I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renée Rodgers to talk about the dystopian rom com “One Night Only,” the rambunctious “Super Troopers 3” and the flavourless “Ice Cream Man.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit with guest host Jim Richards on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about big nme music artists offering $20 tickets to shows, a Celine Dion lotto, the latest “Heated Rivalry” swag and I tell you about the dystopian rom com “One Night Only.”
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 the bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the dystopian rom com “One Night Only,” the rambunctious “Super Troopers 3” and the flavourless “Ice Cream Man.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “One Night Only,” a new romantic comedy starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, now playing in theatres, two strangers attempt to make a connection on the one night of the year when pre-marital sex is legal. “How is anyone supposed to find something real on a night like tonight?”
CAST: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton. Directed by Will Gluck.
REVIEW: Like a mash-up of “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Purge” (only with sex instead of murder), “One Night Only” takes a provocative premise and applies strict rom com rules to the story of two singletons looking for something more than a one-night stand.
“One Night Only” takes place in an alternate New York City where premarital sex is illegal every day of the year except one. “We wanted to go back to a time when sex was reserved for the sanctity of marriage,” says a government official. “Since our resolution passed, teen pregnancy is near zero, STIs are at record lows, and now it’s a badge of honor to be an incel.”
On that day two love-starved strangers, a pizza shop owner Owen (Callum Turner) and a hopelessly romantic jingle singer Allie (Monica Barbaro) have several meet cutes—“Your ears look like car doors,” she says. “Your legs don’t make any sense,” he says.—and begin a flirty and often funny cat and mouse game that will lead them across the city in pursuit of something more than a quick roll in the hay.
“One Night Only” is the rare rom com that uses fascism as a catalyst for the amorous action. But the ban on premarital relations, while central to the story, isn’t the entire story.
The only truly provocative thing in this sex comedy (rated 14A in Canada, R in the U.S.) is the dystopian premise. Strip away the story’s underdeveloped Orwellian satire and you’re left with a charming, mostly chaste search for connection.
Central to the film’s likability are Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner.
Barbaro, an Oscar nominee for her work as Joan Baez in the Bob Dylan-biopic “A Complete Unknown,” channels Meg Ryan with a combination of charm and chutzpah. Equally at home with the dramatic and comedic demands of the role, she’s an effervescent presence whether she’s emoting or doing pratfalls.
Equal parts aw-shucks, sincerity and swagger, Turner clicks with Barbaro as their “After Hours”-style adventures (without the edge of the Martin Scorsese NYC classic) keep them in one another’s orbit.
On one hand “One Night Only” feels like a missed opportunity to examine traditional values in the face of governmental overreach.
On the other, it’s a straight-ahead rom com with nothing on its mind except the happiness of its main characters. It’s no secret how this movie will end. If it comes as a shock, you’ve never seen a rom com, because these movies aren’t about the destination, they’re about the journey, and “One Night Only” is a fun trip despite its reluctance to fully engage with its political premise.
SYNOPSIS: In “Crime 101,” a new, all-star heist thriller starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry, and now playing in theatres, a relentless detective is on the case of the 101 Robber, a jewel thief who targets victims along the 101 freeway in Los Angeles.
CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Halle Berry. Directed by Bart Layton.
REVIEW: If you’re making a cat-and-mouse cops and robbers movie you may as well borrow from the best. Despite interesting characters, twists and turns and high-octane action, “Crime 101” reverberates with echoes of Michael Mann movies like “Heat” and “Thief” with a side of Elmore Leonard thrown in.
Based on a Don Winslow novella, “Crime 101” is a Los Angeles noir; a thriller ripe with cynicism, sun dappled crime and obsessive, often morally compromised characters.
