I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres and streaming this week including the sweet body-swap movie “Freakier Friday,” the horrifying and hilarious “Weapons,” the family dramedy “Shook” and the action comedy “The Pickup.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the sweet body-swap movie “Freakier Friday,” the horrifying and hilarious “Weapons,” the family dramedy “Shook” and the action comedy “The Pickup.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I review the horror film “Weapons” and tell you about some drinks, made with Twizzlers, to enjoy with the film.
Click HERE to listen to Shane and me talk about how Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver are scaring wolves, Rod Stweart’s terrible tribute to Ozzy and why you should never use the Happy Gilmore running step swing.
For the Booze & Reviews look at “Weapons” and some cool Twizzler cocktails to pair with it, click HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the sweet body-swap movie “Freakier Friday,” the horrifying and hilarious “Weapons” and the family dramedy “Shook.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In the new horror film “Weapons” a community is left reeling when all but one child from Justine Gandy’s elementary classroom mysteriously vanish from their homes. “Whatever took those kids isn’t something you can fight,” says police officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich).
CAST: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan. Directed by Zach Cregger.
REVIEW: “Weapons” feels like the horror story Stephen King never wrote.
Like so many of King’s sinister novels, “Weapons” takes place in a tightly knit community, an ordinary place touched by supernatural terror. There’s dark humor, missing kids and the kind of unimaginable creeping dread that made King a millionaire.
But it’s not King, it’s Zach Cregger, one of the new kings of offbeat horror. His last film, 2002s “Barbarian,” was an audacious thriller about an evil Airbnb rental that delivered a heaping handful of solid scares and off-the-hook storytelling.
Creggar ups the ante with “Weapons.” As he did with “Barbarian,” he adds flourishes to a simple but effective premise to create textured, complex storytelling.
Like I said, the inciting incident is simple: One morning, at 2:17 am, seventeen children, all schoolmates, ran into the darkness and disappeared.
The question at the film’s heart—Where did they go, and why?—is the catalyst for an ambitious story that blends the points of view of six residents, teacher Miss Gandy (Julia Garner), Alex (Cary Christopher), the one student who stayed behind, school principal Marcus (Benedict Wong), police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), drug addict James (Austin Abrams) and parent Archer Graff (Josh Brolin) who says, “If my boy’s out there, I’ll tear this town apart to find him.”
Cregger handles the material with a deft hand, effectively building a relatable, ordinary world where terrible things happen. The eerie disappearances are dealt with quickly before the movie commits to its study of grief and trauma via six interconnected vignettes that dig deep into the lives of the main characters. As such, for most of its runtime “Weapons” is more about the aftermath of the disappearances, and how the characters deal with tragedy, anger and the bizarre nature of the vanishings, than the disappearances themselves.
The film’s vignettes eventually dovetail, leaving behind a trail of jump scares, dark humor, introspection and tension that leads to a cathartic climax. A mix of gruesome horror, surreal farce and surprise, it is unexpected and unexpectedly funny. Cregger navigates the story’s tonal twists and turns like a pro, bending the film’s unusual structure to his will to deliver an exciting, entertaining movie that is as hilarious as it is horrifying.
The grisly events in “Barbarian,” a new house rental horror film now playing in theatres, are a better advertisement for staying in a hotel than anything the Canadian Hotel & Lodging Association could have dreamed up.
The story begins with Tess (Georgina Campbell) pulling up in front of an Airbnb in the rundown neighborhood of Brightmoor in Detroit. Turns out, the only house on the block without broken windows or a kicked-in front door, is doubled booked, and Keith (Bill Skarsgård), is already settled in. She booked on Airbnb, he booked on another site, wires were crossed, but instead of sending her out in the rain to find another place to stay, he invites her in. You take the bed, he says, I’ll sleep on the coach. She reluctantly agrees, won over by his charm and seemingly good-guy vibes.
After lights out, strange things happen. At first, it’s creepy but explainable, like creaky old doors that open and close by themselves, but, the next day, when she goes to the basement to retrieve some supplies, the house reveals a dark secret.
Cut to Los Angeles, present day, and the worst moment of self-involved television star AJ Gilbride’s (Justin Long) life. Accused of sexual impropriety by a co-star, he’s fired from his show and is the subject of an exposé in the Hollywood Reporter. His career in tatters and his bank account running dry, he decides to sell off assets, including an Airbnb property he owns in Brightmoor, Detroit. “I’m not here on vacation,” he tells his lawyer as he lands in Michigan. “I’m here for some liquidity.”
As the story of Tess and AJ collide, “Barbarian” takes one last left turn, this time to Detroit, circa the Reagan years, with the origin story of the innocent looking house’s evil.
“Barbarian” is an audacious thriller with a heaping handful of solid scares. Director Zach Cregger zigs and zags, trusting the audience to hang on for the wild ride. It’s worth the trip. The tense atmosphere of Tess and Keith’s story gives way to AJ’s MeToo cautionary tale and the sinister origin story before throwing it all into the hopper to create a genre-busting final third act. Nothing is off the table as the movie tackles the worst of human nature, narcissism, murder and even incest. It’s a heady mix that should have you moving toward the edge of your seat.
“Barbarian” is one of the rare, recent horror movies that truly keeps the viewer off balance throughout. It’s never clear where the story is going, and that off-the-hook storytelling keeps the creepy story compelling. It’s a roller coaster in which only one thing is clear: Never rent an Airbnb built over a catacomb.
