Steve Stebbing

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Nov 7

stevestebbing

November 7, 2019

New Releases:

Doctor Sleep – As we near the end of the year we come to the last remaining films on my most anticipated list and this movie is at the top of it and it’s definitely ambitious in its subject matter. Based on a novel by Stephen King, this is the follow up to The Shining, which has both the distinction of being one of the greatest horror stories and films of all time as well as being one of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest works. Ewan McGregor takes the role of an adult Danny Torrence who has to protect a young girl from an evil cult known as The True Knot who prey on children with powers to remain immortal, an ensuing battle that will definitely lead to some sort of a showdown at the Overlook Hotel. The reviews have just started rolling in and they are very positive so far, which has me very excited.

Last Christmas – I heavily dislike Christmas movies and to make matters worse this film’s title is my most hated Christmas song ever so it is really a bad omen for me and this romantic comedy already. Hopefully, the fact that the film is lead by the Mother Of Dragons Emilia Clarke and Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding can save this movie but the story already feels a bit cheesy. The story has Clarke playing a desperately single woman with a disastrous love life who meets the man who may be the one when she takes a job as a department store elf during the Christmas season at the mall. Actually having to write all of that makes me think this movie will be terrible. Prove me wrong.

Midway – One the outside, this movie looks like a slam dunk, a World War II fighter pilot story about the infamous Battle Of Midway with Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson and Dennis Quaid anchoring a good cast of young stars. When you look closely at this movie you will notice the name Roland Emmerich attached to this as director, a filmmaker who hasn’t made a hit film since The Day After Tomorrow fifteen years ago and that movie wasn’t very good. I really want this movie to be entertaining and action-packed, which I’m sure it will be as Emmerich is the guy who blew up the White House in Independence Day but also tanked us all with Resurgence, so I ave a prediction of all-flash and zero substance. (Not opening in Hamilton)

Playing With Fire – John Cena hits the kids movie point of his rise as a Hollywood actor and most notably an action star but the good news is, just like The Rock, Cena has a great command of his comedy chops and this movie may not be totally brutal. He plays one of the all-business members of a crew of rugged firefighters who meet their match when try to rescue three endlessly troublemaking kids and the fact that this film is made by Paul Blart Mall Cop 2’s Andy Fickman may tell you all you need to know. Well, actually Fickman made the Amanda Bynes comedy She’s The Man which I quite liked so the jury may still be out on this one. (Not opening in Kamloops or Oshawa)

Klaus – Time to get animated ahead of the holiday season with this new Christmas feature that will be making it onto Netflix in the next few weeks after this gets a bit of a theatrical run. The film is about an inexperienced postman who is having a rough time in his new position that resolves a massive rift between sides in the Arctic Circle almost by accident when he befriends a school teacher and the two discover a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys named Klaus and I bet you can guess who that is. The film has a really solid voice cast including Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, J.K. Simmons and John Cusack and looks like a really great animated holiday story against all of the terrible ones that are usually released at this time. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Blu-Ray:

Fast And Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw – With just one look at this trailer, you would know how obsessed I am with this movie from the moment I first got my eyes on it. The first spinoff from the Fast & Furious series features The Rock’s character of Luke Hobbs who is forced to team up again with Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw to take on a cyber-enhanced threat in the form of Idris Elba bent on destroying humanity. This movie is big, crazy and full of ridiculous action and I loved every moment of this over two-hour extravaganza. The Rock and Statham are both walking and talking fireworks of charisma, as is the big baddie Elba, and Vanessa Kirby, an actress I only knew from a quick part in Mission Impossible: Fallout, is one of the best newcomers of the year. This movie is just fun and recommended.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark – Adapted from a classic book that gave me the serious creeps as a kid, this quasi-anthology horror film was shepherded to the screen by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Troll Hunter and The Autopsy Of Jane Joe filmmaker André Øvredal. To give a bit of story to this, it all takes place in the late sixties and follows a group of kids who find a book of scary stories in an abandoned house. When each of the stories starts to come to life they find that there is some larger evil that is responsible for it. The trailers for this film are unsettling, terrifying in its imagery and downright gross for one scene and I think it’s holding back on what the full theatrical vision is. I’m excited for this.

The Art Of Racing In The Rain – In the next film of using dogs as manipulation, This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia stars in this story about a formula one race car driver who buys a golden retriever puppy to accompany him on his journey through life. That sounds cheesily grandiose but that is really the film in a nutshell. I will say that this movie is a better told story than any of the Dog’s Way Home and Dog’s Journey films and we are spared the voice of Josh Gad this time but an inner dog monologue from Kevin Costner? It really gives the dog a weirdness of having way too much knowledge, especially when he is spouting off racing statistics, almost used as a crutch to distract you from how corny and sappy the movie can become at times. I will say that director Simon Curtis makes some bold moves in the film to separate itself from the pack and not all of them work.

The Kitchen – Based on a graphic novel from Vertigo Comics, a subdivision of DC Comics, this movie had so much potential. The directorial debut of Andrea Berloff, one of the writers on Straight Outta Compton, this film boasts a great cast led by the solid trio of Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss in roles that are decidedly different for these gifted actresses. They play the wives of New York gangsters in Hell’s Kitchen in the 1970s who continue to operate their husbands’ rackets after they’re locked up in prison, so picture a bit of the plot of Steve McQueen’s Widows from last year with a handful of aesthetic changes. That’s as far as the good news goes as this movie is a mess of bad acting, bad script writing and just bad decisions altogether. I wanted to like this movie but ended up despising it greatly.

Pavarotti – I’m really hit or miss with the narrative films of Ron Howard but as a documentarian, more importantly, a music documentarian he is making some seriously great movies. After his last one, Eight Days A Week, he focuses on the life and work of opera legend Luciano Pavarotti and I have to admit that my knowledge of and even appreciation for opera is quite low but the passion and joy that flows through the man in archival and rehearsal footage and home movies is almost infectious. Howard also uses Pavarotti’s concert footage in a way that helps tell the story of his work, his creative mind and his personal relationships. This is a great watch for any music lover with a broader mind in their tastes.

Undercover Brother 2 – When I received this movie, yet another unnecessary sequel to a middling Universal Pictures production, I feel like it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This follow up to a 2002 comedy that I thought was funny but definitely lower than low brow looks terrible just getting a gander at the cover art but the reality of the situation is that it’s much worse than that. I won’t even try to give you an outline of a plot because there really isn’t one but I will start out by saying this film didn’t even have enough money to get Eddie Griffin back to star, instead putting Black Dynamite’s Michael Jai White in the lead, who should have been making a sequel to his own brilliant blaxpoitation movie. This is just bad on all accounts and should be burnt with fire.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geek Out:

Jezebel – Getting some real classics now by adding the Warner Archive division to my review list and this one is a great one to start with as it stars one of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the time, Bette Davis. Made in 1938, this film has Davis as Julie Marsden, a spoiled Southern belle who loses her fiance with her awful behavior, making a horrible scene at a major social event and vows that she will win him back by any means necessary. This is one of Davis’ most popular roles, winning her an Oscar as well as her co-star Fay Bainter for Best Supporting Actress. This movie is a shining example of classic Hollywood and is a very interesting watch.

The Chambermaid – I’m really excited to bring some international cinema to the segment this week with this Mexican drama about a maid in Mexico City’s most luxurious hotel. This movie is the offical selection from Mexico for next year’s Academy Awards and, although it is largely unknown to a large audience, this may be a good bet to at least earn the nomination. This is the feature debut of writer and director Lila Aviles who crafts an incredibly intimate character piece that gives insight to the working class of the country and how that class can clash with those of a wealthy means. The movie is quiet, reflective but full of compassion for its subject.

Television:

His Dark Materials: Season 1 (HBO and BBC) – I’m going to say something controversial here and reveal that I really like the Chris Weitz made Golden Compass film from 2007 which was the first kick at the Phillip Pullman written series of books and I really wanted to see more. It’s a damn great thing that HBO and BBC joined forced to do a faithful adaptation of these books and cast Dafne Keen, who astounded audiences alongside Hugh Jackman in Logan, as the lead character of Lyra. The potential of this series is limited and while being compared to Game Of Thrones is becoming a bit tiresome, the comparison feels a little more real with this one as the book series is popular and perfect for this style of adaptation.

The End Of The Fucking World: Season 2 (Netflix) – This show was a little bit of a sleeper hit for me, a misfit teen road trip with a young man who definitely has more than a few screws loose and the cool girl in school who has her share of daddy issues who embark on a journey to find her real father. This show takes nihilism to a whole new level and I sort of adore it for doing that because it feels like it takes a lot of gutsy chances in its narrative style. Season one was all about introducing these characters and fleshing their development out so I’m excited to see the furthering of their story beyond that and I’m looking forward to the continued longevity of the show.

Paradise Beach (Netflix) – This is an interesting one and a return to international picks in this segment with this film about a team of former robbers who arrive in Phuket, southern Thailand, a total paradise on earth. Now living new lives as traders, they are living happy and luxurious days until, Mehdi, a loose cannon who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for their previous robbery comes to get his piece of the pie. There are no recognizable stars in this movie, so the acting isn’t incredible or anything, but the intrigue of the central plot and the amazing scenery of the location is really cool to look at.

One Child Nation (Amazon Prime) – I’m bringing the informative narrative of documentary this week to my television section with this new fascinating film about childbearing in China. This one is a direct story as Zhang Lynn, the film’s director, uncovers the untold history of China’s one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever changed by this social experiment after she has a baby of her own. Garnering fantastic reviews, this is an unflinching look into a law that is barbaric and limiting in today’s progressive society and the futility of fighting it in a country that has no want to grow in this manner. This is definitely one of those watercooler talk movies.

