Guest: Rick Forchuk - TV Week Magazine Columnist and CKNW Contributor
In Theatres:
- Captain America: Brave New World (2025): This Marvel Comics adventure stands up well on its own even if you were not a student of the MCU, the Marvel Comics Universe. There are oblique references to previous films such as "Black Panther," where the rare metal Vibranium was mined and turned into such things as Captain America's suit and wings, as well as a reference to the 2018 MCU film "Avengers: Infinity War," where Thanos (James Brolin), with the snap of his fingers, has half of all the life in the universe disappear, including half the population of Earth. Beyond those things, you really don't need to know a lot about Avengers movies to get the drift of this one easily. Anthony Mackie stars as the "new" Captain America, replacing Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and he has a lot of history. Harrison Ford is the President of the United States, newly elected, and doing a pretty convincing Donald Trump routine as he seeks to become the nation that controls the new element, Adamantium, which is even more indestructible than Vibranium. As President Thaddeus Ross, originally played by the late John Hurt, he is trying to broker a deal with the Japanese Prime Minister and members of the European Union that would create an everlasting peace ... and an opportunity for the US to control the world
- Paddington in Peru (2024): Perfect for a trip to the theatre with the kids for a Family Day outing tomorrow, this, the third movie in the Paddington Bear franchise, based on characters created by British author Michael Bond, which has the precocious bear returning to Peru to visit his Aunt Lucy who now lives in the home for retired bears. Hugh Bonneville ("Downton Abbey") returns for the third time as Henry Brown, with Morwenna Banks playing his wife Mary. The first Paddington movie was in 2014, followed by a sequel in 2017, a series of shorts, a TV series, a stage musical, and now this new film which was actually shot in Peru, the land of Paddington's origin. Happily ensconced with the Brown family in London, Paddington receives news that his Aunt Lucy in her new retirement life in Peru, is missing her little Bear nephew terribly, and it is decided, Brown family in tow, that all should make haste to South America to visit the lonely aunt.
On AppleTV+
- The Gorge (2025): What could possibly go wrong? We take an action-adventure genre with a supernatural twist, add two actors who are superb, mix in a director of significant merit, and add a scriptwriter who has been this way before. Should be a great thrill ride, but unfortunately, despite some good cinematic moments, this two-hour and 7 minute movie comes up very short. Miles Teller ("Top Gun Maverick," and the "Divergent" series) is a Marine sniper named Levi, who is given a freelance assignment that will tie him up for a full year- guarding one side of a deep, mist-shrouded gorge in a mountainous wilderness. Posted on the opposite side of the gorge is a woman named Drasa who is doing the same job for her side, looking to be Russian. She is played by Anya Taylor-Joy ("The Queen's Gambit") and has a set of combat skills that match those of Levi.