This image released by Marvel Studios shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from "Black Widow." (Marvel Studios-Disney via AP)
If you were to make a Venn diagram of “Black Widow,” now on Disney+ with premium access, and the recent animated film “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” you’d be surprised by the overlap. Both movies are about estranged families coming together and siblings finding a path forward after years of bitter feelings. One is much louder than the other, but underneath it all they are both all about family.
“I chose to go west and become an Avenger,” Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) says. “They treated me like family.”
The story begins with a flashback.
It’s 1995 and sisters Natasha (played as a child by Ever Anderson) and Yelena (Violet McGraw) are separated from their Soviet sleeper cell family in Ohio. Removed from their undercover agent parents, scientist mother Melina (Rachel Weisz) and super-soldier father Alexei (David Harbour), they are placed under the supervision of evil Soviet General Dreykov (Ray Winston) in a training camp called the Red Room where they are brainwashed and taught the deadly ways of the Widows.
Jump forward 21 years to the gap between the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and “Infinity War.” Natasha (Johansson) is cut loose from her Avengers pals after breaking the Sokovia Accords. The superhero clan have gotten "divorced," and Natasha is hiding out in Norway. When she is attacked by Dreykov’s bodyguard, the mysterious Taskmaster, she reunites with her estranged “family” to take on the Russian general.
“Black Widow,” the first Marvel Cinematic Universe solo outing for Johansson’s character, has spent a year bouncing around the pandemic release schedule and brings with it high expectations from fans.
Directed by Cate Shortland, Romanoff’s convoluted backstory is handled in a fairly straightforward way, part Marvel, part “The Americans.” The movie does offer up a fair amount of fan service but still provides eye-scorching action and basic, relatable themes of the importance of family and responsibility for the casual viewer.
Despite the wild CGI action and Jason Bourne style one-on-one combat, the film feels more grounded than most other Marvel movies. Perhaps it’s because Natasha and Yelena (Florence Pugh) don’t have super powers (although they are VERY resilient) or perhaps it’s because the story details the dysfunctional, tragic past that put Natasha on the road to becoming an assassin or maybe it’s because the villain Dreykov barely makes an impression, but the usual stakes—saving the world—take a backseat to more personal concerns.
“Black Widow” is a swansong for Natasha. The character jumped off a cliff in “Avengers: Endgame,” sacrificing herself so her superhero buddies could acquire the Soul Stone and help defeat genocidal warlord Thanos. Johansson sends her off with a suitably steely yet vulnerable performance, and when she isn’t running, jumping, punching or shooting, she brings some real humanity to the quieter scenes.
Pugh and Harbour bring some much-welcomed levity, the former as the eye-rolling sarcastic younger sister, the latter as the insecure wannabe super soldier who is just a bit too concerned about his legacy. Their bickering and subtle character touches help add life to the family vibe so important to the story the movie is trying to tell.
Like so many of the Marvel films, near the end “Black Widow” succumbs to overkill, noise and frenetic CGI action scenes. The family is united, à la “The Boss Baby,” but the onscreen fireworks overwhelm the compelling family story that lies at the heart of Natasha’s journey.
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Benicio del Toro, center, and Don Cheadle in a scene from "No Sudden Move." (Claudette Barius/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
“No Sudden Move,” a new Steven Soderbergh film starring Don Cheadle and Benicio del Toro and now playing on Crave, is a film noir that gets lost in its knotty plot, but is kept on track by a top-notch cast.
Set in 1954 Detroit, the action begins with Jones, a shady character played by Brendan Fraser, recruiting three low level criminals, Curt (Cheadle), Ronald (del Toro) and Charley (Kieran Culkin), for a job that pays too much to be as easy as he says it will be. They all agree, just so long as someone named Frank (Ray Liotta) won’t be involved.
Their job is to invade General Motors accountant Matt Wertz’s (David Harbour) home, keep his family quiet for an hour while he retrieves a document from his boss’s safe.
Sounds simple, but this is Detroit in 1954. Industrial espionage between the Big Three car companies is a dangerous game, and, of course, Frank is involved. “Everybody has a problem with Frank these days.”
As things spin out of control, greed kicks in and the fast cash the small-time criminals hoped to make causes big time problems.
Soderbergh immerses his characters and the viewer in a world that where secrets propel the action. No one is who they seem and motives are even murkier. It makes for a twisty-turny story that is part crime story, part social history of the spark that ignited the slow decline of Detroit.
To add to the disorientation, Soderbergh shoots the action through a fish eye lens that blurs the edges of the screen, mimicking the script’s moral fog.
