Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the biopic “Michael,” the grounded fairy tale “The Bearded Girl” and the action thriller “Fuze.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Fuze,” an explosive new race-against-time crime thriller now playing in theatres, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a bomb-disposal specialist brought in to manage the fraught situation when a World War II-era bomb is discovered in London. Complicating things are a group of thieves who use the explosive discovery as cover to steal a load of diamonds.
CAST: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Worthington. Directed by David Mackenzie.
REVIEW: A ticking clock thriller, “Fuze” isn’t interested in its characters as much as it is making your pulse race.
Set in contemporary London, the action in “Fuze” begins with the discovery of an unexploded 1000-pound WWII bomb at a busy construction site, sparking citywide chaos.
“Could it blow any minute?”
“Theoretically, yes.”
As Chief Superintendent Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) organizes an immediate evacuation, and military bomb squad led by the unflappable Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) get to work, an order to cut off power to the whole area makes an already charged situation more difficult.
Using the blackout as cover, a gang of thieves, led by Karalis (Theo James) and X (Sam Worthington), drill underneath a nearby bank to steal a cache of diamonds and money.
As the clock ticks, both groups work to complete their missions. “When everything is on the line,” screams the film’s tagline, “there’s no turning back.”
“Fuze” doesn’t mess around.
Within one minute of the opening credits the bomb has been discovered, and director David Mackenzie already has the pedal to the metal. More concerned with momentum than the characters, Mackenzie, working from a pulpy, convoluted script by Ben Hopkins, keeps the action tight, upping the tension throughout.
The result is a slickly cool caper film with charismatic turns from Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James, and some unexpected twists and turns that, if you don’t think about it too hard, is an entertaining time waster.
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 epic “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the feel-good divorce drama “Is This Thing On?” and the psychological thriller “The Housemaid.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In the third installment of the “Avatar” film series, “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” ex-Marine Corporal Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his Na’vi family’s peaceful way of life on their home planet of Pandora is threatened by the violent Ash People and returning baddie Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).
CAST: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo and Duane Evans, Jr. Directed by James Cameron.
REVIEW: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” does what cinema is meant to do; transport the audience to new worlds while reflecting and commenting on the reality of our world. An epic for the eyes, the visualization of Pandora is impressive and immersive, but the a-list visuals are let down by a b-movie story.
First, the look.
Rendered in eye popping 3D, Cameron’s concept for Pandora and her environs is spectacular will have your synapses firing on all cylinders. An ode to French impressionism by way of the sci fi landscapes of Frank Frazetta, whether his camera is gliding through the jungles of Pandora or swimming under the planet’s oceans or traipsing around gritty fire and ash biodomes or soaring though the sky on the back of a winged Great Leonopteryx, Cameron delivers a dopamine hit directly through the eyes.
It’s a whole lotta CGI, which is ironic, given that this is a story about the organic connection between nature and all of God’s creatures in which all the dazzling images were created in the least organic way possible. Still, the pictures, no matter how they were created, do come alive on the screen.
Less exciting is the story.
Cameron has spent the better part of two decades world building, creating the belief systems, language and traditions of the Na’vi people, only to hang them on the most generic of fantasy storytelling. His hot button pet themes of colonization, government overreach, community and environmentalism are very much in place, but the storytelling isn’t as passionate as the visual work.
Essentially picking up a few months after “Avatar: The Way of Water” left off, when “Fire and Ash” begins Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their children Lo’ak, Tuk, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and Spider (Jack Champion) are grieving the death of Neteyam, the family’s eldest son.
Their peaceful life amid the reef-dwelling Metkayina clan is disrupted when Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the ruthless RDA colonel reborn as a Na’vi recombinant, teams with the aggressive, volcano dwelling Mangkwan, or “Ash People,” lead by the vicious Varang (a compelling Oona Chaplin).
As Jake fights for the survival of his family, the fate of all of Pandora hangs in the balance.
Packed with big action set pieces, smaller, more intimate family moments, and one, “I am Spartacus” scene, “Fire and Ash” has a new, unsettling villain in the form of Varang but otherwise recycles old ideas under a slick CGI veneer.
The mix of A-list tech and B-movie dialogue like Quaritch’s quip, “I guess I don’t die that easy,” feels like watching a Saturday morning serial with boffo, stare-of-the-art visuals that distract from the often-cheesy dialogue.
The familiar story beats and the worn-out dialogue quickly take a backseat to Cameron’s unique vison. He is the star of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Like the other films in the franchise the new one invites the viewer to exit the real world and enter his world of imagination of three hours, and, despite some déjà vu story wise, it’s a trip worth taking.
I review the highly anticipated “Avatar: Fire and Ash” for CTVNews.ca!
“‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ does what cinema is meant to do: transport the audience to new worlds, while reflecting and commenting on the reality of our world. An epic for the eyes, the visualization of Pandora is impressive and immersive, but the A-list visuals are let down by a B-movie story…” Read the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about the thriller “Relay,” the neo-noir “Honey Don’t” and the rock doc “DEVO” on Netflix.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Relay,” a new thriller now playing in theatres, Riz Ahmed plays Ash, a “bribe broker” who arranges payments between corrupt corporations and whistleblowers. Mysterious and meticulous, his carefully crafted set of rules go out the window when he falls for a client, former bio-tech company employee Sarah Grant (Lily James). With a high-tech investigation team on her trail, her life is in danger unless Ash can make a deal.
CAST: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, Victor Garber. Directed by David Mackenzie.
REVIEW: A thriller that runs headlong into its suspenseful plot, only to stumble and fall in its last half hour, “Relay” does not stick the landing.
It begins with promise. The idea of a champion for whistleblowers is an intriguing one and as we learn the ins-and-outs of how the secretive Ash runs his business, the movie earns our attention. For instance, Ash, who lives in a shadow world, faceless and nameless, communicates with his clients via the Tri-State Relay Service, which uses an operator who converts text to voice and vice versa. It’s usually reserved for the Deaf community, but, because no records are kept of the transitions Ash uses it as a tamper-proof means of exchange.
It also allows for a running joke in a rather dry movie, as the relay operators sign off every call, no matter how contentious, with “Thanks you for using the Tri-State Relay Service. Have a wonderful day.”
There’s all the stuff of classic conspiracy thrillers; pseudonyms—like Archie Leach, which was Cary Grant’s real name—secret, fortified storage lockers and tense exchanges of information.
That’s all well and good, and director David Mckenzie even stages several twitchy scenes that amp up the suspense. When a set piece in Times Square that should have been a simple exchange of information erupts into chaos, Mckenzie visually captures the chaotic, dangerous nature of Ash’s business.
Later, a concert hall sequence put me in the mind of Brian DePalma, but soon afterwards the carefully constructed cat-and-mouse game falls victim to a plot upheaval—calling it a twist is too mild a term—that is as silly as it is predictable.
It’s a shame that the same film that allows Ahmed the chance to do such layered, interesting work with minimal dialogue chooses to put such a pedestrian cap on a story that began with so much promise.
LOGLINE: In “The Exorcism,” a new horror film now playing in theatres, Russell Crowe plays a troubled actor whose life crumbles while shooting a horror film. As he descends into devilish behavior, his daughter is torn between wondering if his conduct is the result of his personal demons, or something actually demonic.
CAST: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar, David Hyde Pierce. Directed by Joshua John Miller.
REVIEW: You know those social media posts that challenge you to change one letter or word in a song or movie title to alter the meaning? Let’s play that with “The Exorcism.” Change the “m” to a “t” and you get one of the greatest horror films ever made. Leave the “m” in place and you get “The Exorcism,” a sluggish, scare-free movie that begins with a good premise and goes to hell shortly after that.
“It’s a psychological drama wrapped in the skin of a horror film,” says the director-within-the-movie, played by Adam Goldberg. That was, perhaps, the goal of the real film, the one we’re seeing in theatres, but the result is a mixed bag.
A riff on the legends of the supernatural events that allegedly plagued the sets of “The Exorcist” and “The Omen,” the new film mines a potentially rich vein of Hollywood history, but the plodding set-up and hokey finale fail to deliver an engrossing character study or pulse-racing horror flick.
At the heart of it all, for better and for worse, is Crowe. His considerable star power goes a long way to keep “The Exorcism” watchable. His descent into bad behavior gives the movie whatever steam it has, but the film’s lack of overall lack of drama and scares is a sin.
Thanks to Mongrel Media for having me in to host the Q&A at the Canadian premier of “Simulant” with director April Mullen and actors Sam Worthington and Robbie Amell.
The movie’s synopsis: With androids (SIMS) and humans coexisting, Simulant centers around FAYE (Jordana Brewster) who has already pulled the plug on her late husband, now she can’t bring herself to do the same to EVAN (Robbie Amell), his android counterpart. Instead of deactivating Evan, Faye sets him up in an apartment to live illegally on his own. While there he meets Casey (Simu Liu), a brilliant programmer who helps him become more human in order to win Faye back. Unbeknownst to Evan, his new friend is wanted for questioning by a determined Artificial Intelligence Compliance Enforcement (AICE) agent Kessler (Sam Worthington). Evan has to win over Faye’s heart before they are both discovered and he loses everything.
