Katherine Monk 399 results

Katherine Monk is a former movie critic with The Vancouver Sun and Postmedia News, as well as co-founder of The Ex-Press. She still watches a lot of movies. She can be heard talking about them on CBC Radio, and you can read what she thinks about them here, exclusively in The Ex-Press.

The Daniels: Boys with Feelings

Interview: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, aka 'The Daniels' The directing team behind award-winning music videos felt their first feature should take some risks, so they paired a farting corpse with a man bent on suicide in Swiss Army Man By Katherine Monk Artsy has never been so fartsy. In the new movie Swiss Army Man, Daniel Radcliffe plays a corpse, Paul Dano plays a suicidal introvert and flatulence assumes a central, life-affirming role in the denouement. Welcome to the world according to ‘The Daniels’ — a unique corner of the universe occupied by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, two first-time feature directors who found themselves in the Sundance spotlight last January when festival director John Cooper pronounced their debut feature, Swiss Army Man, one to watch at the opening press conference. The Ex-Press caught up with the dynamic duo (who are also responsible for award-winning music videos such as DJ Snake and Lil' Jon's Turned Down for What?) during a ...
3.5Score

Peeved Pets Avoid Animated Irritations

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets The Secret Life of Pets offers warm, fuzzy reflection on what it means to be human by immersing us in the animal world where money has less value than an old sock, a bowl of kibble or a tender, loving touch
3Score

What’s The BFG? Spielberg and Rylance reunite for kid romp

Movie review: The BFG Steven Spielberg brings Roald Dahl's story of a little girl and a vegetarian giant to the big screen with gorgeous visuals and a sentimental streak, but a somewhat jumbled storyline that leaks emotion and suspense
3.5Score

Tarzan: Where Hollywood Meets Vine

Movie Review: The Legend of Tarzan David Yates swings from action to romance with athletic grace in latest screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's chest-beating bodice-ripper -30-      
3Score

De Palma doc paints portrait on black velvet

Movie Review: De Palma Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow offer a Brian De Palma appreciation course via a talking head documentary that delves into the director's early days as an avant-garde artiste and his eventual slide into the Tinseltown tar pit  
3.5Score

The Neon Demon proves an inert gas

Movie Review: The Neon Demon Nicolas Winding Refn sinks his teeth into the skin deep world of modelling using vampire movie devices, a candy-coloured palette and Jena Malone as a predatory lesbian makeup artist -30-
3Score

Free State of Jones shackled by good intentions

Movie Review: Free State of Jones Matthew McConaughey raises a slave army and an earnest eyebrow as little-known rebel Newt Knight in director Gary Ross's well-intended Civil War drama that feels stiff in its Sunday best
3Score

Genius strikes generic notes

Movie review: Genius Despite perfecting his gift for blending dour disdain and puppy-eyed sympathy in a single glance, Colin Firth's performance as Thomas Wolfe's editor feels cut-out  
3Score

Finding Dory, losing story

Movie Review: Finding Dory Ellen DeGeneres returns as a fish with short-term memory loss in a largely forgettable sequel to Finding Nemo -30-

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau shuns royal treatment

Interview: Susanne Bier and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau get A Second Chance He sports prosthetic golden fingers to play the role of Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones, but Nikolaj Coster-Waldau hates getting a fake hand for any performance, which is why he's grateful for the firm grip of fellow Dane Susanne Bier By Katherine Monk TORONTO—In the opening episode of Game of Thrones, his character pushed a young boy from a window without a hint of remorse. But put a fussy newborn in Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s arms, and the handsome Dane turns into a human pacifier. “It didn’t matter what the babies were doing… if Nikolaj picked them up, they would almost immediately fall asleep,” says director Susanne Bier, referring to the off-camera vibe on her latest film, A Second Chance (En chance til). A relatively small Danish-language drama about a police officer who makes a life-altering decision with good intentions, A Second Chance has been making a slow pass through North American ...