“No Sudden Move” almost bites off more than it can chew. It’s occasionally clunky, with too many double-crosses and characters vying for screen time, but the star-studded cast cuts through the script’s noise with ease. The result is a caper that flier by, buoyed by surprises (including a big-name uncredited cameo), snappy dialogue and a great debt to Elmore Leonard.
Leigh Janiak, Ted Sutherland, and Sadie Sink are seen in the film "Fear Street Part Two: 1978." (Chernin Entertainment)
“The Summer of Fear” continues on Netflix with the release of “Fear Street Part 2: 1978,” the second part of their R.L. “Goosebumps” Stine trilogy about the cursed town of Shadyside, where terrible things have been happening for three hundred years.
Moving backwards in time sixteen years from the first installment, this movie takes place in 1978. Against a classic slasher movie backdrop, a local sleep-away on a lake called Camp Nightwing, a group of teens, half from the Richie-rich town of Sunnyvale, the others from the possibly possessed Shadyside, get ready for a summer of swimming, campfires, secret hook-ups and… murder. As Ziggy Berman (“Stranger Things” Sadie Sink) says, “bad things always happen to Shadysiders.”
Cue the gallons of blood, masked killer, a pentagram and more clues as to why some Shadysiders just can’t stop killing people. With axes.
In real life, 1978 was a pretty good year for horror movies. “Halloween,” “Stranger in Our House” and “Dawn of the Dead” all dropped that year, and all feel like they are paid homage to by director Leigh Janiak. “Friday the 13th” also looms large over “Part 2,” both in vibe and look.
Janiak is faithful to the tropes of vintage slasher films, and despite the young adult label that comes with Stine’s work, it doesn’t spare the blood, allusions to sex, the language or the scares. Characters we care about are offed with mighty swings of an axe, blood squirts and the teens react how teens would react, by using language that may make mom and dad blush.
“Fear Street Part 2: 1978” may look in the rear view mirror for inspiration but what is innovative is the way it links with the other two movies, connecting the narrative over the course of the trilogy. They aren’t sequels to one another, but one Shady-verse, bound by a certain set of rules, some of the same characters and lots and lots of gore.
“Fear Street Part 2: 1978” is rated R for obvious reasons, but the rating feels necessary and authentic to the genre. What feels less necessary are scenes of exposition and a drawn-out storyline between Ziggy and sister Cindy (Emily Rudd), but when the rest works so well, these are quibbles.
A scene from the film "Lift Like a Girl" is shown here. (Cleo Media)
“Pumping Iron,” the film that helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name, probably has more scenes of weightlifting than the new sports documentary “Lift Like a Girl,” now streaming as part of the Impact Series, but it doesn’t have the heart.
Director Mayye Zayed spent four years shooting this fly-on-the-wall documentary. It’s about weightlifting, but like all good sports movies, the sport isn’t the entire point. This is the story of the complex relationship between a coach and an athlete.
Captain Ramadan is the coach. A legend in Alexandria, Egypt he’s trained the country’s most famous weightlifters, his daughter Nahla Ramadan and Abeer Abdel Rahman, the first Arab woman to win two Olympic medals. We meet his latest protégé, Zebiba, when she is a determined fourteen-year-old, hoping to one day add her name to the list of Captain’s famous students. The film follows years of their relationship, as Captain pushes Zebiba to be the best and strongest, physically and mentally, she can be.
"Prioritizing boys is outdated," the Captain says. “Girls need to be as strong as a bull.”
“Lift Like a Girl” places the bond between athlete and trainer front and center. It is a push-and-pull relationship, intricate, often volatile, but always rooted in encouragement and tough love.
This is real life, not a Hollywood version of events, so Zebiba’s journey isn’t always an easy one. Wins and losses, physical and mental issues are present in equal measures to the against-all-odds inspiration provided by the story.
“Lift Like a Girl” is a sports documentary but Zayed deepens the story by weaving numerous threads throughout. Competition is there, but it happens against the backdrop of a changing Egypt and messages about the importance of mentors. Like the people it documents, it is dynamic and scrappy, but still wears its heart on its pumped-up sleeve.
Canadians will learn Tuesday the entirety of the federal Liberal government's new spending plans, and how they intend to pay for them, when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables the 2024 federal budget.
An Ontario woman was shocked to find she’d been charged nearly $7,000 after unknowingly using an unauthorized taxi company while on vacation in January.
A man is fighting for his life after falling about 30 feet in an air duct at Montreal's Olympic Stadium on Monday, authorities say.
Tim Hortons is launching flatbread pizzas nationally in a bid to pick up more afternoon and evening customers.
