I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renée Rodgers to talk about the stylish and satirical “Onslaught,” the big stars of “Mayday” and the vengeance of “By Any Means.”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 stylish and satirical “Onslaught,” the big stars of “Mayday” and the vengeance of “By Any Means.”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 a sandwich. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the stylish and satirical “Onslaught,” the big stars of “Mayday” and the vengeance of “By Any Means.”Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about why American love a British president, a new wrap artist from actor Tom Hardy a.k.a. Frankie Pulitzer, a Hooters movie, and I review the action flick “Onslaught” and suggest some robot themed cocktaiuls to enjoy with the movie.Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Onslaught,” a violent new action thriller now playing in theatres, an army sniper protects her daughter from a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers. “Go to your room. Get under the bed. Mommy needs to get her guns.”CAST: Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall. Directed by Adam Wingard.
REVIEW: Laced with Kinky Sex, Drugs and Eurotrash pop, alongside homages to John Carpenter, RoboCop, Jason Voorhees and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Onslaught” is a satiric government conspiracy theory flick that delivers gore but not many thrills.
Set in the near future, “Onslaught” finds retired Army sniper Celeste (Adria Arjona) living off grid in a New Mexico desert trailer park. “I like it here,” she says. “I feel safe.”
Suffering from PTSD and haunted by her violent past, she is caught off guard when her daughter Daisy’s (Blake Kennedy) baby daddy unexpectedly drops the child off for a weekend visit. Celeste wants a quiet visit with her but is troubled by nearby suspicious military activity.
Turns out, she has every reason to be suspicious. German mad scientist Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) is using the cover of the top-secret facility to create genetically engineered super soldiers. With names like Crybaby (Tyler Hall), Cockroach (Dave Campbell) and The Butcher (Alex Pereira), they are the most lethal soldiers known to man.
“Once they begin killing,” Dr. Kammler cackles, “they will not stop. They are the human equivalent of a heat-seeking missile.”
When the super soldiers escape, chaos reigns as they go on a killing spree. “These men are conditioned to kill until they are stopped.” To keep her daughter safe Celeste dusts off her long buried special set of skills to keep her family out of harm’s way. “I’m just going to say a lot of bad words, okay?” she says apologetically to Daisy.
A collection of influences bound together with blood splatter, excentric performances and one liners, “Onslaught” comes together as a gory conspiracy-driven satire of secret government programs and militarized power.
Director Adam Wingard, working from a script by Simon Barrett, has gory good fun while highlighting the serious notion of unethical behaviour by the military and government. The blood-soaked messaging isn’t subtle, and often played for laughs, particularly by Dan Stevens, whose mad scientist with a penchant for German techno music and licking his wife’s feet, is based on SS general Hans Kammler. It’s a willfully strange performance, perfect for the movie’s old-school exploitation vibe, and the movie feels unpredictable when he’s on screen.
When he’s not on screen, however, the movie plays out pretty much how you might imagine it will. Adria Arjona is a credible action lead, and “Dancing with the Stars” and “Die Hard” actor Reginald “Wrong trailer park, mother******!” VelJohnson adds a dollop of charm as Celeste’s Vietnam veteran neighbor and comrade in arms, but the genetically altered villains are essentially just relentless Jason Voorhees types with glowing eyes and bad dispositions.
They are brutal, and a violent scene in a gas station convenience store is grim display of random violence, but overall, they aren’t as menacing as the movie needs them to be.
“Onslaught” is stylish and satirical but delivers more political subtext than actual thrills.
SYNOPSIS: In “Predator: Killer of Killers,” a new animated-science-fiction-action-horror-anthology film for adults, now streaming on Disney+, pits the relentless alien killing machine against three fierce human warriors—a Viking our for revenge, a ninja from feudal Japan and a WWII pilot. “There’s only one way to kill it. We must fight together.”
CAST: Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg.
REVIEW: If the animated “Predator: Killer of Killers” is any indication, fans are in for a bloody good time this November when “Predator: Badlands” hits theatres. Think of this animated anthology film is an amuse bouche, dipped in gore, to whet your appetite for the main event.
The premise is simple, like a riff on the schoolyard game of Who Would Win? Remember that? Who would win in a fight, Dracula or Frankenstein? Yeti or Bigfoot?
In this case “Predator: Killer of Killers” jumps through history to coral a trio of warriors willing to do battle with the ultimate killing machine.
The first third sees a Viking raider guiding her young son on a bloody quest for revenge against the alien. Part two is set against the backdrop of feudal Japan and a battle for succession, while part three sees a WWII pilot attempt to save the Allied cause from the existential, extraterrestrial threat.
Individually, they are no match for the otherworldly menace, but together they might have a chance. Perhaps this should have been called “Predator: There Is No ‘I’ in Team.”
It should be noted that just because something is on Disney+, that doesn’t mean it’s for the whole family. This is a grisly, high-octane movie that doesn’t spare the plasma; one that combines 2D and 3D animation techniques filtered through a “Mortal Combat” lens. The result is a thing of terrible beauty that blends realism with cartoon animation to brutal effect.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, whose “Prey” revitalized the franchise, and whose upcoming “Predator: Badlands” is hotly anticipated, “Predator: Killer of Killers” isn’t a sequel or a prequel, at least not in any way I could decipher, it’s simply a fearsome adventure set within the Predator Universe.
