New Releases:
A Haunting In Venice – In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to uncover the killer again.
Expectations: Kenneth Branagh returns both behind the camera and in front of it as Agatha Christie’s iconic sleuth Hercule Poirot in the third film he has done with the character to varying degrees of satisfaction. I enjoyed his Murder On The Orient Express but Death On The Nile was a bit of a mess in multiple places so I’m getting my bar at a mid-level for what I see as his last kick at the character. That said, from advanced reviews I’m reading, this might be his best Christie yet.
The Retirement Plan – When Ashley (Ashley Greene) and her young daughter Sarah (Thalia Campbell) get caught up in a criminal enterprise that puts their lives at risk, she turns to the only person who can help – her estranged father Matt (Nicolas Cage), currently living the life of a retired beach bum in the Cayman Islands. Their reunion is fleeting as they are soon tracked down on the island by crime boss Donnie (Jackie Earle Haley) and his lieutenant Bobo (Ron Perlman). As Ashley, Sarah and Matt become entangled in an increasingly dangerous web, Ashley quickly learns her father had a secret past that she knew nothing about and that there is more to her father than meets the eye.
Expectations: When it comes to this guy, anytime Nicolas Cage is on the big screen, I’m in the audience guaranteed and this film is no different. This movie has more added character power than one of my all-time favourites as Ron Perlman and Jackie Earle Haley also have some really plum roles that they have some fun with. Australian director Tim Brown makes his Hollywood debut with a film that has Cage with long hair and a scraggly beard dispatching bad guys better than Liam Neeson in almost all of his 2010s action films outside of the Taken franchise. What more do I need to sell you?
Blu-Ray:
AIR – The movie explores how Nike’s basketball shoe division was struggling in 1984 due to low sales, and how the company’s Marketing VP Rob Strasser and CEO Phil Knight tasked basketball talent scout Sonny Vaccaro to find a new spokesperson for their shoes. Although they considered third-draft pick Michael Jordan off limits due to his preference for Adidas and Converse, Vaccaro convinced them that Jordan was a generational talent and that Nike should pursue him and try to convince Jordan to sign with Nike.
Review: Ben Affleck’s return to the director’s chair is easily one of the best scripts of the year, best casts of the year and best films of the year. An absolute crowd pleaser around a sports phenomenon and change in the industry that is fascinating from the get-go. Affleck has a gift for crafting these brilliant character stories and Damon might have worked his way to at least an Academy Award nomination as Sonny Vaccaro. This is one of my most recommended films of the year and a definite candidate for an enjoyable home viewing now on Blu-ray.
Joy Ride – The hilarious and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery centers on four unlikely friends who embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. When Audrey’s (Ashley Park) business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the aid of Lolo (Sherry Cola), her irreverent, childhood best friend who also happens to be a hot mess; Kat (Stephanie Hsu), her college friend turned Chinese soap star; and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s eccentric cousin. Their no-holds-barred, epic experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging, and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.
Review: One of the funniest films of the year, this debut film from writer and director Adele Lim may have spots of formula you would recognize in The Hangover, Bridesmaids or other raunchy epic odyssey films but it also takes so many bold and original chances with a cast that is game at every turn. Star power performances from these four ladies in a year that had Hsu as an Oscar-nominated actress, Park guest starring in the new season of Only Murders In The Building and Cola co-leading Randall Park’s fantastic debut film and this film capitalizes on their fantastic chemistry. I absolutely loved this one.
Cobweb – Eight-year-old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tap, tap from inside his bedroom wall — a tapping that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter’s fear intensifies, he believes that his parents (Lizzy Caplan and Antony Starr) could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trust. And for a child, what could be more frightening than that?
Review: An eight year old is your narrative conduit into a story that would have terrified everyone as a kid, the simple notion that your parents are in cahoots with the monsters that go bump in the night. Absolutely chilling visuals and sound design make this one of the creepiest horror experiences of the year and it should be on any genre fan’s list. Crazy that it comes from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as producers but it has relied on largely word of mouth.
Aporia – Since losing her husband Mal (Edi Gathegi) in a drunk-driving incident, Sophie (Judy Greer) has struggled to manage crippling grief, a full-time job, and the demands of parenting her devastated teenage daughter (Faithe Herman). When her husband’s best friend Jabir (Payman Maadi), a former physicist, reveals that he has been building a time-bending machine that could restore her former life, Sophie will be faced with an impossible choice–and unforeseeable consequences.
Review: At the top of this well-constructed, thoughtful and unpredictable drama with seasonings of sci-fi, I was cheering inside for another chance to see Judy Greer dig into that character actor bucket of hers. Paired with a soulful performance from the always-great Edi Gathegi, this movie does slow burn right and leaves you with a resonant story about hope and grief. A really unexpected hit with me and I hope it lands with a bigger audience.