The National Capital Commission is providing a glimpse inside the gutted 24 Sussex Drive, more than a year after the heritage building along the Ottawa River was closed.
NASA confirmed Monday that a mystery object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station.
Without having seen it, former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge believes that Tuesday's 2024 federal budget from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is 'likely to be the worst budget' in decades.
Using genes from coffee plants around the world, researchers built a family tree for the world's most popular type of coffee, known to scientists as Coffea arabica and to coffee lovers simply as 'arabica.'
Here's a look at the workings and meaning of the elaborate flame-lighting ceremony held among the ruins of Ancient Olympia ahead of each modern Olympiad.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after human remains were found in the Ottawa River in Clarence-Rockland on Monday.
A mass exodus of elected officials from a rural Manitoba municipality has put the community in limbo and may force the province to dissolve what's left of the crumbling council.
A man is fighting for his life after falling about 30 feet in an air duct at Montreal's Olympic Stadium on Monday, authorities say.
Saskatchewan and the RCMP have inked a deal that would see the province fund hundreds more officers if Mounties can recruit to fill those positions.
An Ontario woman was shocked to find she’d been charged nearly $7,000 after unknowingly using an unauthorized taxi company while on vacation in January.
An agreement between the provincial and federal governments will see Premier Doug Ford’s flagship Highway 413 move forward with a joint working group dedicated to minimizing environmental impacts.
A fire raged through one of Copenhagen's oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire from the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables.
Following the Iranian missile and drone strikes against Israel over the weekend, Canada should take the threat of Iran and potential escalation of the conflict seriously, one global affairs analyst says.
A couple who owned a Colorado funeral home where authorities last year discovered 190 decaying bodies were indicted on federal charges that they misspent nearly US$900,000 in pandemic relief funds on vacations, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and other personal expenses, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The ship crash that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and left several people dead is now under federal criminal investigation, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
The historic hush-money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former U.S. president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let a Republican-backed law in Idaho that criminalizes gender-affirming care for transgender minors broadly take effect after a federal judge blocked it as unconstitutional.
Canadians will learn Tuesday the entirety of the federal Liberal government's new spending plans, and how they intend to pay for them, when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables the 2024 federal budget.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she's urging Israel to de-escalate rising conflicts in the Middle East and not bomb Iran in retaliation for this past weekend's thwarted airstrikes.
The federal leader of the New Democrats is insisting his party's position on carbon pricing remains unchanged.
Functional beverages -- or drinks promoted as offering mental or physical benefits beyond hydration -- are growing in popularity around the world. Hundreds of companies have jumped into the market, hoping to get some buzz with trendy and sometimes unfamiliar ingredients.
Difficulties hiring and retaining enough nurses and personal support workers for long-term care homes could mean the Ontario government may not meet its target for the amount of hands-on care residents receive, the minister responsible for the sector was warned.
It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for your mental health and your heart health — and now a new study suggests that all three are working together.
NASA confirmed Monday that a mystery object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station.
Using genes from coffee plants around the world, researchers built a family tree for the world's most popular type of coffee, known to scientists as Coffea arabica and to coffee lovers simply as 'arabica.'
NASA is seeking innovative methods that could help retrieve samples collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars in the future.
Dyson Knight may look like an average college student, but since 2004, he’s actually been a member of the internationally acclaimed Baha Men.
Canadian singer Grimes apologized to fans on Saturday after her Coachella set earlier that evening was beset by technical issues that caused her to scream into the microphone in frustration.
A movie weapons supervisor was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of 'Rust.'
Tim Hortons is launching flatbread pizzas nationally in a bid to pick up more afternoon and evening customers.
A Vancouver woman whose company duped investors by promising big returns on real-estate deals that would house the homeless has been ordered to pay nearly $626,000 after the British Columbia Securities Commission deemed the operation a Ponzi scheme.
The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation as soon as next month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
Celebrity food critic Keith Lee said he was blown away by Toronto, handing a rich ranking to its culinary creators, as the first international stop of his latest food tour.
Even as the cost of living goes up, there are still ways to save some cash when out shopping or using credit cards.
Here's a look at the workings and meaning of the elaborate flame-lighting ceremony held among the ruins of Ancient Olympia ahead of each modern Olympiad.
After four years at the University of Connecticut, Edwards was selected sixth overall by the Washington Mystics in the WNBA draft Monday night.
The Indiana Fever selected sharpshooter Caitlin Clark with the first pick of the WNBA Draft on Monday.
General Motors will move its Detroit headquarters to a new downtown office building next year and work to redevelop its iconic home along the Detroit River, company and city officials confirmed Monday.
