New Releases:
The Flash – Barry Allen is struck by a bolt of lightning and thus, an extraordinary power is born inside him: The Speed Force. When he uses this power to run back in time and save his mother, he creates a world without heroes and General Zod has returned. To defeat him, his only hope rest in the hands of a retired Batman, another Barry and an imprisoned Kryptonian.
Expectations: I have mixed feelings and projections regarding what I believe to be part of the hard DC Cinematic Universe reset with only Blue Beetle and the second Aquaman film left on the list of releases for the Warner Bros. properties. I love that Michael Keaton is back in a fan-favourite role and it’s cool to see Affleck’s Batman again in some capacity. Still, Ezra Miller, beyond his legal and personality issues, has never come across as a tangible Barry Allen in my opinion and, to be honest, his involvement still kind of turns me off to the whole thing. The reviews, a week out of release, are still pretty favourable so I do have more good thoughts than bad heading into it.
Elemental – The film journeys alongside an unlikely pair, Ember and Wade, in a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together. The fiery young woman and the go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: how much they have in common.
Expectations: This may be the first Pixar release that the trailer gives me absolutely no drive to go out and see the film. The feel of this film has such a comparison to Inside Out that it is still an original concept, it borrows a little bit from that sort of world-building. The film is the second directorial effort from Peter Sohn whose last feature was one of Pixar’s lowest-scoring films, The Good Dinosaur, which I feel is a little bit underrated, so going off that, maybe this film will surprise me as well.
Extraction 2 – After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission. Tasked with extracting a family who is at the mercy of a Georgian gangster, Tyler infiltrates one of the world’s deadliest prisons in order to save them. But when the extraction gets hot, and the gangster dies in the heat of battle, his equally ruthless brother tracks down Rake and his team to Sydney, in order to get revenge.
Expectations: It might not be the popular opinion of what is turning into the Extraction franchise, but I really enjoyed the first film quite a bit, a tactical espionage action flick that tried to do big and original things in its execution. Heck, I enjoyed it more than the recent release of The Gray Man and that one was both written and directed by the Russo Brothers, unlike them just penning the script for these films. I also think that Hemsworth has a hell of a lot of charisma when he is allowed to show it and this is better in his action oeuvre I think.
The Blackening – The film centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this ain’t no motherfu**in’ game. Directed by Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Barbershop) and co-written by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) and Dewayne Perkins (The Amber Ruffin Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), The Blackening skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first?
Expectations: Horror comedy is a genre that will always have a warm place in my cinematic heart and when they pull at tropes that are solidified in how we look at slasher films, well, that gets me even more. The setup is all here but the unpredictability and winks to the audience will surely be what wins audiences over and if it is all executed right we could have a runaway hit, much like the writers of this film’s previous work, Girl’s Trip.
Stan Lee – This is the official documentary film about Stan “The Man” Lee and his rise to influence in the world of comic books and pop culture. Tracing his life from his upbringing as Stanley Lieber to the rise of Marvel Comics, the film tells the story of Stan Lee’s life, career, and legacy in his own words through personal archive material.
Expectations: I’m really sad that Disney teased me by getting me to fill out a form for this film and not sending it as I adore Stan and his legacy and was absolutely looking forward to it. During the year that would have been his hundredth, it is honestly about time that we got to see his story in this format, even though a lot of his fans already know the rundown. I’m excited to see how they approach his work with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and to see his creations realized on the big screen.
Persian Lessons – Nazi-occupied France, 1942. Having escaped death by the skin of his teeth by claiming to be half-Persian, Gilles, a Jewish man from Belgium, is spared so that he can teach Persian to Klaus Koch, a mid-grade SS officer in charge of the concentration camp’s kitchen. Luckily, Gilles doesn’t speak a word of Persian, and to save himself from certain death, he must fabricate an entire language of convincing gibberish without raising suspicion. Now, Gilles’ life is hanging by a thread, and one small mistake can blow his cover. Will the lie that has just saved Gilles bring about his downfall?
Review: Every time a new World War II-centric film involving the Nazi occupation or the horrific history of the holocaust comes out, I wonder how much more my heart can take of it because each one of them is devastating. This film will sadly not get as wide of a reach as many other big studio films do or even the internationally celebrated ones but it surely deserves the attention. The plot is where this film excels and even with a couple questionable moves in motivation for the characters, it all comes together for a great ending.
