The Outpost

What you need to know: This is based on a true story of an American army outpost in Northern Afghanistan in 2009. The outpost is a regular target by Taliban fighters - they seem to take daily pot-shots at the base; sometimes they get lucky, most often though, these Taliban fighters get picked off like Star Wars stormtroopers. There is a local Afghani who is helping the Americans. He often appears yelling, warning, "The Taliban are coming, the Taliban are coming!" This never-cry-wolf scenario plays itself out until, well, guess what, the Taliban show up. Big time. Then the battle happens which is what this movie is all about. I didn't think I would enjoy The Outpost because I thought it would be all rah-rah-America, a kind of, aren't-we-great movie. So I went in with low expectations. It's a bit rah-rah-America and I'm okay with that because let me tell you what this really is: It's an outstanding action picture. This is one of the best action pictures I've seen in a long time. The problem with all the super hero movies we are constantly inundated with is all the action that takes place, nobody really gets hurt. It's cartoon violence. When people get shot in this movie, well they are real people who could die - the stakes are high. I'm not familiar with director, Rod Lurie, but he has done a remarkable job with this film. If you want to see the best action film of the year, catch The Outpost on Netflix. 

Wayne

If Quentin Tarantino were to make a TV show about a teen romance, I think it would look a lot like Wayne. The show has a White Stripe' soundtrack and the whole show feels dirty and gets under your fingernails. What's it all about? Its main character is Wayne, played by Mark McKenna. Wayne doesn't have a whole lot going for him. Wayne's mom took off when he was a wee guy and he lives with his dying father in an impoverished area of Brockton, Massachusetts. They are dirt poor and Wayne has nothing to lose - this fact combined with Wayne's indignation with the world and his need to right all wrongs with his fists make Wayne a kind of anarchist-vigilante superhero. Wayne meets Del, played by Ciara Bravo, who he immediately asks to be his girlfriend. After Wayne bites off her dad's nose and beats the shit out of her twin brothers, they head off to Florida to get back Wayne's dad's gold Trans-Am. The police and the high school principal and Wayne's only friend are all in hot pursuit as Wayne and Del gypsy-hop motorcycle their way to Florida. The show is super violent and the fun comes with Wayne's strict moral compass, his crazy dancing, and the crazy side characters, like the police chief's back story of being in a Thai prison. Let this show punch you in the face on Amazon Prime. 

Waves

This is Trey Edward Shults' third major motion picture. His first was Krisha, which came out in 2015. I loved Krisha. If you haven't seen it, please do. Riveting family dysfunctional family drama playing out over Thanksgiving. Trey's next picture was It Comes At Night - a kind of post apocalyptic virus movie (perfect timing - just before COVID). I liked it, but not as much as Krisha. He set the bar high for himself and hit it on the second jump. Waves is his third movie and Trey went sailing clear over the bar. What's it all about? Imagine if Emilio Estevez's character in The Breakfast Club were black and his dad was portrayed by Sterling K. Brown (from This Is Us fame) and we were told the back story Andrew Clark, except it's Tyler Williams and the actor is Kelvin Harrison Jr. Tyler is on the high school wrestling team and his dad is pushing him to be the best. Tyler learns from his doctor that he has a severe injury in his shoulder and shouldn't be wrestling. Things go downhill from here.

The first half of Waves has a manic energy and a wild sense of urgency - the only thing I can compare it to is Uncut Gems. It's riveting stuff. Without spoiling the film, the second half of the movie deals with the fallout of Tyler's demise, about how his younger sister Emily (played by Canadian actor Taylor Russell) deals with what happened. She meets Luke (Lucas Hedges - this kid is a talent) and we watch their relationship unfold. Waves reminded me also of American Honey and to some extent Queen & Slim. There is a gritty realism to these films and something absolutely riveting about them to watch. Catch Waves on Amazon.

