The Man from Toronto – Film Review

Posted on June 30, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Patrick Hughes

Writers: Robbie Fox and Chris Bremner

Starring: Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson, Kaley Cuoco, Jasmine Matthews, Lela Loren, Pierson Fodé, Jencarlos Canela, and Ellen Barkin

Rating: ★★★½

The Man from Toronto feels like something you’ve seen before, with a very predictable mistaken identity premise and a fair few familiar plot points. What makes it worth watching is that since the two leads are so good in their roles it’s very easy to overlook its formulaic approach.

Kevin Hart stars as Teddy, a salesman aspiring to create a new fitness sensation with non-contact boxing. After planning a romantic weekend with his wife, Lori (Jasmine Matthews), he drives to the wrong cabin and is mistaken for top assassin/torturer ‘The Man from Toronto’ (Woody Harrelson). The FBI storm the cabin and decide to enlist Teddy to stop a terrorist plot.

Kevin Hart does his usual loud comedy that’s genuinely really funny, while Woody Harrelson is playing a more sinister and straight character, but still gets a few laughs. They both work really well together bouncing off each other as the unlikely duo join together to complete the original mission. You pretty know how it’s going to go, they start of as enemies, but learn to tolerate each other as the film goes along and start to learn from one another.

The plot plays out pretty much exactly how you’d expect it to, and while it does feel a tad too long it’s never boring or tedious. The story has a few twists, most of which you’ll see coming, but it’s still enjoyable to watch and it’s done really well. It kind of feels like The Hitman’s Bodyguard, but actually worth watching, but the characters are great and it’s actually funny.  

With a great cast and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, The Man from Toronto more than makes up for its predictable plot. It’s a solid action-comedy that’s really entertaining and easy to watch.

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Ms. Marvel – Episode Four: Seeing Red – Review

Posted on June 29, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Writers: Sabir Pirzada, A.C. Bradley, and Matthew Chauncey

Starring: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Laurel Marsden, Azhar Usman

Rating: ★★★★

The fourth episode of Ms. Marvel finds Kamala (Iman Vellani) travelling to Pakistan with her mother to see some of her family that she hasn’t in a long time. Her main aim is to find out the secrets of her family’s history and that of the bangle that gives her the powers.

The episode starts with Kamala on the plane, holding a stuffed sloth like her life depends on it. Someone asks her whether this is her first time to Pakistan. You instantly get a feel for what’s going through her head as she goes to the country her family’s from but doesn’t truly feel like she belongs. They are denied full entry to a restaurant as Kamala is wearing jeans, not realising that it’s not formal enough. There’s a true sense of culture clash and Kamala being out of her comfort zone.

One of the running themes of the show is family, specifically the relationship between mother and daughter. There’s a rift growing between Kamala and her mother, Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) as she develops her powers and isn’t able to tell her mother about it. The tension between them is put aside while they’re on the trip, but you can sense that it’s still growing. There’s also an interesting look at Muneeba relationship with her own mother, that’s been broken for a long time. There’s a great insight into the characters, which continues to be the strength of the show. Kamala’s family is great, filled with unique and strongly written characters.

It also feels like we’re finally getting to the centre of the mystery in this episode. There’s a lot of reveals that we’ve been building towards all season, and it’s satisfying to really see what’s going on. Kamala is also really learning the potential of her powers, with some great fight sequences in this episode. It’s not the full focus, but they are entertaining to watch when they happen.

There are only two episodes left of Ms. Marvel the pieces are all falling into place. There’s a lot of reveals in episode four and hopefully the last two will be just as good as the series so far.  

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Asadora! – Volume Five – Manga Review

Posted on June 28, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Naoki Urasawa’s Asadora! continues with another fast paced and thrilling volume. At the end of Volume four Asa has just spotted the Kaiju just off the coast, and this volume picks up at that exact moment. Asa has to make a decision whether to stay away or try to stop the monster from reaching land. The tension is there from the beginning, especially with the Olympic opening ceremony the following day. At the same time Yone, one of Asa’s friends, starts her audition to become a singer, without anyone else present.

Like the previous volume, this one doesn’t let up for a moment. From the first page it’s a true page-turner that will have you hooked until the last panel. It’s filled with tension and action as Asa tries to navigate the night skies. At the same time it’s very clear that Yone is in trouble, with the strange person claiming to be an agent, and without Asa there to protect her, it feels like something bad is about to happen. Kasuga is also away for most of the story, in the hospital with the person hit by the car crash in the previous volume. He doesn’t even know that the monster has reappeared.

The artwork is still really nice, and easy to follow, as with all of Urasawa’s work. All of his characters are completely distinct and there’s never a moment, even within the chaos of the story, that you don’t know what’s going on or who’s doing what.

