A scene from the animated film "Spirit Untamed." (DreamWorks)
It’s been almost two decades since the adventures of a Kiger Mustang stallion named Spirit were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” lost to another spirited entry, “Spirited Away” from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki, but spawned a cottage industry in the form of television shows and video games.
This weekend the headstrong horse goes on another feature length DreamWorks Animation adventure in “Spirit Untamed.” Now playing in theatres, it is a re-imagined version of the television series “Spirit Riding Free.”
First, some background.
Lucky Prescott’s (Isabela Merced) mother Milagro was a fearless horse trick rider from Miradero, a small town in America’s Wild West.
Milagro’s legend looms large in Lucky’s imagination, but she never got to know her. After her mother’s death, Lucky was raised on the east coast by Aunt Cora (Julianne Moore), a straight-laced woman who struggles with her niece’s inherited wild side.
When Lucky pushes her luck too far, Aunt Cora decides the youngster needs stability in the form of her father, Jim (Jake Gyllenhaal) at the family home in sleepy little Miradero.
Life in the small town doesn’t sit well with Lucky, until she meets her kindred spirit, a wild Mustang who shares her independent streak. The horse, Spirit, is the leader of a herd of wild stallions who become the target of animal poachers led by the evil Hendricks (Walton Goggins).
In an effort to save the horses from a life of captivity and hard labour, Lucky recruits two local horseback riders -- Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin) -- and embarks on a rescue mission.
“Spirit Untamed” contains good messages about independence, but also about being connected to a larger community. Lucky and Spirit are, well, spirited in their own ways, but their true strength lies in their respect for the people and horses around them.
It is a simple story of empowerment that doesn’t gallop over any new ground but, hackneyed though the message may be, it’s still an important one for younger viewers.
The big-eyed Margaret Keanesque character animation is nicely rendered, accompanied by energetic voice work that should appeal to fans of the original. Younger viewers, who may not have been around when the original made a stir, can find parallels between this and the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise.
With “Cruella” taking a dark turn, “Spirit Untamed” is the best family flick of the season.
This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Eugenie Bondurant in a scene from "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It." Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)
Eight movies into “The Conjuring” franchise, the ghostbusting Warrens, Ed and Lorraine, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, face their most daunting adversary yet. They’ve battled evil in the form of haunted houses, supernatural spirits and a nasty doll named Annabelle, but in “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” now playing in theatres, the married demonologists investigate a murder with a suspect who claims the devil made him do it.
Set in 1981 Connecticut, “The Devil Made Me Do It” is based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson -- the first case to attempt a defense claim of demonic possession.
The movie begins with a priest and the Warrens performing an exorcism on eight-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) that would give Regan MacNeil a run for her money. As all hell breaks loose, the demon leaves the youngster’s body and after Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), the boyfriend of David’s sister, taunts it, the demon takes control of the older man. “Leave him alone!” Arne says to the demon. “He’s just a little boy you coward! Leave him alone and take me!”
Soon Arne’s behaviour changes and when he stabs his landlord 22 times, the Warrens set out to prove he is not guilty by reason of demonic possession. “The court accepts the existence of God every time a witness swears to tell the truth,” Ed says. “I think it’s about time they accept the existence of the Devil.”
When Arne is charged in a death penalty case, the Warrens spring into action to prove his innocence. “We won’t let him down,” Ed says. As the couple works to discover what is real and what is not, the case presents ever-increasing personal danger.
“The Devil Made Me Do It” is more a procedural prompted by Arne’s actions than Arne’s story. He disappears for 45 minutes or so as the Warrens decipher the mystery surrounding his crime. Director Michael Chaves keeps up the atmosphere of dread with a series of well-executed lighting effects, jump scares and eerie sound cues but, while he delivers some shocks, he knows that the real reason “The Conjuring” movies work is the relationship between Wilson and Farmiga. As the Warrens, they are the earthbound anchor who add humanity to the supernatural goings-on.
Sure, there is a devilish waterbed—anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s already knew waterbeds were bad, but the movie makes a convincing case for them as evil as well—and lots of Satanic Panic, but “The Devil Made Me Do It” isn’t all pentagrams and inverted crosses. It flags in the midsection, but by the time the end credits roll, the relationship between the demon hunters is front and centre; a testament to the power of love. It may be a cliché, but it adds some light to the film’s dark elements and gives Wilson and Farmiga some nice character building moments.
