A trio of tales tells the story. They feature a badass DEA agent (Armie Hammer) who is on the hunt to bring down a Canadian drug lord Mother (Guy Nadon). A recovering addict (Evangeline Lilly) who suffers a personal loss that triggers a revenge plot, and Gary Oldman, a Doctor that gets put under pressure to follow a Big Pharma party line in regards to testing on a new drug. Oldman was also a producer on the project.

The three provide the bedrock to the film with varying degrees of success. Hammer in stock police procedural mode gets to be the renegade rebel with the heart of gold as he struggles to bring down the bad guy and keep his substance abuse sister alive. His storyline dovetails with that of Lilly’s as she mirrors his attempt to bring down the Kingpin, Mother. Oldman’s Doctor role exists outside of the street and is set in the world of academia and unfortunately misses the chance to make a bigger impact in the film’s narrative.

The opioid catastrophe has become a horrible scourge in North American and other parts of the world and it deserves a film that ignites a great sense of outrage and works to instill a strong desire to get involved in its banishment, unfortunately, Crisis isn’t completely up to the task. It is entertaining but ultimately lacks the gravitas that the situation deserves.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU

Told in a non-linear manner, as more details are revealed you experience a shifting of focus and the way you relate to the characters and their actions. There is darkness in the hearts of men that informs the actions of some.

Film adaptations of novels, in this case the book of the same name by author John Searles, are always fraught with risk. Readers often form their own internal imagery and it’s almost always the more vivid version. This screen edition will most likely divide those devotees.

Using the slow build technique to keep the audience on the edge of their seat until the final resolve only works if the end delivers the goods. When the final reel of Strange But True plays out and puts all the pieces together in one place, those pieces just might fit too easily together.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/IconFilmDistribution.Au

As his world upends, the most shocking revelation to James is that he is the only person who has ever watched his favourite television program, “Brigsby Bear Adventures”.

Struggling to adjust to his new environment and the show’s abrupt end, he begins to see “Brigsby’s” lessons as his only way to make sense of his new world. James decides to make a movie to finish Brigsby’s story—and re-begin his own.

Brigsby Bear stars Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Greg Kinnear, Kate Lyn Sheil, Ryan Simpkins, Matt Walsh and Michaela Watkins and directed by Dave McCary.
www.facebook.com/BrigsbyBear