The Apollo (HBO) – To close out this week I am bringing another documentary but this one is from those pros over at HBO, a deep look at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York City, a bigger than life venue that has been a catapult to stardom for many comedians over the years. The film was directed by Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams and has been getting some serious love from critics, many calling it an enthralling history lesson as well as a gift for those who love the art of live performances. I’m into it for the HBO affiliation as their documentaries are always stellar.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Oct 31

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October 31, 2019

New Releases:

Terminator: Dark Fate – A new entry into a series that I feel has burnt me a few times before, I’m a little trepidatious heading into the new installment of this iconic sci-fi action series but there are a few differences that make me have hope that we have a good movie. This film marks the return of producer James Cameron in a more hands-on capacity, the first time since Judgement Day and it has Deadpool director Tim Miller making his first film since that mega-hit, shrugging of the comedy for something far grimmer. Adding to that mix we get the return of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the only one who can do it justice, to join Arnie as well as a rumored return for Edward Furlong as John Connor. Just writing this has got me more hyped for the movie and I haven’t even got to the MacKenzie Davis character yet, the actress being a personal favorite of mine.

Harriet – Talk Tom Me director Kasi Lemmons, also an actress who appeared in The Silence Of The Lambs among many others, takes on a huge historical figure with this new film, the amazing story of Harriet Tubman and her escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes who freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history. Cynthia Erivo, who last appeared in the great movies Widows and Bad Times At El Royale, takes the lead in this movie that is getting great reviews, giving a sincere and truthful account of an important piece in the past that is deeply pivotal to the world of today. A film like this is usually Oscar bait so I really hope it transcends that or at least isn’t obvious with its goals. (Not opening in Hamilton, Kamloops and Oshawa)

Motherless Brooklyn – Edward Norton is back behind the camera for the first time in almost twenty years with this new detective noir drama where he plays a private investigator’s helper who takes it upon himself to unravel a mystery that gets his boss killed. It should also be mentioned that Norton’s character suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome, which is sometimes played for laughs. The film is an engaging film with a great script but no one in the film is particularly amazing, no standouts that I could see. The film is a little rough around the edges and could be trimmed down a bit, plus there was a bit of additional dialogue that felt a little tacked on. (Not opening in Kamloops and Oshawa)

Arctic Dogs – This is a new film on my desk this week and obviously it has absolutely no ad campaign behind it because this is probably the first time you, the reader, is hearing about it too. The film, an animated family movie, is about an arctic fox who works in the mailroom of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service, stifling his much bigger dreams of becoming the Arctic’s star husky courier. To prove he can do it, he takes one of the sleds and delivers a mysterious package to a secret location which puts him in the path of the nefarious Otto Von Walrus, an evil genius with an army of puffin henchmen. The movie features the voices of Jeremy Renner, Anjelica Huston, James Franco, John Cleese and more but without Dreamworks, Pixar, Illumination or Sony pushing this one I doubt anyone will care to be brutally honest. (Not opening in Hamilton)

Jojo Rabbit – I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand how Taika Waititi is able to be such a deeply adorable man, even when he plays Adolf Hitler, but here we are. This is the story of a young boy growing up in Nazi Germany, enrolled in the Hitler Youth program, with designs on becoming the fuhrer’s best friend. All of young Jojo’s ego and courage comes from his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, played by the aforementioned Waititi in the most hilarious way possible. To truly enjoy this movie you really have to throw away any offended feelings you have because the film is the height of pure satire. That in mind, the performances from everyone are so top-notch, which includes Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Leave No Trace standout Thomasin McKenzie. (Only opening in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver)

Pain & Glory – One of the most consistent international filmmakers returns with his most grounded and personal film yet. Pedro Almodovar is a world-class storyteller who always comes through with vibrant tales of real human struggle and this film may be one of my favorites in his filmography. Antonio Banderas is stunning in this, one of his best performances in my opinion, as he plays a director who suffers from chronic headaches and pain from a spinal surgery coming to grips with a childhood and relationship with his mother that made him the man he is today, for better or worse, as well as the early films that made him and the working friendships he may have tarnished with his own opinions of his art. This film is stunning from the getgo and reminds you why Almodovar is one of the true masters. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

The King – Nothing sells a movie better than having Timothee Chalamet in the lead role but this has much more than that as Robert Pattinson, Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily Rose Depp and Thomasin McKenzie round out this stacked cast in a story about the crowning of a young Henry V, a wayward prince and heir to the English throne, thrust into his destiny when his tyrannical father dies. The film was written by Edgerton and the director of the film, David Michod, a follow up to his George Clooney produced miniseries Catch 22. The reviews boast about the great performances in the movie that elevate the story past some of its weaker moments so it looks like if you love some Chalamet this would be a good bet for you. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open – Two indigenous women meet in Vancouver on one rainy after, both at different crossroads in their lives. Áila, emotional after a doctor’s appointment, appears to be a former victim of abuse who has entered a new time of healing in her life. She finds Violet, pregnant, barefoot, bleeding and bruised, standing in the rain as a man screams at her from a block away, beginning a journey between the two women as Áila tries to convince Violet to seek help at a battered women’s shelter. The film told mostly through one continuous shot, is a deeply human story that is tragic to watch unfold, especially because the outcome is what the shelter workers know as a fact. No one takes to the home immediately and it takes multiple violent events to breakthrough. This is an incredible movie, homegrown right here in Vancouver. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Blu-Ray:

Luce – With his first movie out of the gate being Cloverfield Paradox, the third piece in the J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot monster universe, it was hard to get a sense of what kind of filmmaker Julius Onah is. Now with his second feature, he taps into a dramatic side with a married couple who is forced to reckon with their idealized image of their adopted son after an alarming discovery by a devoted high school teacher about his former life in a war-torn country threatens his status as an all-star student. The cast is deep, featuring Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and It Comes At Night star Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the title character. Part of me geeks out because this is the reunion of Watts and Roth as a married couple following the remake of Funny Games.

Them That Follow – Brilliant performances from a stacked cast of great character actors, this film is a solid little southern preacher drama that I’m glad I took notice of. The film stars Alice Englert as the daughter of a pastor played by Walton Goggins living in the backwoods of Appalachia who harbours a secret that will tear their community apart. With a supporting cast of Lewis Pullman, Kaitlyn Dever, Thomas Mann, Jim Gaffigan and Academy Award winner Olivia Colman, this is a well-told story beautifully shot by Brett Jutkiewicz, who already gifted us the fantastic horror film Ready Or Not this year.

It’s A Wonderful Life – One of the most iconic Christmas films of all time gets the full Blu-ray special edition treatment as you can now show your entire family this classic Jimmy Stewart movie. For those who don’t know this story, the film centers around a stressed out and overworked businessman who is shown what the world would be like without him in it. The film is one of the most celebrated holiday movies of all time and even earned five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director for Frank Capra, one of the greats of the time. I honestly don’t need to prattle on any more about this one as we’ve all seen it or know about it or watched the Nicolas Cage sort of remake of it, The Family Man. Am I alone on that last one?

The Ring Collection – The early 2000s hit sensation of J-Horror or Japanese waif ghost horror is fully celebrated with this new box set from Arrow Video and with the remake of The Grudge on the horizon it could send me into another tumble down of all these great classic movies. Included in this set is all the chronology of the Ringu series, the inspiration of The Ring movies, with the originator Ringu, made in 1998, the next coming each year after with Ringu 2 and the prequel Ringu 0 as well as Spiral which came out the same year. This is a very cool set, which is gorgeously put together, but if I could nitpick anything, I would say that the fact it doesn’t have the spinoff movies Sadako 3D, Sadako 2 3D and Sadako vs Kayako is a little bit of a fail.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geek-Out:

Toys Are Not For Children – This is definitely one of the weirdest movies I have ever received from Arrow Video and what’s even more shocking to me is that it was made in 1972 and deals with some seriously twisted themes. The story follows Jamie, an emotionally stunted woman who has a fixation on the toys given to her by her long-absent father which prompts her to get a job at the local toy shop. She falls in love with one of her co-workers, gets married, gets divorced and movies to New York to be a prostitute who specializes in servicing perverted old men who want to play daddy with her. Went off the rails at the end there but I needed to give you the scope of what we’re dealing with here and it’s only an hour and a half long! This movie is so insane and I can’t believe it exists.

Genius Party/Genius Party Beyond – It’s another dive into anime this week with these two anthology stories released in 2007 and 2008 respectively. The first film features the voice fo Pacific Rim star Rinko Kikuchi and stories by Hideki Futamura of Halo Legends, Mahiro Maeda who did the third Evangelion movie, Kôji Morimoto of Memories and The Animatrix and more. The second movie, Beyond, is a bit more restrained in its scope but features a lot of the up and comers in the animation field under the direction of Morimoto once again, among others. As far as what audiences are saying, the second movie is a much more polished product than it’s predecessor which seems odd to me.

Television:

See: Season 1 (Apple+) – Jason Momoa leads this new sci-fi series set in a dystopian future as the human race has lost the sense of sight and society has had to find new ways to navigate the world and survive as a society. Of course, when a set of twins are born with the ability to see everyone’s world is blown wide open. This show was all filmed in Vancouver and the surrounding areas and features a lot of local talent, like my friend Josh Blacker, but beyond those reasons to get on board, the show actually looks pretty damn great. The appeal to me for story elements is that the show makes use of the freeform of Apple’s platform and is gory as hell. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think it could become a hit.

