Month: December 2024

christopher plummer in the silent partner

I grew up in Canada, and I’d wager the experience – at least as far as pop culture goes – was probably pretty similar to growing up in the States. Yet, there were some minor, strange differences. Here, we have a regulatory body called the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), which ensures that about 30% of the content that’s broadcast on TV qualifies as “Canadian Content.” Thus, whenever you turn on the TV, one of our Canadian channels is bound to show something Canadian, including movies. While holiday classics like A Christmas Story and Black Christmas counted as Canadian Content (God Bless Bob Clark) we could reliably see around the holidays, more adventurous TV stations would show something outside the box. One such station was the adult-oriented Showcase (not to be confused with Showtime), which would program an utterly mental movie called The Silent Partner every Christmas Eve.

If you’re not Canadian, you probably have no idea what this movie is. It is part of a genre affectionally known as Canuxploitation, where US companies would take advantage of our government tax shelters and shoot genre movies here. American actors, amid career droughts, would usually split their time between Canada and Italy to shoot these kinds of films. The Silent Partner was a more sophisticated piece of Canuxploitation, with a screenplay by the late Curtis Hanson, director of L.A. Confidential

In it, Elliot Gould plays a bank teller working in Toronto’s Eaton Center over the holidays. One day, he’s robbed by a department store Santa Claus, and in the chaos, he manages to skim $50,000 for himself, while Santa gets a lump of coal. It’s too bad for him, though, that Santa is a raving psychopath named Arthur Reikle, played by a ripped and crazy Christopher Plummer. He sends a beautiful woman (played by Montreal starlet Celine Lomez) to seduce him, only for her to eventually switch sides, leading to a shockingly violent third act that takes The Silent Partner into horror territory (nothing says Christmas like a head in a fish tank). 

Elliot gould the silent partner

It’s a crazy little movie that’s exceptionally well-acted by Gould and Plummer. The film always resonated with me as, for a little while, I worked as a bank teller over the holidays and found it a miserable experience. Seeing all that cash pass hands was…tempting. I always appreciated Gould’s performance, which is trying to do something a little different (dare I say it – Canadian) with him, toning down his usual neurosis and playing the role in a calm, detached manner that works. At the time, Gould’s career was on the downslide (although he had a hit right after this came out with Capricorn One), but he was still delievring interesting performances.

However, Christopher Plummer is a revelation as one of the evilest villains in screen history. His Reikle is a misogynist sociopath with a fondness for masochism. Despite being in his fifties at the time, Plummer got into amazing physical shape for the part, and his role here will blow away those who mostly know him from The Sound of Music or his late-era roles. 

It’s a strange film to play during the holidays, but if you like a dark Christmas movie, this is for you. Interestingly, despite being a classy thriller, it’s far more violent and gory than Christmas slashers like Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night. Poor Celine Lomez suffers a horrible fate, while it’s all tied together by a sophisticated piano score by famed Canadian pianist Oscar Petersen. Doubling down on its Canadian bonafides, John Candy has a small role as one of Gould’s fellow employees, with the two sharing a joint at one point in a nod to Gould’s counter-culture fame from earlier in the decade.

Ironically, if you want to see The Silent Partner in Canada, where it was produced – you’re out of luck. It’s not streaming anywhere in Canada despite being a bit of a homegrown classic. By contrast, you can find it easily in the US, with it streaming for free on Kanopy. So, you Yanks may want to give this one a try. It’s an insane little movie. As for Canadians, there’s a Blu-ray of the film out there that came out not too long ago, so allow me to keep beating the physical media drum…

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Plot: Marvel’s animated series “What If…?” returns in Season 3 for its culminating adventure through the multiverse. Watch as classic characters make unexpected choices that will mutate their worlds into spectacular alternate versions of the MCU. The Watcher will guide viewers as the series traverses new genres, bigger spectacles, and incredible new characters. The series features an incredible voice cast that includes a host of stars who reprise their iconic roles.