Nissan expects to mass produce electric vehicles powered by advanced next-generation batteries by early 2029, the company said Tuesday during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant.
Tesla will lay off more than 10 per cent of its global workforce, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday shows, as it grapples with falling sales amid an intensifying price war for electric vehicles.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.
A popular highway in Alberta's Banff National Park now has a 'no stopping zone' to help protect two bears.
B.C. resident Robert Conrad spent thousands of hours on Crown land developing an unusual bond with deer.
A Sudbury woman said her husband was bringing the recycling out to the curb Wednesday night when he had to make a 'mad dash' inside after seeing a bear.
A school teacher who took part in the Quebec version of the Survivor reality TV show took time off work to be a contestant is now out of a job.
A young actor from Prince Edward Island is getting the chance to fulfill a childhood dream, playing the precocious and iconic Anne Shirley on stage.
Nicholas Zhang, 17, will be competing at the Paris Olympics in July. He is the youngest Canadian male fencer to ever compete in the category.
For many, Monday's total solar eclipse will become a distant memory or collection of photos to scroll through in the years to come. But for Alannah Duarte and her family, they'll be reminded of the rare celestial event every year they celebrate their youngest son's birthday, as he was born on the day of the momentous occasion.
A Montreal couple is having a hard time driving without stress and is unhappy with the city's maintenance after a chunk of highway crashed into their windshield while driving on Thursday night.
The family of a Victoria, B.C., woman who was seriously injured in an accident in Thailand is pleading for help as medical bills pile up.
Last summer, Jessica Michalofsky ran from Nelson to Victoria, raising awareness about the toxic drug crisis that claimed her son Aubrey’s life. Nearly a year later, she's disappointed by the lack of movement on the crisis, as more families lose loved ones.
A Vancouver real estate services firm is pushing back against the widely held view that not enough homes are being built in Metro Vancouver.
An Ontario woman was shocked to find she’d been charged nearly $7,000 after unknowingly using an unauthorized taxi company while on vacation in January.
Some flights may be departing from Toronto Pearson International Airport with “less or no food” after workers who prepare meals for in-flight service walked off the job on Tuesday, the union representing employees says.
Tim Hortons is launching flatbread pizzas nationally in a bid to pick up more afternoon and evening customers.
Alberta legislation pitched to protect provincial priorities could slow down grant funding and allow federal money to be spent elsewhere, say officials representing rural municipalities and faculty members at post-secondary institutions.
A young Okotoks, Alta., family is preparing for a long year ahead, as the first of their two children begins a stem cell transplant they hope will prolong her life.
The cradle is an anonymous drop-off site where an infant can be left in a heated, secured bed, signalling a silent alarm which informs staff.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after human remains were found in the Ottawa River in Clarence-Rockland on Monday.
A recent initiative out of CHEO's YouthNet program is working to destigmatize mental illness in the younger generation.
After four years at the University of Connecticut, Edwards was selected sixth overall by the Washington Mystics in the WNBA draft Monday night.
An international competition is hoping to gather new and interesting ways to recycle Montreal's Olympic Stadium roof, which is set to be dismantled this summer.
Quebec City police say three people were arrested in connection with an alleged assault in the Beauport borough.
Linda Simard says her husband frantically told her to call 911 as he watched two volunteer firefighters get swept away in rushing floodwaters in Quebec's Charlevoix region last year.
Two tickets were issued after an unleashed dog was seen in front of a home where a boy died in a dog attack earlier this month.
In an exclusive interview with CTV News Edmonton on Monday, the premier said a study out of the United Kingdom, the Cass Review, echoes some of her concerns in regards to a lack of scientific rigor when it comes to puberty blockers.
The Alberta government is offering a 7.5-per-cent wage increase in the midst of collective bargaining, with government workers calling for a 26-per-cent bump.
Canadians will learn Tuesday the entirety of the federal Liberal government's new spending plans, and how they intend to pay for them, when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables the 2024 federal budget.
Police are looking for a youth who allegedly stabbed another youth in Halifax on Monday morning.
A low pressure system brought a series of weather fronts across the Maritimes on Friday and into the start of the weekend.
A mass exodus of elected officials from a rural Manitoba municipality has put the community in limbo and may force the province to dissolve what's left of the crumbling council.
An approaching low-pressure system that could bring 50 millimetres of mixed precipitation has triggered a flood warning for parts of Manitoba.
If you’ve ever felt the allure of Hollywood and wanted to be in a big-budget movie your time to shine is now.