The Morning Show: Season 1 (Apple+) – Jennifer Aniston returns to television and I feel like people have been waiting for this moment even if they aren’t sure exactly what Apple+ is and how they can get it. Featuring an amazing cast including Steve Carell, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Bel Powley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Reese Witherspoon, the show takes an inside look at the lives of a nationwide morning show, exploring the unique challenges faced by the men and women who carry out this daily production. The unfortunate thing is the initial reviews of the show call it a vanity project for Aniston, a story that goes over on surface value and never digs into anything interesting. Let’s face it though, this will be massively watched by the current subscribers just salivating at the launch of this platform.

American Son (Netflix) – This new feature hitting the streaming service this week stars a very gaunt-looking Kerry Washington in a story about an estranged couple who reunite in a Florida police station to help find their missing teenage son. The film co-stars Supergirl’s Jeremy Jordan and Rescue Me’s Steven Pasquale and is based on a critic and audience lauded Broadway play that featured all of these actors. The first reviews are saying that the stage play script doesn’t translate, which is a large part of the problem I had with the Denzel Washington movie Fences but something about the trailer for this one has me very interested.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Season 2 (Amazon Prime) – John Krasinksi dons the CIA agent role for the sophomore season of this popular espionage hit. I really liked the first season a lot, the writers managed to keep this character fresh and original in a post-Jason Bourne genre landscape and it has great direction from proven feature filmmakers like Morten Tyldum and Patricia Riggen as well as ex-Game Of Thrones guys like Daniel Sackheim. This new season adds new characters, like one played by former Lisbeth Salander Noomi Repace, and I’m sure will continue the deepening saga of this iconic literary character who’s had a really bumpy live-action life after Harrison checked out.

Silicon Valley: Season 6 (HBO) – Mike Judge can soon add another complete piece of comedy gold to his collection along with Beavis and Butthead, Office Space, King Of The Hill and Idiocracy as the tale of Richard, Gilfoyle, Dinesh, Jared and their baby, Pied Piper comes to an end after five really great seasons and hopefully a solid swan song here. I will admit that the show has a formula to it, almost like Entourage did, another one of my favorites, in which we have a giant problem that takes all season to break down until alls well that ends well in the end. That said, the ride is always fun, always hilarious and with so many original and quotable dialogue along the way. I still miss T.J. Miller though.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Oct 24

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October 24, 2019

New Releases:

Black And Blue – There really isn’t any sort of ad campaign or push behind this movie but the cast seems interesting enough to garner some clout as it stars the always phenomenal Naomie Harris who toplines this crime thriller. She plays a rookie police officer in New Orleans who has to balance her identity as a black woman with her role as a police officer when she witnesses other police officers committing murder. Unfortunately, the film comes from director Deon Taylor who’s last outing The Intruder almost felt like a parody with Dennis Quaid turning in a ridiculous performance that was supposed to be menacing. Hopefully, this one won’t be as cheesy. (Not playing in London, Kamloops, Barrie and Oshawa)

Countdown – Decisive horror can sometimes be a huge problem as we’ve seen some real crap with Truth Or Dare and the first Happy Death Day but sometimes it works out, as some of the Final Destination movies are fun. This film has a nurse downloading an app that claims to predict the moment a person will die and tells her she only has three days to live. With the clock ticking and a figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out. The film is the directorial debut of Justin Dec, so there is some hope with the vision of a new storyteller and it utilizes a young cast including Anne Winters from 13 Reasons Why and Charlie McDermott from The Middle. Maybe this will be a surprise or maybe it will be a crowd-pleaser that I hate like the before mentioned Happy Death Day. (Not opening in Oshawa)

Western Stars – Heck yes, more music documentaries! This one follows The Boss, Bruce Springsteen as he prepares to release his first country album, this film showcasing all the songs in a star-studded live concert. Springsteen co-directed the movie with his frequent video collaborator Thom Zimny and it’s interesting to see this legendary musician move into a different style of music, even if it’s one that I am definitely not a fan of, but the influence is definitely a different flavouring as it was influenced by Southern California pop music of the 1970s like Glen Campbell and Burt Bacharach. I think it is evident that if you’re The Boss, you can do anything and wow the critics over and over again. (Not opening in Hamilton, Kamloops, Barrie or Oshawa)

The Lighthouse – Ever since I saw The Witch at a press screening in 2015 I have been waiting rabidly for the new Robert Eggers film and he did not disappoint. Shot in black and white and in a 1.19:1 aspect ratio (basically a square on the movie screen), this is the story of two lighthouse keepers who arrive to run the light on a New England island in 1890. In two incredible and award-worthy performances, Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe descend into isolated madness before your eyes and I’ve never seen anything like it. The description I’m trying to push to describe this film is it’s like if David Lynch wrote a sea shanty and put it on the big screen. (Not opening in Hamilton, Kamloops, or Oshawa)

Parasite – This film was an amazing way to start out my coverage of this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, some great Korean cinema from one of the masters, Bong Joon-Ho. In his return to all Korean film, he tells the story of a family of con artists who grift their way into a rich family’s lives as a chauffeur, housekeeper, tutor and personal assistant respectively. They think they’ve hit the big time until the former housekeeper shows them a deep secret that she’s been hiding in their employer’s house that blows everyone’s situation up. Joon-Ho crafts another incredible masterpiece of a movie that’s filled with twists, incredible cinematography and the amazing ability to tell stories within a story. He never relents in showing that he is not only one of the greatest Korean storytellers today but one of the best in cinema today. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Blu-Ray:

The Lion King – The continued push of re-imagining Disney animated classics continues with this new version of my favorite film in the catalogue. You could argue that this is an animated film as well, which it kind of is, but the effects on this movie are an absolute gamechanger, some of my friends even calling it a bit disturbing, like a deep fake video. Everyone knows the story of the Lion King so I won’t go over that again but the cast is where the draw is, including Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Beyonce, Seth Rogen, John Oliver and Billy Eichner, this film is stacked. I really wish I could report back with how amazing this movie was but it feels like it misses the mark in a lot of ways. The music is not quite up to what the original was and everything feels like a rehash with no lasting mark made. Also, I know I’m in the minority on this, but how do the animals poop? They have no butts.

Strange But True – Featuring a cast comprised of Oscar-nominated Amy Ryan, up and comers Nick Robinson and Margaret Qualley and the veterans Greg Kinnear, Blythe Danner and Brian Cox, this movie should be an easy knockout hit. The film centers around the fallout when a woman surprises the family of her deceased boyfriend by telling them she’s pregnant with his child years after his death. The film plays with some interesting elements, trying to be a mystery thriller but holding back on the thrills. It all starts building in a great direction but it completely loses its identity with the third act and doesn’t regain its composure before a pretty lacklustre ending.

Galaxy Quest – An absolute favorite from the nineties, this is my ultimate forgiving line for Tim Allen viewing along with the Toy Story movies. This movie is a fantastic parody of Star Trek fandom, centering on an audience favorite show called “Galaxy Quest” that is mistaken for the real thing by a desperate alien race on the brink of total annihilation, They kidnap the actors from earth in the hope that they will be their salvation and oh hot damn I love this movie. This put Sam Rockwell on the map for me and has such great performances from Sir Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Veronica Mars’ dad Enrico Colantoni. To own this movie in this steelbook edition is a pure gift for me.

VeggieTales: The Best Christmas Gift – VeggieTales is something that has been around for a long time it seems, so long that I can remember kids in school saying that the only animated films they could watch were these films, adhering to their family’s values. For those who don’t know, the core audience these movies seek out are the faith-based crowd and this one is very evident of that as this movie, a Christmas tale, is about the birth of Jesus. As many issues as I have with faith-based movies, VeggieTales transcends it because, even through terrible animation, the scripts are witty and the music is kind of catchy. I really wouldn’t have any issues with my kids watching it in all honesty.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geek Out:

The Prey – Another Arrow release to kick off my geek outs this week, a slasher film from the early 1980s about six campers who are hunted down and killed by a maniac who is just looking to be loved. Messed up, right? To me, it plays really well into the genre and it’s interesting to note that the film was made in 1979, a year after Halloween and a year before Friday The 13th, but wasn’t released until 1983 and was cut down by fifteen minutes to appease the distributor. This new edition of the movie has the full original cut of the movie, the fifteen-minute less version and a different international version as well.

Find Me Guilty – I think the common knowledge of the mainstream is that Vin Diesel can’t act but what if I told you he could and I have proof? A real Keanu Reeves “whoa” moment I’m sensing here but it’s true, the guy has chops and skills given the right director is involved. This is the case with this courtroom comedy based o a true story as the legendary Sidney Lumet made this one, as Diesel plays a low-level gangster named Jackie DiNorscio who defended himself in court in what became the longest criminal trial in American judicial history. This movie achieves true levels of comedic farce which is even funnier when you bring the reality of the situation into account. This is a movie that shouldn’t have been glossed over when it was released in 2006 but unfortunately was.

Fear No Evil – Bringing more of the awesome campy films to the collectors, Shout Factory released this occult horror movie about a teenager in high school who is not what he seems but is the human embodiment of Lucifer. The real battle gets underway when two archangels are sent to destroy him, appearing as two high school girls. The movie was created by writer and director Frank LaLoggia and producer Charles M. LaLoggia came across the Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay, New York and wanted to use it badly, the rest being B-movie history. This movie is hilariously ridiculous and has some pretty gruesome looking stuff that reminds me a bit of early Sam Raimi.

Ultimate Holiday Collection – I’m a bit annoyed that I’m already talking about Christmas releases before we’ve even celebrated Halloween but here we are. If you are an avid watcher of Christmas specials on network television then you will be already family with the first disc of this set as it compiled all of the Dreamworks holidays specials for Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and more as an episode by episode feature but it also included the feature movie for Rise Of The Guardians and, you know what? It’s a pretty great movie that no one talks about. I feel like this set is a clear family pleaser for the holidays.

