I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Scott Hirsch to recap the final days of TIFF and talk about the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 13:09)
I join CP24 to talk about the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres and streaming this week including the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues” and the Netflix doc A.K.A. Chatlie Sheen.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres including the harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch 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 harrowing “The Long Walk,” the soapy “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and the rockin’ “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: The times they are a-changin’ at Downton Abbey. Old-fashioned traditions clash with newfangled progress at the Edwardian country house as the upper crust Crawley family cope with a changing world. “Our lives are lived in chapters,” says cook Beryl Patmore (Lesley Nicol), “and there’s nothing wrong when a chapter ends.”
CAST: Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth McGovern, Penelope Wilton, Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale and Arty Froushan. Directed by Simon Curtis.
REVIEW: At Downton Abbey, that bastion of old-world tradition, change in the air. And if you don’t realize that by following along with the story, don’t worry, the characters will remind you, again and again, with wise one-liners.
It’s 1930, and the world is changing. Dinner for three at the New Ivy restaurant costs an outrageous 10 pounds—“The last time I ate there,” says Noel Coward (Arty Froushan), “I asked for the bill and a pistol.”—but in high society the very mention of the word divorce can still stop a fancy dress ball cold.
As the world turns, the Crawley family, led by Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), are feeling the winds of change blowing at their backs.
Lord Grantham is reluctant to let the old ways fall by the wayside, but his daughter Lady Mary’s (Michelle Dockery) divorce has brought scandal to the family name and ongoing financial problems may mean the end of years of tradition at their beloved home, Downton Abbey.
A melodrama in fancy dress, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is pure fan service. It’s all about change, a theme hammered home with the subtlety of a cup of Earl Grey spiked with absinthe, but series creator and writer Julian Fellowes is far too canny to change the dynamic that made the television show and the subsequent movies—”Downton Abbey” (2019) and “Downton Abbey: A New Era” (2022)—popular.
The final chapter brings with it favorite characters, like butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter), lady’s maid Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt) and widower Tom Branson (Allen Leech) among many others from upstairs and down. Even the Dowager Countess, memorably played by the late Maggie Smith, is a formidable presence despite having passed away in the previous film.
There are no huge surprises, and it’s all rather predictable, but Fellowes and director Simon Curtis aren’t here to turn the franchise on its head. Instead, they deliver a sentimental swansong that allows longtime fans to spend a few extra hours with beloved characters padding around the opulent rooms, and downstairs kitchen, of one of England’s most famous homes.
Sure, it’s a bit self-congratulatory—the theme music swells as an audience enthusiastically applauds the title card filling the screen in the film’s opening minutes—a montage near the end feels more spectral than sincerely heartfelt, and there are easter eggs galore, but somehow the self-indulgence seems like the right choice to tell a story about a family for whom self-indulgence is a way of life.
Based on a British Second World War deception operation to camouflage the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily, “Operation Mincemeat,” now playing in theatres, moving to Netflix on May 11, is an entertaining retelling of a little-known plan to break Hitler’s grasp on Europe.
Based on historical records, the movie details a plan so outlandish it sounds as though it sprung from the fanciful mind of a screenwriter. That the plan was, in part, hatched by a young Ian Fleming (Johnny Flynn), who would later go on to create the outlandish 007 spy stories, would seem to be another flight of the imagination, but even that flourish is based on fact.
The plan, nicknamed Operation Mincemeat, involved tricking Hitler into believing the Allies planned to invade Greece, not Sicily. But how to pull it off? QC-turned-Lieutenant-Commander Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and MI5 agent Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) marshal an audacious disinformation plan to drop a dead man off the coast of Spain, where the Nazi spy chain begins. In the pockets of the corpse’s uniform are “wallet litter,” faked love letters, military ID etc. In his case are “classified” military correspondence indicating the Allies were about to invade Greece. If that information falls into German hands and distracts them, it will allow a full-scale Allied invasion of Sicily.
“Operation Mincemeat” is a spirited recreation of the meticulous planning that went into the scheme to fool the Fuhrer. Director John Madden finds the suspense, the espionage and even the romance in the situation. The first two elements work well, creating a forward momentum that builds excitement as the running time ticks by. The romance between Montagu and Jean Leslie, played by Kelly Macdonald, is less convincing and feels wedged in.
Better are the comedic aspects. While some of the dealings with the dead man evoke memories of “Weekend at Bernie’s,” most of the laughs come from the absurdity of the situation, and feel organic to the story.
A welcome addition to the stranger-than-fiction genre, “Operation Mincemeat” is a well-appointed, well-crafted period piece that avoids the stoicism of other war time espionage thrillers.
A wartime British story driven by character and emotion rather than action, “Summerland,” now on VOD, is a showcase for its actors, Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Tom Courtenay.
Arterton is Alice Bloom, a chainsmoking writer who lives alone in a quaint seaside cottage in Kent. She’s a loner, prone to castigating anyone who interrupts her work. Among her neighbors, who have frequently felt the sting of her tongue, rumors fly that she is a witch, or worse, a Nazi sympathizer.
When she’s not typing furiously her thoughts drift backwards in time to the defining moment of her life, a love affair Vera ((Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Alice was left heartbroken when Vera broke off the relationship, leaving for a man and the promise of a family. With bombs dropping on London, Alice becomes the unwelcoming host to Frank (Lucas Bond), a youngster evacuated from his city home as part of Operation Pied Piper.
She’s less than excited about having to care for the boy and Frank isn’t pleased either. Even less so when a school mate (Dixie Egerickx) warns him that Alice will “burn you and do sex things to you.” Over time and through tragedy, however, a bond unexpectedly forms between them.
“Summerland” is a feel-good movie that never digs too deep. It’s central life-is-not-fair theme is given a melodramatic treatment that leans toward the contrived but the relationships between the characters elevates the material. As Alice lets her guard down to accept and nurture Frank, and he, in turn embraces her, the story transcends the predictability of its plot to find a sweet, tender and pleasing spot. It’s aided by beautiful cinematography courtesy of Laurie Rose and lovely production design, but make no mistake, the heart of this story is the characters and the actors who bring them to vivid life.
