Gr-Gz

Go to Bottom

Sample: Title; rating (out of 4); principal setting; year of release; international co-producer (if any); cast; description; scriptwriter; director; content warning; running time.

GRAND LARCENY   * *  setting: USA.
(1991) Jennifer Dale, Kenneth Welsh, Robert Joy, Catherine Disher, Victor Garber, Damir Andrei.....Turn-of-the-Century con artist Betsy Bigley (Dale) schemes her way out of prison, then plans her revenge on the double crossing lawyer who left her there.  Light-hearted, frothy romp forgets that protagonists (even crooks) have to be likeable.  A sequel to Love and Larceny, though most of the returning characters have been re-cast...and Welsh, who was in the first film, plays a different character!  Like most of Bowie's work there's nothing especially wrong with this film, but nothing right either.  Made for CBC TV.  sc: Douglas Bowie. dir: Stephen Surjik. app. 100 min.

GRANDE OURSE (TVMS)  * * *  setting: P.Q.
(2003) Marc Messier, Normand Daneau, Julie McLemens, Anne Dorval, Fanny Mallette, Guy Nadon, Jacques Godin, Elise Guilbault, Maxime Denommee, Gilles Renaud.....Serio-comic mystery/supernatural/soap opera set in an isolated small town, Grande Ourse, in Quebec and the various relationships, secrets, and strange things afoot, from the conventional (crimes and cover ups) to the supernatural (characters having weird dreams and the town itself being bombarded by weird TV transmissions). Big ensemble cast includes Mercier as a bitter Montreal TV journalist, sent to the town on a frivolous assignment, who gets caught up in the weirdness, and echoes of his own tragic past; Nadon as the owner of the town's mill, its major employer, but also involved in various corrupt dealings; etc. Quebecois answer to Hollywood's "Twin Peaks", though with a brisker tempo, and with a greater (not always comfortable) mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy with the drama and suspense. But, ultimately, an interesting, quirky, delightfully off-beat watch, with some solid performers...though the dialogue shoots by so rapidly in some scenes, the subtitles can flash on and off too quickly (the translator maybe should've occasionally gone for the pared down gist of the conversations, rather than faithful, more verbose, translations). English title: Great Bear. Hour long episodes, shown (subtitled) on the CBC.

LA GRANDE SEDUCTION  * * *  setting: P.Q.
(2003) Raymond Bouchard, David Boutin, Benoit Briere, Pierre Collin, Rita Lafontaine, Clemence Desrochers, Lucie Laurier, Bruno Blanchet, Donald Pilon.....Economically depressed small island town has a chance at prosperity when a factory considers opening there, but in order to seal the deal, they need a resident doctor...so they go about trying to woo a big city doctor (Boutin), coerced into visiting, by pretending to be whatever they think he wants (he's a cricket fan, so they pretend to have a cricket team...even though they know nothing about the sport). Likeable, good natured comedy covers familiar, almost British terrain of movies about eccentric small towns (not to mention the conceptually similar Hollywood film, "Doc Hollywood" -- though this is told from the point of view of the townsfolk, more than the big city doc). Restrained, while also engaging in some amusingly goofy sequences (particularly as they find themselves having to con both the doc and the factory owner), with a particularly nice performance from Bouchard as the level headed ring leader. The movie has heart, too, building to a sweet ending...though Laurier probably should've had a bigger part as the town beauty (giving the movie more of a romantic thread). A big hit in Quebec and, unlike some Quebec comedies, its temperament is easily accessible by an English-Canadian audience. English title: Seducing Doctor Lewis. sc: Ken Scott. dir: Jean-Francois Pouliot. - sexual content.- 109 min. (video)

LES GRANDS ENFANTS * *  setting: P.Q.
(1979) Gilbert Sicotte, Julie Vincent, Robert Gravel, Jean Mathieu, Marielle Bernard.....Story of a footloose unemployed man (Sicotte) who wanders about visiting with various friends.  Drama has good dialogue, direction and performances (especially Sicotte) but lacking a plot, it just kind of, well, lacks any impetus.  The film could also be seen as playing into right-wing paranoia by portraying the unemployed as shiftless and lazy.  English title: Day by Day.  sc./dir: Paul Tana. - brief female nudity.- 83 min.

