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People and characters from the past are back this week: action star Jackie Chan, director Guy Ritchie, Ben Affleck, the director and actor, working again with his pal Matt Damon, and those two plumbers from Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi. That's entertainment for Easter. For reality: check out the thoroughly-explained example of climate change as our forests feel it and Indigenous people bear it. .
Here's the whole list:
The Issue With Tissue: 4 stars
Air: 3 ½
The Super Mario Bros. Movie: 3
Simulant: 2 ½
Ride On: 3
Last Film Show: 3
Operation Fortune: 2 ½
THE ISSUE WITH TISSUE: After you get over the rhetorical bent of that title, watch this one because it's a sound examination of one aspect of the climate change crisis. Yes trees are turned into toilet paper but not just. And look at the key facts. Trees are an important buffer. They absorb carbon and give out oxygen. As Nancy Turner of the University of Victoria says they hold more carbon than any other eco-system on the planet. Canada has the largest intact boreal forest on earth, other experts say. But it is being cut down fast. 1% every year. 2,000 trees every eight hours. The carbon is dumped into the atmosphere and some 14% of the replanted trees will never grow. The film piles up statistics like that and the picture is scary.
It contrasts scenes of pristine forests with destruction. Abandoned piles prevent re-growth. Clear-cutting trees stops interaction between them, kills wildlife and harms the eco-system that Indigenous people have lived by for generations. We know much of that but it's startling to hear it stated and illustrated all in one place. Academics, naturalists, activists and Indigenous elders make the statements. Michael Zelniker rounds them up in this strongly worded documentary which he also narrates. He's an actor and filmmaker from Montreal, now in Los Angeles and a member of Al Gore's Climate Reality Project. He has put Indigenous issues up front, maybe a bit too much, bringing in residental schools and other issues. But the central essay is more than comprehensive. And powerful. (Only Toronto so far, Imagine Cinemas Carlton) 4 out of 5
AIR: Score, slam dunk, fast break. You can apply a lot of basketball terms to Ben Affleck's film and they'd all be right. That's even though it's not much about basketball; it's about business. Like Tetris last week, or Moneyball a few years ago, it shows a behind-the-scenes scramble and very little play. You don't even see the main character head on. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player, is seen only in photos and video footage. The actor who plays him is always with his back to us. But this is totally about him. As the Nike company, struggling at the time, tries to land him to endorse their shoes. Matt Damon plays the man going after him, and Viola Davis plays the mother he has to appeal to.
She raised her son to feel self-worth and has all but convinced him to sign with Adidas. Nike is hardly in the running and the film shows the hefty internal debates about that. Ben Affleck, is the Buddhism-believing founder (and the film's director), Chris Tucker is a former player and Marlon Wayans is a former coach. They all recognize Jordan's talent but should they blow a whole budget on him? Affleck and Damon have several bristling debates and Chris Messina is hilarious as Jordan's agent with a foul-mouthed telephone manner. Eventually the concept of family wins out. And Jordan wins an unheard-of contract that gets him shoes designed and named just for him and, as per some added info at the end, a huge pot of money. You know the outcome but there's actual suspense in how it comes about. And very strong performances from all the actors. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE: This is expected to be a massive hit this weekend, partly as a family-friendly film for Easter and largely because of the huge fans base for the very popular game. A previous, live action version 30 years ago flopped. This fully animated version won't. It's too much fun and has an added distinction: it's from Illumination the company that gave us The Minions and despicable Gru. The same bouncy energy plays here as Mario and Luigi, the two Brooklyn plumbers, are called on to fix a watermain but gets sucked down a pipe all the way to Mushroomland.
They're separated and Mario joins up with Princess Peach and Toad, a talking mushroom, to find Luigi. Meanwhile a monster named Bowser wants to marry the princess and envisions the two of them ruling the universe together. He sings about that. Fans who've played the game will recognize all that, not care how silly it all sounds and enjoy the many allusions back. Just like in the game, the brothers have to jump from bricks floating in the air to walkways and hanging structures and more. Donkey Kong even shows up voiced by Seth Rogen, and why not. Nintendo is one of the companies behind the film. Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice the brothers, Anya Taylor-Joy the princess and Jack Black, the monster Bowser. The ending is trite, but over all the film is joyous. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
SIMULANT: Artificial intelligence is much debated these days and that makes this small Canadian film quite relevant. It's not reality, it's a sci fi dream but it does hit on the issues. Real people mingle with androids powered by AI (something like in Blade Runner) and the question is raised: “What truly separates them from us?” It's hard to answer that because its not always clear who is what. At least I lost track of that a few times and therefore didn't always know what was at stake. In detail, I mean. Our relationship with machines is clearly at issue.
