Liz Braun
Movie Entertainment
June 2010
June is National Fruit and Vegetable Month, to which we respond: want butter with that? Big Popcorn season is upon us, and we swing into summer with plenty of explosive action and lots of over-the-top adolescent comedy – sometimes both at once. This is a month with not one but two comedies about secret agents running amok, with the women they love riding shotgun.
Somewhere in there among the sequels, the talking dogs and the comic book stories, anyone who isn’t a teenage boy will find a handful of serious documentaries and a couple of adult dramas. And Splice, a sci-fi entry with Sarah Polley. All is not lost.
TOY STORY 3
When a boy grows up and goes to college, what becomes of his beloved childhood toys? Buzz, Woody and the gang get boxed up and dropped off at a daycare centre, and have to make good their escape. Voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger.
JONAH HEX
Weird Western tales indeed. Josh Brolin stars as the badly scarred bounty hunter who moves between the living and the dead, as another comic book is transformed into a movie. With John Malkovich (as the terrible Quentin Turnbull), Michael Fassbender and Megan Fox.
THE A-TEAM
Special Forces soldiers, accused of a crime they didn’t commit, break out of military prison and work as mercenaries. Wild-eyed action adventure film, based on the popular TV series, stars Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel.
SPLICE
Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley star as renegade scientists who dare to splice together the DNA of humans and animals and wind up with a beautiful, but menacing, winged life form. Thinking man’s creature feature is sci-fi for the modern world. Click here to listen to a podcast with Splice co-writer Douglas Taylor and Judith Klassen about monster movies, metaphors, and making money.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE
Swoon! While Seattle is plagued by a series of terrible killings, Bella is torn between two lovers (the vampire Edward and the werewolf Jacob) and hysterical over her inability to find a decent dress for grad. Kidding. More of the same, only more so, with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner. OMG!
MARMADUKE
The lovable Great Dane moves from comic strip to the big screen with Owen Wilson’s voice and a mix of live action and animation. Let the doggie havoc begin! Judy Greer and William H. Macy star with characters voiced by Emma Stone, Jeremy Piven, Steve Coogan, Fergie and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, among many others.
GROWN UPS
Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and David Spade play five childhood friends who reunite after 30 years for a wild summer weekend. All-star cast for this pratfall filled comedy includes Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi and Maria Bello.
RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE
This documentary from Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn (Global Metal) puts the spotlight on Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, with plenty of concert footage, archival material, rock interviews and the like. A movie on Canada’s legendary rockers is long overdue.
SWEETGRASS
Follow contemporary cowboys as they lead their flock of sheep almost 300 kilometres to summer pasture in Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth mountains. Breathtaking nature scenery in this homage to the frontier spirit. Documentary from anthropologists Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor.
THE KARATE KID
An American boy (Jaden Smith) in China has to adjust to a new life, a new culture and a new bully at school. Good thing Jackie Chan is there to be his martial arts mentor. This re-imagined version of the original 1984 crowd pleaser also stars Taraji P. Henson.
ACT OF DISHONOUR
A drama about honour killings. Mena, a young bride-to-be in a remote village in Afghanistan, respects the local customs and has almost no contact with the man she will marry. Then a Canadian film crew arrives and brings a taste of the outside world into Mena’s sheltered realm. From Canadian actor/writer/ filmmaker Nelofer Pazira, starring Marina Goldahari, Ghafar Qoutbyar, Ali Hazara, Greg Bryk.
GET HIM TO THE GREEK
Jonah Hill is the timid record label intern who must get a maniacal rock star (Russell Brand) from London to L.A. in 72 hours. Plenty of stops along the way for chaos, debauchery and craziness. Nicholas Stoller directs P. Diddy, Katy Perry, Colm Meaney, Pink, Elisabeth Moss and Rose Byrne.
KNIGHT AND DAY
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in this boisterous spoof of action/espionage movies. She’s a lonely, trusting young woman and he’s the maniacal super-spy who blasts into her life … literally. Rousing big fun with Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, Viola Davis.
PAX AMERICANA AND THE WEAPONIZATION OF SPACE
Denis Delestrac directs this documentary about the weapons race in space, “a new arena for war.” The role of the United States in any potential space war is under the microscope now that the militarization of space has moved from science fiction to reality. An elegant, albeit frightening, doc.
THIS MOVIE IS BROKEN
Charming indie Canadiana. A romance begins against a backdrop of concert footage and a performance by the band Broken Social Scene. Bruce McDonald directs; Don McKellar writes; Greg Calderone and Georgina Reilly star.
WINTER’S BONE
Gritty indie film took home the Grand Jury Prize for American drama at Sundance this year. A young Ozark Mountain woman (Jennifer Lawrence), charged with caring for her younger siblings, decides to salvage what’s left of her family by tracking down her criminal father. Drama also stars John Hawkes, Shelley Waggener.
KILLERS
Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher star as a blissfully happy suburban couple whose lives change dramatically when he proves to be a former government assassin, with hired killers on his tail. Don’t you hate when that happens? Weirdly, this is the second action comedy about a trigger-happy couple this month.
YEAR OF THE CARNIVORE
This quirky Canadian comedy about how to survive contemporary society stars Cristin Milioti as an almost-adult and Mark Rendall as the local guy she fancies. The film had its debut at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Vancouver’s Sook-Yin Lee directs.
Liz Braun is a film critic for Sun Media in Toronto.