Moose Jaw's hyperbaric chamber has now partially resumed services after being discontinued in 2021 due pandemic related staffing shortages. However, only one patient is currently being treated leading to criticism over a perceived lack of service.
Michael Gordon Jackson, the man on trial after being charged with contravention of a custody order for allegedly abducting his daughter in late 2021 to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, called himself to the stand Monday.
Regina's Jon Ryan is set to sign a one-day contract with the Seattle Seahawks tomorrow officially bringing to an end his pro-football career.
Cambridge resident Samantha Falkiner explains why something felt "off" about the men who approached her and her neighbours on Friday.
Police are searching a residence just east of downtown Guelph after a man went to hospital with injuries from a homemade explosive device.
Wellington County OPP is currently investigating a double fatal collision near Drayton.
Friends are raising money for the grieving family of a 16-year-old Saskatoon boy who was killed in a high-speed crash that injured two other teens on Sunday morning.
Dr. Ana-Maria Bosonea is the only allergist in Saskatoon seeing children under 12, and now she’s moving to Alberta.
The city says there may be some odour emanating from the landfill in the coming weeks as crews dig new gas wells and piping to collect more methane from decomposing waste.
An Ontario woman was shocked to find she’d been charged nearly $7,000 after unknowingly using an unauthorized taxi company while on vacation in January.
A northern Ontario family is devastated after a jury found a Moose Factory man not guilty of a 2021 murder.
The body of a 14-year-old boy has been pulled from Lake Ontario after police say he drowned while swimming near Ashbridges Bay Park on Sunday night.
A number of students have been displaced after a house fire in east London near Fanshawe College. Crews were called to the scene on Prosperity Court late Monday night.
A massive surplus remains from last year’s municipal budget in London, but city staff warned councillors against using it for a tax break this year.
Cigarette butts remain the most littered item in the world — including London. On Monday, a ‘butt blitz’ was held behind city hall in Reg Cooper Square.
The residents of Kashechewan First Nation are in a race against time, preparing for a mass evacuation as the relentless threat of flooding from the Albany River looms closer.
It's been more than two years since Jim Lynne died in a crash along Mosley Street in Wasaga Beach.
A street sign in Barrie, renamed to honour 11-year-old Chase McEachern's legacy after he died in 2006, has gone missing again from an alleyway at the heart of the city's waterfront.
General Motors will move its Detroit headquarters to a new downtown office building next year and work to redevelop its iconic home along the Detroit River, company and city officials confirmed Monday.
Windsor police are looking for a woman after a parcel was taken from a home in the 400 block of Chilver Road.
The first Canadian tornado of 2024 hit Essex County in March, says a report from the Northern Tornadoes Project.
The family of a Victoria, B.C., woman who was seriously injured in an accident in Thailand is pleading for help as medical bills pile up.
A Vancouver woman whose company duped investors by promising big returns on real-estate deals that would house the homeless has been ordered to pay nearly $626,000 after the British Columbia Securities Commission deemed the operation a Ponzi scheme.
The HMCS Max Bernays made its way into its new home at CFB Esquimalt on Monday after a long journey from Halifax.
British Columbia is planning to add 240 new units to its complex-care housing program, providing homes for people with mental-health and addictions challenges that overlap with other serious conditions.
More than 80 residents from a low-income apartment building in Kelowna, B.C., have learned they won't be able to return to their homes for at least another two weeks.
Mounties are investigating a reported "road rage" incident in Kelowna, B.C., that left two men injured last week.
Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips is calling on the province to reinstate funding for the Lethbridge Elder Abuse Response Network.
If you’re planning to head to the coulees this weekend to enjoy the nice weather, don’t forget to look down.
With the weather starting to feel like spring is really here, more kids will likely be outside enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures, which organizers of the Slow Your Roll campaign say is a perfect time to re-launch the campaign.
The City of Sault Ste. Marie is expecting a busy summer at the Downtown Plaza. City officials say the plaza is coming off a successful first winter season, which saw large crowds gathering at the outdoor rink.
The Soo Greyhounds are the talk of the town, as their second-round matchup in the OHL playoffs touches down in the Sault.
Thunder Bay Police Service held a news conference Monday afternoon to discuss the misconduct investigation that led to criminal charges being laid against the city's former police chief.
A pricing agreement has been reached between crab fishers and seafood processors that will allow for Newfoundland and Labrador's annual crab fishery to get started.
Longliners across Newfoundland and Labrador are tied up once again, as a new protest by the province's fish harvesters threatens to derail the crab fishery for a second straight year.
A unique photo exhibit is putting cameras into the hands of survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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