Review: When Marvel Studios announced an animated anthology series based on the What If…? line of comic books, the potential to explore different angles and twists on the same storyline seen on the big screen was almost too good to be true. The crux of the comic book is always the opportunity to see what would happen if a character made an alternate choice. However, the MCU take on What If…? centers more on the infinite possibilities of the multiverse and what could have happened if all the trajectories had been different. Instead of choice, What If…? focused on how things would unfold if characters had entirely swapped places or existed in different timelines. It makes for a fun anthology format ending after too few seasons on the air. The third and final volume of What If…? debuts today with seven more episodes hitting Disney+ nightly through New Year’s Eve. It is a fun release strategy as this season of the series packs some crazy stocking stuffers as it comes to an end.

While most of the stories in What If…? are standalone threads in the larger MCU multiverse, the second season pulled in the omnipotent Uatu the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), a multiversal being charged with monitoring the events in every timeline. Connected to his decisions to intervene with actions taken by Ultron in the first season and then Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) in the second, Uatu finds himself in hot water with the other Watchers, notably The Eminence (Jason Isaacs). The third season does wrap with three chapters that directly tie up the storyline of Uatu and the Watchers, leaving the door open for future What If…? seasons down the line, but the first five entries in this third volume are more general wackiness in exploring bizarre takes on the Marvel Cinematic Universe that are less questions posed with the titular lead-in phrase but more opportunities for the writers to see what the craziest ideas they could come up with would be.

The season opens with a story about “What If…the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?”. Yes, there was a recent comic book that looked at that exact idea. Still, the MCU version poses a new batch of Avengers led by Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) with Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), Xu Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Melina Vostakoff (Kari Wahlgren), and Nakia (Brittany Adebumola) as they face off against a massive monster version of the Hulk known as Apex inadvertently created by Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). The voice work is good, with so many live-action actors reprising their roles, and the scale of the story is massive, but the concept of a Voltron or Power Rangers team of mechs is silly enough to undermine the whole idea of why we love these heroes. The ending does redeem things as we get some serious Hulk action, but it is an example of where What If…? has focused too much on crazy ideas we would not likely see in live-action rather than the core point the comic series was intended for.

A lot of the episodes are fun excursions into the multiverse, including a team-up between Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Winter Solider (Sebastian Stan) that gives both voice actors a lot of fun dialogue as well as a foray into a 19th-century western led by Shang Chi and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), but others are odder choices. Two episodes deal with the Celestials as they appeared in Eternals and boast sequences that I cannot fathom being achieved in a live-action film. Still, they feel very disconnected from the characters audiences want to see. One episode centers on Ironheart’s Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a character we have not seen since her minor role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Then there is the mid-season chapter that focuses on Thor‘s Darcy (Kat Dennings) marrying Howard the Duck (Seth Green) and going on the run to protect their unborn child. That episode leads directly into introducing a brand new MCU superhero, Byrdie (Natasha Lyonne), who plays a key role in the end of The Watcher’s storyline.

The final two episodes deal with the aftershocks of The Watcher’s actions in the second season. They are the introduction of the X-Men character Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) into the MCU, but I will not reveal any other details about the ending here. Needless to say, head writer Matthew Chauncey, alongside A.C. Bradley and Ryan Little, and directors Bryan Andrews and Stephan Franck, craft a cohesive season that cannot help but feel a little underwhelming. What If…? has been one of the more popular MCU projects since it premiered, and the decision to end it after only three seasons feels like an executive decision made to focus on the floundering feature film slate. The reliance this series has had on the Captain Carter storyline and building out The Watcher as a character rather than just a narrator has given us some great moments with Hayley Atwell and Jeffrey Wright. Still, this season is anticlimactic, with the creative team simultaneously working on the Marvel Zombies spin-off. I enjoyed most of the stories this season but am left wanting more from the under-utilized potential of this concept.

The third season of What If…? brings more animated adventures featuring some major MCU characters while exploring others who have not gotten enough screen time as of yet. If this season proves anything, it is that Thunderbolts* is going to be fantastic, thanks to David Harbour’s no-holds-barred approach to playing Red Guardian. It was nice to see Dominic Cooper, James D’Arcy, Simu Liu, and other characters back after years away from their last appearances. Still, I wonder if this is the last season of What If…? because Uatu is a major presence in the Fantastic Four comics, and that team has their movie coming out very soon. Whatever the reason behind it, What If…? is again a mixed bag of intriguing stories and others that were too ridiculous not to try and tell. The series succeeds in being fun, and that is the biggest reason behind making a series like this, even if it does not quite deliver on what the source material was trying to accomplish.

