Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to reanimate the dead. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the monstrous and messy “The Bride!,” PIxar’s “Hoppers” and the hockey drama “Youngblood.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Youngblood,” a reimagining of the 1986 Rob Lowe hockey drama now playing in theatres, Ashton James stars as a Black junior hockey player in Hamilton, Ontario, who dreams of getting drafted into the NHL.
CAST: Ashton James, Blair Underwood, Shawn Doyle, Alexandra McDonald, Oluniké Adeliyi, Henri Richer-Picard, Emidio Lopes, Donald MacLean Jr., Tamara Podemski, Joris Jarsky, Matt Wells, Keris Hope Hill, Jonathan Valvano, Ty Neckar, Dylan Hawco, Evan Buliung. Directed by Hubert Davis.
REVIEW: In good sports movies the sport—baseball, basketball, hockey, ping pong, whatever—isn’t just a game, it’s a vehicle for social comment. “Youngblood” reinvents the original film to become a study of the difficulties faced by Black athletes, told with high octane hockey sequences as a backdrop.
A companion piece to director Hubert Davis’s 2022 documentary “Black Ice,” winner of TIFF’s People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary, “Youngblood” casts Ashton James as Dean Youngblood, a young, hotheaded defenseman, still stinging from the death of his mother. His promising career in Detroit was cut when he handed a year’s suspension for fighting and lost his scholarship. Now he’s looking to get back on the ice.
When he gets a second chance, a tryout for the Hamilton, Ontario Mustangs, it’s not his best shot, it might be his only shot at realizing his National Hockley League dreams.
With stern father and mentor Blane’s (Blair Underwood) teachings ringing in his head, Dean arrives thinking the cards are stacked against him. If he is to succeed, he must stomach strict coach Murray’s (Shawn Doyle) who barely gives him ice time and hazing from his new teammates as he learns there is no “I” in team. “It’s the Mustangs,” he’s told, “not the Youngbloods.”
The original film has been given an overhaul. Gone are most of the team’s hockey hijinks, the predatory house mother and star Rob Lowe’s Brat Pack vibe. Instead, perhaps inspired by late co-screenwriter Charles Officer’s time spent as a pro hockey player, the new film digs deeper, examining race, violence and toxicity in hockey, while keeping the puck on the ice with exciting game sequences.
As the title character, Ashton James brings passion for the game tempered by the hurt Dean feels by being overlooked because of the color of his skin and the loss of his mother (Oluniké Adeliyi), who had been a leveling force in his life. It’s nice, authentic work that allows James to hold the film’s center opposite older, more experienced actors.
“Youngblood” occasionally falls prey to platitudes—”Lord knows we all have our moments,” says inspirational house mother Ms. McGill (Tamara Podemski), “It’s what we do next that matters.”—but nice performances, combined with cool hockey footage, courtesy of Stuart James Cameron’s cinematography, bring Dean’s struggles, on and off the ice, to vivid life.
“Crown and Anchor,” co-written by and starring “Arrow” actor Michael Rowe, is billing itself as a “punk rock drama.” Shot on location in St. John’s Newfoundland, the crime drama embodies punk’s DIY ethic but don’t expect thrash and trash.
To stretch the musical analogy one step further, this well measured movie has more to do with the introspective stripped-down sounds of a band like Television than the loud ‘n fast rush of The Ramones. In other words, it’s like punk with guitar solos.
Rowe plays police officer James Downey, a disciplined man who fled Newfoundland years before to get away from his abusive alcoholic father Gus (Stephen McHattie). Returning for his mother’s funeral he must confront the past he left behind. Gus is safely tucked away behind bars but cousin Danny (Matt Wells) is loose, desperate for money and wallowing in booze and drugs. He’s also involved with some very bad people. Thrown back into the kind of family drama that forced him to leave the island years before, Downey stays put confront the past and present.
Don’t expect a tourism board approved view of Newfoundland and Labrador. “Crown and Anchor” is all about the dark corners. The echoes of the grief, tragedy and violence of James and Danny’s lives reverberate throughout. Director Andrew Rowe is unflinching and uncompromising in his presentation of the underbelly of St. John’s life.
Shot in long takes, often in uninterrupted close ups, “Crown and Anchor” showcases its strong performances. The leads, along with Natalie Brown as Danny’s wife Jessica and Robert Joy, bring authenticity to roles that could have veered into caricature.
“Crown and Anchor” is a slow burn. It takes its time getting where it is going, building tension with long scenes. Rowe gives his scenes room, allowing them to marinade. It’s old school indie, but in our era of frenetic editing it feels fresh and new.
