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Much Ado About Nothing: The original rom-com gets a 21st century makeover
Much Ado About Nothing: The original rom-com gets a 21st century makeover

CTV News

time2 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • CTV News

Much Ado About Nothing: The original rom-com gets a 21st century makeover

The Shakespeare Company and Full Circle Theatre team up to present Much Ado About Nothing at the West Village Theatre through June 28. Much Ado About Nothing might not be the original romantic comedy, but if's got to be close. The comedy which tells the story of the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick, is thought to have been written around 1598, before daily newspapers -- and theatre critics -- even existed. Talk about a word-of-mouth hit! Now, Calgary's Shakespeare Company is teaming up with Full Circle Theatre to present a new, 21st century production of the romantic comedy that inspired such contemporary Hollywood hits as Anyone But You, the 2024 film starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. It's a follow-up of sorts to past Full Circle productions such as Riverona, which was a teen drama adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Full Circle, a Calgary independent theatre company launched in 2010 by Erin Weir and Claire Bolton, a pair of U of C graduates. The company, a collective that celebrates women in theatre, is teaming up with The Shakespeare Company, whose artistic director Richard Beaune is returning to the stage in Much Ado to play Dogberry. 'Both companies are committed to approachable, emotionally grounded Shakespeare that feels real and relevant to today's audiences,' Weir said in a media release. As for Much Ado, the themes of a 16th century romance will be recognizable to a 21st century audience, Weir says. 'At the heart of this production is an exploration of trust,' she said. 'How it's built, how it's broken, and what it costs us. As love stories unravel and friendships are tested, the audience is asked: what does it mean to truly believe in someone?' Much Ado About Nothing runs through June 28 at West Village Theatre. For more information, go here or here.

Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal are the best-looking love triangle ever in Materialists
Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal are the best-looking love triangle ever in Materialists

News.com.au

time3 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • News.com.au

Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal are the best-looking love triangle ever in Materialists

Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal make Materialists fabulous to look at – but the movie doesn't quite know what it wants to be. MATERIALISTS (M) **1/2 General release. Purely on the basis of the talent assembled, Materialists should have been a hit in every sense of the word. First of all, you've got just about the best-looking love triangle possible: a radiant Dakota Johnson (as a fancypants New York professional matchmaker) pondering which of the duelling dreamboats Pedro Pascal (rich, tall and handsome) or Chris Evans (broke, tall and handsome) should ultimately prove worthy of her affections. Secondly, behind the cameras, you have filmmaker Celine Song, who wowed audiences worldwide in 2023 with her multi-Oscar-nominated romantic drama Past Lives. However, for a multitude of reasons, Materialists can only find fizzle where the sizzle should be. While hardly unwatchable, the movie seems perpetually unsure about what it wants to be. Sometimes it is an undeniably likeable, if lightweight romantic comedy. At other times, it aspires to something heavier, as it explores the same storytelling planes traversed by Past Lives. Most viewers will quickly pick up on Materialists' tentative tendencies, and become all the more frustrated with the obvious uncertainty on display. ELIO (PG) Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi Starring: the voices of Zoe Saldana, Yonas Kibreab, Brad Garrett, Shirley Henderson. ***1/2 Finding a better place in outer space In recent times, younger audiences have been both underestimated and underserviced by the major movie studios. However, the box-office figures of 2025 so far suggest the tide may finally be turning for the better. A majority of the biggest releases of the year have delivered the goods to kids in all the right ways. If children weren't already spoiled for choice right now – as you read this, the top two movies worldwide are top-notch live-action remakes of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon – the welcome arrival of a quality new effort from Pixar Animation seals that deal emphatically. This pleasingly imaginative combo of science fiction, light comedy and mild drama doesn't quite reach the lofty heights scaled by Pixar's best-known works. Nevertheless, its capacity to provoke real thought and genuine happiness should not be taken for granted. As the story begins, Elio (voiced convincingly by newcomer Yonas Kibreab) is still getting over the recent passing of his parents. This intelligent and sensitive 11-year-old is now in the care of his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana), an officer in the US Air Force Space Command tasked with mapping and tracking debris in deep space. The around-the-clock pressures of her job have left Olga out of her depth when it comes to properly looking after Elio. The only thing that makes her space-obsessed nephew happy is when she brings him along to work. It is during one of these visits that Elio learns of a possible attempt at radio communication from an alien presence several galaxies away from here. Without Olga noticing, Elio figures out a way to respond to the message, and is instantly transported to a fascinating intergalactic realm known as the Communiverse. The only way to describe the Communiverse is that it functions as a United Nations for the bulk of the known universe. Its colourful multitude of members are sufficiently impressed by Elio's arrival to assume he is a prominent leader back on Earth, and appoint him to be our planet's first representative at the Communiverse. Understandably, Elio's sudden disappearance at home means that Olga must spearhead a search for her adventurous charge. Meanwhile, Elio finds himself a central figure in a Communiverse power struggle orchestrated by the warmongering Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). Intelligently scripted and playfully realised, Elio never fails to engage and entertain its target audience with ease. As usual, Pixar's animation team come into their own when illustrating the Communiverse and the vividly rendered alien beings that call it home. Elio is in cinemas now. JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE (M) ***1/2 Selected cinemas. Charming and stylish, yet refreshingly unpretentious, this rom-com-ish affair from France is definitely worth checking out. Camile Rutherford stars in the lead role of Agathe, a woman in her early 30s caught in something of a rut, both professionally and personally. Her job in a revered Parisian bookstore is a protective cocoon which in subtle ways has inhibited her ambitions as a writer, while also smothering her chances of forming a loving relationship. Though a platonic bond with co-worker Felix (Pablo Pauly) does flicker with the potential for something deeper, it is his encouragement of Agathe's literary aspirations that sends the movie in an unexpected direction. Once Agathe is accepted into a Jane Austen-themed writing workshop in England, she finds herself experiencing the same dilemmas, contradictions and opportunities for love that traditionally beset a typical Austen heroine. A familiarity with Austen's books is hardly necessary to enjoy this sprightly, inventive and cannily observed tale, which highlights both its rookie writer-director Laura Piani and leading lady Rutherford as names to watch in the future.

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