Chris Hemsworth is Mike Davis, a jewel thief who robs high value targets along the 101 freeway. Meticulous, he carefully plans each heist to avoid unnecessary violence and ensure a clean getaway. When things become difficult with his fence, the ironically named Money (Nick Nolte) who seems to be intent on keeping the money from their jobs for himself, Mike looks for one big score. One with “walk away” money. “That’s the thing about walk-away money,” he says. “You gotta be able to walk away with it.”
When he meets Sharon Combs (Halle Berry), a disillusioned insurance broker looking to put the screws to the company she thinks is passing her over for a promotion, he pumps her for information regarding one of her high-value clients.
His painstaking planning is disrupted by Ormon (Barry Keoghan), a violent biker Money sees as his new partner and Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), a detective determined to put an end to Mike’s crime spree.
“Crime 101” has a lot going for it. It’s a slick thriller that takes its time to let us get to know its characters. Each one of them has flaws, even the good guys have bad traits, which makes for textured storytelling.
The A-list cast provide enough star power to bring to life the ambition, obsession and disillusionment that fuel the gritty story.
And yet, for the all the positives, “Crime 101” feels as generic as its title. It’s entertaining and moody, but the story feels like Michael Mann Lite; a derivative collection of crime tropes bound together by a fancy bow.
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Scott Hirsch to talk about the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” and the vampire drama “Nosferatu.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: Timothée Chalamet stars as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” an intimate portrait of four tumultuous years in the life of the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer.
CAST: Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, P. J. Byrne, Will Harrison and Eriko Hatsune. Directed by James Mangold who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks.
REVIEW: From the surreal “Rocketman,” that turned Elton John’s life into pop art and the self-congratulatory “Bohemian Rhapsody” to the monkey business of the Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man” and Brian Wilson’s introspective “Love & Mercy,” music bios come in all envelope pushing shapes and sizes.
So, it’s a surprise that “A Complete Unknown,” the new film chronicling four years in Bob Dylan’s eventful life, from Greenwich Village newbie to the enigmatic superstar who was booed off the stage at the Newport Folk Festival for playing an electric guitar, is so straightforward.
A story about the man who wrote, “The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face,” could reasonably be expected to take some stylistic risks à la “I’m Not There,” Todd Haynes’s metaphoric retelling of the “Like a Rolling Stones” singer’s life.
Instead, “A Complete Unknown” is more “Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story” than “I’m Not There” or “Inside Llewyn Davis.” The storytelling is efficiently linear (although not all together factual) without the kind of flourishes that Dylan regularly applies to his songs.
But the back-to-basics approach benefits the movie, allowing Timothée Chalamet’s tour de force performance to shine.
Dylan is one of the most documented people of the twentieth century, a man who has inspired a million nasally impressions, and influenced generations of musicians, and yet remains somewhat unknowable.
As a result, “A Complete Unknown” lives up to its name. When we first meet Dylan, he’s an unknown commodity. Four years later he’s the voice of a generation, the most famous export of the folk scene, but in many ways, he remains an enigma.
Chalamet captures the voice and the physicality of young Dylan but isn’t weighed down by the superstar’s legend. Despite his documented life, Dylan, the man, the myth, the legend, is basically unknowable. He’s a cipher; a dancer to a song only he can hear. Chalamet plays him as a mysterious, sometimes imperious guy and most importantly, gets the essence of what made Dylan the voice of a generation. It’s the It Factor, the Rizz, the elusive quality that is impossible to define, but easy to spot.
Instead of attempting to unwind Dylan’s mystique director James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks, wisely opts for a portrait of the time, the America and, in microcosm, the Greenwich Village folk era, that produced the singer. The Cuban Missile Crisis and the battle for civil rights indirectly hang heavy over the film, completing the portrait of the time that fuelled Dylan’s early work.
The songs, and there are plenty of them, most performed by Chalamet, are the product of these influences and act as a commentary on that chaotic period.
“A Complete Unknown” may not be revelatory in terms of its biography of Dylan, but it places the singer in context of his times, revealing a rich vein of history, personal and otherwise.