At the end of this volume, it feels like the story will slow down a little bit in volume six, which would be a welcome change. The best part of this series so far has been the slower moments that feel like a period drama.

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Sneeze – Naoki Urasawa

Posted on June 27, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Sneeze is a manga collection of Naoki Urasawa’s short stories from all over his career and a wide range of genres. For any fan of Urasawa, this is a must read. There isn’t a bad story in the bunch, it’s just one after another of interesting stories. There’s a real mix of stories, aimed at adults and children, including a few autobiographical stories about music.

The book opens with ‘DAMIYAN!’, a story about a man with supernatural abilities who is hired by a Yakuza to take someone out. Straight away the characters are really strong in this story, as they talk in a diner about the job. In 40 pages Urasawa is able to tell a story packed with twists, interesting characters and a moral about life and death.

The other stories include a fun little children’s story, ‘Henry and Charles’, about two mice trying to get to a cake without waking a cat. ‘It’s a Beautiful Day’ is based on an anecdote from musician Kenji Endo where he saw a woman walking with a stroller, and the scene looked similar to his band’s albums cover. Endo actually asked Urasawa to make a manga about the story, but sadly he didn’t get around to it before Endo died. Each story has a little paragraph towards the end of the book with Urasawa’s thoughts on the story, which are really interesting to read.

The most interesting part of the book is ‘Musica Nostra’, which is an autobiographical series of shorts about music. It features things like Urasawa travelling to the legendary Sunset Sounds studio and recording a song that was passed on to Ringo Starr, which is a brief but interesting story. He also writes about some of concerts that he went to, including one Bob Dylan played in Tokyo where his sound system broke down three songs in, and the Desert Trip concert where he saw Paul McCartney and Neil Young (although he was stuck in the merchandise line for some of Young’s set). You can feel Urasawa’s love of music shining through the little snippets.

Naoki Urasawa’s story collection is essential reading for any fan. He’s a masterful creator, and each story showcases a different style and focus. They’re funny, heartfelt, mysterious, and all a joy to read.

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Elvis – Film Review

Posted on June 26, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Writers: Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner

Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, and Kelvin Harrison Jr

Rating: ★★★★

It’s been nine years since Baz Luhrmann’s last film, The Great Gatsby, and he’s back with a biopic of Elvis. It’s everything you’d hope for from a Luhrmann film about Elvis. It’s stunning visuals from start to finish, a blend of musical genres, and a surprisingly moving look at the ‘King of Rock and Roll’.

The film starts in a whirlwind, showing Elvis (Austin Butler) as a child discovering gospel music, his start in music, and his downfall all at the same time. Elvis’s story is told from the viewpoint of his manager, Col. Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), who is trying to convince us that he wasn’t responsible for Elvis’s death, while he’s on his own deathbed in 1997. It’s a chaotic opening, showing how Elvis was losing control of his own life to others, but it perfectly sets the scene for how the rest of the story will be told.

You know going into a Baz Luhrmann film that this is going to be filled with a really strong visual flair that makes everything exciting and fresh. The music of Elvis is mixed with modern takes on the songs, as well as blending genres in the process. There’s unique and offbeat scene transitions, great cinematography, and a pace that makes the over two-and-a-half-hour film feel like no time at all has passed when it ends.

It’s a visual feast from the stage shows to Elvis being given his own comic book style origin story, with his family’s past shown as panels of a comic. Still, it’s more grounded than some of Luhrmann’s previous films, even though there’s a lot of dramatic licence taken with the events. If you’re going into this to see a ‘tell all’ biopic, you will probably be disappointed. There’s a lot of fictional sprinkles added to the truth, as well as large moments omitted. It’s all done in Luhrmann’s punch style, so it doesn’t matter.

Austin Butler is outstanding as Elvis. Unlike so many other people to play the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, Butler doesn’t come across like he’s doing an impression or playing a caricature. Instead, it’s an authentic and fully realised portrayal. Likewise, Tom Hanks is phenomenal as Col. Tom Parker, presenting him as slimy and manipulating, while also not an all-out comic book villain. There’s a hint of humanity underneath the selfish exterior.

One of the main focuses is on Elvis’s influences, such as the church gospel music he grew up with and the music of B.B. King (played by Kelvin Harrison jr.) and Little Richard (Alton Mason). The film also makes the argument that Elvis was only able to be successful because he was white, while black artists with similar music weren’t. The racism of 1950s America is not shied away from, with segregated crowds at concerts, and the instant dismissal of Elvis as people assumed he wasn’t white.

Elvis does a great job at showing how the people around him were taking advantage, without him even really knowing. He’s isolated even while surrounded with people, and only really feels a connection with others when on stage. It’s a really sad story and the film really makes you feel for him. It’s not trying to be a documentary but gives you a real feel of what he might have been like, while also contextualising the history and influence of his music.  

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