The Warrens are unlikely horror heroes, but “The Devil Made Me Do It” proves you don’t have to be creepy to deliver the thrills.
(Abramorama/Hot Docs)
You may not have heard of Rockfield, a recording studio located on a cattle and pig farm just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales, but you have heard the songs recorded there.
A new documentary, “Rockfield: The Studio on The Farm,” now on VOD, aims to illuminate the history of a place that helped create the sound of heavy metal, gave the world Queen’s signature tune when the band mastered the final section of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the summer of 1975, inspired Chris Martin to write “Yellow,” and Oasis to record “(What's the Story) Morning Glory?”
“It’s like the ‘Big Brother’ house with tunes,” says Liam Gallagher. “You go there and don’t leave until the album is done.”
The walls of the storied studio don’t have to talk, they have owners Kingsley and Charles Ward to do that. The brothers began as farmers and wannabe musicians, but soon realized there was more money in offering a place for bands to get away from the hustle and bustle of London’s music scene than there was in raising pigs.
“Once we got rid of the pigs, we got into the music business,” says Kingsley, the quirkier of the two. “So it was more and less the same, except the usage had changed.”
The Ward brothers provide a great deal of the film’s charm. From helping Lemmy find a place to store his drug stash in the band’s living quarters to Kingsley’s colourfully understated way of telling a story, they provide the documentary’s backbone. The stories are then fleshed out by the musicians who called the place home at one time or another.
“We started as a rock band dabbling in drugs,” Ozzy Osbourne says of Black Sabbath, who rehearsed their breakthrough album “Paranoid” at Rockfield, “and ended up a drug band dabbling in rock.”
Gallagher talks about trying to record after spending the day -- and night -- at one of the local pubs. “You’d have a go,” he says, “but you’d end up sounding like The Pogues.”
Robert Plant says he was “already a cliché” by the time he hit Rockfield to record his first solo album, and seems to have genuine affection for the place and Kingsley. Like so many others before him, he used “this arboreal green and pleasant land” as a place of reinvention.
Rockfield is still a recording studio and a working farm, and that mix and match of pastoral and musical is key to the magic of the place. Chris Martin of Coldplay calls it a “musical Hogwarts,” where bands went to live, create and find their sound. “We were sent away to figure it out,” he says.
“Rockfield: The Studio on The Farm” is an exercise in nostalgia, but it is an entertaining one. A look back at rock ‘n’ roll’s first residential studio, it’s a guided tour through several generations of British rock.
A scene from "Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life & Times of Mr. Ulric Cross." (Photo courtesy CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution)
At the beginning of “Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life & Times of Mr. Ulric Cross,” a bio-doc on the life of Ulric Cross and now available on premium VOD on the Cineplex Store, the film’s subject says, “When I was appointed High Commissioner in London, the Foreign Office asked, ‘How did I wish to be addressed?’ Judge? Which I had been. Professor. Which I had been. Squadron leader? Which I had been.”
Ultimately, the Caribbean high court judge, pan-African diplomat, decorated Royal Air Force war hero and BBC producer-presenter keeps it simple.
How shall we address him? “As Ulric,” he says with a laugh.
Using a mix of archival footage and reenactments, director Frances-Anne Solomon takes a methodical approach to laying out Cross’s eventful life. Step-by-step Solomon, with the aid of slick editing from Charles Ross and effective performances from a talented cast—Nickolai Salcedo as Cross, Joseph Marcell, Pippa Nixon, Peter Williams, John Dumelo, Adjetey Anang and Prince David Oseia—tells multiple stories with Cross as the focus.
Using Cross as the focus, the film illuminates his role in the broader stories of British colonialism in the Caribbean and Africa; the moves toward peaceful liberation in Ghana, Congo, Cameroon and Tanzania; and the efforts to establish the United States of Africa. “He was part of something much bigger,” says daughter Nicola.
There is a lot happening in “Hero.” The stories of Cross’s idealism and work to change the world sit alongside some MI6 intrigue and interviews with his wife Ann. Jessica B. Hill plays Nicola, the daughter who provides a link between the archival aspects of the story and her father’s final days. “My father gave me choice,” she says. “Not once when I was growing up, did I ever feel like anything was out of reach. That was not true for him. I have that to thank him for that.”
With so much going on, “Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life & Times of Mr. Ulric Cross” falls prey to some episodic storytelling and occasionally feels rushed in its attempt to cover the width and breadth of Cross’s life. Still, the documentary works as an issue-driven look at the life of a remarkable man.