Scarface – What? Scarface is getting another home release? Yes, but this one coincides with the 4K release of it, which is a must own if you have that system. As a person that owns this movie already but not on Blu-ray, I love that I can watch the saga of Tony Montana in a sparkling and beautiful format. The last time I saw this movie was on the big screen at Vancity Theatre for the Brian De Palma retrospective and I was blown away on a whole new level and loved the movie even more by the time the credits hit. There’s a real reason why this movie is so iconic and is a lot of people’s favorite.

Television:

Catherine The Great (HBO) – Helen Mirren has had a killer career playing queens as she has been a Roman empress, Queen Charlotte, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II but now she can add Catherine The Great to that list, the focus of this four-episode limited series. Directed by Philip Martin, a main mind behind Wallander, The Crown and Mirren’s long running series Prime Suspect, this show is about the greatest tsarina, an empress of Russia pre 1917, Catherine the Great, a leader who was the longest serving woman ruler until 1796. Co-starring Jason Clarke, Rory Kinnear and Richard Roxburgh, I have faith in this show as it was written by Nigel Williams who wrote Mirren’s Elizabeth I HBO series.

Castle Rock: Season 2 (Space) – I’ve been excited for the second series of this Stephen King adaptation which is really just a vehicle to bring everything in the “King Universe” to life in one place. The first season reintroduced us to iconic characters that fans have loved for decades like Sheriff Alan Pangborn, played by Scott Glenn, who appeared in the books The Dark Half and Needful Things and locations like Shawshank penitentiary making this show the real deal for uber-nerds like myself. This new season brings in an actress I adore, Lizzy Caplan, to play a role that Kathy Bates won an Academy Award for, Annie Wilkes from Misery. This is going to be awesome.

Daybreak: Season 1 (Netflix) – High school teen comedy meets the post-apocalypse in this new and ambitious series that has Matthew Broderick in a main role and I’m really hoping it’s the principal just to reach back for that Election connection. The show follows a high school outcast named Josh is searching for his missing girlfriend in wake of a worldwide catastrophe. He’s later joined by a group of misfits and his former bully Wesley to face off with many weird things along the way. The series was created by Star Trek: Discovery producer Aron Eli Coleite and Rampage director Brad Peyton and it could be the new teenage hit on Netflix.

Dolemite Is My Name (Netflix) – Eddie Murphy makes a triumphant return to feature films with this fantastic biopic, directed by Hustle And Flow’s Craig Brewer. Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, an ageing performer who made the big move from Arkansas to Los Angeles but hasn’t found any success whatsoever. His big break comes when he decides to gather the tall tales of a bunch of nearby hobos and packages them in a new larger than life pimp character named Dolemite, which leads to huge success in his self pressed album and a growing ambition that eventually has him wanting to make movies. Murphy is incredible in this movie but it’s the performance of Wesley Snipes as D’Urville Martin that floored me, a total game rejuvenation. Definitely see this one.

Watchmen: Season 1 (HBO) – One of the greatest graphic novels of all time and the most interesting and real feeling superhero story I’ve ever read gets a live-action television sequel told by HBO and Lost creator Damon Lindelof and I have a feeling that this may be the best superhero television show ever made and that’s only after the first episode. The cast is great, featuring Regina King, Don Johnson, Jeremy Irons and Tim Blake Nelson, and this series is going to tell a modern take on a story from one of the most revered comic storytellers in history. We could have our new Game Of Thrones.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Oct 17

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October 17, 2019

New Releases:

Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil – We are now at the point of these Disney live-action re-imaginings that we are headed in the sequels to these films as the one to kick it off, a version of Sleeping Beauty that focusses on the villain, now sees an expansion to their story. Angelina Jolie returns in the title role, now godmother to Aurora played again by Elle Fanning, Maleficent finds herself at odds with the family of Aurora’s soon to be husband. Feeling threatened, she starts to unleash her full powers again, wreaking havoc in another special effects extravaganza. The film is made by Joachim Ronning who made the astounding films Kon-Tiki and Max Manus: Man Of War but then proceeded to make the kind of ho-hum Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales so hopefully this will be a sort of return to form but with this type of film he just may be acting as a studio director.

Zombieland: Double Tap – Ten years ago from just a couple of weeks back I was sitting in the theater laughing my ass off at the debut of director Ruben Fleisher, Zombieland, a fresh and funny rejuvenation of the zombie genre the kickstarted the undead for another couple of years. Written by a then-unknown Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, seven years before Deadpool would catapult them to where they are now, they gave us the characters of Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock who return to the screen after ten years of survival in the post-apocalypse, planning a more permanent move into America’s heartland but dealing with a new threat of evolved zombies. More survivors join the pack, with new cast members Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Avan Jogia and Zoey Deutch and the latest trailer features a hilarious scene with Thomas Middleditch. I’m excited for this one.

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot – As an uber fan of Kevin Smith I am game for anything the writer and director is going to put out and, strictly speaking, this is just a movie for fans like me because he’s dusting off the classics for a new adventure and I am so here for it. To follow up on their last solo adventures in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, this movie has Jay and Silent Bob returning to Hollywood to stop a reboot of ‘Bluntman and Chronic’ movie from getting made with so many different celebrity cameos and favors called in from Kevin as well as a villain played by Chris Jericho. This is like all of my worlds colliding around the guy who inspired me to be here in the first place. Very cool. (Not opening in Hamilton, London, Kamloops or Oshawa)

By The Grace Of God – I will start right off the bat by saying that it’s a good thing I watched this film in the form as a screener at home because I had a very visceral knee jerk reaction of anger at this film, a story about pedophilia in the Catholic church. The film follows three men who were close friends in Scouts as children, where the were preyed on by the priest who ran the camp. Slowly the movement grows as more come forward and the lies, manipulation and cover-ups begin to be revealed in a public light. I found myself yelling at my television, unable to hold my disgust with the reveals in this film, which is director Francois Ozon’s best since 2003’s Swimming Pool. The film is maybe a tad too long but it definitely plays like the French version of Spotlight. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Lucy In The Sky – When I saw Fargo and Legion showrunner Noah Hawley’s name attached to this movie as director and screenwriter of this brand new drama starring Natalie Portman I was really excited as he is one of the best television storytellers working today but apparently that only translates to the long-form of episodic work. Portman plays astronaut Lucy Cola who returns to Earth after a life-altering experience during a mission to space and begins to lose touch with reality in a world that now seems too contained for the changes she is going through. Unfortunately, the reviews are very tepid on this film, some calling it too confused and jumbled despite a stellar performance from Portman, which kind of goes back to my comment about Hawley working better in a longer format. I’m still very curious about the film myself. (Only opening in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver)

Monos – This movie is an example of an indie film where I was left in awe of, foremost for its production design and execution. Seriously, how did they make this? The film is an ambiguously set story of eight kids with guns who are watching over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow on a mountaintop and it is one of the most gorgeous things I have seen this year. Director Alejandro Landes crafts a mesmerizing tale that is a sort of adaptation of William Goldman’s Lord Of The Flies with incredible feats of realism throughout. I’m still perplexed about how the scene in the river rapids was done. Mystified. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Before You Know It – I knew nothing about this little film from writer and director Hannah Pearl Utt before watching this new dramedy, a film that features her in the lead role alongside co-writer Jen Tullock. The story follows two sisters coping with the death of their recently passed away father, a once-famous playwright. With the New York theatre and apartment above being in his name, the two are surprised to find out that the building is in the name of their mother, someone they were told was dead but is actually a famous soap actress. This movie manages to be poignant and funny with the relationship of these two sisters but can still come crashing down with the emotional beats. I really liked this one. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Immortal Hero – This movie is a mysterious one to me as it just crossed my desk and I have little information on it. The film is Japanese and follows a highly successful Japanese author and publisher who starts making more grandiose choices in his life after a near-death experience forces him to reevaluate his existence. Feeling reborn, he commits his life to share the wisdom he receives believes to have been received from the spiritual realm as doubters and detractors, including some of his own family, challenge and question his new-found enlightenment. This film looks like it will fit in with the fans of stories like The Celestine Prophecy or The Secret, appealing to those who seek more spiritual centred content in their films. (Only opening in Toronto and Vancouver)

Blu-Ray:

Stuber – I feel like that who have enjoyed the Guardians Of The Galaxy or Infinity War know that Dave Bautista has some great comedy chops so, on the outside, this looks like an immediate win by pairing him with the hilarious Kumail Nanjani known for his role in Silicon Valley and the brilliant comedy The Big Sick, one that he wrote as well. The story has him as Stu an Uber driver who picks up what he assumes to be a normal customer. Unfortunately, the guy he picks up is Vic a reckless detective looking to make a dent in some crime. This movie, while being a bit formulaic and predictable, is a lot of fun because of the two stars and their chemistry and the action is frenetic and stylized making sure there isn’t a wasted moment.

Crawl – Judging this movie by its basic plotline and poster, this movie would look like your standard survival thriller fare we our main characters battling the elements to predictable results. I’m happy to report that this movie is directed by Hills Have Eyes and Horns director Alejandre Aja so this movie goes anywhere but the beaten path. The film has Maze Runner and Pirates Of The Caribbean star Kaya Scodelerio as a woman attempting to rescue her father after a category five hurricane from a sinking house and to make matters worse they are being hunted by a group of alligators. The bonus to having such a cool director in a story like this is that Aja ramps up the gore, something he has consistently brought to all of his movies, and his style is uniquely disturbing sometimes as I’m still reeling from at least one kill per movie and that’s not a joke.

