So bad, it's good?

I was expecting Cocaine Bear (Elizabeth Banks) to be bad, real bad, based on a review by a Toronto critic. And we all know how snobby those Toronto critics can be. In fact, the review was so critical it made me want to see it. You know, so bad it’s good! But having seen it I can’t say it’s that bad. It won’t win any Golden Globe awards, that’s for sure, and you won’t see it at your local art house cinema, not even at a midnight So Bad It’s Good screening. The production values are good. The fast-paced soundtrack takes you back to the 1980s beat, when the movie is set. 1985 to be exact. And it’s kind of based on a true story. About cocaine smugglers whose escapade the “Bluegrass Conspiracy” goes bad. Kingpin Anthony Thornton (Matthew Rhys) bumps his head on the aircraft door as he’s about to parachute out with 30 kilos of cocaine falling to his death. But the cocaine falls separately in a remote northern Georgia forest. Where there are bears. Big black ones. One of these discovers the coke and decides to feast on it. Bad things happen. The film stars Keri Russell and the late Ray Liotta, who died after the film was made (it’s dedicated to him). The movie is billed as a horror and comedy, so take your pick - it's really not all that scary and the horror scenes add to the comedy IMO. The special effects bear is done very well. The cast is essentially a bunch of doofuses with the only heroes mom Sari (Russell), daughter Dee Dee (Brooklyn Prince) and her best friend Henry (Christian Convery). The drug smugglers, cops and park rangers are all bumbling idiots but fun bumbling idiots. Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) squirts on “European” perfume for a big date in the forest. Her date insists on calling animals “biological friends.” One of the bad guys, told what a gazebo is, says indignantly “I know.” His buddy says, “I don’t.” The movie ends with the bear gobbling more cocaine to Depeche Mode's Just Can’t Get Enough. So, the movie is neither really good nor bad but lighthearted Smokey the Bear stuff. It will probably be popular with park rangers everywhere.

Flying through Toronto last week and having more than seven hours to kill between flights – and being close to downtown at Toronto Island airport – I thought I’d go see a movie. The only Oscar-nominated one (it tops nominations with 11 and which could indeed win best pic) that I wanted to see was Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert). Yet, even in Toronto, Canada’s so-called film capital with several art house cinemas – and only a couple of weeks before the Oscars – it wasn’t showing. Some world class city!

Movie theatres are now doing what the airlines have long done - charging for better seats. AMC is testing “sightline” seats - better seats for increased prices. And yes, cheaper ones too, but for the neck-craning seats in the front row.  Also, it's charging more on opening weekends for blockbusters. That’s in the US. But everything that happens there ends up here.