Poker Face – A mystery-of-the-week series following Charlie Cale, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road in her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve. Guest stars are plentiful throughout, from Ellen Barkin and Adrien Brody to Luis Guzmán and Chloë Sevigny. An inverted detective series, also known as a “howcatchem” and popularized by “Columbo,” the crime and perpetrator are shown at the beginning of each episode, and follow Charlie as she tries to solve the mystery.
Review: This show ROCKS! Created and directed by Rian Johnson, the mind behind Knives Out, Glass Onion and many more awesome things, this is the kind of show I could watch for countless seasons, a callback to the mystery sleuth shows of the seventies and eighties with Natasha Lyonne at the helm delivering every knowing line so beautifully. Johnson’s style in both writing and visual flair is all on display and with each mystery, you are more and more on board with Charlie and her run from a big bad enemy in Las Vegas. This right here is must-see television.
Rick And Morty: Complete Seasons 1 to 6 – Rick, an alcoholic mad scientist, stumbles into his grandson Morty’s room begging for help on an intergalactic adventure. Morty reluctantly agrees and finds himself on a never-ending quest across time, dimension and space. Morty must keep Rick in check as he causes havoc everywhere they go.
Review: It’s been a crash course in a cartoon that I was way late to the game for but I will say that I was on board so quickly because the writing is so good I get euphoric with its brilliant complexities. Admittedly, the show has gone through the wringer of controversy in the last year or so with co-creator Justin Roiland being let go from Adult Swim amid a sexual assault accusation but, really, the show has been speculated about ending for a few seasons now and still seems to keep rolling. Even more, than that, the show is thriving just as popular as ever with no horizon of slowing down as they have to have more than twenty-five episodes in the tank from that last batch of contracted episodes. We also should be grateful that WB Discovery didn’t shut the show down entirely in those massive restructurings.
Succession: Complete Series – Waystar Royco is a global media company with holdings across several industries and continents. At the helm is its CEO and founder, 80-year-old Logan Roy. There is speculation that he will retire soon and hand over the reins to one of his children but he appears to have no intention of doing that. This does not sit well with his children, three of which have ambitions to run the massive company.
Review: In just three seasons, the Roy family came and went but drew in a massive audience as their saga was told. Brilliant writing contained within a cut throat world, the series reminded us how incredible Brian Cox is as an actor, the patriarch of the whole affair, as well as raising Keiren Culkin, Matthew MacFayden and Alan Ruck to new heights in their careers. Beyond that, it also made Jeremy Strong and Sarah Snook household names that can never be ignored again and I appreciate that a lot as I’ve loved their work for years. I look forward to re-watching this series and finding the subtler nuances that I missed the first time around.
Steve’s Blu-Ray Geek-Outs:
The Book Of Henry – In a small suburban town in the Hudson Valley, 11-year-old boy genius Henry Carpenter and his younger brother Peter are being raised by their single mother Susan, a waitress who is working on writing children’s picture books. Henry has used his intellect to invest successfully in the stock market, building up a very substantial nest egg for his family. Henry also protects Peter from a school bully and builds Rube Goldberg machines in their tree house. Henry and Susan are both fond of their next-door neighbour (and Henry’s classmate), Christina Sickleman, who has recently become glum.
Review: This is an interesting film because it was the bomb that effectively, or according to rumour, got director Colin Trevorrow removed from the director’s chair on what would become The Rise Of Skywalker as well as the second Jurassic World movie. It is a fascinating narrative mess though, going to weird and outlandish places for twists and character developments, and because of this I couldn’t say I wasn’t entertained but I certainly was baffled. It was definitely ambitious in where it was trying to pull their emotional manipulation from but I think the end result is just too out there.
Rush – Both on the track and off, Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) couldn’t have been more different. Yet as much as Englishman Hunt’s showy public persona clashed with Lauda’s reputation for tightly controlled perfectionism, both men remained bound together by one undeniable fact–they were both among the best drivers ever to grace the racetrack. But when a horrific crash during the 1976 Grand Prix at the Nürburgring nearly claims Lauda’s life, a grudging respect develops between the two racers as Hunt realizes just how devoted his greatest adversary is to the sport they both love.
Review: Just a few weeks after watching the latest based on a true story racing flick Gran Turismo, it was cool to take this racing biopic in again, a slick film directed by Ron Howard and what I think is his last truly great film. Hemsworth delivers a character performance that I didn’t know he was capable of at the time, with Thor and Cabin In The Woods being his only claim to fame at the time, but this movie is really Bruhl’s at its core. His performance as Niki Lauda should have been award-nominated across the board as it makes the film absolutely must-see if you haven’t.
