I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres including the friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!” and the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres including the friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the grip it and rip it sequel “Happy Gilmore 2” and the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!”
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 friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!” and the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”
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 friends and family of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the dark rom com “Oh, Hi!” and the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Oh, Hi!,” a dark romantic comedy now playing in theatres, Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac’s (Logan Lerman) first romantic weekend away turns into a farce when he tells her he isn’t interested in a serous relationship. “What if you give me twelve hours to show you what we could be together?” she asks.
CAST: Molly Gordon. Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, and John Reynolds. Directed by Sophie Brooks.
REVIEW: A rom com that shifts gears to become a darkly playful psychological thriller, “Oh, Hi!” begins with a fun sequence that captures the unpredictable energy of two young people who can’t keep their hands off one another.
After four months of dating Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) take what should have been a quiet weekend away at a quaint, country Air BnB. It’s a comfy, cozy and even romantic retreat until Iris mentions how much she’s enjoying their “first trip as a couple.”
With his matter-of-fact response, “I’m not really looking for a relationship,” the movie reveals itself for what it really is, a quirky look at miscommunication and lack of commitment.
His relationship update leads to what Iris calls, “a bit of a situation.”
Feeling like Isaac led her on, she leaves him tied to the bed, courtesy of some S&M gear they found in a closet, and tries to help him “resolve” his relationship issues. (Think a modern “Misery.”) When her friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) and her boyfriend Kenny (John Reynolds) arrive, common sense does not prevail. “I’ll tell you what,” Kenny tells the kidnapped Isaac, “I’m not going to let them kill you.”
“Oh, Hi!” is at its strongest in its first half as Iris and Isaac explore the ins-and-outs of modern dating. Gordon and Lerman share great chemistry, at the beginning at least, and even do a convincing version of Kenny and Dolly’s love song “Islands in the Stream.”
“Sail away with me to another world, where we rely on one another, ah-ah.”
It’s an unusual but interesting way to kick off a story about extreme relationship anxieties, heartbreak and what happens when one partner isn’t as committed or open as the other.
There’s a light tone to much of it, especially as Iris’s behavior becomes more intense and erratic, but it feels authentic, rooted in pain and romantic reality. It works because Gordon, who co-wrote the script with director Sophie Brooks, is given free rein to exercise her comedic chops tempered by a healthy dose of vulnerability. Fans of “The Bear,” where she plays Carmy’s crush Claire, already know she brings warmth to the screen, but here she displays a deeper emotional range.
It’s when the film introduces the best friends and embraces its wackiness that it begins to go over-the-top. Viswanathan and Reynolds are fine in their roles, but they bring with them a heightened sense that we’re not in the real world of heartbreak anymore.
But despite its tonal challenges “Oh, Hi!” is a showcase for Gordon and its eccentric mix of tenderness and terror.
By Richard Crouse – Metro Canada
To call director Paul Verhoeven provocative is like suggesting the Atlantic Ocean merely contains some water. He’s the man who gave us Saved by the Bell sweetheart Elizabeth Berkley licking a stripper’s pole in Showgirls and the splatterfest of Starship Troopers. A cursory glance at any of his films suggests his Taste-O-Meter is permanently set at ‘garish’ but his movies beg—actually they sit up and demand—for more than a cursory look.
His new movie, Elle, based on French-Armenian writer Philippe Djian’s award-winning 2012 novel Oh…, is a complex and corrosive psychological thriller about a woman seeking revenge on the man who raped her.
“Sometimes you are in a Hitchcock thriller,” says star Isabelle Huppert of the film. “Sometimes you are in a psychological study. Sometimes you are in a comedy and at the end of the day you are in none of those; you are in a Paul Verhoeven film.”
Verhoeven’s originally planned to relocate the story from France to the United States but ran into roadblocks.
“He makes no secret of that,” Huppert laughs. “I like that. He was completely clear. He didn’t want me. He wanted an American movie star. He didn’t get her so finally he came to get me.”
