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Martin Donovan

Reviews

The Apprentice

Donald Trump has denounced The Apprentice.  Not to be confused with his hit reality show of the past, The Apprentice is a docudrama chronicling the relationship between Trump and lawyer Roy Cohn.  But, it seems as though the former president has misinterpreted Ali Abbasi’s movie as a biopic on his life as a businessman-turn-infamous mogul.  There are biographical elements to The Apprentice , but the focus isn’t specific enough to be a Trump biopic.  If Trump had stepped back, he would’ve seen that…

Reviews

BlackBerry

Using his previous film, the embellished period thriller Operation Avalanche, as a stepping stone towards his latest feature, Canadian renegade Matt Johnson takes another crack at the biopic genre with BlackBerry.  Director Johnson (co-writing with frequent collaborator/producer Matthew Miller) chronicles the rise and fall of the titular game-changing portable device that allowed users online access and exclusive text-based communication.

Reviews

Percy

Percy is supposed to be an empowering biopic based on the struggle of an independent Canadian canola farmer being silenced and pushed out of a family business by a bigger, faceless corporation;  accusing the Saskatchewan farmer, Percy Schmeiser, of stealing seeds when GMO contaminants are found in his crops.  The potential is there, but director Clark Johnson (S.W.A.T., Netflix’s Juanita) and screenwriters Garfield Lindsay Miller and Hilary Pryor haven’t provided other requirements to earn the attention…

Reviews

Come to Daddy

Most movies build towards a crescendo, yet the first act of Ant Timpson’s Come to Daddy is the climax.  But then, instead of gradually hitting new heights, Timpson’s film simmers to a tepid temperature.  Despite the outrageous feedback you may have heard about the movie’s wild qualities, Come to Daddy is actually family tame (if you’re used to off-the-wall genre pieces).