GRASS  * *  setting: USA
(1999) Narrated by Woody Harrelson.....Chronicle of the 20th Century's hysteria toward marijuana and various legal crackdowns...despite even government studies which indicated it wasn't that serious a drug. Funky documentary, told with plenty of wild edits and quirky animation, comes at its subject matter with a pro-grass agenda, and the wealth of unearthed archive material is truly impressive (including bizarrely alarmist old public service films warning marijuana will turn users into homicidal psychopaths). But there's little context to much of the footage, and no interviews to corroborate what's being said in the narration. There's little attempt to go beneath the surface and ask "why?" -- why has grass been so demonized? Or how did it become so socially accepted despite government propaganda? Blame is laid almost entirely at the feet of early American anti-drug czar Harry Anslinger -- which might be true, but seems a tad simplistic (no mention is made of one theory, that the crackdown had nothing to do with moral concerns about the drug, but rather because of commercial lobbyists hoping to ban its commercial use as hemp fibre products). A worthy subject for a film, but maybe it needs a more disciplined filmmaker, rather than light-weight pop chronicler Mann (Comic Book Confidential, Twist). As with his previous films, Canadian Mann is only interested in chronicling the American experience (at one point a headline is flashed showing that a Canadian drug documentary was banned in the U.S. -- but we're never told why or what the film contained!) Ironically, this film stirred up its own controversy with censors...not for its subject matter, but for use of old documentary footage of marijuana tests on animals which censors felt might contravene modern rules about cruelty to animals (the objections were dropped). sc: Solomon Verta. dir: Ron Mann. - brief female nudity.- 79 min. (video)

GRAVEYARD STORY  *  setting: Ont.
(1990) John Ireland, Adrian Paul, Cayle Chernin, Keith Vinsonhaler, Christine Cattell, Courtney Taylor.....Private eye (Paul, but not the Adrian Paul of Highlander TVS fame) is hired by a retired doctor (Ireland) to look into the history of a little girl buried in the local cemetary.  What starts out as a supernatural thriller soon turns out to be a standard detective story -- and a badly done one at that.  AActing, script and direction are all a write-off.  sc./dir: Bozidar D. Benedikt. 94 min.

GREAT BEAR (TVMS)  see Grand Ourse
 

THE GREAT DETECTIVE (TV Series) (1979-1981)   * * * Douglas Campbell ("Insp. Cameron"), with Sandy Webster ("Dr. McCallister"), James Dugan ("Stryker"), Kay Hawtrey ("Mrs. Lutz"),others.....Mystery following the exploits of a roaming 19th century Ontario provincial police inspector (Campbell) -- inspired by the real-life John Wilson-Murray (whose memoirs have been published in book form). Webster played his Dr. Watson-esque coroner friend. Hawtrey played his German housekeeper. Dugan cropped up as his uniformed leg man.  This appealing TV series, filmed on cheap video, was obviously an attempt to emulate the British detective series, rather than the more rumbunctious U.S. model.  Very evocative of the time period, the series made full use of it in both location and story, but it could be a bit stiff and slow with uneven guest performances (despite an impressive list of actors including Nick Mancuso just shortly before he hit it big).  Ultimately, though, it worked more often than not thanks immeasurably to Campbell's charismatic, humourous performance which propped up the episodes everytime he was on screen.  Webster also helped alot.  Years later, CBC Radio produced a thematically similar radio series called The Investigations of Quentin Nickles starring Neil Munro; another Victorian-era mystery series were the Detective Murdoch Mysteries. Hour long episodes (including one two-parter) originally on the CBC.

THE GREAT LAND OF SMALL  * 1/2  setting: P.Q. \(1987) Karen Elkin, Michael Blouin, Michael J. Anderson, Ken Roberts, Lorraine Desmarais.....Two kids, vacationing with their grandparents, meet up with a magical being.  Patronizing little fantasy is too slow and confused for little kids, but too poorly done to appeal to older ones.  One of producer Rock Demer's Tales For All children's series.  sc: David Sigmund. dir: Vojtech Jasny. 94 min. (video)

THE GREENPEACE YEARS   * * *
(1991).....Michael Ontkean narrates this sympathetic -- but still fairly even handed -- look at the environmental activist organization Greenpeace; its origins, various projects, and its future.  Interesting, effective documentary.  Music by Bruce Cockburn.  sc: Michael Maclear, Shelley Saywell. dir: Shelley Saywell.

LA GRENOUILLE ET LA BALEINE* * 1/2
(1988) Fanny Lauzier, Denis Forest, Marina Orsini, Felix-Antoine LeRoux, Jean Lejeunesse.....Story of a young girl (Lauzier), with an affinity for marine mamals, living at a hotel which is about to be sold.  Light-hearted tale, one of Rock Demer's Tales For All children's series, tends to ramble about without much purpose.  Look for (bearded) Demer on a boat of tourists.  English title: The Tadpole and the Whale.  sc: Jacques Bobet, Andre Melancon with Lise Thouin, Jean-Claude Lord. dir: Jean-Claude Lord. 92 min.