This is a much advanced world. Humans live with androids and there are frequent announcements from AICE (Artificial Intelligence Compliance Enforcement) about glitches like “an electro-magnetic pulse has been emitted in your vicinity.” Jordana Brewster plays a widow who replaces her husband with an android (Robbie Arnell) that looks just like him. He's not really him though. She can't warm to him. He feels love for her. And he has dreams. Complicated. Meanwhile Simu Liu (remember him for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings?) plays a service technician who tends to her “husband”. Sam Worthington is a government agent charged with rooting out androids that become too capable of self-direction. Sure, it's fiction but it's pointing to a reality that may be coming. (In theaters) 2 ½ out of 5
RIDE ON: Jackie Chan hasn't been much around recently, and the last film I saw by him, Iron Mask, four years ago, wasn't very good. He's back in form in this one, though the story may parallel his own situation. He's 69 years old and here plays a stuntman who is way past his prime. He sells horseback rides and pictures to kids on a street. To most adults he's washed up and things get worse when two bill collectors arrive. They want to take his horse and sell it as part of the bankruptcy of the man who gave it to him in the first place. He can't afford a lawyer, his estranged daughter is only a law student and her boyfriend is only a rookie lawyer.
What seems to be a legal story only, swings two ways. His daughter (Haocun Liu) wants to re-establish a family connection which requires his admission that he's old, can't do dangerous stunts anymore and shouldn't submit his horse to doing them. That horse is exceptionally well- trained and responds to signals and requests as if it has been listening. It's also loyal, like animals in childrens' stories. Jackie uses it in several battles and, in one spectacular sequence, inside and on top of a streetcar. There's lots more of that and Jackie is invited to take a cameo role in a new movie that calls for an exceptionally dangerous stunt. Does he make his horse do it? Does he disappoint his daughter? Will he accept that his day is past? While you ponder that, watch the action that keeps coming. He's still good at it. The film is from China's Alibaba production house. (In Theaters) 3 out of 5
LAST FILM SHOW: By my count this is the fourth film in the last year or so by a director recalling his own childhood. Pan Nalin is from India and what he shows is almost a twin to Cinema Pardiso which came from Italy years ago. A young boy, nine years old in this case, loves movies and skips school to go see them. He can't pay but gets the projectionist to let him in for free, in exchange for the lunch his mother packs for him and little bit of work. The joy he feels is manifest.
He'll miss his train occasionally and his dad beats him frequently. But he's mesmerised by the light coming out of the projector and learns the technical details of how it creates pictures and movement. We see many clips most from little known movies, three from the director himself, one with superstar Amitabh Bachchan, several with huge crowd scenes or dance production numbers. It evolves into a celebration of the film-going experience and works perfectly. Bhavin Rabari who plays the boy is a natural. His eyes and face are most expressive. It's an idealised vision of India but the end scenes are not. Film reels become plastic cutlery and bracelets. Bittersweet but still upbeat. (Art house theaters) 3 out of 5
OPERATION FORTUNE: Guy Ritchie is back with a film that's had some back luck along the way. It was delayed from last year because it has some Ukrainians as bad guys, which seemed inappropriate during the war. That's still on but the film is here. We get Ritchie's usual speedy talk and fast action about a mission to find and stop a deal for … well the British official who hires a secret agent to intercept it doesn't know what it is, only that it is “something really nasty.” Jason Statham, as the clumsily named Orson Furtune, has to find out what and where it is. The film doesn't let us know until well along.
Fortune puts together a team: Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone and they add in a Hollywood actor, played by Josh Hartnett, because his celebrity will get them in anywhere. Bad guys it seems are drawn to famous people and love taking selfies with them. Even Ukrainians. The chief bad guy though is English and played by Hugh Grant (that's him as villain in two movies right now). He runs a fund raiser for orphans as well as a nefarious black-market scheme. The intricacies of the plot are intriguing but hard to follow because you lose track of who is who. There are agents who've switched sides, one who has gone rogue, and others whose allegiences aren't clear. They're all competing for whatever it is. The film zips to several countries, stages gun battles at will and does it all in style, but with too many switches. (Streaming on Prime Video) 2 ½ out of 5
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