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!
Posts Tagged ‘Sophie Nélisse’
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.
IRENA’S VOW: 3 STARS. “empathetic performance from Nélisse.”
Based on a true story, “Irena’s Vow,” a new heartfelt World War II drama now playing in theatres, is a portrait of extraordinary courage in the face of tragedy.
“Yellowjackets’s” co-star Sophie Nélisse is 19-year-old Polish Catholic nurse Irena Gut Opdyke.
Forced into service by the Nazis, first at a sewing factory, then as a housekeeper for Nazi officer Major Edward Rügemer (Dougray Scott), she witnesses an act of unspeakable cruelty that changes her life. Shocked and appalled, Irena makes a vow to help the dozen Jewish tailors she befriended at the factory.
Her plan is audacious. She arranges to secret the tailors away to the basement of the German commandant’s house. If they are discovered, it would mean a death sentence, but, Irena’s hopes, who would look for them in the coal cellar of a Nazi officer?
For two years the twelve men and women live in the basement, emerging only when Rügemer is out of town. Question is, how long can they stay undetected?
“Irena’s Vow” is headlined by a committed and empathetic performance from Nélisse. As Irena improvises a daring, and years long, scheme to rescue her former co-workers, the scenario occasionally challenges credulity, but Nélisse makes sure that Irena’s compassion, bravery and intellect are present and ground the compelling story.
“Irena’s Vow” has nicely detailed period elements, and shines a light on an important hero’s story, but lacks true suspense. The story echoes the historical record, but relies on too many melodramatic moments to be truly memorable.
THE KID DETECTIVE: 3 STARS. “a low-key movie with a high concept.”
Did you ever wonder what happened to teenage crime busters the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew when they grew up? “The Kid Detective,” a new dark comedy starring Adam Brody and now playing in theatres, provides some clues to the mystery of what happens when kid crime busters grow up.
“I used to be a kid detective,” says Abe Applebaum (Brody as an adult, Jesse Noah Gruman as the precocious kid). When he was thirteen-years-old he solved the case of the missing find raiser money and was paid in free treats after he solved figured out who robbed the Mr. Henderson’s Ice Cream Shoppe. When his original “office”—actually a treehouse—was chopped down by a disgruntled criminal he opened a real office on Main Street and paid his secretary (Kaitlyn Chalmers-Rizzato) with soda pop. “Sometimes I would lie awake all night and wonder if I was the smartest person in the world,” he says.
He was loved but when his secretary went missing and he failed to crack the case, the bloom was off the rose. He grew up, or, at least got bigger. Now, almost at the big Four-O he’s living off past glories—“I’m Abe Applebaum! I solved the Case of the Missing Time Capsule when I was twelve years old. The mayor gave me the key to the city!”—while sharing a dingy apartment with a roommate and working out of an even dingier office.
He gets the chance to prove himself when high-schooler Caroline (Sophie Nélisse) asks him to solve the murder of her boyfriend Patrick, who died from stabbed seventeen wounds. This is another level from sleuthing the case of the Missing Basketball Magazines. This is the real deal.
“In this line of work you learn one thing quickly,” he tells her. “Everybody has secrets. No matter how simple a case may seem, it is always shocking what you find. I just want you to be prepared.”
From there the case takes dark twists and turns that you might not expect from a movie with the Disney-fied title of “The Kid Detective.”
Director Evan Morgan, in his feature debut, blends the crime solving of “Mystery Team” and the
noir of “Brick” with the world weariness of “The Big Sleep.” It’s a movie that derives humour from Abe’s relative failure as an adult and grown-up detective but never feels like it’s poking fun at him. Thanks to Brody’s performance we see that Abe is a sad sack who once tasted greatness and wants another sip. “It’s difficult to accept who you are in your head,” he says, “and who you are in the world.”
His feeling of being uncertain of how to reclaim his glory days permeates every minute of his work. The story here is very specific but the themes of nostalgia for a happier time and the need for dignity are universal. “I was so far ahead of the game,” he says. “And then one day I woke up and I was… behind.” Brody pulls this off with equal parts vulnerability and (often misplaced) confidence.
“The Kid Detective” is a low-key movie with a high concept that is a little too in love with its own subtleties. The deliberate pacing, however, pays off with a climax brings the story together as both a detective thriller and character study in an interesting and satisfying way.
THE REST OF US: 3 ½ STARS. “lovely testament of power of empathy & forgiveness.”
Blended families can be complicated, messy ecosystems particularly when tragedy is involved. There are a ton of movies about divided loyalties in the face of divorce or death but “The Rest of Us,” the new Heather Graham film, now on VOD, is different. Rather than milking the relationship between first and second wives for heightened drama, it focusses on empathy and compassion.
Graham plays illustrator and author Cami, mother to Aster (Sophie Nélisse) and ex-spouse to Craig. Ten years previously he cheated on her with Rachel (Jodi Balfour), leaving his first family behind to start again with the younger woman. “She’s almost young enough to be your daughter,” says Aster. When he dies in the tub the two women have a chilly reunion at the funeral reception, which happens to be in the house Cami shared with Craig.
Days later the two women meet again and some shocking truths about Craig’s financial state arise. “He hasn’t paid the mortgage for six months,” Rachel tells Cami. “It’ll all go up for auction. The furniture, the house, everything. We can keep a few clothes and things.” Moved, Cami offers Rachel and daughter Talulah (Abigail Pniowsky) a temporary place to stay while she waits for the insurance money to come in. Rachel declines but when the house is foreclosed on, her hand is forced.
