CTV ATLANTIC: RICHARD AND TODD BATTIS ON NEW MOVIES IN THEATRES!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis to talk about the teen horror of “Whistle,” an amorous “Dracula” and the mockumentary “The Moment.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Posts Tagged ‘Michelle Fairley’
CTV NEWSCHANNEL: RICHARD’s MOVIE REVIEWS FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 06, 2026!
I join the CTV NewsChanel to talk about the teen horror of “Whistle,” an amorous “Dracula” and the mockumentary “The Moment.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
CP24: RICHARD’s WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 06, 2026
I join CP24 to talk about the teen horror of “Whistle,” an amorous “Dracula” and the mockumentary “The Moment.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the teen horror of “Whistle,” an amorous “Dracula” and the mockumentary “The Moment.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
YOU TUBE: THREE MOVIES/THIRTY SECONDS! FAST REVIEWS FOR BUSY PEOPLE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to slam the door! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the teen horror of “Whistle,” an amorous “Dracula” and the mockumentary “The Moment.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
WHISTLE: 3 STARS. “leans into nostalgia for teen popcorn horror.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Whistle,” a horror film starring Dafne Keen, and now playing in theatres, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle harkens the demise of a group of high school students. “If you hear the whistle scream, dying is not a choice.”
CAST: Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang, Jhaleil Swaby, Ali Skovbye, Percy Hynes White, Michelle Fairley, Nick Frost. Directed by Corin Hardy.
REVIEW: With a healthy dose of nostalgia “Whistle” looks to the teen horror films of the 80s and 90s for inspiration and thrills.
The story begins with Chrys (Dafne Keen) moving to a new town, and a new school following the death of her father. As rumors swirl through the hallways about her dark past she is treated like an outsider by everyone, except Ellie (Sophie Nelisse), her smart, friendly classmate.
When Chrys discovers an ancient Aztec Death Whistle in the shape of a skull, left behind by a former student in her locker, she doesn’t realize that blowing into the artefact will summons the future deaths of anyone in earshot and hunt them down. “Our future death is hunting us.”
“Whistle” is an effective, nasty slasher that delivers a new riff on the “Final Destination” blueprint, finding inventive and entertaining ways to send its characters to the afterlife.
What separates “Whistle” from some (but not all) of its teen predecessors is the attention to character detail. Director Corin Hardy, working from a script by Owen Egerton, ensures the characters aren’t just disposable teens. They have backstories—someone them might even have futures—and they are a little more fleshed out than your run-of-the-mill slasher. When they start disappearing, you feel it.
But that doesn’t mean Hardy goes easy on them. The kills are grotesque and often quite juicy—I’d love to know the film’s fake plasma budget—which should be a bonus for gore hounds.
“Whistle” leans into its nostalgia for teen popcorn horror, but filters it through a new, modern lens.
SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE: 4 STARS. “a story of courage in an era of complicity.”
SYNOPSIS: The morality play “Small Things like These” is Cillian Murphy’s follow-up to his Oscar winning work in “Oppenheimer.” Lowkey though it may be, this study of religious morality and individual responsibility allows him space to hand in a quietly powerful performance that speaks volumes.
CAST: Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Emily Watson, Clare Dunne, and Helen Behan. Directed by Tim Mielants.
REVIEW: Adapted from the novella by Claire Keegan, “Small Things Like These” is a story of courage in an era of complicity.
Set in 1985, Murphy plays Bill Furlong, a taciturn coalman in a small, conservative Irish town, where he lives with wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh) and five daughters. As Christmas, his busiest season, approaches he has a chilling encounter with Sarah (Zara Devlin), a young, unmarried and pregnant woman, cold and afraid, in the coal shed of the local Catholic run Magdalene Laundry.
As she begs for help, Bill is haunted by memories of his youth as an orphan, the son of an unmarried mother who passed when he was a child. In a community held in sway by the church, Bill is torn between offering aid and the potential blowback from Mother Mary (Emily Watson), head of the convent and a powerful figure in the town. “You better watch what you say about what’s there,” he’s told. “People can make things difficult for you.”
Poetically paced, “Small Things Like These” is a serious film that showcases not only the abuses of the Magdalene institutions, but the moral complicity of those who knew about it and did nothing. “If you want to get on in this life,” says Eileen, “there are things you have to ignore.”
As Bill, Murphy is quietly restrained, observant and empathetic but it is the inner torrent of torment that bubbles just beneath the surface that makes him so compelling. There are long stretches spent in silent close-up of Murphy’s face that speak volumes about Bill’s
moral conundrum and feelings of indecisiveness in the face of injustice. The film’s real action happens inside his head and Murphy’s gift is the ability to externalize the character’s interior mechanisms.
“Small Things like These” is a powerful study of quiet heroism in the face of self-interest, buoyed by Murphy, and his committed cast’s, deeply felt, rich performances.