The Art Of Self Defense – Filmmaker Riley Stearns follows up his incredible debut film from 2014, Faults, with this dark comedy about a socially awkward accountant named Casey who finds himself looking for answers after being brutally beaten during a mugging. He believes the next step in his life is martial arts, taught by the enigmatic “Sensei” who takes a special interest in him. This movie is absolutely wild, unpredictable in its story and containing reveals that will have you laughing hysterically and gasping in surprise. This is possibly my favorite movie this year and one that is seriously going to knock a lot of people through a loop.

The Haunting Of Hill House – Based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, this story has been made a few times before but not by Mike Flanagan, a horror director at the top of his game and the perfect fit for this series that took in many of Netflix subscribers. Now it’s on Blu-ray and the difference is that all of these episodes have been extended in a director’s cut of this first series, a precursor before The Haunting Of Bly House, which is currently filming in Vancouver, hits Netflix next year. Keep in mind that every single shot in Hill House has a hidden ghost in it so get this release and happy hunting, everyone!

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love – I’ve been waiting patiently for a documentary to come out about the late and great Canadian singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen so leave it to the year 2019, the time where music and film have come together to make some beautiful babies, to give us another stellar movie in this vein. This film is an in-depth look at the relationship between Cohen and his Norwegian muse Marianne Ihlen, made by accomplished filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who made the recent Whitney Houston documentary as well as Battle For Haditha, an intense Iraq War movie.

Night Hunter – Henry Cavill leads this new thriller alongside Sir Ben Kingsley who plays a weathered Lieutenant who finds himself tangles up with his own police force and a local vigilante in the investigation of a recently arrested, troubled man who’s linked to years of female abductions and murders. The film also features Stanley Tucci, Alexandra Daddario and good Canadian kid Brendan Fletcher doing his great psychological work as the suspect in question but this film is getting horribly panned by critics, being called totally contrived and cliched throughout. This is very disappointing as I really like Cavill’s work and I feel like I haven’t seen him since Mission: Impossible: Fallout.

Killer Nun – Arrow Video arrives this week with a total weirdo film that is part insane murderer movie and part sex romp with blood. Yes, totally out of this world in the description but the film has a bit of a cult following. Made in 1979, the film is pretty simple to make a synopsis about as it a demented nun that is drifting through morphine addiction into madness, lashing out in acts of lesbianism, torture and death, endangering the staff and patients around her in the general hospital she practices at. This movie is absolutely bonkers and deserves to be watched with a group of friends to truly appreciate the “Rifftrack” quality of this insanity. This was Italian director Giulio Berruti’s second and final film as he walked away from the industry entirely afterwards. Once you’ve made gold I guess you have to walk away, right?

Spongebob Squarepants: Season 10 – I’ve definitely said this before on the show but I don’t need my kids to be around to watch my favorite underwater seas sponge because I will watch this insane show at any time because I believe the show is funny no matter if you’re a kid or an adult and it is especially funny if you are a stoner like I am. This is a little bittersweet as creator Steven Hillenberg passed away just late last year, but he was fully present for this season that aired from October 2016 to a year later, and his touch was always amazing with these characters. This season also brought back the recurring voices of Ed Asner and Seinfeld’s John O’Hurley as well as guest stars like J.K. Simmons, Steve Buscemi and Joe Pantoliano. This is definitely a box set I can get lost in.

Star Trek Picard: Movie & TV Collection – With the Picard series set to launch on CBS All Access at the end of January, Paramount has put together this collection which includes pivotal pieces of television with the episodes The Best Of Both Worlds and Chai Of Command, the best featuring the iconic captain, as well as Generations, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis, films I’m pretty happy to have Blu-ray copies of now. This is a great boxset for any Trek fan, although many may own these already, but to have them in a focused set about Jean Luc Picard is pretty damn cool.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekout:

Malevolence Trilogy – These movies showed up to me out of the blue as part of a horror trilogy released by director Stevan Mena’s own releasing company Mena Films. The story is pretty interesting to start, with a bunch of bank robbers heading to a remote farmhouse they believe to be abandoned and, of course, it’s not. Inside is a bloodthirsty serial killer looking to dispatch everyone. Interestingly enough, the first film is actually the middle piece of the main story as the second film Bereavement serves as the origin story of our killer and the third movie is the finale. Either way, as far as B-movie horror goes you are definitely going to be entertained by the three movies because this guy takes his horror damn seriously.

This Magnificent Cake! – I love the title to this movie but that’s all the enlightened attitude you will get from this stop motion animated short film as it is going to depress you with its subject matter. The movie is about the 18th century colonial Africa told in five separate tales, one about a king with a serious dilemma, the next about a pygmy who works in a swanky hotel, followed by a down and out businessman on a life building trip, a luggage handler who has lost his way and, finally, a young soldier who went AWOL from his mission. The forty four-minute short is gorgeously done but it will leave you feeling a bit disturbed.

Diamantino – I love the storyline for this film, about a really dim soccer player who fails out of his career in grand fashion at the World Cup and that’s just the beginning of his problems. In his quest for a new purpose, he ends up getting involved with an alt-right anti-EU hate group, crazy eugenics and even more deep state madness through an Italian filter. The movie has been described as an Adam Sandler movie run through the lens of Passolini which is an insanely hilarious way to approach it and to throw you through an even bigger loop, this movie was inspired by the works of David Foster Wallace. How’s that for messed up?

Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me – Here’s yet another stellar music documentary in 2019, this one about R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass who arrived via being the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes putting out hits like “The Love I Lost” and, the secondary title of the movie “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and became a massive solo star after leaving the group in 1976, releasing five consecutive platinum albums from 1977 to 1981. In 1982 he was in a horrific car wreck the paralyzed him from the neck down and didn’t return to sing until an incredible performance at Live Aid in 1985. The movie feels like a true representation of the singer, who passed away at the beginning of 2010, including interviews with his one-hundred-year-old mother as well as close friends and back up singers.

Television:

Living With Yourself: Season 1 (Netflix) – So let’s get this straight. Paul Rudd starring in a movie where he clones himself in an experiment gone wrong and has to take his family back from a new and improved version? I’m way into this concept and I’m even more excited that this is a limited series with eight episodes. I really hope that the other cast members like the fantastic Aisling Bea will get something good to work with The show’s reviews are trending pretty well and the consensus is that if you like some Rudd then double Rudd in this comedy will do you nicely.

Eli (Netflix) – I have an aversion to horror which can probably be obvious in these write-ups but I will also give horror filmmakers second chances with films and that is what I’m doing here as Ciaran Foy’s Sinister 2 was an unfortunate rehash of a great movie that never really went anywhere. With this film, he tells the story of a boy who is receiving treatment for his auto-immune disorder that discovers the house he’s living in isn’t as safe as he thought and is filled with malicious spirits. The movie features a capable supporting cast with Kelly Reilly, Lili Taylor and Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink and from who I’m hearing the third act in this is crazy.

The Laundromat (Netflix) – I’m really excited about this one as it is made by the great Steven Soderbergh, based on a book from Jake Bernstein and written by Contagion and The Informant! writer Scott Z. Burns, but, holy crap, this cast gets me excited too. Gary Oldman, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Matthias Schoenaerts and so many more star in this film about a widow who does a deep dive on a fraudulent insurance claim that leads to a pair of Panama City law partners that are exploiting the world’s financial system. The reviews aren’t hugely favorable for the film but the cast and filmmaker will always ensure that I will check out the validity of the movie for myself and I encourage you to do the same.

Modern Love: Season 1 (Amazon Prime) – I’m so excited about this series as it was created by the man behind Once and Sing Street, John Carney, one of my favorite Irish filmmakers. The show has a big cast including Anne Hatheway, Tina Fey, Catherine Keener, Dev Patel, Andy Garcia and so many more in a mosaic story about love as a concept whether it’s sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, or self-love. I also find it pretty interesting that former Shameless star Emmy Rossum directs one of the eight episodes of season one.

Wounds (Netflix) – I’d have to say the one of the hottest up and coming stars right now is Zazie Beetz, with her roles in Atlanta and Deadpool 2, but recently this year with Joker. She co-headlines this film with Armie Hamer and Dakota Johnson about a bartender in New Orleans who’s reality becomes to be unhinged when he takes home the cellphone left behind at his work. The film comes from writer and director Babak Anvari who’s film Under The Shadow creeped the hell out of me. This is going to be terrifying I’m sure and I love the cast that’s involved.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Oct 10

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October 10, 2019

New Releases:

Gemini Men – The premise of this movie looks really interesting, Will Smith playing a hitman who keeps getting foiled and duped by a younger assassin who turns out to be a younger clone of himself in a twist that is given away in the trailer. The movie looks cool, with the star power of Smith in a long gestated project from producer Jerry Bruckheimer that was at one time in the hands of Curtis Hanson and Tony Scott. This movie has me on the fence as Ang Lee is the director on this, a filmmaker who is pretty hit or miss with me, but with his faster frame rate of 120 frames per second it could be pretty interesting or it could be a glossy mess.

The Addams Family – Its been around twenty-five years since Barry Sonnenfeld brought the classic television family of The Addams Family to the big screen so why not get a reboot but in animated form this time. The voice cast is pretty impressive for this film, featuring fan-favorite and requested Oscar Isaac as Gomez, Charlize Theron as Morticia, Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday, a pivotal role, Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley and Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, which is a hilarious connection to the directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan who made Sausage Party their last time out. I want to have faith in this movie because I really love The Addams Family.

