Support strong Canadian climate journalism for 2025
There are a lot of new films this week and many are very good. But also have a look at a festival that draws from the Middle East and North Africa, MENA for short. It's showing 40 films from 15 countries, offering discussions and an opening on Sunday with music and finger food. Some films will be in theater, at the Vancity Theatre; all with be streaming. For more info check out https://viff.org
And stick around here for this:
The Power of the Dog: 4 ½ stars
King Richard: 4
Ghostbusters: Afterlife: 2 ½
Jagged: The Album that Rocked the World: 3 ½
Tick, Tick … Boom: 3 ½
Don't Say It's Name: 3
THE POWER OF THE DOG: Benedict Cumberbatch is totally believable playing an American cowboy. He's got the accent and the stance. He's a bully and a boor on a Montana cattle ranch with no use for the weaker ones. He taunts his mild-mannered brother, played by Jesse Plemons, and humiliates his new wife (Kirsten Dunst). He's especially harsh on her teenage son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who he sees as not very masculine. “Don't let your mom make you into a sissy,” he says. And who creates paper flowers in such a man's world?
The definition of masculinity is front and centre in this new film by Jane Campion, her best since The Piano which won her the best director award in Venice. But is it a critical look at all masculinity or just one man's? You'll have lots to talk about afterwards. Meanwhile, this is a highly engrossing western, largely because of the fine acting performances and partly because of the story from a novel by Thomas Savage. Cumberbatch as Phil can castrate 1,500 head of cattle, I think I heard, in a day. And he tries to cite his mentor and ideal man, the late Bronco Henry, as often as he can. But you get hints that there was more going on between them than he says. He's got a self-loathing somewhere inside. And is he warming up to that teenage boy? The title is from Psalm 22, a cry for help. I've seen the film described as mesmerizing and agree totally. (VanCity Theater) 4 ½ out of 5
KING RICHARD: Parents will get the most out of this sports movie. It's inspirational for them, for anyone wondering about how and where to motivate a child and how hard to push to get what you want. Richard Williams had a harder time than most. He lived in Compton, the rough Los Angeles neighborhood featured in movies and rap videos. He was sure two of his daughters were future tennis stars. “Unlikely” was one of the milder put-offs he received but as we know from the daughters' names, Venus and Serena, he succeeded. Big time.
The film shows how he did it. He was brash and persistent, with a never-take-no attitude, which Will Smith gets across perfectly. He walked unannounced into all-white country clubs, was thankful that the members had “removed their hoods” and badgered coaches to take a look and train the girls. And then he wasn't shy to interfere, even with Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) the Florida coach who had trained Jennifer Capriatti. But her trip to the pros was too slow for Richard and arguments over that constitute a key part of the story. And brings on a tremendous bit of acting from Aunjanue Ellis as his wife alarmed by his obsession. Meanwhile, we see the girls maturing. Saniyya Sidney as Venus and Demi Singleton as Serena gradually learn to speak up for themselves. All that and a particularly tense final tennis match make this a superior movie. (International Village, Marine Gateway and suburban theaters) 4 out of 5
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE: I talked to a fan who has seen the 1984 original multiple times, and he loved this new one too. That confirmed my feeling that the creators worked overtime to make it appeal to fans like him. There are references back, updates, cameos and in-jokes (check the movie marquee in the small town for an obscure one) but they overwhelm the story which is left more than a bit non-sensical. It's hard to believe it can have this kind of afterlife.
A mom and her two kids (Carrie Coon with Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace) arrive in a small Oklahoma town to live in the house her father left her. It's run down and people in town hardly saw him and knew him as "the dirt farmer." Well, it turns out he had a connection to the Ghostbusters unit back there in New York and still had their iconic stationwagon. After some coaxing it still runs. But even more incredible is what he was doing there? I won't spoil it, but he was continuing the anti-ghost effort. So far away? Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon stumble on a major part of it and against one installation find themselves acting out and gesturing like ancient royalty. That and the big special effects and the electric sparks that fly around towards the end are fun to watch. But the goofy wit is missing, and it's hard to engage with what's left. Jason Reitman, son of Ivan, directed. (Scotiabank, Marine Gateway and many suburban theaters) 2 ½ out of 5
JAGGED: THE ALBUM THAT ROCKED THE WORLD: Alanis Morissette turned against the film, but I found it most informative both about her life and career and about the case the director makes for her importance. Alison Klayman seems a top-level fan. She rounds up home movies, old pictures, TV clips and new interviews to tell her story: grew up in Ottawa, won a talent search when young, signed and dropped by MCA records, signed by Madonna's record company and sold 33 million copies of her first album. That's the 12th biggest seller ever.
Klayman also has her talking heads make the point that with the brutal honesty of her lyrics she empowered young women ... and made them want to be empowered. Morissette called the film "salacious" which is hard to agree with. Maybe it's the stories she tells of sex as a teen. More likely it's when she learned about the sexual hijinks of her band with groupies backstage and didn't condemn it. She almost excused not speaking out. It's part of the details of the music business, and band building, and touring which the film is very good at explaining. It's a good film. (Streaming at CRAVE) 3 ½ out of 5
TICK, TICK … BOOM: What a year Lin-Manuel Miranda is having. His Broadway smash, Hamilton, found even more audience on Disney+. His first musical, In the Heights, became a movie and the Disney film Encanto arrives next week with songs he wrote. And here is his debut as a movie director with a story about struggling to create art as well as a tribute to one who inspired him, Jonathan Larson. It's a classic case of an artist unrecognized until after he's gone.
Larson, played and sung by a former Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, created the ground-breaking musical Rent, but died before he could see it performed on stage. Before that he spent years working on his first musical, Superbia, which I think only ever played off Broadway. The film portrays him creating that show, wondering why his agent isn't calling, arranging a table-read performance and rushing against the clock to finish it. Stephen Sondheim tells him it needs one more song, but he's got composer's block. He says he's the future of musical theatre, and it's a spunky show that's forming but still far off. Meanwhile, he's trying to stay true to his art (no, to writing jingles), fears age is catching up on him (he's 30) and puts up with the pressures of New York City. His best friend now has a high-paying job and a big apartment and his girlfriend may have to move away. Miranda seems to understand all this and conveys the stresses beautifully. (Netflix) 3 ½ out of 5
DON'T SAY ITS NAME: A trend may be forming -- indigenous filmmakers are using the horror movie genre to address important issues. This is the third I've seen like that in the last year or two, so something is afoot. Unemployment, alcohol, drugs, losing culture and more are cited or, as one character puts it "they stole our language, our songs, our land from us". Horror tales can both complain and react. Certainly this one, filmed in Alberta does effectively, but in any innovative way.
It starts with an environmental activist run down by a pickup truck one night. A park ranger (Sera-Lys McArthur) and a Tribal Police Officer (Madison Walsh) work to solve the case. Then more deaths happen, sometimes gruesomely, of men connected to a company planning to strip mine part of the reserve. It seems the band council sold a mining license without approval. The story spreads that the dead activist has been brought back to life but as a hungry creature called a Wheetago and is taking revenge. "Mass hysteria," says another cop. The film, written and directed by Rueben Martell, says it's more real than that and shows it. The gore is mild, but there's lots of bright red blood against the snow. (Rent or buy at Apple TV) 3 out of 5
Comments