Blu-Ray & DVD:
The Super Mario Bros. Movie – A Brooklyn plumber named Mario travels through the Mushroom Kingdom with a princess named Peach and an anthropomorphic mushroom named Toad to find Mario’s brother, Luigi, and to save the world from a ruthless fire-breathing Koopa named Bowser.
Review: A far superior film than what we were given in the nineties, the combination of Illumination and Nintendo pays off with an authentic feeling origin story for Mario and his brother with scads of in-jokes, references and a good old Mario Kart race sequence to dazzle us. The animation is colourful, the voices are spot on and I hope to see more of these movies down the Rainbow Road.
John Wick: Chapter 4 – Condemned by the tyrannical High Table to be on the run for the rest of his life, deadly assassin maestro John Wick (2014) embarks on a Sisyphean mission of suicidal fury to decide his fate after the merciless carnage in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019). At last, John’s violent journey, fuelled by vengeance and grief, ultimately leads him to a fateful confrontation with his former employers, the crime masters that forced him into exile. And as the blood-stained vendetta to destroy those who pull the strings continues, old companions face the brutal consequences of friendship, and all-powerful, well-connected adversaries emerge to bring Wick’s head on a platter. But talk is cheap–now guns have the final say. Can Baba Yaga, the grim messiah of death, make every bullet count in this bloody, once-and-for-all struggle for freedom?
Review: In a seemingly impossible succession, each John Wick movie outperforms the earlier entry making this fourth film an easy masterpiece of action set pieces. Starting from the very Lawrence Of Arabia to a long climb up the stairs to Wick’s final battle, this movie grips you and never relents, a true treat to see on the big screen. The best news is now that it is a home release you can make your windows rattle with the bone-crunching sounds whenever you want.
The Pope’s Exorcist – Rome, 1987. Having performed hundreds of successful exorcisms throughout his decades-long career, Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist, travels to Spain to shed light on the peculiar case of troubled Henry, a boy reportedly possessed by a powerful unholy spirit. But as the child’s condition deteriorates, the grizzled priest joins forces with local cleric Father Tomas Esquibel to cast out the demonic legions from possessed Henry. However, the exorcism is just the tip of the iceberg. Can guilt, sin, and a well-hidden, centuries-old conspiracy threaten the soul of the Pope’s exorcist?
Review: This had all the markings of a terrible movie but somehow Russell Crowe, with a terrible and possibly offensive Italian accent, manages to lead a pretty fun possession horror film. I can’t say it will be a memorable one at all and not a must-see but anyone who loves movies like this will want to check it out because director Julius Avery constructs some really cool genre set pieces. After seeing his Nazi horror flick Overlord, I knew he had more good filmmaking in him. Oh, check out Overlord if you haven’t!
The Man From Toronto – Teddy, a struggling fitness entrepreneur in Yorktown, Virginia, is fired from his job at a local gym for giving ad brochures without the gym’s address. He decides not to tell his wife, Lori, to take her to Onancock for her birthday. Leaving her at a spa, Teddy arrives at the wrong cabin, where a man named Coughlin is being held, hostage. Mistaken for “The Man from Toronto”, a mysterious assassin with a talent for brutal interrogation, the clueless Teddy manages to intimidate Coughlin into giving up a code. The cabin is raided by the FBI, who convinces Teddy to pose as the Man from Toronto to help capture would-be Venezuelan dictator Colonel Marin in exchange the FBI will pay off his overdue mortgage. As he navigates through a web of intrigue and danger, Teddy’s relationships are put to the test, including his marriage to Lori and his unexpected bond with the actual Man from Toronto, named Randy. With twists and turns along the way, Teddy and Randy find themselves entangled in a mission to prevent a catastrophic event. The film culminates in a series of confrontations, leading to unexpected consequences and a surprising resolution.