The Paris, France-born actress was a natural choice to play Michelle. She is a complicated character. As the daughter of a notorious serial killer she has developed a hard shell. She’s blunt to the point of rude with everyone from her future daughter-in-law and ex-husband to her mother and son, who she refers to as “a big lout with nothing special about him.” She’s having an affair with her best friend’s husband and even deliberately runs into her ex’s car then blames the damage on someone else.
“I read the novel first and thought it could potentially be a great film because it is very visual and the character is very interesting,” she says. “Then eventually the writer Philippe Djian said he always had me in mind while he was writing the novel. No wonder I immediately felt connected to the role.”
Elle is a deeply polarizing movie—in Cannes it was equally lauded and condemned—that treads some very delicate territory. Not that this is a delicate film. The assault is first heard, then seen in increasingly graphic detail as the running time climbs to the closing credits. The movie has taken some heat because it’s a male director making a film about a female reaction to assault. Huppert rejects the criticism.
“He told me very little and let me take the role wherever I wanted,” she says of Verhoeven. “That might be so that at the end you don’t have to measure the extent of the [male gaze]. The role is not a man’s fantasy. I don’t think so. The way she is halfway between a victim and the usual James Bondish avenger. She is really in an in between space which I think is, essentially, very, very, feminine. It is the exploration of something in between which makes the character very interesting, That doesn’t make the character like it was the product of a man’s fantasy. Plus as an actress, all the way through, I felt completely protected by him. I never felt the smallest sense of danger or being manipulated.”
To call director Paul Verhoeven provocative is like suggesting that the Atlantic Ocean merely contains some water. He’s the man who gave us “Saved by the Bell” sweetheart Elizabeth Berkley licking a stripper’s pole in “Showgirls” and the splatterfest of “Starship Troopers.” A cursory glance at any of his films suggests his Taste-O-Meter is permanently set at ‘garish but his movies beg—actually they sit up and demand—for more than a cursory look.
His new movie, “Elle,” based on French-Armenian writer Philippe Djian’s award-winning 2012 novel “Oh…,” is a complex and corrosive psychological thriller about a woman seeking revenge on the man who raped her.
In Verhoeven’s French-language debut Isabelle Huppert is Michèle, daughter of a serial killer and CEO of a video game company that specializes in erotic, violent games. As the film opens she is raped by a masked man. Instead of calling the police, however, she cleans up, sweeping up some broken glass before taking a bath and continuing her day. “I was assaulted at home,” she tells friends over dinner. “I guess I was raped.”
She is a complicated character. As the daughter of a notorious serial killer she has developed a hard shell. She’s blunt to the point of rude with everyone from her future daughter-in-law and ex-husband (Charles Berling) to her mother and son, who she refers to as “a big lout with nothing special about him.” She’s having an affair with her best friend’s husband and even deliberately runs into her ex’s car then blames the damage on someone else.
Initially challenged by flashbacks of the assault her steadfastness kicks in as she refuses to allow fear to rule her life. Shortly after the rape she is back at work, scolding one of her programmers, suggesting “the orgasmic convulsions” of one of her game’s ogre characters are “way too timid.”
To give away any more would do a disservice to the film as Verhoeven relies on surprise to unfurl the rest of the occasionally darkly funny story.
“Elle” is a deeply polarizing movie—in Cannes it was equally lauded and condemned—that treads some very delicate territory. Not that this is a delicate film. The assault is first heard, then seen in increasingly graphic detail as the running time climbs to the closing credits. It’s unpleasant, but that is the point. But as jarring as it may be, it is only the beginning of the plot machinations of this dark and dirty suspense.
There will be no spoilers here. For one thing it’s rude to give too much away, and for another, it would take more space than I have here to describe the deep psychological depths Verhoeven and Huppert plumb in this story. It’s fearless stuff, a character study of a captivating anti-heroine who demands your attention while simultaneously pushing you away in scene after scene as she refuses to allow fear to dominate her life.
It’s easy to use words like grotesque, grim and provocative to describe “Elle,” and they would be appropriate but underneath its lurid skin is a Hitchcock movie minus the sexual repression. It’s up to you to decide if that’s a good thing for your sensibilities or not.
