he will hunt you down and tell you secrets.
A grafted on story about his missing, possibly radicalized daughter, does nothing to humanize the man who has spent a career as a cipher and only distracts from the intrigue.
“Mark Felt – The Man Who Brought Down the White House” is based on an explosive story and should be an engaging picture of the backrooms of power and the machinations that brought down a government. Instead it is a talky affair that relies on exposition rather than thrills.
In today’s world it’s not enough to simply be a hero. Now you must be a superhero. Unlike the old days when square-jawed movie stars rescued damsels in distress or battled cold-hearted landlords, today’s champions won’t get out of bed for anything less than the threat of complete world annihilation. Liberating a cat from a tree or performing the Heimlich Maneuver is considered HeroLite™, the work of lesser lifesavers.
Today it’s all about averting the apocalypse. In Captain America: Civil War the idea of how to police and ultimately save the world is at the heart of the action and X-Men: Apocalypse’s bad guy has grandiose plans to “cleanse mankind and create a new world order.”
This weekend the heroes of Independence Day: Resurgence join Mystique, Quicksilver, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, Captain America and legendary do-gooders Batman and Superman in some good, old fashioned world saving.
The twenty-years-in-the-making sequel to Will Smith’s mega-hit sees aliens from outside the Solar System attack our planet. It’s life and death on a planetary scale, a premise that has become increasingly popular in recent years.
It’s not a surprise the stories are getting larger and louder. Audiences want a big bang for their buck and Hollywood is pleased to oblige with high stakes situations that provide frenetic action and happy endings (unless, of course you’re rooting for the bad guy). These days Hollywood also looks to overseas markets for mega-revenue and presenting globe-spanning stories helps to attract crowds in other countries.
Business aside, why have audiences embraced world-on-the-brink movies?
Films, says Dr. Norman Holland, Marston-Milbauer Eminent Scholar Emeritus at the University of Florida, work on different parts of your brain.
“The parts that turn off are the parts that plan action because you’re not going to act on what you see on the screen in front of you,” he says. “You turn off the systems that plan, that look ahead that evaluate futures. That explains the phenomenon of the willing suspension of disbelief. You accept the most improbable things, like Stars Wars or Spider-Man or whatever. At the same time the lower centres of your brain are generating emotions like mad in response to what you’re seeing. This is the peculiar phenomenon that you can feel and care about these people on the screen while at the same time knowing they are nothing but a fiction.”
In other words, it’s what legendary purveyor of thrills Alfred Hitchcock said. “People like to be scared when they feel safe.”
We live in unsettling and troubled times and going to the movies can provide an escape. In these heroic tales good almost always wins out, a comforting antidote to the nightly news where stories often don’t have happy endings. It makes us feel good, but, as Dr. Holland notes, it’s also restful.
“As you know they are redesigning movie theatres with recliner chairs so you can sleep through the movie,” he says. “Yes, it is relaxing. This is the part of your brain that worries, that plans for the future, that is concerned about the state of your body. All that shuts down. It’s restful, no question.”
Going to the movies is restful? Good for us? Seems like in our busy, stressful world it’s the films that are the heroes, not the characters.