The final season of What If…? debuts with a new episode each night, for eight consecutive nights, beginning December 22 on Disney+.

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weekend box office 01

The box office battle between Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King came to a pretty definitive end this weekend, with the former almost doubling the latter’s business. Indeed, despite a banner year, Disney’s ending 2024 on a downer note, with Mufasa: The Lion King, which sports a $200 million budget, seriously underperforming with a $35 million opening. Note that the 2019 remake of The Lion King opened with nearly $200 million, making this arguably one of the least successful sequels of all time (although the film is technically both a sequel AND a prequel). 

While Disney is no doubt hoping the decent A-minus Cinemascore will mean the business will pick up over the holidays, it seems unlikely the film will even come close to recouping its budget. The outlook is much rosier for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which easily topped the weekend box office with Deadline reporting a $62 million opening. However, the opening is softer than expected (we pegged it at $70 million) due to a drop-off in business on Saturday. Given the A-Cinemascore rating, it should have done better. What gives? Families may be waiting until Christmas to check this one out, so it may wind up doing incredible business over the next week.

Another interesting thing on the chart is that Wicked has begun to overtake Moana 2 at the box office, thanks to strong repeat business. It was neck-and-neck yesterday, but Wicked wound up grossing $13.5 million to Moana’s $13.1 million. Both movies have been printing money at the box office, with both all but guaranteed to pass the $400 million domestic mark by the end of the holiday season.

Angel Studios also had a stronger-than-expected showing in fifth place, with their post-apocalyptic drama Homestead making $6 million. A feature-length pilot for their new streaming series, the film earned a softer-than-expected B CinemaScore rating, which is low for a faith-based movie. Gladiator II was behind it with $4.45 million and a $153 million domestic haul. It hits PVOD on Christmas Eve. 

Sony’s latest entry into the Spider-Verse, Kraven the Hunter, crashed and burned with $3.1 million in its second weekend, which marks a 72% week-to-week decline. With a $17.4 million total, it’s on track to become one of the least successful superhero movies ever made and one of the year’s biggest bombs.

Red One, now streaming on Prime Video, lost a big chunk of its audience (as well as a third of its theaters) this weekend, with a $1.43 million weekend and a $95 million domestic total. Will it manage to cross $100 million domestically? We’ll have to wait and see!

WB’s animated Lord of the Rings prequel, The War of Rohirrim, also had a disastrous second weekend, falling 72% to $1.2 million and a $7.3 million total. It seems unlikely to even pass $10 million domestically. Finally, the faith-based sleeper hit, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, rounded out the top 10 with $825K and a $38.4 million total.

With Christmas happening on Wednesday, some big movies, including A Complete Unknown and Nosferatu, should liven up the box office charts for what should be a huge week. We’ll keep you posted throughout the holidays with the latest numbers as they come in!

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five-timers club

Even after 50 years, it’s still an honor to host Saturday Night Live. And it’s even more so to become a member of the Five-Timers Club, that group of hosts who have stepped onto the stage at Studio 8H enough times to warrant a special jacket. And live from New York, as he helped bring 2024 to a close, Martin Short became the last member.

This week’s episode of Saturday Night Live opened with Tom Hanks, who hosted SNL for the fifth time in 1990 and as such took credit for creating the Five-Timers Club…Notably, while several people beat Hanks to the punch, the idea of the First-Timers Club was introduced during that 1990 episode. Enter Paul Rudd, who joined the Five-Timers Club in 2021. Soon enough it was time for host and inductee Martin Short, flying solo without his pal Steve Martin, actually the second person ever to host SNL five times following Buck Henry…just in case that comes up at trivia night.

