I join CJAD afternboon host Aaron Rand to talk about the return of “Practical Magic 2,” the medieval rebellion of “The Uprising,” the buddy action of “Runner” and the rock doc “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger.”Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Sean Keathong to talk about the return of “Practical Magic 2,” the medieval rebellion of “The Uprising,” the buddy action of “Runner” and the rock doc “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger.”Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 14:35)
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the return of “Practical Magic 2,” the medieval rebellion of “The Uprising,” the buddy action of “Runner” and the rock doc “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger.”Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make a sandwich. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the return of “Practical Magic 2,” the medieval rebellion of “The Uprising” and the buddy action of “Runner.”Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Runner,” a new Alan Ritchson action-comedy now playing in theatres, sees a “runner” of exotic goods become the target of a brutal cartel leader.CAST: Alan Ritchson, Owen Wilson, Rodrigo Santoro, Leila George, Adriana Barraza, Sullivan Stapleton, Peta Sergeant, and Geraldine Hakewill. DIrected by Scott Waugh.
REVIEW: A straight-ahead ticking clock action thriller, “Runner” is at its best when it trusts its charismatic stars, and not the stunts, to carry the show.
Alan Ritchson plays Jack Reacher… er, Hank Malone, a former Navy Seal now attempting to live a quiet life in Australia. Newly sober, he works for a delivery service that specializes in transporting unusual items. “I don’t hurt people anymore,” he says, delivering a line that, given the context, assures us that his days as a bruiser are long from over.
His latest delivery comes fraught with problems. Charged with delivering a human liver to a dying seven-year-old, he has three hours to get the “medical package” to the hospital or the patient will die. “There’s nothing in the world that’s going to keep us from getting to you,” Hank tells the girl’s concerned mother (Leila George).
Getting in the way of the promise is a chatty medical courier named Ben (Owen Wilson) and cartel members who want the liver for their own use. Determined to complete the delivery Hank leans into his old Navy Seal training. “I’m not a man that people successfully [mess] with,” he says.
A throwback to the buddy action comedies of the 1980s and 90s, “Runner” pairs the muscle-bound Ritchson with Wilson’s comedic chops, which are as well developed as Ritchson’s impressive abs. They’re a compelling pair, sharing barbs and bullets in equal measure.
Former stunt-performer-turned-director Scott Waugh comes up with several new ways to smash up Land Rovers and stages several “Reacher-esque” knock-down-drag-out fight sequences that showcase Ritchson’s way with a fist to the face. They dispatch dozens of cartel members. Possibly hundreds of them in fairly spectacular ways, but the villains, including the ruthless Damian Zaldívar (Rodrigo Santoro), are so nondescript and thinly written it’s hard top care when they go. They may as well be wearing the “Star Trek” red shirt, a sure-fire sign they aren’t going to make it to the next scene.
“Runner” doesn’t try and reinvent the buddy action movie. Formulaic, although it must be said there is at least one big shock you may not see coming, it plays like an homage to the buddy action genre with some amped-up action. Still, as violently visceral as those scenes are, the film is at its best when Ritchson and Wilson throwing puns, not punches.
In the world of The Expendables it’s not enough to simply kill the enemy. In their boomtastic alternate reality every kill must be overkill and accompanied by a quip to punctuate the death.
“Expend4bles,” the all-star shoot ‘em up now playing in theatres, delivers quips and kills galore, but to paraphrase Tony Jaa’s character Decha, “The more people you kill, the less joy you have.”
In the new film, CIA agent Max Drummer (Andy García) rounds up the team of elite mercenaries—wizened warriors Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture) and new recruits Easy Day (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), and Galan (Jacob Scipio)—to prevent terrorist Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwais) from stealing nuclear bomb detonators from Muammar Gaddafi’s former old chemical weapons plant in Libya.
When things go sideways, Christmas becomes the expendable Expendable, kicked out of the group and replaced by his mercenary girlfriend Gina (Megan Fox) and her deadly colleague Lash (Levy Tran). As the new band of soldiers set off to curtail a conflict that could ignite World War III, Christmas does his part to bring peace on earth.
This 103-minute ode to murder, mayhem and manliness doesn’t waste any time getting to the money shot. The first blast of action in “Expend4bles” lights up the screen roughly one minute in, followed by lots of talky bits that come between the boomy bits.
The talky bits are mostly lines of dialogue that sound lifted from the “Action Movies for Dummies” guidebook—generic stuff like “This is gonna be fun,” as the bullets start to fly—with the odd nod to something deeper, like a settling of accounts for one’s past. When we first meet Decha, for instance, he’s a former warrior, a reformed man of violence. But his peaceful ways don’t last long, because in “The Expendables” if you’re not a killer, you’re just filler.
If you’ve seen the other movies in the franchise, you already know what to expect; lots of R-rated violence, some dodgy CGI and a body count that would make John Wick blush. But this instalment feels different, less an homage to the days when Stallone and Schwarzenegger (who sat out this chapter) were blockbuster action stars and more a collection of familiar faces cut loose in a Jason “man-on-a-mission” Statham video game. It’s the Statham Show, which dissipates the camaraderie that gave the first movies a cohesive vibe.
By the time the end credits roll the thrill is gone. Despite its all-star cast, action sequences and kill ratio, “Expend4bles” proves Decha’s, “The more people you kill, the less joy you have” philosophy correct. On their fourth time out, the Expendables seems more expendable than ever.
