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 ‘Percy Hynes White’
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!
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.
MY OLD ASS: 3 ½ STARS. “surreal coming-of-age story stays anchored to reality.”
SYNOPSIS: “My Old Ass,” a coming-of-age dramedy starring Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza, and now playing in theatres, asks a simple question: Would you like a sneak peak of your adult life complete with all the good, the bad and the ugly the future will offer? Maisy Stella plays Elliott, an eighteen-year-old whose future self guides her through the landmines of growing up and falling in love with one vital piece of advice, “Avoid anyone named Chad.”
CAST: Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Aubrey Plaza. Written and directed by Megan Park.
REVIEW: Despite a title that suggests a 1990s teen comedy, “My Old Ass” is a surreal coming-of-age story that stays anchored to reality with natural, heartfelt performances and a great deal of humor. In her second feature film, writer/director Megan Park displays an empathetic hand as the movie morphs from a standard(ish) teen comedy opening to a heartfelt finale.
The appearance of 39 nine-year-old Elliott suggests “My Old Ass” will be a fantasy, a “Peggy Sue Got Married” style riff on growing up, but it stays earthbound as an examination of the first blushes of new love touched by melancholy.
The film’s heart is Stella, who, as young, optimistic Elliott wrestles with real life situations and feelings about her sexuality, her future and the notion of leaving her teen years in the rear-view mirror. Her charismatic presence gives “My Old Ass” a bittersweet but never sentimental edge that elevates its love story above and beyond a Nicolas Sparks style romance, or a teen comedy trope.
As older, world-weary Elliott, Plaza, who only appears in three scenes but whose presence informs the entire movie, uses her trademark snark like a sword, but here her sarcasm feels like the shield that protects her from the ups and downs of a complicated life. It’s great work, and while the two actors don’t resemble one another, they share an energy that binds the two halves of the character together.
“My Old Ass” is an entertaining, and often funny look at the importance of embracing life fully, in all its joy as well as its disappointments and agonies.
I LIKE MOVIES: 4 STARS. “think ‘High Fidelity’ only set in a video store.”
“I Like Movies,” a coming-of-age story set against a background of angst, anxiety and Paul Thomas Anderson, is a period piece set in a time when local Blockbusters were shrines for suburban film lovers.
Set in 2003, in Burlington, Ontario, a small city midway between Toronto and Niagara Falls, the film centers around teenage film bro and wannabe moviemaker Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen). Arrogant and insecure, he allows his love of film, dream of attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and anxiety alienate the most important people in his life.
His life is changed when he gets a job at Sequels, a cheekily-named video store in his hometown. He’s there for the ten free weekly rentals available to employees and to recommend obscure art films to folks who would rather watch “Shrek.”
The job, of course, isn’t exactly what Lawrence hoped it would be. At the insistence of his manager Alana (Romina D’Ugo) he is forced to wear a sash, emblazed with the titles of movies he thinks are beneath him. And, let’s face it, learning to rotate stock in the drink cooler is about as far from movie making as you can get.
As the summer ends so does the dream of attending NYU, forcing Lawrence, with the help of his frazzled mother (Krista Bridges) and some tough love from Alana, to rethink his movie dreams and confront reality.
Part work-place comedy—think “High Fidelity” only set in a video store—part character study, “I Like Movies” is sweet-natured, funny film that digs deep to make us feel empathy for Lawrence, a socially awkward character who hides his real feelings behind a facade of bluster and pretension.
Lawrence is not a likable character, at least not when we first meet him, and yet director and screenwriter Chandler Levack—who worked in at a Blockbuster Video as a teen—inspires empathy for him. His arrogant bluster stems from insecurity, and the more we get to know about him, the more we feel for him even as he drones on about Paul Thomas Anderson or Stanley Kubrick. As Alana pushes him to reevaluate his attitudes and look at life beyond the screen, Lehtinen allows us to see the wheels turning inside the character’s head as his redemption looms.
Strong performances, particularly from Lehtinen and D’Ugo, and a genuinely heartfelt script make this take on adolescent angst (and film bros) a winning debut for Levack.
