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.
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…
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).
A film can sometimes take so many risks, twists, and turns that the movie itself becomes borderline indescribable. Ant Timpson’s Come to Daddy falls in this camp, so how do I even begin to discuss it?