Posts Tagged ‘Terry Kinney’

CTV NEWS AT SIX: NEW MOVIES AND TV SHOWS TO CHECK OUT THIS WEEKEND!

Richard speaks to “CTV News at Six” anchor Andria Case about the best movies to watch this weekend including Carey Mulligan’s archeological drama “The Dig” (Netflix), Denzel Washington as a cop with a troubled past in “The Little Things” (PVOD and select theatres), Naomi Watts’ family drama “Penguin Bloom” (Netflix) and the Nicolas Cage b-movie “Jiu Jitsu” (EST, VOD, DVD).

Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 36:10)

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY JANUARY 29, 2021.

Richard joins CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including Carey Mulligan’s archeological drama “The Dig” (Netflix), Denzel Washington as a cop with a troubled past in “The Little Things” (PVOD and select theatres), Naomi Watts’ family drama “Penguin Bloom” (Netflix) and the Nicolas Cage b-movie “Jiu Jitsu” (EST, VOD, DVD).

Watch the whole thing HERE!

 

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FOR JANUARY 29, 2021!

Richard sits in on the CTV NewsChannel with host Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including Carey Mulligan’s archeological drama “The Dig” (Netflix), Denzel Washington as a cop with a troubled past in “The Little Things” (PVOD and select theatres) and Naomi Watts’ family drama “Penguin Bloom” (Netflix).

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!

Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including Carey Mulligan’s archeological drama “The Dig” (Netflix), Denzel Washington as a cop with a troubled past in “The Little Things” (PVOD and select theatres), Naomi Watts’ family drama “Penguin Bloom” (Netflix) and the Nicolas Cage b-movie “Jiu Jitsu” (EST, VOD, DVD).

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

THE LITTLE THINGS: 3 STARS. “gets most of the little things right, but not all.”

“The Little Things,” a Los Angeles-set crime drama now available in select theatres and on PVOD, features a trio of Oscar winners in a dark story that shows the soft underbelly of the glamour capitol.

Set in 1990, pre-DNA testing, this is a story of old-fashioned police work. Wits, stakeouts, payphones and bleary eyes are their tools. Obsession and black coffee fuel them.

Oscar winner number one Denzel Washington is Joe Deacon, a deputy sheriff in small town California, whose job as a big city detective is long in the rearview mirror. When he joins strait-laced LAPD detective Sgt. Jim Baxter (Oscar winner number two, Rami Malek) on the hunt for a serial murderer, they focus on Albert Sparma (Oscar winner number three, Jared Leto) an off-kilter character they suspect is the killer. Turns out, their case reverberates with echoes from Deacon’s troubled past.

“The Little Things” sets up an interesting mystery. The SoCal setting resonates with an eerie Golden State Killer sun-dappled vibe and there are enough cryptic clues to keep you—and Deacon and Baxter—guessing. Washington and Malek play an odd couple, brought together by their shared obsessions, and Leto is suitably sideways to lend an aura of menace to his character. But, taken as a whole, the elements feel let down by the climax of the story. No spoilers here, but Baxter’s behavior in the minutes leading up to the film’s resolution don’t feel authentic, as though they are not driven by the character and what he would do in the situation. Instead, the ending feels informed simply by the need to wrap up the story in a dramatic way.

It’s too bad because most of what comes before is quite good. Deep characterizations, worthy of the trio’s Oscar wins, help set the scene. Writer and director John Lee Hancock avoids the visual clichés of most Los Angeles sets dramas; there’s palm trees, but no Hollywood highlights, just rundown motel rooms and skid row streets. It all adds up, until Baxter’s inexplicable decisions (AGAIN, NO SPOILERS HERE) take the viewer out of the story.

As Deacon says several times in “The Little Things,” life and, in this case, storytelling are all about the little things, the details that come together to tell the tale. Hancock gets most of the little things right, but not all.