CTV ATLANTIC: RICHARD AND TODD BATTIS ON NEW MOVIES IN THEATRES!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis to talk about Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the psychological drama “Steal Away” and the thriller “Rose Of Nevada.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Posts Tagged ‘Rosalind Eleazar’
CTV NEWSCHANNEL: RICHARD’s MOVIE REVIEWS FOR FRIDAY JULY 17, 2026!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renée Rodgers to talk about the new releases in theatres, including Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the psychological drama “Steal Away” and the thriller “Rose Of Nevada.”
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 Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the psychological drama “Steal Away” and the thriller “Rose Of Nevada.”
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 make the bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the psychological drama “Steal Away” and the thriller “Rose Of Nevada.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
ROSE OF NEVADA: 3 STARS. “a challenging time loop story with atmosphere to burn.”
SYNOPSIS: A low-fi sci-fi drama of the mysterious reappearance of a fishing vessel that was lost at sea thirty years ago, “Rose of Nevada” relies on evocative images and sound rather than story to tell its haunting tale.
CAST: George MacKay, Callum Turner, Rosalind Eleazar, Francis Magee, Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe, Adrian Rawlins. Written, edited, composed and directed by Mark Jenkin.
REVIEW: Unique in tone and style, “Rose of Nevada” is confusing and compelling in equal measure. It’s a challenging time loop story with atmosphere to burn, that defies mainstream tropes.
In the thirty years since the Rose of Nevada and crew vanished at sea, its home port, a remote Cornish fishing village, has fallen into hard times. When the ship mysteriously returns, the villagers see it as a return of their former prosperity. “That boat was lost. Are we gonna try again? Who’s gonna crew?”
Happy to have work, Nick (George MacKay) and Liam (Callum Turner) sign up as crew, working alongside experienced skipper Murgey (Francis Magee). “The only thing worse than being at sea,” says the skipper, “is not being at sea.”
They return to the village after a successful and bountiful voyage—despite the message “Get off the boat now,” carved into the ship’s hull—only to be mistaken for the long-lost sailors of thirty years ago in a village they no longer recognize.
The first thing you’ll notice about “Rose of Nevada” is its roughhewn, grainy look. That’s courtesy of the old-school 16mm Bolex camera filmmaker Mark Jenkin used to shoot the movie. It gives the visuals a dreamlike quality that feels timeless, or, in this case, lost in time. The grain feels tangible, just like the ship’s weather worn wood or the craggy landscapes of the peninsula at the southwestern tip of England.
The result is something that feels otherworldly without announcing itself as such.
But all the atmosphere in the world wouldn’t add up to much is there wasn’t an emotional core to the performances. MacKay and Turner do extraordinary work, grounding the otherworldly movie with natural authentic performances. It adds heart to a film and believably places the themes of identity and sacrifice front and center.
“Rose of Neveda” doesn’t offer any easy answers. The psychological drama is dense, like a particularly confounding episode of “The Twilight Zone,” but the journey is ultimately intellectually rewarding.
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD: 3 ½ STARS. “heartfelt and timely.”
Trading the barbed satire of “The Death of Stalin” for the socially aware period comedy of Charles Dickens, director Armando Iannucci breathes new life into a classic, often told tale.
“The Personal History of David Copperfield” sees Jairaj Varsani play Copperfield as a youngster born into a life of Victorian comfort. His life takes a turn when his widowed mother Clara (Morfydd Clark) marries the sadistic Mr. Murdstone (Darren Boyd) who beats David for the slightest of transgressions. When things come to a head at home David (now played by Dev Patel) is sent away to board with the down-on-his-luck Mr. Micawber (Peter Capaldi) and family and work as child labor at Murdstone’s bottle factory.
David takes steps to shape his destiny after he isn’t told of his mother’s death until after her funeral. Following an emotional scene at the factory, he sets out to find his wealthy aunt Betsey Trotwood (Tilda Swinton) and her lodger, the kite-flying eccentric Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie) who believes he is possessed by the spirit of King Charles the First. Aunty pays for David’s tony university education, where he confirms his love of language and begins making the detailed notes on the people he meets that will one day form the backbone of his debut book, “The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery.”
It’s also there that he meets James Steerforth (Aneurin Barnard), a wealthy and witty student and obsequious law clerk Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw). Both will have a major impact on David’s trajectory from pauper to gentleman and author.
Patel leads a diverse cast, jam packed with oddball characters, that maintains Dickens’s themes while giving the story a contemporary feel. Iannucci has compressed the 600-page book, boiling out the essence of Dickens’s condemnation of exploitation of the weak and comment on wealth and class as a measure of a person’s value. The result is uneven that sometimes feels like a series of vignettes but Iannucci mines a rich comedic vein that smoothes over the story’s fits and starts. Capaldi, Swinton and Laurie deliver broad performances but it is Patel who brings the humanity that balances everything out.
As David, Patel is at the center of the action and grounds some of the story’s more fanciful aspects with a deep humanity.
Iannucci is a Dickens fan and it shows. “The Personal History of David Copperfield” is a sparkling adaptation of the original story that uses wonderful dialogue and physical comedy to paint a heartfelt, serious and timely portrait of social anxiety and inequality.
