SHIFTER’s Chris Harrison calls Korean director Hur Jin-ho’s latest “a snappy, compelling story” in his The Assassin(s) film review. “The Assassin(s) is a snappy, compelling story of corruption and the power of journalism in an age of suppression and censorship.” – Chris Harrison The Assassin(s) is a snappy, compelling story of corruption and the power of journalism in an age of suppression and censorship. The story is based on the real-life assassination attempt on South Korean president Park Chung-Hee in the 1970s by the Korean-Japanese Moon Se-Gwang in 1974, which resulted in the death of the first lady and an…
Author: Chris Harrison
SHIFTER’s Chris Harrison says that while not groundbreaking, Jonathan Schey’s latest is “wild and fun” in his Everybody Wants to Fuck Me review. “While the film [Everybody Wants to Fuck Me may not necessarily be groundbreaking, it’s a fun takedown of a quietly nefarious type of toxic male.” – Chris Harrison Everybody Wants to Fuck Me turns heads immediately with its, let’s say, colorful title, and the movie itself is no less wild and fun. The premise begins simply enough. Adam (Taron Egerton) is the king of the performative males–a man in the art world who’s engineered every aspect of his…
SHIFTER’s Chris Harrison praises the uniqueness of Bassam Tariq’s latest film in his Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother review. “[Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother] is one of the most unique action movies I’ve seen in some time.” – Chris Harrison Much of the discourse surrounding Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother has been centered around the missed opportunity of Mahershala Ali’s cancelled Blade reboot, but it almost feels silly to yearn for a superhero movie that never was when a film like this was possible the whole time. Here, Ali does, in fact, play a taciturn, blade-wielding hitman, but there is something…
SHIFTER’s Chris Harrison calls Rebeca Huntt’s latest “one of the most engaging sports docs to come out in the last few years” in his Rapinoe film review. “[Rapinoe] is one of the most engaging sports docs to come out in the last few years.” – Chris Harrison It’s been getting harder and harder for me to get excited about new athlete documentaries. This new era of player-led sports media has been a positive in many ways, but many of the docs in this saturated market fail to address anything particularly interesting. In most cases, the athlete’s control over the narrative…
SHIFTER’s Chris Harrison calls Lauren Miller Rogen’s latest “one of the year’s funniest comedies” in his Babies film review. “[Babies] is a mature take on one of the biggest decisions couples face, wrapped in one of the year’s funniest comedies.” – Chris Harrison Babies begins with Aaron (Seth Rogen) and Annie (Anna Kendrick), the lone childless duo in their group of couple friends, suddenly tasked with taking in a friend and her young daughter after she splits with her husband and prepares for a potentially messy divorce. They’ve reached the age where the question of whether or not they’ll have children…
Despite a “solid script and strong performances” SHIFTER’s Chris Harrison calls the new MGM+ series not yet must-see TV in his American Hostage series review. “The first two episodes of American Hostage are a promising start with an intriguing enough premise, but don’t quite rise to the level of must-see TV.” – Chris Harrison The first two episodes of American Hostage, the new MGM+ original are a promising start with an intriguing enough premise, but don’t quite rise to the level of must-see TV. The series, set in Indianapolis, follows the real-life story of Tony Kiritsis (Giovanni Ribisi) and Fred Heckman (Jon Hamm),…
Mortal Kombat II brought carnage to the Earthrealm in downtown Toronto courtesy of Kung Lao. The message? Our parking is not worthy. I recently took a trip to downtown to Toronto to check out one of the more unique promotional events I’ve come across for the highly anticipated film Mortal Kombat II. On Queen Street West, in the shadow of the CN Tower, was a car with a license plate from “EARTHREALM” that had been torn wide open by a spinning saw blade, a punishment for the massive collection of parking tickets tucked into its windshield wipers. The message written…
In his Frankenstein film review, Chris Harrison calls Guillermo del Toro’s take on Mary Shelley’s classic a “visual spectacle” that still falls short. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a re-imagining of the iconic story, shot with the same level of painstaking care that Dr. Frankenstein lavishes upon his laboratory work. However, it’s a bit too long, and is held back by a script that lacks subtlety and at times doesn’t seem to trust its audience. The film opens with Frankenstein’s monster ripping through an expedition to the North Pole as he hunts down his creator, shrugging off bullets and tossing…
Though a stressful film to watch at times, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You boasts excellent acting from Byrne, great cast, and a tight script. Linda (Rose Byrne) is a working therapist and a mother dealing with all manner of crises all at once. Her daughter requires special medical attention and sleeps hooked up to a machine via a (comically long) tube, her husband’s away on a work trip, her clients are, let’s just say, difficult, oh, and an enormous hole has opened up in her ceiling, flooding her entire home, forcing her to move into a nearby motel.…
In his Ballad of a Small Player review, Christ Harrison praises its “gorgeous cinematography” and calls it “dark but also deeply funny”, Ballad of a Small Player is ostensibly about a debt-ridden gambler with a false identity on the run from a wily detective (played with a dry wit by Tilda Swinton), but the real mystery (and the thing he’s running from) is something else altogether, something more existential, and the film is all the better for it. In Ballad, Collin Ferrell plays a man who calls himself Lord Doyle, the self-proclaimed best card player in the world, who is…
In his The Wizard of the Kremlin review, Chris Harrison says it’s “sharply-written”, but “its weaknesses ultimately hold it back from greatness.” Olivier Assayas’ adaptation of the novel The Wizard of the Kremlin is an uneven but generally good film bolstered by some excellent individual performances from a star-studded cast and some occasionally sharp dialogue. Paul Dano is in the lead role as Vadim Baranov (based loosely on real-life Russian politician Vladislav Surkov), a former theater student who winds up becoming one of Vladimir Putin’s right-hand men thanks to his own creativity and cunning, always two steps ahead, and whose…
Chris Harrison says that Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery thrills, surprises, and is a rare sequel that lives up to its predecessors. Director Rian Johson is back with another entry in the Knives Out series, once again dropping private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) into a world of larger-than-life characters as he solves a murder where everyone has a motive. While the previous two entries were set in mansions and parodied the ultra rich, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery focuses its lens on another source of power in a case that revolves around a…