Television:
Wrestlers (Netflix) – Ohio Valley Wrestling of Louisville, Kentucky is a regional wrestling gym whose alumni include Brock Lesnar, The Miz, John Cena, Dave Bautista, and Randy Orton. Once a proud finishing school for aspiring pro wrestlers, the gym has since hit hard times. Acclaimed wrestler Al Snow clings to an old-school wrestling philosophy with a heavy emphasis on storytelling, but in spite of the love of a few diehard fans, the gym struggles week to week to stay relevant enough to keep its doors open. Things have become so dire financially that Al has to sell a majority stake to a group of local businessmen including Matt Jones, the most popular radio personality in the state of Kentucky. Matt and the new ownership group have infused the struggling gym with much-needed cash but it still operates at a staggering loss. The new owners have given Snow the summer to turn things around. Wrestlers chronicle the efforts Al and his band of aspiring wrestlers make as they struggle with their personal ambitions and each other while they attempt to come together to save this historic gym.
Review: Being a massive pro wrestling fan, tis was an easy watch for me as I’m really passionate about the industry from the grounbd up but this isn’t about the glamour side of it at all but the work horse side that builds that star power. Besides the trainers, there are no superstars here but ones on the verge of becoming the next best thing and, having my eyes on the industry all the time, this is very cool. I will say that calling Al Snow “one of the greatest wrestlers of all time” is more than a bit of hyperbole.
The Morning Show: Season 3 (AppleTV+) – After a fallout with their previous morning show co-host, the popular but #MeToo-scandal-ridden Mitch Kessler, a New York City TV station hires a new spunky journalist, the progressive and hotheaded southern girl Bradley Jackson, as the new co-host. The scheming station head manager Cory Ellison sees in her the chance to push his career further. The show’s other popular co-host Alex Levy, disgruntled by the fact that she has to take in a newbie, tries to use this new situation to make her own power move and turn Bradley into an ally. Meanwhile, Mitch refuses to accept defeat and tries to take everyone in the station who knew about his sexual abuse scandal but said nothing down with him. Other characters include Chip Black, the show’s cynical top producer and program organizer, Hannah Shoenfeld, the station’s employee and Mitch’s emotionally gutted silent victim, Yanko Flores, a romantic and the Morning Show’s most popular reporter, Claire Conway, a British junior employee of the station and Yanko’s smitten secret girlfriend, and Fred, the station’s sleazy chief executive who tried to help Mitch cover up the scandal.
Expectations: AppleTV+’s biggest remaining draw comes back for another series, a show that definitely relies on the star power of both Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. That said, for me, the draw is most certainly Billy Crudup who is an absolute artist with the script he is given and how he delivers it. Within moments of his appearance on screen in the pilot episode, I knew I wanted to follow this show. Drawing from real stories in the media and obviously the Matt Lauer drama, this show is quite good, even though I don’t find Aniston very strong in it. It’s a water cooler show for sure.
Welcome To Wrexham: Season 2 (FX) – A docu-series in which Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds learn to run the third oldest professional football club in the world. In 2020, Rob and Ryan team up to purchase the fifth-tier Red Dragons in the hope of turning Wrexham AFC into an underdog story the whole world can root for, but the concern is that neither has any experience in football or working with the other. From Hollywood to Wales, from the pitch to the locker room, and the front office to the pub, the docuseries will track Rob and Ryan’s crash course in football club ownership and the inextricably connected fates of a team and a town counting on two actors to bring some serious hope and change to a community that could use it.
Expectations: My wife and I started watching this show based on our mutual love for both Ryan and Rob but the infectious love for Wrexham itself, its townspeople, the fans, the players on the team and all those in the background immediately endeared itself to us and made it a total binge-worthy event. Of course, the love for Ted Lasso must have rubbed off in this feeling too but it is an underdog story that really keeps you engaged and I hope that this isn’t the end of what we get from Wrexham FC because I want a season for everyone that they do under the ownership of these two loveable dudes.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC) – Following his departure from The Commonwealth, Daryl Dixon washes ashore in France, raising the ire of a splintered but growing autocratic movement centred in Paris and endangering a young boy at the heart of a benevolent religious movement.
Review: For those keeping track, this is the fourth spin-off of the mothership we call The Walking Dead, but the second since that show ended. That said, and as much as I was enjoying Dead City, this is the one that people have been waiting for big-time as Daryl Dixon, although a creation just for the television series, is a clear audience favourite. I’m bummed that Melissa McBride’s Carol wasn’t included in this post-apocalyptic ride but, after one episode, it really rocks and channels its own attitude through Norman Reedus who is finally getting his flowers for real. I hope others love it as much as I do.
Steve Stebbing 