With the four living on Cami’s property secrets are revealed, tensions vented and grief and anger over the passing of the man who connects them is shared.
“The Rest of Us” has plenty of reveals. Truths are uncovered at an astounding rate but there are never fireworks, just well calibrated moments that expose the complicated dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Director Aisling Chin-Lee never overplays or rushes those moments even though the film has a scant eighty-minute running time. Instead she allows the strong performances from each of the players—particularly from Nélisse—to do the heavy emotional lifting.
Sharp writing keeps “The Rest of Us’” unusual premise from becoming too pat, even if one of the big reveals is telegraphed early on. Still, it’s a lovely testament to the power of empathy and forgiveness.
MEAN DREAMS: 3 STARS. “Echoes of ‘Badlands’ hang heavy over this film.”
The word hardscrabble comes to mind while watching “Mean Dreams,” a new thriller from director Nathan Morlando. The two lead characters, star-crossed teenagers Casey (Sophie Nelisse) and Jonas (Josh Wiggins), don’t have any easy go of it. Her father Wayne (Bill Paxton) is a physically abusive drunk, while Jonas’s dad treats the fifteen-year-old like an adult. It’s a hard knock life, one that forces the two to mature quickly and make grown-up decisions.
Casey and Wayne are new to town. Wayne divides his time between drinking and looking for ways out of their new podunk town. He’s a lawman with little respect for the law, anything or anyone, including his daughter. When Wayne almost kills Jonas, Casey’s new neighbour and love interest, and local law enforcement (Colm Feore) doesn’t seem interested in helping, the young man takes it on himself to put some space between his new girlfriend and her abusive father. Their new life begins with the theft of $1 million in drug money, an action that brings serious consequences.
Echoes of “Badlands,” Terrence Malick’s tale of young love on the run, hang heavy over “Mean Dreams.“ Casey and Jonas are more innocent than Holly Sargis (Sissy Spacek) and Kit Carruthers (Martin Sheen) but their journey into antisocial behaviour rings a bell. Director Morlando may not be treading new ground here, but emotionally he veers off the beaten track, adding elements of innocence among the wolves that lends the story a welcome human aspect and motivation for their actions.
The villains—Paxton and Feore (SPOILER ALERT) are suitably villainous, amoral and sleazy excuses for human beings, but it’s too bad they feel like they just stepped out of Central Casting. Paxton is undeniably entertaining as the ruthless and vicious father figure, but he’s a mish-mash of every redneck creep we’ve seen before. Feore is given even less dimension, but is an imposing figure nonetheless.
The real heart and soul of “Mean Dreams” lies with Nelisse and Wiggins. If we don’t care about them, we don’t care about the movie and the two young leads are appealing even when they are pushed to extremes.
THE BOOK THIEF: 3 ½ STARS. “it’s a tearjerker that earns most of its salty drops.”
Opening in 1938 Germany, “The Book Thief” begins with a child’s journey.
Liesel Meminger (French-Canadian actress Sophie Nélisse) is sent to live with foster parents, the kind-hearted World War I veteran who has refused to join the Nazi Party Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush) and his stern wife Rosa (Emily Watson). The little girl can’t read or write, but carries with her The Gravedigger’s Handbook, a book she “borrowed” after finding it on the ground at her brother’s funeral.
The unintelligible words in that book set Liesel on her path. Hans, who calls the girl “Your Majesty,” teaches her to read, igniting a love of words and storytelling that ultimately changes the life of a young Jewish man named Max and helps Liesel make sense of life in Nazi Germany.
Closer in tone to “A Beautiful Life” than “Schindler’s List,” “The Book Thief” is a touching, if somewhat melodramatic look at Liesel’s life. Jam-packed full of big moments, with kids forced to grow up too fast and confront the harsh realities of life, it’s a tearjerker that earns most of its schmaltzy, salty drops, but not all.
Based on the international best-selling novel by Markus Zusak and directed by Brian Percival of “Downton Abbey,” the film finds its main strength in the web of relationships that intertwine around Liesel. From tow headed neighbor Rudy (Nico Liersch), who loves Liesel at first sight, to the instant connection between Hans and his new daughter, to the bond that forms between Max and the girl as she reads to him, these links (and performances) bring humanity to the story, preventing it from being overwhelmed by the film’s dramatic tendencies. I’m mean, the movie is narrated by Death (Roger Allam) and set, primarily on a street called Heaven. You just know this isn’t going to be subtle.
Some moments work very well.
Kristallnacht, set to a soundtrack of young, angelic voices singing anti-Semitic Hitler Youth songs while the soldiers attack Jewish citizens and destroy their homes and shops, is chilling.
Others feel over-the-top, no matter how deeply the camera focuses on Nélisse’s soulful blue saucer eyes. (MAJOR SPOILER!!!!!!!!) Rudy’s final moments almost play like a “Monty Python” sketch, regardless of how attached you have become to the character.
Luckily Rush is a lovely and touching presence. He’s terrific as Hans, a compassionate, light-hearted man who understands the gravity of the situation. Watson, as his wife, is a tough nut, but compassionate one, but it is Nélisse who is at the core of the film.
She hands in a delicate, natural performance that rarely succumbs to the film’s melodrama.
“The Book Thief” doesn’t always trust the story to work on its own, so it wedges in a few too many big moments—and one egregious bit of product placement—but when it relies on the performances, it works.
