Richard sits in with Marcia McMillan to have a look at the the rollercoaster action of “Jason Bourne,” the heartwarming (and slightly raunchy) comedy of “Bad Moms,” “Cafe Society’s” period piece humour and the online intrigue of “Nerve.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
If you thought Pokémon Go, with reports of people being ambushed and robbed while searching for those elusive Digletts and Rhyhorns, was risky along comes a new movie with an even deadlier game. “Nerve,” a new thriller starring Emma Roberts, Dave Franco and Juliette Lewis, introduces an on-line truth or dare game… minus the truth.
Roberts stars as Venus Delmonico—Vee for short—a Staten island high school senior who rarely strays outside her comfort zone. “Life is passing you by,” her friend Sydney (Emily Meade) says. “You need to take a few risks every once and a while. You’re playing Nerve.”
The on-line game is fairly simple, or so it seems. Players are given a series of stunts to perform—like hanging moons, getting a tattoo, eating gross stuff or singing in public. Basically it takes advantage of its player’s poor impulse control and bad decision-making. “Watchers pay to watch, players play to win. Cash or glory? Are you a watcher or a player?” The game that uses your personal online info to tailor dares that play on your fears and deposit cash in your account for every challenge completed. The wilder the stunt the bigger the payday.
Vee becomes a player and when dared to kiss a stranger for five seconds she lip locks with Ian (Dave Franco), a random guy at a diner. The game partners them–“Apparently the watchers like us together,” he says.—and soon Vee is on a wild adventure across New York Bay in the Big Apple. What began as a simple kiss quickly escalates. It’s all fun and games until Vee begins to realize the game controls her life. She’s not playing to win, she’s playing to survive.
“Nerve” is a stylishly made teen flick with an interesting premise and likeable characters and actors. It follows the age-old adolescent formula—there’s unrequited crushes, underage drinking and two-faced BFFs—with one major change. It used to be teen movies always had an athletic character who could be counted on for muscle when the going got tough. Now it’s a hacker, which comes in very handy for Vee as the story takes a dangerous turn. A dangerous turn for Vee and the viewer. What begins as an appealingly made juvenile thriller—complete with comments on how much importance millennials place not on social standing but on social media standing and how the anonymity of the Internet allows people to use cyberspace to do things they never consider in real life—dissolves into typical teen fare by the time the end credits roll. What could have been an edgy analysis on the responsibility of social media is, instead, reduced to an actioner with an upbeat ending.
“Nerve” is almost really good. Too bad co-directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman didn’t have the nerve to continue with the dark tone all the way to the end credits.
Welcome to the House of Crouse. SPOILER ALERT! This week we have a show that reveals many secrets, so if you haven’t watched the fourth season of Orange is the New Black, please be careful and listen for our special Spoiler Alert Horn during the Samira Wiley interview. She talks about playing the prison drama’s much loved character Poussey Washington. Joining her is Danieils, a directing collective comprised of Daniel Scheinert and Dan Kwan. They talk about making Swiss Army Man, a movie about a farting corpse, and how it was a deeply personal experience for them. Stop by the House of Crouse, sit a spell. You’ll like it.
By Richard Crouse – Metro Canada
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains Orange is the New Black Season 4 spoilers!
Samira Wiley, who played fan-favourite Poussey Washington on the prison drama Orange is the New Black, wants you know one thing, “Samira is alive!”
Since her character’s shocking death near the end of the fourth season her fans have been leaving strange messages on social media for her.
“I get a lot of comments on social media when I tweet something or I post a picture,” she says. “People are like, ‘I’m really happy you’re posting so I know you’re alive.’ Yes, I am. I haven’t gone anywhere.”
The Juilliard-trained actress appeared in fifty episodes of the acclaimed Netflix series, bringing Poussey to vivid life. Dealing marijuana earned the character a stretch at Litchfield Penitentiary— “We all in here because we took a wrong turn going to church,” Poussey joked—where she was an outspoken, and caring woman who stood by her convictions.
“Poussey is really like an ideal person,” says Wiley. “I’ve said this before, she is such a great friend and a great person sometimes when I don’t know what to do or want to be better in a certain situation I think, ‘What would Poussey do?’ She had a great heart. A great moral center and a great smile. She is someone that you look up to.
“I feel so, so honoured and privileged to give her life and to give people the strong feelings they have about her.”
Based on Piper Kerman’s memoir about her experiences in a women’s prison, the series has been a commercial hit and critical success for its candid depictions of race, sexuality and gender.
“I think the show in general has ushered in a new era of television,” says the actress who will next be seen on the comedy series You’re the Worst. “Orange is the New Black shows you different kinds of women, different shapes of women, different backgrounds of people. The barriers are less and in some ways, invisible because that is you, or your mom or your sister. I feel really proud to be part of the television show that started that.
“With season four I think we really amped it up a notch in terms of reflecting not only the people we see everyday but the issues we deal with everyday, specifically Black Lives Matter. We’re showing some responsibility as artists, as creators of this television show, because we need to reflect what is going on in our time. That is our responsibility.”
As Wiley’s former cast mates gear up to begin shooting season five of OITNB, she says she’s not up to date on the storyline.
“I think it might be too difficult for me to binge,” she says. “I don’t anticipate it. After most seasons, especially the third season I definitely binge watched immediately. I thought I would be able to do that this time but I have only watched about half this season.”
She stopped before Poussey is accidentally suffocated during a demonstration in the prison cafeteria.
“I haven’t watched it yet. In way I feel like actually watching it will be me really saying goodbye and I am not ready for that yet. I can’t do that yet.”