Jexi – Remember when Spike Jonze made the movie Her, a love story between Joaquin Phoenix and a computer program voiced by Scarlett Johansson set in the near future? Well, we get a more conceivable movie this time around as Workaholics star Adam Devine plays a man who falls for the voice of his smartphone with the vocals provided by the uber funny Rose Byrne. Written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the guys behind the Hangover movies, this looks like a ridiculous plot but still a very relevant one given how obsessed we are with our own phones, myself totally included. (Not opening in Kamloops)

Dolemite Is My Name – Eddie Murphy makes a triumphant return to feature films with this fantastic biopic, directed by Hustle And Flow’s Craig Brewer. Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, an ageing performer who made the big move from Arkansas to Los Angeles but hasn’t found any success whatsoever. His big break comes when he decides to gather the tall tales of a bunch of nearby hobos and packages them in a new larger than life pimp character named Dolemite, which leads to huge success in his self pressed album and a growing ambition that eventually has him wanting to make movies. Murphy is incredible in this movie but it’s the performance of Wesley Snipes as D’Urville Martin that floored me, a total game rejuvenation. Definitely see this one. (Only playing in Toronto and Vancouver. On Netflix October 25th.)

The Laundromat – I’m really excited about this one as it is made by the great Steven Soderbergh, based on a book from Jake Bernstein and written by Contagion and The Informant! writer Scott Z. Burns, but, holy crap, this cast gets me excited too. Gary Oldman, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Matthias Schoenaerts and so many more star in this film about a widow who does a deep dive on a fraudulent insurance claim that leads to a pair of Panama City law partners that are exploiting the world’s financial system. The reviews aren’t hugely favorable for the film but the cast and filmmaker will always ensure that I will check out the validity of the movie for myself and I encourage you to do the same. (Only playing in Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver. On Netflix October 18th.)

Where’s My Roy Cohn – This documentary is absolutely chilling to it’s core, an engrossing look at attorney Roy Cohn, a man that got his first notorious start as part of the council employed by Joseph McCarthy to blackball supposed communists in America. A flamboyant individual who guarded his not too secret sexuality until the end of his life when he died of AIDS, something documented in Tony Kushner’s Broadway play Angels In America. Even more interesting, this film shows how much of Cohn’s personality was a blueprint for the tyrant in chief the States has currently in power, using moves that are all too familiar to us now. (Only playing in Toronto and Vancouver.)

Blu-Ray:

Toy Story 4 – When it was announced that a new Toy Story was being written, slated for release nine years after the third movie came out, I was a bit skeptical. I personally felt like Toy Story 3 wrapped everything up quite nicely in a beautifully made film but I can now say I was completely wrong because I fell in love with this movie just as hard as I did the other three. With the toys now with a new owner named Bonnie, gifted to her by Andy at the end of the last movie, they head on a road trip with a newly created pal named Forky who ends up getting lost. This leads Woody to go and bring him back to the family, to try and form some sort of connection with his new owner that he doesn’t have. This film forges a new direction for the Woody character, one that I didn’t see coming but it definitely fits in the growth of him. This movie again has all the emotional beats to shatter you emotionally so, you know, beware of that.

Annabelle Comes Home – I can’t believe we’re already at the third Annabelle movie but here we are. The series started horribly but Creation proved to be a really entertaining horror film so to up the ante this time Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson’s Lorraine and Ed Warren take left of center stage for this installment as the doll in question finds it’s way to their artifacts library where it wreaks havoc by waking all the other evil contained there. The movie, unfortunately, is a massive step down from the good trajectory of the last one and drags for the first twenty minutes before finding any sort of scares and then everything is a bit few and far between for my liking. This movie was kind of set up to be a culmination of a bunch of set pieces within the Conjuring universe and ultimately, it falls flat.

Midsommar – If there was a movie that I would put at the top of my list of anticipated films this year this would be number one with a bullet. The sophomore film from Hereditary director Ari Aster, the main details of this movie have been kept very under wraps, the trailer even giving a foreboding sense of mystery in a brilliantly bright wrapper. From what I can glean, the story is about a couple who travels to Sweden to visit a secluded town’s fabled mid-summer festival and what was thought to be an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult. From everything I’m hearing, this may be on par with the 1970s thriller The Wicker Man and, oh boy, does that excite me! I’m so disappointed that I still haven’t seen this as it didn’t come to my town and there’s even a director’s cut now!

Red Joan – Let me set this one up for you. Dame Judi Dench plays a woman in her eighties who is found to be a KGB spy who gave secrets of the British government to the Russians about their research into obtaining an atomic bomb. Intriguing, right? It’s just so unfortunate that director Trevor Munn made this film such a slog to get through making the story and its relationships so painfully dull. The worst part is that Dench puts on such a great performance but it is intercut with the flashbacks to her younger self, played well by the Kingsman’s Sophie Cookson, but with an absolutely painful on the sleeve script. This true story deserved better, although I really liked the ending.

Light Of My Life – Probably one of those “hey man, this movie is thematically problematic for you” but Casey Affleck has made a movie where he exists in a world with no women. Yes, you read that right and he not only stars in it but wrote and directed it as well but let’s take a deeper look. He plays a parent who must protect his 11-year-old child journey through the outskirts of society a decade after a pandemic has wiped out half the world’s population. So, automatically if has that The Road feeling for me, which I’m completely on board for, but I get people’s trepidation with Affleck as the allegations are very damaging. I try to skirt away from this opinion but I still really enjoy Casey’s work but I feel in no way like a sort of Woody Allen apologist, I usually keep this kind of stuff to myself. I got a little revealing in this write up I guess.

Deadwood: The Movie – The long, long, long anticipated conclusion to the greatest western series ever made is now on blu-ray as we finally own the closure on the characters of Seth Bullock, Al Swearengen and all the other people in the infamous outlaw town. It’s bittersweet as I really wanted another series instead of a movie but creator David Milch was finally able to get his crowning achievement finished and out to the masses after years of building it up and his recent and tragic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. This is going to be something truly special to behold and I can not wait.

Life With Lucy: Complete Series – I was weirded out by the cover of this boxset as I thought I would be receiving the original I Love Lucy series but what this is is the final series Lucille Ball ever did, broadcast in 1986. This show has Ball playing a widowed grandmother who inherited her husband’s half-interest in a hardware store in California, the other half being owned by his partner, widower Curtis McGibbon, played by longtime friend of Lucy, Gale Gordon. The show was not well received, earing Lucille Ball the worst reviews of her career and well cancelled after it’s first season. For nostalgia reasons and to see a comedienne that still had it up until the end, I found it entertaining.

Television:

The Walking Dead: Season 10 (AMC) – I can’t believe we are in double digits now for the length of this Robert Kirkman created series, based on a book that has now come to a close, but there is no end in sight for this show according to the showrunners and Fear The Walking Dead is going strong with yet another, at this point unnamed, spin-off series to come. Is there any signs of fatigue in this franchise? We may have seen some as the show has gone on but I think they’ve recovered quite well and they’ve been journeying on without original star Andrew Lincoln for a while now. Not many shows can make that claim.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix) – The long-anticipated movie follow up to Breaking Bad is now upon us and the great thing is that the trailer and synopsis released by Netflix and AMC is so fantastically ambiguous that there is really no hint to what this movie will be about except that Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman leads it. It should be noted that Badger, Mike, Skinny Pete and Old Joe are the only other characters listed in the cast list so contained cast means a smaller scope film but that could lead to a bunch of uncredited cameos just the blow away the viewer with surprise. It’s almost here, friends!

Fractured (Netflix) – A brand new film picked up by Netflix, this film is directed by Brad Anderson, the mind behind Session 9 and The Machinist, written by Alan B. McElroy, the guy who created the freaks of the horror franchise Wrong Turn as well as got Todd McFarlane’s Spawn to animated series form on HBO. This thriller is one of those “vanished” type mysteries, following a man and his family who go on a road trip and have to rush the daughter to a hospital after a fall. The father then falls asleep in the waiting room and upon waking his family has disappeared with no one having knowledge of having them check-in. Sam Worthington and American Horror Story’s Lily Rabe star in this and it’s getting some favorable reviews.

Rhythm & Flow: Season 1 (Netflix) – I’m usually not one for putting reality shows on this list or competition shows either but this one has me interested. The show is hosted by Cardi B, Chance The Rapper and T.I and is a talent search for the next hip-hop superstar, what Netflix sees as their answer to X-Factor and American Idol. The series will just be releasing the first four episodes, as they scour for undiscovered talent from Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, releasing the next batch of episodes on October 16 and then the final episodes on the 23rd. The show will also feature appearances from Snoop Dogg, DJ Khalid, Quavo, the late Nipsey Hustle and many more.

Batwoman: Season 1 (The CW) – I’ve been waiting a long time for a live-action onscreen version of Kate Kane aka Batwoman to be made and finally we’ve got it and I think the casting of Ruby Rose is kind of incredible as she already invokes many of the character traits right out the door. For those not in the know, Kane was inspired by Batman to use her own resources to fight crime in Gotham as well under the moniker of Batwoman, but is a woman of Jewish descent and is also a lesbian, something that was a hard pill to swallow for the mainstream. It’s great timing for her brand of vigilante justice to land on the CW now as Arrow is in its final season something is going to need to pick up the lead on that.

VIFF 2019 – Round 4

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October 7, 2019

Boyz In The Wood -Nothing makes me happier than a horror-comedy out of the United Kingdom with chavs as the lead stars. For those who don’t know, chav is a derogatory term for teens who dress in Adidas or Nike gear, have a filthy mouth and terrible attitude and are always bumming smokes of people, so you can equate that to a lot in North America. This film is great, capitalizing on those great character traits with a killer soundtrack including Run The Jewels and Danny Brown, around a story that puts these characters on a team-building exercise as they have to journey through the Scottish highlands from one side to the other but, unbeknownst to them, a couple of psycho residents are hunting them the whole time under the guise of “The Duke Of Edinburgh” and “the Queen”. This movie is fun, absolutely hilarious but ultimately pretty predictable.