A group of doctors say Canadian cancer screening guidelines set by a national task force are out-of-date and putting people at risk because their cancers aren't detected early enough.
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.
An Ontario woman says she never expected to be gifted a Blue Jays jersey for her ailing husband when she sat alone at the team’s home opener next to a couple of kind strangers.
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.
An immersive experience inside a massive dome coined 'The Brain' is helping youth learn about brain function and addiction
As Canadians deal with a crushing housing shortage, high rental prices and inflationary price pressures, now Equifax Canada is warning that Canadian consumers are increasingly under stress"from the surging cost of living.
An inmate who escaped from Dorchester Penitentiary in Dorchester, N.B., on Saturday evening has a long history of violent crimes and a history of escaping custody.
Canadian 'Jeopardy!' champion Mattea Roach will return for the season annual 'Jeopardy! Masters' tournament.
An inmate who escaped from Dorchester Penitentiary in Dorchester, N.B., on Saturday evening has a long history of violent crimes and a history of escaping custody.
As Canadians deal with a crushing housing shortage, high rental prices and inflationary price pressures, now Equifax Canada is warning that Canadian consumers are increasingly under stress"from the surging cost of living.
The annual inflation rate ticked higher in March compared with February, boosted by higher prices for gasoline, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Inflation on groceries continued to slow in March, rising just 1.9 per cent compared with a year earlier.
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.
A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against 16 pharmaceutical companies that are alleged to have misled consumers about the efficacy and dangers of opioid medications.
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.
After its last closure in 2021, it has now reopened for guided tours of the air raid shelter and the bunker. The complex now includes a multimedia exhibition about Rome during World War II, air raid systems for civilians, and the series of 51 Allied bombings that pummeled the city between July 1943 and May 1944.
More potential jurors were dismissed Tuesday from Donald's Trump's hush money case as lawyers worked for a second day to find a panel of New Yorkers to decide whether the Republican will become the first former president convicted of a crime.
The UN human rights office called on Israeli security forces to immediately end their active participation in and support for attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The creation of sexually explicit deepfake content is likely to become a criminal offense in England and Wales as concern grows over the use of artificial intelligence to exploit and harass women.
Australia's prime minister said Tuesday a French construction worker who confronted a man who stabbed six people to death in a Sydney shopping mall is welcome to stay in the country as long as he likes.
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.
A group of doctors say Canadian cancer screening guidelines set by a national task force are out-of-date and putting people at risk because their cancers aren't detected early enough.
A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against 16 pharmaceutical companies that are alleged to have misled consumers about the efficacy and dangers of opioid medications.
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.
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.
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Canadian 'Jeopardy!' champion Mattea Roach will return for the season annual 'Jeopardy! Masters' tournament.
Comedian Kevin Hart will headline the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival (GOCF) in Edmonton this summer, organizers announced Tuesday.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in March declined seven per cent compared with February.
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.
In Salman Rushdie's first book since the 2022 stabbing that hospitalized him and left him blind in one eye, the author wastes no time reliving the day he thought might be his last.
The one thing 9-year-old Cal Clifford wanted more than anything since he was a toddler was a pet octopus.
His new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” essentially calls for a revolution in how parents administer smartphones and social media to their teens.
An Ontario woman says she never expected to be gifted a Blue Jays jersey for her ailing husband when she sat alone at the team’s home opener next to a couple of kind strangers.
The NHL says it has cleared Logan Mailloux for participation after the Montreal Canadiens recalled the defenceman Monday night ahead of their regular-season finale Tuesday.
Connor McDavid achieved a rare feat as his team was administering a rare beating.
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.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
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.
Vancouver police say a 29-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in the targeted killing of a 49-year-old woman in South Vancouver.
Authorities have arrested a suspect who allegedly assaulted a Vancouver police officer during a pro-Palestinian protest last month.
Mounties in Surrey, B.C., say traffic is flowing once again after an overnight crash knocked out a utility pole and forced the closure of 184 Street between 32 Avenue and 40 Avenue.
An Ontario woman says she never expected to be gifted a Blue Jays jersey for her ailing husband when she sat alone at the team’s home opener next to a couple of kind strangers.
Police say a group of teens are facing charges after they allegedly stole a vehicle at gunpoint in a Markham parking lot but crashed it into a parked car just moments later.
