I sit with Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to go over some of the week’s biggest entertainment stories and movies playing in theatres. We look at Ryan Gosling’s advice for the movie industry, Stephen Colbert’s unexpected new gig, a strange denial from Zach Braff and I review “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to tune a violin. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the road trip flick “Holy Days,” the time travel crime drama “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” and the epidemic drama “Alpha.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about “undertone,” the little movie that could, Celine Dion’s return to the stage, then I review the action-comedy “Mike&Nick&Nick&Mary” and tell you about some of star Vince Vaughn’s favorite drinks.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: A story of hitmen, romantic betrayal, a cannibal assassin and time travel, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice,” now streaming on Disney+, is not your average underworld story.
CAST: Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, Jimmy Tatro. Written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski.
REVIEW: A buddy comedy with a time travel twist, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” delivers solid laughs and is a welcome return of Vince Vaughn’s vaunted comic timing.
The action begins with crime lord Sosa (Keith David) vowing to get revenge on the snitch who ratted out his son Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro), throwing him in prison for eight years. The wet work has been assigned to hitman Nick (Vince Vaughn), who has set up Quick Draw Mike (James Marsden), a rival in crime and for the attention of Alice (Eiza González), as the fall guy.
Into this deadly love triangle comes another assassin called The Baron who kills and eats his victims, betrayals, secrets and a chatty inventor named Symon (Ben Schwartz) whose time machine complicates an already complicated situation.
“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is a welcome return to the swaggerlicious, slick talking characters that made Vaughn an R-rated comedy fan favorite. He’s made comedies in the last few years, but his work in shows and films like “Bad Monkey,” “Nonnas” and “Easy’s Waltz” feel lowkey compared to the snappy delivery on display here.
Writer/director BenDavid Grabinski stages enough big shoot-‘em-up sequences for this to qualify as an action comedy, but he knows the secret sauce is in the chemistry between the cast.
In a dual role the above-mentioned Vaughn is fun, playing Present Nick as ruthless, ruled by anger and loyalty to Sosa while he softens Future Nick, presenting hm as a reflective guy with regret for the life he’s led. To paraphrase iconic slogan for Doublemint gum, Vaughn doubles his performance and doubles the fun.
Marsden brings a way with a punch and a punchline, while never losing the likability that characterizes his best work, like his arc as Liz Lemon’s boyfriend Criss Cross on “30 Rock” and “Enchanted’s” Prince Edward.
In her first big comedic role González isn’t given as much to do as Marsden and Vaughn but brings great comic timing and a dose of humanity to the absurd story.
Propelled by the cast’s chemistry, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is a time travel flick about living in the moment that doesn’t forget to have fun along the way.
Imagine a mix-and-match of the teen comedy of “Superbad” and the slice-of-life vibe of “Dazed and Confused,” and you’ll have an idea of what “North Hollywood,” the new skateboarding dramedy now on VOD.
Michael (Ryder McLaughlin) is on the cusp of one of the great rites of passage, high school graduation. It’s time to figure out how he will begin the next phase of his life. His father Oliver (Vince Vaughn), who has worked construction all his life, wants him to go to college, move up in the world and put their North Hollywood neighborhood in the rearview mirror. “Every day I told myself my son wasn’t going to be some random nobody, just another guy who didn’t make it. That is not the life I want for you.”
Trouble is, Michael doesn’t share his father’s dream.
The gangly altar boy just doesn’t see his future in the inside of a text book. He wants to be a pro skateboarder. “I’m going to go to college and I’m also going to skate. Pops, I’m telling you,” he says, “I’m nice on the board.”
“Your focus needs to be going to college,” dad replies, but like so many teens Michael thinks he knows best and tries to build relationships with professional skaters to kickstart his career. Along the way he also falls into his first love with the goal-oriented Rachel (Miranda Cosgrove).
“North Hollywood” is a coming-of-age story that examines the choices young people make. Should he follow his dream? Or give it away for the life Rachel and his father have in mind.
“North Hollywood” doesn’t break a lot of new ground narratively, but its focus on the characters and male friendship elevates a typical coming-of-age story. A showdown between Michael and his lifelong friend Adolf (Aramis Hudson) is simple, but raw. It cuts to the essence of what happens when one person in the equation grows faster than the other. It’s a theme “North Hollywood” builds on throughout, as Michael morphs from confused teen to someone who will chart his own course in life.
It’s effective but understated. Likeable performances that get under the skins of their characters ensures that this is more than a skateboarding film. Like all good sports inspired stories, the sport is secondary to the universal lessons contained within. Michael learns a lesson in balance, both on a skateboard and in life.
A more accurate title for “Freaky,” the new Vince Vaughn slasher comedy now playing in theatres, might have been “Freaky Friday the 13th.” A mix and match of the classic body swapping kid’s comedy and the Jason Voorhees horror movies, it has laughs and a surprisingly high body count.