NO TRAILER FOR THIS ONE.

The Lodge – It feels like I’ve been waiting forever for Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz to follow up their incredible debut horror thriller Goodnight Mommy and did they ever come through with their first English language film, a movie that can now be included in the “holiday horror” pantheon, as it does take place just before Christmas. The story follows two kids and their soon to be stepmother who find themselves snowed in at a remote holiday lodge. As the days pass, she finds herself more and more paranoid as strange things start to transpire and the evenings get more and more sleepless, drudging up things in her mind of her tumultuous and brutal past as part of a cult run by her father. Riley Keough’s performance in this film is absolutely riveting, perching you on the edge of your seat throughout. This isn’t your most conventional horror story but it will definitely leave a mark.

Waves – Director and writer Trey Edward Shults has made an incredible film about the bonds of family across terrible decisions and seemingly monstrous actions and how far the notion of “unconditional love” extends. The film follows the story of a suburban African-American family, led by a well-intentioned but domineering father played by This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown, as they are thrown through the loop by the domino effect their son goes through when his college wrestling career is brought to an abrupt end. This is a movie that will stun you with its incredible realism and the performances throughout are dominated by these fantastic actors. This is a movie that has little clout right now but could be on Oscar ballots come next year. Take note of this one.

The Death Of Dick Long – I feel like any description I can give for this movie leads me down murky paths of either doing a complete injustice to the insanity of this movie that writer and director Daniel Schienart has created as well as being any semblance of spoilered because, in all honesty, the best way to go into this film is completely out of the loop. Taking on the immense task of following up his first feature Swiss Army Man, under the dual name of Daniels with fellow filmmaker Daniel Kwan, his solo venture is like a redneck satire on partying dumbasses who find themselves embroiled in a Coens-esque predicament and every moment gets crazier than the last. This movie is filled to the brim with cringe tension that ramps up to a reveal that is too crazy and jawdropping to even come to grips with. Seriously, I will be thinking about this one for a long time yet but I do know that I totally loved every minute of it.

VIFF 2019 – Round 3

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October 4, 2019

Paradise Hills – When this movie started out I was fully on board, a story following a girl played by Emma Roberts who wakes up on an island where girls are being reformed in a boarding school that looks more like a futuristic spa. What are they being prepared for and what happens to them when they are deemed “ready”? The premise is so intriguing, looking like The Prisoner if it was directed by Sofia Coppola but by the time we get to the third act the whole thing falls apart horribly, all it’s potential squandered.

Little Joe – This movie is unsettling from the get-go, as soon as it’s oddly scrolling credits appear a high pitched squeal takes over the score, intermittently returning to unnerve you more. To be very minimalist about the description, the film Emily Beecham stars as Alice, a single mother and a senior plant breeder at a corporation dedicated to developing new species. Against company policy, she takes her prized plant home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe, a flower that is bred not to procreate but one that is, according to the research, sentient. Director and writer Jessica Hausner plays the mystery of this film with such a great subtlety that you never really can get a grasp on the reality of everything up until it’s chilling ending and its brilliant. She is also so impeccable in her production design and costuming, commanding me to rewatch this film to unlock more that I missed.

NO TRAILER FOR THIS ONE.

Sometimes Always Never – This one is a simple film, a story of a father and son, estranged for years, reconnecting to possibly identify the body of Michael, another estranged son who stormed out after a game of Scrabble. Now seemingly obsessed with the game, Nighy’s character is constantly lost in the pieces but is using it to connect with his obtuse son but also the open mind of his grandson. This is basically just a film for Nighy to chew the scenery, which he does brilliantly thanks to the script from Tristam Shandy: A Cock And Bull Story writer Frank Cottrell Boyce against some gorgeous and vibrant backdrops. Richard Stoddard’s cinematography is definitely the second star of this movie.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Oct 3

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October 3, 2019

New Releases:

Joker – After over a year of speculation of what this film would be, it’s connections to all the existing canon of DC Comics’ cinematic universe and really what the state of this Batman villain is going forward, this Todd Phillips directed film has arrived and Joaquin Phoenix is being praised for his performance in it, which doesn’t surprise me a bit. With zero connection to any pre-existing comic story or film, this is the story of how struggling comedian Arthur Fleck became the Joker, a criminal mastermind that terrorizes Gotham City. Looking at the film’s trailer, to me, it comes across as a gritty version of Martin Scorsese’s The King Of Comedy with a violent and clown-themed twist. It’s really hard not to have the bar raised high for this movie as this character is so revered but I think it’s going to astound audiences.

Blu-Ray:

Spider-Man: Far From Home – The first movie to follow after the massive changes that Avengers: Endgame brought to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film is the story that brings closure to this phase, let’s us mourn Tony Stark and prepares us for what’s coming next. I want to keep this one really short as spoiler territory is a hard thing to avoid with this but the film is basically about the world trying to get back to normal after the dusting or what this film calls “the blip” when a new threat to the planet emerges with what may be a new hero in the form of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio. The movie is the perfect blend of spectacle and laughs filtered into an awkward teenager rom-com, exactly what we needed after the dire consequences of Infinity War and Endgame. This film is a big movie experience in every way and demands to be seen.

Anna – French action director Luc Besson is back with another woman led ass-kicker movie. The film stars Sasha Luss, a relatively unknown actress who featured in Besson’s last movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets in a predominantly CGI role, but she looks totally badass in the trailer. She plays the title character, a beautiful and deadly assassin and really that’s all I know about it and with this great action director, well, that’s all you need to know. The rest of the cast is solid too with Helen Mirren, Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy. If you’re looking for some brainless stuff and need some serious Atomic Blonde stylized stuff, this is your ticket.

Wild Rose – This seems to be a really great time for music in movies as we’ve recently received biopics of two of the greatest rock n roll acts of all time, Queen and Elton John, and had the high profile remake of A Star Is Born and the phenomenal indie film Teen Spirit. In this new film that is getting top-notch reviews, Irish singer and actress Jessie Buckley plays a Glasgow singer who is pursuing her dream of moving from Glasgow to Nashville to become the next country star. The movie comes from director Tom Harper, who has directed a slew of great British television and the Woman In Black sequel, so I know this film with have a visual style to go along with its music. This may be one of those hidden gem films.

Anna And The Apocalypse – It’s like this movie was made to get me riping out it out of the DVD packaging for both a musical and a Christmas movie, two genres that don’t have a high success rate with me. How do they do this? A zombie Christmas movie. Absolutely brilliant. Basically, a group of friends living in a small town in England have to survive a zombie outbreak during the holiday season and I feel like instant classic ensues. You see more of this genre-bending could go a long way to grabbing yourself some new fans against their will but all in all, the songs are catchy, the gore is a lot of fun and the production level is there. Plus, there is a musical sequence with the main characters completely oblivious to the chaos around them that rivals Shaun Of The Dead.

Framing John DeLorean – We all known the DeLorean as Back To The Future made it such a huge part of our pop culture that you really need to live under a rock to not know about it but is the rise and fall of the DeLorean Motor Company as common of knowledge? This film is the only film to be made on the man who had a dream and screwed everyone in the process to keep it alive as four different films were optioned but never came to fruition, one produced by DeLorean himself. This documentary takes a fascinating approach of being a linear story told about the rise of an idea, the execution and then the scandalous fall through bad deals and a cocaine bust with re-enactments starring Alec Baldwin. The final result is ambitious and engrossing, such an interesting way of telling a real story.

Doom: Annihilation – Look, the original Doom movie with Karl Urban and The Rock gets a really bad rap and while it’s nowhere near a good movie it’s pretty damn entertaining and has a sweet POV sequence that has only been done again in Hardcore Henry. That said, I really don’t feel this sequel or reboot was necessary and it’s haphazardly bad and not even in a fun “so bad it’s good” way, it’s just plain bad. The characters are cardboard cutouts only made to die and the effects slowly slide from bad to worse, even if they do some practical makeup stuff that could have been cool. This is just another obvious direct to video production looking for some video game money.

Itsy Bitsy – Well, I guess you can’t win them all as Shout and Scream Factory helped distribute this mess of a creature feature that I should have known was bad just based on the name alone. The story follows a single mother of two who is deeply grieving for her youngest child who was killed in a car accident. Moving them out of New York to a secluded mansion in a small town where she is to be the caregiver for an elderly collector suffering from MS. One of his relics happens to contain a giant spider within that terrorizes everyone. This movie is an absolute mess will pretty much no redeeming features besides a couple of cool monster effects. Not even worth a moment of your time.

The Addams Family & Addams Family Values – Anyone who is a 90s kid like myself will have a deep love for both of these movies and now they are both in one Blu-ray package together. With an animated film coming next week to theaters, relive the perfect big-screen live-action representation of the iconic Addams family played beautifully by the legendary Raul Julia, Angelica Huston, a very young Christina Ricci and the kid who played Pugsley, Jimmy Workman, who is actually the older brother of Modern Family’s Ariel Winter. This movie proved that they didn’t Tim Burton to make this movie creepy, kooky, spooky and ooky because director Barry Sonnenfeld did that quite handily. Also never forget that the second movie featured the hit M.C. Hammer song “Too Legit To Quit” but I know you would never let that slip your mind being such big fans and all.

Gunsmoke: Season 15 Volume 1 & 2 – When I was a kid my dad had me watching all the shows he grew up on like Bonanza, The Rifleman and this show about U.S. marshal Matt Dillon (not the actor), a man employed to keep his town of Dodge City peaceful and calm, which you know never happens. With six hundred and thirty-five total episodes totalling twenty seasons by the time the show wrapped up, it’s hard to tell you exactly what these two volumes are exactly about but the great thing about Gunsmoke is that you can drop in just about anywhere.