The Queen's Gambit

From the opening scene, the opening shot, of the movie "Split" I was hooked. I thought it all had to do with M. Night Shyamalan direction but now I realize it's also because Anya Taylor-Joy is a truly captivating presence on the screen. She is the star of Netflix's new series, "The Queen's Gambit." What's it all about? It's about an orphaned young girl who is taught chess by the grumpy janitor in the basement of the orphanage. It turns out that Beth (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a child chess prodigy. There are so many cliché possibilities here, it's impressive the smart and fresh moves this show makes. This fictional coming of age story is astounding for so many reasons, mainly because Anya Taylor-Joy is just so darn good. Isla Johnston, who plays the younger Beth Harmon is also fantastic. At the orphanage, young Beth is given tranquillizers daily along with her vitamin pill. This leads Beth to wig-out and play chess games in her mind on the ceiling of her dormitory. This upside-down chessboard is a wonderful effect and it appears when Beth gets high on her meds. The show is set in 1960s America and the costume designs are award worthy. In fact, the way the entire show is shot, the look and feel of it, is remarkable. It deals with addiction, mental illness, fame, sexism, and self destruction. It's one of the best things I've seen in 2020. Binge it now on Netflix.   

The Morning Show

Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) has been let go as co-anchor of New York's fictional TV show, The Morning Show, for sexual misconduct. The #MeToo fall out of this for Mitch, for his long time co-host Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), the network, and the woman who replaces Mitch, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) is the subject of Apple+'s new drama series. Apple+ is trying to jump into the TV streaming game along with Netflix and Amazon. They don't have a lot of content yet but they have some big names - Carell, Aniston, and Witherspoon - and that's just for this show. I was nonetheless skeptical about watching anything on Apple+. I'm not sure why. Steve Carell continues to impress me with his dramatic role choices and he is fabulous in this as are Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. But if there are awards to be handed out for best supporting actors, it's the brief appearance of Martin Short as a pedophile sexual predator who is absolutely jaw-dropping good. After watching him in this, I would love to see Short do more dramatic stuff. And then there is Gugu Mbatha-Raw who plays Hannah Shoenfeld, the woman who Mitch Kessler sexually takes advantage of. Her relationship with Mitch pre and post sexual encounter is a remarkable piece of acting. Catch The Morning Show on Apple+ 

Alone

I’ve seen the trailer for Unhinged, the new Russell Crowe thriller where it looks like road rage goes the way of Falling Down. Unhinged looks ridiculous but I will likely watch it because I’m a sucker for this kind of stupidity. Crawl was one of my favourite films last year even though it was a bit of a schlocky formula film; it was extremely well made and I loved it. If you haven’t heard of Alone, you’re likely not alone (ha!). It could be easily be classified as a ridiculous schlocky formula film however this little film is also extremely well made. Steven Spielberg began his directorial carrier with a film called Duel – a man chased by a crazy truck driver. Alone is something along the same lines. I don’t really want to get into the details because I don’t want to spoil any of the fun. I will say this, I sat riveted by pretty simple stuff. Director John Hyams seems to have a very good grasp on how to create suspense. The hateful-fearful chemistry between Jules Willcox(Jessica) and ‎Marc Menchaca (The Man) is something to behold. Alone is simply the best thriller I’ve seen in 2020. Catch it on streaming services.

Schitt's Creek

If you had told me that a CBC half hour comedy would almost bring me to tears about two gay men sharing a first kiss in a car, I would have said your head is full of sand. But it did. I nearly wept over Dan Levey’s characters David Rose and Patrick Brewer exchanging romantic firsts in a car outside of the Rosebud Motel. A CBC comedy worth my time to blog about – not in your wildest dreams my friends. That would never happen. And then I watched Schitt’s Creek. And now we are here. Dan and Eugene Levy co-created this wonderful little show and it has brought millions of people joy, especially those just discovering it during the pandemic. It’s not roll out of your seat funny, but it put a smile on my face every episode and over time I grew to love these characters. It’s worth your time. Here is Wikipedia’s list of all the awards Schitt’s Creek has won: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Schitt%27s_Creek

 

With no place to travel to these days, Schitt’s Creek is a place you will want to visit. Catch it on CBC Gem or Netflix.