Review: This had so much potential out of the gate, an action-comedy about mistaken identity with Kevin Hart and Jason Statham directed by Patrick Hughes, the guy behind fun action films like Red Hill, Expendables 3 and The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Due to scheduling issues, Statham had to drop out and Woody Harrelson stepped in which isn’t a downgrade in my opinion so everything is looking good. This movie starts with that promise I described and then quickly pulls into a nose dive as things get worse and worse. The CGI and effects are horrible, the script is lame and wastes both actors’ talents featuring lines I know I’ve heard in better movies and the only saving grace is some well-done action scenes. If only I could care about those because everything in between screams bad Netflix action and it’s evident why Sony Pictures offloaded this dud to a streaming service. An utter waste of time.
Sakra – Based on the classic wuxia novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils by Louis Cha (known worldwide by his pen name Jin Yong), the film stars Donnie Yen as Qiao Feng, the respected leader of a roving band of martial artists. After he is wrongfully accused of murder and subsequently exiled, Qiao Feng goes on the run in search of answers about his own mysterious origin story–and the unknown enemies working to destroy him from the shadows.
Review: It’s probably needless to say that the fight sequences and stunts in this film are where the true viewing worthiness lies, a fact that is easily gleaned from the fact that it stars Donnie Yen, one of the greatest martial artists to come out of Hong Kong cinema. That said, it’s a little awkward to have him play such a young character which some serious smoothing to make him look that way. That said, the writing isn’t phenomenal and careens into cheesy territories but it manages to be pretty entertaining which is good because it seems this is being set up as a bigger cinematic universe.
Bone Cold – An experienced Black Ops sniper attempts a nightmarish escape after a failed mission, tracked by enemy soldiers hellbent on revenge, and hunted by something sinister and monstrous, hungry and determined.
Review: This has the simple action thriller potential of being a man versus beast battle and it has worked out well in the past. Think Arnie versus Predator or… Amber Midthunder vs. Predator again in the Disney+ gem, Prey. The sad thing here is the premise is wasted on a movie that starts, teetering on the edge of being terrible, and then just plunges into the abyss of awfulness. I’m bummed out by the quality of the Well Go USA movies this week, to be honest, I’m usually higher on them.
Time Bandits – A young boy’s wardrobe contains a time hole. Through this hole an assortment of little people (i.e. dwarfs) come while escaping from their master, the Supreme Being (Sir Ralph Richardson). They take Kevin (Craig Warnock) with them on their adventures through time from Napoleonic times to the Middle Ages to the early 1900s, to the time of Legends and the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness where they confront Evil Genius (David Warner).
Review: Criterion and Terry Gilliam films are a match made in heaven as some of my favourite Blu-rays in my collection are his entries, like Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and the recent Fisher King release. This 4K upgrade of the classic 1981 sci-fi epic is a glorious gift to a fan like me and the film still hasn’t lost its lustre, one of my favourite movies of all time, easily. This cast and Gilliam’s delightfully weird and idiosyncratic feel to his films make every watch just as exciting as the first time watch.
The Venture Bros.: Complete Series – The warped misadventures of a former boy adventurer turned washed-up, middle-aged mad scientist Dr. Rusty Venture; his moronic teenage sons; their maniac bodyguard; and the Doctor’s arch-nemeses, incompetent super villain The Monarch and his masculine sounding paramour, Dr. Girlfriend.
Review: As a network, I’d definitely consider Adult Swim one of the perfect producers of episodic television this show was part of the beginning of the network and I’m all for it getting its flowers in this box set. Featuring a great voice cast of network favourites with James Urbaniuk, Patrick Warburton, Brendon Smalls, Dana Snyder and more, it’s so awesome to rewatch all seven seasons before the all-new movie comes out next month.
Television:
The Full Monty (Disney+) – The original band of brothers as they navigate Sheffield and it’s crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors, exploring the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity.
Review: I had no idea this was even coming until Disney+ sent me the screener for it and I’m so happy they did because I adored this late-nineties film and the cast and am so happy to see the story continued with all of the original players. The charm is still here, a return to Sheffield to see old friends with new problems and Robert Carlyle has no deficit in his charisma whatsoever.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Season 2 (Paramount+) – Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One explore new worlds around the galaxy on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Expectations: Not being a Trekkie but following along with all of the Paramount+ releases under the franchise, this series is the golden goose in the bunch. I think this is rooted in the straightforward, back-to-the-basics approach that it takes, being more a “problem of the week” procedural and paying attention to making great characters and letting the actors play to their strengths. I’ve been excited about this sophomore season and it is for great reason.
Steve Stebbing 