Tell Me A Story: Season 1 – A band new series from the creators of The Vampire Diaries, I had never heard of this show until it was sent to me by the people at Paramount but now I’m pretty excited about it as the fan base has really latched onto this show. If you are a regular reader of my piece here each week then you will know that I love a good horror anthology and that is exactly what this is. Created by the man who wrote Scream, this show takes classic fables like interweaves The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel and reimagines them in a modern setting with a cast of recurring characters played by The Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley, Zoo’s James Wolk and Aladdin’s Billy Magnussen.

Charmed (2019): Season 1 – Everything that was old is slowly but surely becoming new again as this show about three witch sister, originally played by Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano then eventually Rose McGowan when Doherty was fired, gets brand new life again on the CW. Stepping into the roles now are Be Kind Rewind’s Melonie Diaz, Into The Badlands’ Madeleine Mantock and Shades Of Blue’s Sarah Jeffery who take the series in a darker direction which is maybe why some of the original fans of the series it was spawned from absolutely hate it. Progression is either forgotten or hated in these types of shows.

Avatar: The Last Airbender & The Legend Of Korra – The complete series of Avatar The Last Airbender was released on Blu-ray back in June but when I never received a copy of it, I was mighty upset. Now the show has been paired with its companion series in a new double set and I am so happy to have it in my hands. This is a massively popular anime series produced with the help of Nickelodeon that had both the fan support behind it from the beginning as well as some big critical acclaim. We just won’t speak of the M. Night Shyamalan garbage that was derived from it.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekout:

Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? – In my opinion, the greatest saxophone player of all time gets his due in this documentary made eight years after his death. Clarence was known for his forefront role in the E Street Band, backing “The Boss” Bruce Springsteen, but this documentary digs deep into his life, showing the more intimate side of the musician, something no fan has ever gotten to see before. Full disclosure on my knowledge of Clemons, I was educated at a young age because he appeared in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure as one of “The Three Most Important People In The World” and I had questions for my mom.

Who Saw Her Die? – Back to the giallo films from Arrow Video, a genre I have become increasingly fond of. This movie stars one time James Bond actor George Lazenby as a sculptor and the father of a young girl who is brutally murdered in a series of killings in France. Taking matters into his own hands, he and his wife start their own investigation into who may be the killer, putting themselves at risk as the body count rises. Being made in 1972, the movie is definitely cheesy due to the time period but still pretty entertaining and as wooden as Lazenby is, it kind of works in this one. This isn’t going to astound anyone but it’s pretty a pretty entertaining serial killer film.

Television:

Big Mouth: Season 3 (Netflix) – It’s time to get uncomfortable with our bodies all over again as this lewd, rude and massively crude animated comedy returns with all-new episodes. I adore anything that Nick Kroll and John Mulaney do and when you throw Maya Rudolph and Jason Mantzoukas into the mix than I am in love. For those who don’t know about this show, it is the awkward and sometimes brutal coming of age story of two best friends in the throes of puberty. Watch it at your own risk but keep it in mind that it is totally my kind of messed up.

Peaky Blinders: Season 5 (Netflix) – This massively popular BBC creation makes its anticipated return to the streaming site, featuring an incredible cast led by Cillian Murphy and Helen McCrory, Anya Taylor-Joy, Aiden Gillen and Finn Cole in great supporting roles. The series is a gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham, England, a ruthlessly brutal gang who sewed razor blades in the peaks of their caps to take care of their enemies, led by their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, Murphy’s character. The new season has Tommy as the now the newly elected Labour MP for Birmingham South but dealing with new problems in the wake of a massive Wall Street crash. People are going to be all over this one.

Raising Dion: Season 1 (Netflix) – This is a show that I really just found out about this week but it looks pretty interesting. The show is about a widowed young mother whose life is thrown into disarray when she discovers that her son has superpowers and tries to figure out how to raise him safely and responsibly. The cool thing about this series is that it’s a family-oriented show so the whole family can get in on it but there are no recognizable stars in the show at all so the acting is a little lesser in quality.

In The Tall Grass (Netflix) – It’s really funny because I’m in Vancouver this week to cover the Vancouver International Film Festival and this movie actually played the fest but I was being bored to death at the time by Terrence Malick so I completely missed it. Now everyone can see it, the new film from Cube director Vincenzo Natali, based on a novella written by father and son duo Stephen King and Joe Hill. The film is about a sister and brother who venture into a vast field of tall grass in Kansas after hearing a cry for help. Quickly they discover that the have entered an endless maze and there is something hunting them down. This is totally my kind of movie and I really hope it washes all my bad feelings away about It: Chapter 2. You owe me, Steve!

Goliath: Season 3 (Amazon Prime) – This show became the most streamed show on the Amazon Prime service well before anyone knew about it, at least in Canada, so I expect this Billy Bob Thornton led sleazy lawyer series is hotly anticipated coming into its third year. The show has Thorton as a disgraced lawyer who has fallen so far down the ladder that he is now essentially an ambulance chaser. This all changes when he gets the opportunity to stick it to his former firm and earn some redemption with a special case that lands in his lap. Featuring a recurring role from William Hurt and created by television magician David E. Kelley, it looks to have all the makings of a great show.

VIFF 2019 – Round 2

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October 2, 2019

A Hidden Life – It’s been a long time since I loved a Terrence Malick film, the mid-nineties to be exact with his conscientious objector war film The Thin Red Line, and with his return to real narrative filmmaking with this film, I thought this would be the ticket back into his work and I’d be celebrating him as my friends do. Interestingly enough, this is another conscientious objector about Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian farmer who refuses to fight for the Nazis. I feel like I was lied to about the narrative thing because this is still all flighty shots of water, fields and staring people with voiceovers. This guy is a serious junkie for repose and I’m bored with it.

Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played With Fire – An insightful documentary, this is a deep look at an author who made it internationally famous seemingly, in the world’s eyes, overnight and then was dead soon after. The deep dig of this film reveals a news writer, much like the one in his novels, who was dedicated to bringing the rise of the far right, white nationalism and nazi extremism to the media spotlight in Sweden and being condemned and having his life threatened by those he investigated. This is an interesting story of how the real events that shaped the author of the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series to write his best work that he would never get the chance to enjoy.

Escher: Journey Into Infinity – W.D. Escher is a fascinating person who’s art can’t twist and blow the mind just on its first impression. For this reason, I was really looking forward to checking out this documentary, which approaches the subject by acting like he made the film himself, talking to us through the well known and appreciated tones of Stephen Fry’s voice. For me, the film was informative and concise, giving us both a deep look at the art as well as the man who created it but when it comes to his influence on modern culture and it’s uses I felt it get a bit silly in a “Bill and Ted” what’s this wacky thing going on here sort of way. Left me a bit cold.

NO TRAILER FOR THIS ONE

Sorry We Missed You – Being a huge fan of Ken Loach’s since I saw The Wind That Shakes The Barley in my video store days, his films have come to be the ones I love forward to most at the festival and this one didn’t disappoint and refused to let me leave without shedding some tears. The film is about a lower-class family living in Newcastle and struggling to get back to a position of being able to buy a home. The father has just got a new job as a parcel delivery service, but one you have to buy into, causing them to sell his wife’s car that she uses for her job as a home care nurse. As the two parents struggle in their fourteen to sixteen-hour workdays, their kids suffer as their older son begins to lash out as a vandal. Loach always gets to the heart of the everyman’s plight against the system and it’s always heartbreaking.

VIFF 2019 – Round 1

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September 30, 2019

Parasite – What a great way to start out my coverage of this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, some great Korean cinema from one of the masters, Bong Joon-Ho. In his return to all Korean film, he tells the story of a family of con artists who grift their way into a rich families lives as a chauffeur, housekeeper, tutor and personal assistant respectively. They think they’ve hit the big time until the former housekeeper shows them a deep secret that she’s been hiding in their employer’s house that blows everyone’s situation up. Joon-Ho crafts another incredible masterpiece of a movie that’s filled with twists, incredible cinematography and the amazing ability to tell stories within a story. He never relents in showing that he is not only one of the greatest Korean storytellers today but one of the best in cinema today.

Burning Cane – A hard film to derive anything out of it except a desperate feeling sorrow, this is a brutal and deeply emotional first feature from writer and director Phillip Youmans, a filmmaker that seems to have the eye of a director like Terrance Malick but without the same repose. The film is built around three characters, a mother who has deeply religious convictions that she wants to impart on those closest to her to a futile degree, her son, a father who’s systemic alcoholism completely drowned any potential he has as a man and a reverend who spits fire at the podium but drowns his demons in the drink whenever he is away from the spotlight. This movie is tragic and viscerally real but kind of left me a bit in the third act.

Just Mercy – Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretin returns to form after The Glass Castle with this well-acted true story about civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard law school graduate who moved from Delaware to Alabama to give death row inmates proper legal representation, played in this film by Michael B. Jordan. Awards season will definitely contain talk of this movie when it sees release in December and not just for Jordan who turns in another great performance but it’s more likely that Jamie Foxx will get the nomination as a wrongly convicted small-town Alabama man that was made a target by a brutal sheriff in his county.

Babysplitters – The premise of this movie started good, two couples that feel the need to have kids but are too worried about losing their freedoms in their work, recreation and romantic lives. Then a deal is struck. Due to the infertility of one of the ladies, it is proposed that the one husband knock the other wife up and custody of the baby would be shared between the four of them. Wacky plot, right? Community’s Danny Pudi plays the lead in a film that feels just as silly as it’s premise and goes through tremendous logic stretches to keep going and falls apart in an “alls well that ends well” sort of ending. Disappointing.

NO TRAILER FOR THIS ONE.