THE GREY FOX  * * 1/2  setting: B.C.
(1982) Richard Farnsworth, Jackie Burroughs, Wayne Robson, Ken Pogue, Timothy Webber, Gary Reineke.....True story of aging stage coach robber Bill Miner (Farnsworth), who is released from prison near the beginning of the twentieth century only to take up train robbing in B.C.  Some interesting visuals in this low-key drama, but so-so performances, slow pacing and a general obviousness make it only O.K.  How can anything so pretentious be so superficial?  Won seven Genies including Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Burroughs) and Script.  sc: John Hunter. dir: Philip Borsos. 92 min. (video)

GREY OWL  * * *  setting: CDN./other
(1999) (/U.K.) Pierce Brosnan, Annie Gallipeau, Stewart Bick, Nathaniel Arcand, Jimmy Herman, Vlasta Vrana.....Story of Grey Owl a.k.a. Archie Belaney (Brosnan), a Native trapper and hunting guide in the '30s who changed his ways (thanks to the love of a woman) becoming an outspoken conservationist (long before there was much of an environmental movement) and international celebrity...all the while hiding a secret past. Intellectually, this handsome bio-pic mishandles a lot of elements (even to the point where they can't seem to decide whether to treat his "secret" as a narrative surprise, or assume the audience knows it). But viscerally it's an effectively atmospheric, leisurely-paced drama, with some nicely written scenes; part conservation message, part romance. Hardly the definitive Grey Owl saga -- they ignore his alcoholism and his abandonned wives (including a kid) -- but still an affecting look at one of the more intriguing figures in Canadian history. British director Attenborough has done of number of bio-pics over the years. Lot's of familiar Canadian actors in bit parts, including Graham Greene. sc: William Nicholson. dir: Richard Attenborough. - casual male nudity, brief female nuditty.- 118 min. (video)

THE GREENING OF IAN ELLIOTT* 1/2  setting: Sask.
(1991) Anthony Bekenn, Helen Carscallen, Carol Sinclair, Lynne Gorman, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Gary Reineke.....Minister (Bekenn) arrives in a small town and begins to encourage opposition to a proposed dam that would flood much of the area.  This sugary made-for-CBC TV ode to small town life is so awful it does more harm than good.  The dialogue is embarrassing and the acting bad, even from pros like Reineke and MacDonald.  sc: Jennine Locke. dir: Stacey Stewart Curtis. app. 97 min.

GRIDLOCK   * * 1/2  setting: USA.
(1996) (/U.S.) David Hasselhoff, Kathy Ireland, Miguel Fernandes, Gotz Otto, Marc Strange, Tony DeSantis, Alan Scarfe, Jason Blicker, Real Andrews..... Helicopter cop (Hasselhoff) and his spunky girlfriend (Ireland) find themselves alone against a group of high-tech robbers (led by Fernandes) inside a huge New York bank.  Expensive-looking, better-than-expected made-for-TV "Die Hard" riff is brisk, amusing, and Hasselhoff a less brutal hero than is common these days.  But it suffers from a painful reliance on cliches (Hasselhoff as an "unorthodox" cop who can't make a commitment; DeSantis as his too-obnoxious-for-words C.O.; Fernandes as the well-tailored, vaguely European villain; etc.).  Entertaining but slight.  Nice performances all around.  Questions raised though: i) why do the villains create the traffic jams of the title since it doesn't actually relate much to the plot? (other than as an obvious "Die Hard With a Vengeance" rip-off). ii) what's with the baldness motiff? iii) and why does Von Flores not have any lines?  sc: Joe Ferullo. dir: Sandor Stern. 90 min.

THE GROCER'S WIFE  * 1/2
(1991) Simon Webb, Susinn McFarlen, Nicola Cavendish, Jay Brazeau..... When his mother goes into the hospital, a small town nebbish (Webb) allows another woman (McFarlen) to temporarily move in with him and she starts going into his mother's room and pushing him around.  Slow, simplistic and obvious low-budget little film...which could explain why it was a hit with the critics.  For the rest of us, it's just irritating.  Clumsily edited with little dialogue and ineffectual performances.  Reminiscent of Guy Maddin's stuff.  Filmed in Black and White.  Cavendish picked up the Best Supporting Actress Genie.  sc./dir: John Pozer. - casual male nudity.- 100 min.