From there, it was a steady stream of famous faces: Tina Fey – who could be in position to take over SNL when Lorne Michaels steps down – 17-time host Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, former cast member Kristen Wiig (who, before Short, was the most recent addition to the Five-Timers Club), Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone, and John Mulaney. The final celeb to cameo was Jimmy Fallon, who has hosted twice since leaving SNL after the 29th season but was given the honor of putting the Five-Timers Club jacket on Martin Short. Short expressed his gratitude in typical fashion, saying, “This is such a special night. And from the bottom of my heart, I just want to say I love most of you so much.”

The Five-Timers Club cold open was a lot of fun not only because of all of the star power on the stage but because the whole group looked to be having a blast. Some even took swipes at themselves, with Rudd mocking the fact that Ant-Man’s superpowers are incredibly lame and Alec Baldwin joking that he simply has too many kids (eight, as of publication…).

To date, 27 people have been inducted into the Five-Timers Club. That leaves the question, Who will be the next? Several people have hosted four times, but some have the edge over others (with due respect to Charles Barkley), namely former SNL cast member Dana Carvey, who has a newfound popularity due to his Fly on the Wall podcast; Cameron Diaz, who is back in the spotlight with her return to movies; and Lindsay Lohan, who herself is having a much-deserved resurgence.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live?

The post Martin Short enters Five-Timers Club in cameo-packed SNL appeared first on JoBlo.

national lampoons christmas vacation

’Twas the weekend before Christmas… With the holiday season upon us, many of us are starting to revisit some of our of Christmas favourites. I actually went to see a 4K re-release of the original Black Christmas last night here in Montreal. There’s something comforting upon returning to our old favourites every year, whether they be traditional Christmas classics, or perhaps something a little more modern, like Die Hard, which, despite many claiming otherwise, has totally established itself as a Christmas classic over the years.

Whatever the case, there are certainly LOADS of Christmas movies, with everything from old-time classics like It’s A Wonderful Life or some of the many versions of A Christmas Carol (the Alistair Sim version is the best IMO), or something like Love Actually, which is virtually inescapable at this time of the year.

With that in mind, we’d love to figure out just exactly what the best Christmas movie ever is. Our Live Stream host, Kier Gomes, tackled this topic on Friday (see the embed below), but now we want to turn it over to you. What is the best Christmas movie of all time? Take our poll and let us know!

What is your Favorite Christmas movie?

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daniel stern

You’d be hard-pressed to name a Daniel Stern movie from this century, but the guy was all over in the ‘80s and ‘90s. From Diner to Hannah and Her Sisters to Home Alone to City Slickers, Stern starred in some of the defining movies of many of our upbringings. And now, those are just wonder years because Stern is living well outside of Hollywood and enjoying his life as a different kind of artist.

While he still lives in California, Daniel Stern has retreated to a ranch. Despite being far away from the studio system, he does see similarities between that and both working a ranch and creating sculptures, an art he took up. “It takes all these people. So I love living in all these different worlds. It’s the same in my sculpture world. I make these fun sculptures, but I’m dealing with a city and the city council who has commissioned the piece, and I’m going to tell them their story. And then I deal with the city engineer, and then I deal with the foundry and the mold makers. So I’ve got all these other people in my life outside of show business, and I think it makes my show business stuff deeper because I’m living my real life.” Stern continuously shares looks into this “real life” on social media, with an Instagram that shows him enjoying his land, shooting hoops, squeezing grapefruits, and more.

Daniel Stern hasn’t been completely absent from the screen, turning up most recently on season four of Apple TV+’s For All Mankind and Hulu’s Shrill. And while my personal favorite performance of his is as the LP-loving Shrevie in Diner, this time of year who isn’t watching the first two Home Alone movies?

As Daniel Stern puts it, he didn’t want to stay in the business if he never had to. “I made enough money that I didn’t have to work. I made enough money and I’m kind of frugal…I bought the house in cash. I bought the cars in cash. I bought everything straight up because as an artist, I never knew if [I was] going to make any more bread…What am I going to do with it? Am I going to keep chasing another part or that?”

Despite very few new parts, we have to respect Daniel Stern for finding a genuine passion outside of acting and committing to it fully.

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