The film opens with a killer on the rampage. The Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), part urban legend, part serial killer, is doing what he does best, finding interesting ways to murder young, attractive people. In an attempt to gain supernatural powers he stabs teenage outcast Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) with a ceremonial knife called the La Dola Dagger. Something mystical happens, alright, but not the transformation the Butcher hoped for. As he stabs the high school senior, they switch bodies. The hulking serial killer’s body is now inhabited by Millie’s essence and vice versa. According to the legend of the dagger they have just twenty-four hours to reverse the curse or they will be trapped in the wrong bodies forever. “Look, I know I look like The Butcher. But it’s Millie.”
Part of the built-in fun of director Christopher Landon’s “Freaky” is Vaughn’s performance. His change from menacing killer to teenager is as ridiculous as it sounds, but it takes advantage of the actor’s comedy chops. He adopts Millie’s mannerisms in subtle ways and adds in other touches, like constantly bumping his head because her new body is a foot or so taller than the old one. He even brings a genuine lightness to a budding romance between his alter ego and her crush Booker (Uriah Shelton). By the time he proves that he’s actually Millie in the Butcher’s body by answering questions—“I tell people my favorite movie is Eternal Sunshine but it’s actually Pitch Perfect 2.”—the transformation is complete. It’s fun work from an actor whose recent resume doesn’t contain many laughs.
“Freaky” rides the line between slasher movie, dark comedy and satire. As it has fun with high-school stereotypes it delivers some genuinely creepy moments even if Landon has some trouble calibrating the humour and the horror. After a strong start, and some engaging moments, it gets trapped trying to reinvent the movies that inspired it.
Everyone knows wrestling is fixed, stage for p ure entertainment, but behind the costumes, the death matches and the five moves of doom are real people. “Fighting with My Family,” a new comedy written and directed by Stephen Merchant, dropkicks one real life story from the ring to the big screen.
Norwich England native Saraya-Jade Bevis (Florence Pugh) comes from a wrestling family. Her parents Ricky (Nick Frost) and Julia (Lena Headey) a.k.a. Rowdy Ricky and Sweet Saraya and siblings all throw down in the ring. When WWE trainer Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) offers Saraya-Jade, known as Britani, and brother Zodiac Zak (Jack Lowden) a chance to audition it looks like they’re on the verge of going big time.
Well, at least one of them is.
After receiving some backstage advice from The Rock (who is also a producer on the film) and trying out, Hutch only calls one name, Saraya-Jade. Switching her name to the more American sounding Paige (inspired by the Rose McGowan character on “Charmed”) she begins in a training camp in Orlando where she will be assessed to see if she has the right stuff for the WWE. She’s an outsider who must fight for every win, both in and out of the ring. “Don’t worry about being the next me,” Says The Rock. “Be the first you.”
There are suplexes, trash talk galore, likeable actors like Nick Frost Lena Hadley and Vince Vaughn but it isn’t the wrestling moves and sports movie clichés that sell this movie. It’s the film’s beating heart, Florence Pugh, who plays Paige as a mix of empathy, ambition and self-doubt. Her path is a difficult one, from her brother’s jealousy to American audiences taunting her because of her jet-black hair, English accent and piercings. “Come on Ozzy Osbourne! Sing something!” We’ve seen this underdog character before, but by the time she says, “I am a freak. This belongs to the misfits who don’t belong,” it’s hard not to call a TKO on Pugh’s performance.
“Fighting with My Family” is about wrestling but like all good sports movies it isn’t just about what happens in the inevitable game or match at the end of the picture. It is a more universal story about outcasts who create community through sport and heart combined with the kind of “soap opera in spandex” storytelling that has made wrestling so popular.
“Hacksaw Ridge,” a new war film from director Mel Gibson, is much like the man himself; blustery, loud, occasionally profane and with a muddled moral core.
The film opens with grim imagery, soldiers with their faces blown off, engulfed in flames, before jumping back in time sixteen years to tell the tale of real-life pacifist Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield). Growing up in podunk Virginia Desmond is a high spirited boy who almost kills his brother during a play fight spun out of control. When his mother (Rachel Griffiths) tells him the most egregious sin of all is the taking of another person’s life, he allows the potent words to sink in and take root.
Later, after a whirlwind romance of the, “Today I met the girl I’m going to marry,” type he enlists in the army, despite the protests of his WWI vet father (Hugo Weaving and his fiancée (Teresa Palmer). A conscientious objector, Desmond refuses any kind of weapons training, insisting instead to go into battle as a medic. In boot camp his fellow cadets treat him like a pariah while his superiors (Vince Vaughn and Sam Worthington) threaten him with a court martial. “I’m not off up above,” he says pointing to his head. “I just believe what I believe.”