Toronto police say they have laid 54 charges against three suspects following a carjacking investigation.
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) investment board will be hosting a public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on April 16 at the BMO Centre.
As expected, a frontal system brought rain to southern Alberta, then heavy, wet snow into the region late Monday and early Tuesday.
A bunch of big-name DJs are set to perform in Calgary in August at the 2024 Chasing Summer music festival, including one that reality TV lovers might be excited about.
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.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating the theft of "several thousand" dollars worth of tropical fish stolen from an Upper Ottawa Valley restaurant last week.
Ottawa police have charged two people allegedly responsible for seven jewelry store thefts and robberies in the last year.
A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against 16 pharmaceutical companies that are alleged to have misled consumers about the efficacy and dangers of opioid medications.
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.
The NHL says it has cleared Logan Mailloux for participation after the Montreal Canadiens recalled the defenceman Monday night ahead of their regular-season finale Tuesday.
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.
Canada's Tamarack Valley Energy TVE.TO has temporarily shut production of about 6,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) following a fire at a Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ.TO gas plant in Alberta, the companies said on Monday.
Comedian Kevin Hart will headline the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival (GOCF) in Edmonton this summer, organizers announced Tuesday.
An inmate who escaped from Dorchester Penitentiary in Dorchester, N.B., on Saturday evening has a long history of violent crimes and a history of escaping custody.
The Nova Scotia RCMP says four people have been charged following a man’s homicide two years ago.
A portion of Barrington Street has reopened after a three-vehicle crash Tuesday morning.
Police are investigating after a 12-year-old girl found a sawed-off shotgun on the shores of a Manitoba beach.
Manitoba Progressive Conservatives are to select a new leader on April 26 of next year.
New figures show Manitoba New Democrats raised and spent more money than the Progressive Conservatives in last year's election campaign.
Saskatchewan's finance minister was ordered to apologize after she sent the Speaker a text accusing him of letting the legislature devolve into an 'Opposition puppet show' on Monday.
In Saskatchewan tourism generates over $2.4 billion in yearly spending and employs close to 71,000 people.
Three members of the 2023-24 Regina Pats have been listed on NHL Central Scouting's final rankings heading into the NHL Entry Draft in June. With several other names with Saskatchewan connections on the lists as well.
Cambridge resident Samantha Falkiner explains why something felt "off" about the men who approached her and her neighbours on Friday.
Waterloo Regional Police Services has released the estimated total cost for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend in the city of Waterloo.
The sun is shining and the swans are back in the water at Victoria Park in Kitchener.
Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) are investigating the second homicide this week after a 25-year-old man was fatally shot early Tuesday morning.
Saskatoon police officers were called to 3206 33rd Street West Monday morning with reports of an “insecure property.” When they arrived, they found a woman dead in the basement.
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.
Rescue crews are searching for a man reported missing on the weekend after the vehicle he was driving was pulled into a creek near the Quebec border in northern Ontario.
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.
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.
Sifton Properties, Homes Unlimited (London) and the Anglican Diocese of Huron and St. Paul's Cathedral will be working together on the conversion of an office building to affordable housing.
Construction will slow down traffic moving through Exeter for the rest of the year. A reconstruction of the community's main street at the north end of town is underway.
Two new shows are coming to Casino Rama's Entertainment Centre for fans of country music and 80s rock.
A woman from Alliston will take home a $1 million lottery prize after matching all seven Encore numbers in the exact order on the March 6 draw.
Police in Barrie are investigating a bizarre theft after a suspect broke into a fenced compound, stole a pickup truck and trailer and plowed through the locked gate before abandoning both stolen items.
The ‘faint hope’ hearing of Ali Al-Shammari, 38, continued Tuesday in Superior court.
Windsor police have arrested a 35-year-old woman related to a porch pirate investigation in Walkerville.
A new study published in a Canadian medical journal paints a bleak picture around opioid-related deaths in Canada. It shows the number of those deaths has more than doubled over a three-year period when the pandemic hit high gear.
The Department of Fisheries says planning for a new attempt to rescue an orca calf trapped in a Vancouver Island lagoon will be finalized in the next few days but no date has been set.
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.
Vancouver police say a 29-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in the targeted killing of a 49-year-old woman in South Vancouver.
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.
Here is a look at how some northern Ontario colleges are being affected by the new Canadian immigration policy that has reduced the number of new international students.
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.
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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