Comedic actor takes action turn

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This article was published 23/08/2015 (4010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOVIES

BIG RELEASE WEDNESDAY: No Escape

BIG PICTURE: In No Escape, Owen Wilson plays an American businessman settling his family in a new country as it suddenly descends into a deadly civil war. (Finally, a film with a realistic enemy: no robots, cyborgs or dinosaurs in sight. Not even an act of God such as an earthquake, asteroid or volcano.) The family faces humanity at its worst: a bloodthirsty rebel army. The success of this film depends on whether the audience can take Wilson — known for his comedies — seriously. Wilson’s squinty, vacant eyes and nasal drawl are a tougher sell when he’s gunning for action-hero status. Luckily, old pro Pierce Brosnan is on hand to lend him guidance. A scruffy, unkempt ex-pat, Brosnan’s character looks like he went to Jeff Bridges’ Boot Camp before the shoot. (I would pay good money to attend such a camp, if it should ever exist.) When Brosnan’s character says, “You’re going to love it here” at the film’s outset, it’s just like in horror movies, when a realtor sells a young family a haunted house.

FORECAST: No Escape is the perfect late-summer escape from the federal election. No advertising, door-knocking or robocalls can penetrate your local theatre. But please don’t see this before travelling overseas, or if anyone in your family recently took an exotic new post. If that’s the case, it’s probably best to see Jurassic World again instead.

HONOURABLE MENTION: We Are Your Friends (Friday). Zac Efron plays Cole, an aspiring DJ who meets a powerful mentor (Wes Bentley). Things spin out of control when he falls for his benefactor’s young girlfriend Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski of Blurred Lines video fame). Cole seems to own an endless supply of white muscle shirts but a limited instinct for self-preservation. With lines such as, “Get the crowd out of their head and into their bodies” and, “Sounds have soul. Build them from scratch; find new ones,” this one will be a hit on the DJ life-coach circuit.

 

TV

BIG EVENT FRIDAY: Narcos (Netflix, 2:01 a.m.)

BIG PICTURE: Narcos is Blow meets Scarface meets The Godfather. It tells the parallel tales of Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook), a drug-enforcement agent in Miami who goes from busting grass-fed hippies in the ’70s to gunfights with armed drug cartels in the ’80s. The main man behind the change of pace: Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura), known as “the king of cocaine.” At its height, his criminal organization made US$5 billion a year. As the show’s tag line states, “There’s no business like blow business.” But there are deadly, tragic consequences. An all-out drug war ensues, with executions, assassinations, car bombs, missiles, political fights, gunfights, fist fights and knife fights — basically everything except staring contests (which would have been epic, what with all the cocaine).

FORECAST: Truth is more epic than fiction. Escobar’s dramatic rise-and-fall tale would have been the envy of Shakespeare himself. This gritty, well-crafted drama adds some summer heat to the small screen.

HONOURABLE MENTION: 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (MTV Canada/Much, Aug. 30, 8 p.m.). Miley Cyrus is hosting, so this is guaranteed fun. She was brilliant on Saturday Night Live in 2013, and no one likes to titillate more than Miley. Her shock-and-awe tactics are well-crafted for maximum career gain and entertainment value. If anyone can make a music video award show seem relevant again, it’s her. I’d watch Miley host the 2015 Betamax Cassette Video Music Awards.

 

MUSIC

BIG RELEASES FRIDAY: The Weeknd (Beauty Behind the Madness); Destroyer (Poison Season)

BIG PICTURE: You can already blame the Weeknd for lodging the song Can’t Feel My Face (the perfect title song for Narcos) in your head. Well, there’s more music where that ode to getting high came from. Toronto R&B wunderkind Abel Tesfaye releases his second proper studio album under his stage name. For a career that started with songs posted to YouTube, Tesfaye is doing OK for himself. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s Dan Bejar of Destroyer is an antidote to musical mediocrity. His boundless talent has made him an indie-rock darling. But you may need a PhD in literature and illicit substances to make sense of his idiosyncratic lyrics.

FORECAST: The Weeknd is positioned for takeoff with the TV debut of Tesfaye’s catchy summer hit at the MTV VMAs. At this point, only a Miley twerk could interfere with his upward career trajectory — as Robin Thicke knows all too well. (Case in point, the Blurred Lines model has her own movie, while Thicke’s future is just blurry.)

HONOURABLE MENTION: Yo La Tengo (Stuff Like That There). Veteran indie outfit Yo La Tengo have earned more than enough respect; they can be forgiven for the laziest album title of the summer.

 

Twitter: @chrislackner79