“Hacksaw Ridge” is the kind of movie that presents the main character as an underdog, but you know by the end of the film someone will say, “That crazy SOB was the bravest man I ever met,” or words to the effect. And so it goes. On Hacksaw Ridge, an impossibly tall cliff on the Japanese island of Okinawa, his mettle is tested when his platoon is attacked and overwhelmed. Without firing a shot, or even touching a gun, Desmond dodges death in the form of Japanese soldiers, bullets and grenades to bring aid to his colleagues.
This is a morality tale about a man whose noble intentions are misunderstood by everyone. Based on real events, it nonetheless has the feel of Hollywood fiction. Perhaps it’s because of our cynical times, but stories of the indomitable spirit seem to take on a corny edge no matter how much gruesome stuff—legs turn in the hamburger meat, rats eating corpses—the director uses to paint the screen.
That may be unfair, but there is an undeniable aw-shucks vibe that permeates the air. Gibson clearly respects the moral high ground his main character takes, but allows Garfield to play Doss as a hokey cliché, with one hand on the bible and a goofy grin plastered on his face. It’s amiable enough work but when the “hellfire of combat” kicks in he tends to get lost amid the action.
And there is a lot of action. By the time the movie shifts location to the titular warzone Gibson goes full tilt with skilfully shot, hardcore battle scenes. For a film about pacifism he doesn’t hold back, bringing his usual subtlety (think “Braveheart,” “The Passion of the Christ” or “Apocalypto”) to scenes of dismemberment and even a glimpse of ritual Seppuku. It’s wild and woolly and often very effective. A slow speed chase sequence in one of the cliff’s tunnels has tension and a couple of good jump scares. It’s solid filmmaking, if just a little safe. There’s nothing here as oddball or challenging as the use of arcane languages in his last two films or “Passion’s” female Satan. Instead he’s made a conventional, if somewhat gory inspirational biopic that suggests, come for the old time religion, stay for the blood and guts.
It’s hard to separate Mel Gibson from his films. “Hacksaw Ridge,” despite its lack of his usual eccentric flourishes, still feels like it could only be made by a man torn between deeply held faith and a wild side that sometimes runs free.
I have a brother but he’s not my bro, at least by the contemporary definition. My sibling and I are biologically brothers but neither of us fall into what the NPR Codeswitch blog described as the four rudimentary characteristics of “bro-iness”— jockish, dudely, stoner-ish and preppy.
There are as many ways to define bros and brahs as there are bros and brahs at your local frat house. Oxford Dictionary writer Katherine Connor Martin sums it up simply as “a conventional guy’s guy who spends a lot of time partying with other young men like himself.” The urban dictionary isn’t quite as elegant, describing bros as ”obnoxious partying males who are often seen at college parties… [standing] around holding a red plastic cup waiting for something exciting to happen so they can scream something that demonstrates how much they enjoy partying”
This weekend Zac Efron and Adam DeVine play brothers who are also bros in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Based on the real-life exploits of Mike and Dave Stangle, the guys get out-broed at their sister’s Hawaiian wedding by broettes Tatiana and Alice (Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick).
In real life Mike, Dave, Tatiana and Alice are the kind of people it might be fun to hang out with before ten o’clock at night, before the tequila shots and samplings from the mystery medicine cabinet have taken effect. After that, all bets are off. Luckily in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, like so many bro movies before it, the screen separates us and we can sit back and observe them like cultural anthropologists, as if we’re studying animals in a zoo.
Hollywood has long had a bromance with bros. Lately in movies like Neighbors and Dirty Grandpa Efron has made a career of playing dim witted frat boys but to find the proto bros you have to go back to 1940. Starting with Road to Singapore Bob Hope and Bing Crosby cocktailed and adlibbed their way through seven Road movies playing two slightly skeezy men with boatloads of bravado and an unbreakable bond—at least until love interest Dorothy Lamour showed up.
National Lampoon’s Animal House was the next landmark of bro-cinema. From toga parties to food fights and doing The Worm on the dance floor, it’s a politically incorrect classic that celebrates the best and worst of bro culture.
A 1996 movie gave us the bro with a million catchphrases like “Vegas, baby,” “wingman,” “beautiful babies” and “you’re so money.” As Trent in Swingers Vince Vaughn gave a voice and brocabulary to a generation of bros. Jon Favreau wrote the script but many of the sayings came directly from the lips of his best friends and co-stars Vaughn and Ron Livingston.
No look at bro-cinema would be complete without a nod toward Will Ferrell. The comedian has broed out on screen many times but Old School’s Frank the Tank, a character who unravels after his wife leaves him, is King Bro. When he’s not doing beer bong hits (“Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!”) or streaking he lets his freak flag fly as one of the most over-the-top bros ever seen on screen.
Dean Wormer’s classic scolding from Animal House, “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son,” doesn’t seem to apply, at least at the movies.
