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 dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the documentary “Lorne,” Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel in the dramedy “The Christophers” and the east coast crime dr5ama “Little Lorraine.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:00)
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine,” the documentary “Lorne” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 12:11)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Scott Hirsch to talk about the recently announced “Top Gun 3” and new releases in theatres, including the dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine,” the documentary “Lorne” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about hoiw big album drops may be related to traffic accidents, the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, a head banging prime minister and I review the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine” and suggest some Cape Breton drinks to go along with the movie.
Listen to the entertainment news HERE!
Listen to Booze & Reviews HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Little Lorraine,” a new true crime drama starring Stephen Amell, Sean Astin, J Balvin and Stephen McHattie, a seaside fishing village in Nova Scotia becomes the center of an international cocaine smuggling ring in the 1980s.
CAST: Stephen Amell, Sean Astin, J Balvin, Matt Walsh, Rhys Darby, Stephen McHattie, Steve Lund, Sugar Lyn Beard, Hugh Thompson, Mike Dopud, Kaelen Ohm, Joshua Close, Auden Thornton, Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz, Mark A. Owen, Dax Ravina, Luis Javier, David Mortimer. Directed by Andy Hines.
REVIEW: Inspired by true events, “Little Lorraine” is a crime story set amid Cape Breton’s post-coal mining difficulties, that authentically depicts how far desperate people will go to support their families.
As the movie begins, hard times have come to Cape Breton’s tight-knit blue-collar community Little Lorraine. A faltering fishing industry coupled with a coal mine explosion that killed ten men and led to the closure of the local mine has left many of the community’s 60 inhabitants unemployed, desperate for work.
To keep food on the table former miner Jimmy (Stephen Amell) and two locals, Tommy (Joshua Close) and Jake (Steve Lund), accept an offer of good-paying jobs on a lobster boat run by Jimmy’s shady great-uncle Huey (Stephen McHattie).
Unfortunately, the honest work is anything but.
Turns out Huey’s boat and the secluded town are part of a global cocaine smuggling ring, with Jimmy, Tommy, and Jake unknowingly moving the drugs. The operation distributes cocaine via funeral homes, hiding it in coffins.
Faced with the choice of breaking the law to feed their families, Jimmy and his friends debate what to do as an Interpol agent, played by Colombian musician J Balvin, closes in.
Rich in atmosphere, “Little Lorraine” paints a vivid picture of a town and its people plunged into crisis.
Urgent and realistic, it succeeds because isn’t just about the crime, it’s about the people.
There’s loads of suspense, but director Andy Hines (who co-wrote the script with Adam Baldwin) makes sure that the cocaine smuggling takes a backseat to the effect of Uncle Huey’s scheme rather than the scheme itself.
As Jimmny, Amell leaves behind the high gloss of his best-known role as the crime fighting Green Arrow on the CW superhero series “Arrow” to find a welcome grittiness that serves the everyman character and the story. A man roiled by guilt, his self-destructiveness cuts through his stoicism to reveal the moral dilemma at the heart of the film.
As good as Amell is in the movie, it’s McHattie who steals scenes. A charismatic rogue, he drips menace through the malevolent smile on his face.
“Little Lorraine” is a stranger-than-fiction exploration of economic desperation, loyalty and moral dilemmas that finds the humanity in the situation without ever romanticizing or sensationalizing it.
SYNOPSIS: In “Sharp Corner,” a new psychological drama now playing in theatres, Ben Foster stars as Josh, a family man who develops an unhealthy obsession with the car accidents that happen in his front yard, the result of a dangerous sharp corner on the edge of the property. When trimming the bushes that obscure the road signs nearby doesn’t stop the accidents, he becomes consumed by preventing the crashes and in the process, becoming a hero. “We can’t stay here. People are dying on our lawn,” says his wife Rachel (Cobie Smulders). “These aren’t freak accidents. Why do you think this house sat on the market for so long?” Josh’s refusal to leave puts Rachel and their son Max (William Kosovic) in danger.
CAST: Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders. Gavin Drea, Alexandra Castillo, Julia Dyan, Jonathan Watton, Reid Price, Leah Johnston, Dan Lett, Andrew Shaver, Mark A. Owen, Bob Mann, Allison Wilson-Forbes, Wayne Burns, Alexandra McDonald. Directed by Jason Buxton.
REVIEW: Ben Foster is known for the intensity of his roles. From “Hell or High Water’s” reckless bank robber Tanner Howard and the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in “The Program” to the sadistic cop in “Lawless” and the off-grid veteran of “Leave No Trace,” his performances redefine the word volatile.
It’s interesting then, to see him dial that outward intensity way down in “Sharp Corner.”
His trademarked, wild-eyed fervor has been turned inward in a performance that is no less compelling than his showier work. His take on Josh is contained, a portrait of quiet desperation that builds in complexity as his dark fascination with the aftermath of the accidents in his front yard grows.
Foster even manages to find some morbid humor in the matter-of-fact way Josh processes his involvement in the deadly events.
When a man misses the turn and burns to death on their front lawn while Josh has Max at Taekwondo class, her blames Rachel for signing their son up for the sport, keeping him away at the time of the crash. “No Taekwondo, no dead guy,” he says. “Max doesn’t need to kick pads, and that guy didn’t need to die.”
The character study of a man in pursuit of purpose in his life, even as his family and work lives unravel, is intriguing.
Foster compels, but it is Smolders, as a wife pushed to the limit by her husband’s misguided heroics, is the glue that keeps the family drama together. As Josh spirals, she remains planted firmly in the real world, and her performance grounds the story.
“Sharp Corner” isn’t the story of a hero, despite Josh’s best efforts. Instead, it’s the darkly entertaining tale of a narcissistic guy whose misplaced passion not only ruins his life, but many others.
I hosted a screening of the new psychological thriller “Sharp Corner” in front of a sold out audience at The Royal Theatre in Toronto last night. Joining me for a post screening Q&A were writer/director Jason Buxton and star Cobie Smulders. We talked about how Buxton adapted the film from a short story in a book called “Whirl Away” by Russell Wangersky, how Smulders plays a couples therapist who struggles to understand her husband’s trauma and obsession and much more.
SYNOPSIS: In “Sharp Corner,” a new psychological drama now playing in theatres, Ben Foster stars as Josh, a family man who develops an unhealthy obsession with the car accidents that happen in his front yard, the result of a dangerous sharp corner on the edge of the property. When trimming the bushes that obscure the road signs nearby doesn’t stop the accidents, he becomes consumed by preventing the crashes and in the process, becoming a hero. “We can’t stay here. People are dying on our lawn,” says his wife Rachel (Cobie Smulders). “These aren’t freak accidents. Why do you think this house sat on the market for so long?” Josh’s refusal to leave puts Rachel and their son Max (William Kosovic) in danger.
Photo credits: George Pimentel Photography!