GROSS MISCONDUCT   * *  setting: CDN./USA.
(1993) Daniel Kash, Peter MacNeill, Linda Goranson, Doug Hughes, Lenore Zann, Shawn Ashmore, Kristen Kieferle, Shannon Lawson.....Story of hockey star Brian "Spinner" Spencer (Kash) whose life was plagued by violence on and off the ice.  Avant garde presentation, including jumbled chronology and captions, seems a smoke screen for the fact that there isn't enough story or characterization to make a movie.  Strange discrepancies, too, like the fact that "twins" Kash and Hughes don't look anything alike.  Lots of prominent actors in bit parts but only Zann really clicks (but her nude scene so offended (?) the sensibilities of the audience, that the CBC cut it when this made-for-TV movie was re-aired in '95).  Scripter Gross is the well-known actor.  sc: Paul Gross (from the book by Martin O'Malley). dir: Atom Egoyan. - partial female nudity, sexual content.- app. 94 min.

THE GUARDIAN  * 1/2  setting: USA.
(1999) Frank Zagarino, Bryan Genesse, Stellina Rusich, Dale Wilson, Robert C. Saunders, James Leard.....Ex-con security expert (Zagarino) is hired to protect a wealthy businessman (Wilson), while also investigating the inexplicable murder of his own mother. For what it is -- a low-budget suspense-drama (filmed oon video, though they have enough money for decently choreographed fights and an exploding car) -- the scenes generally avoid being turgid, and the script, though not that good, isn't that bad either (with a decent twist toward the end). But the suspense-plot keeps getting side-tracked in favour of people sitting around, talking. It ultimately can't quite rise above its low-budget foundations of stagnant camera-work and uneven performances -- some are certainly competent enough, but Zagarino wasn't the best choice for lead. Not an embarrassment, perhaps, but not a success, either. sc: Bill Irwin. dir: Gerry Lively. 91 min.

LA GUERRE DES TUQUES * * *  setting: P.Q. (1984) Cedric Jourde, Julien Elie, Mariperre Arseneau-D'Amour, Doc Mink Vu, Luc Boucher.....During Christmas vacation, two groups of kids engage in a mock, elaborate war.  Funny, engaging, allegorical story that, though aimed at kids, should be enjoyable for adults as well.  First of producer Rock Demer's Tales For All children's series.  English title: The Dog Who Stopped the War.  sc: Danyele Patenaude, Roger Cantin, Andre Melancon. dir: Andre Melancon.

"Guilt" , a story by Betty Lambert, was one of the stories incorporated into the movie Martha, Ruth and Edie

THE GUILTY  * *  setting: USA.
(2000) (/U.K.) Bill Pullman, Devon Sawa, Gabrielle Anwar, Angela Featherstone, Darcy Belsher, Jaimz Woolvett, Joanne Whaley, Bruce Harwood, Hiro Kanagawa.....Unscrupulous American lawyer (Pullman) is blackmailed by the woman (Anwar) he date raped; meanwhile, the son he didn't know he had (Sawa) arrives in town looking to meet his real father...and ends up rooming with Anwar; none of them aware of all the connections between them. Eventually, murder occurs. Convoluted film noirish suspense-drama juggles a lot of plot threads (including Belsher and Woolvett as Sawa's shady best friends) making for a plot that isn't always easy to guess where it's headed. But that can be part of the problem, as some plot threads can seem extraneous, and the movie itself takes too long to get where it's going. But the chief weakness is that it wants to be one of those things where there's a certain underlining nihilism, and where no one's necessarily good or bad, they just are. Pullman's described by another character as an amoral scum bag, though some scenes seem to want to give him depth, but Sawa isn't really any more ingratiating, and seems miscast, too much like he stepped out of a teen comedy/drama into this gritty, grown up world. Ultimately, with too few characters to care about (though Anwar and Featherstone, as her best friend, are O.K.) the movie just leaves you...cold. sc: William Davies (from something by Simon Burke -- the credits don't say what: a novel? a play?). dir: Anthony Waller. - violence, (really) brief female nudity.- 111 min. (video)

GUITARMAN   * 1/2  setting: CDN.
(1994) Nicholas Campbell, Donnelly Rhodes, Shawn Ashmore, Suzy Joachim, Eugene Lipinski, Jack Semple, Andrea Martin.....Story of father (Campbell) and his strained relationship with his son (Ashmore), and of their locust-plagued farming town and what happens when a mysterious guitar player (Semple) shows up, promising to get rid of the bugs.  Muddled made-for-CBC TV updating of the Pied Piper fairy tale has some good ideas...too bad they couldn't have been saved for a better movie.  Some of the actors play it as a comedy, others a drama, some, frankly, can't act and those that can (like Campbell) don't seem to be trying too hard.  sc: Will Dixon, Hart Hanson. dir: Will Dixon. 91 min.
 

GULLAGE'S (TV Series) (1996-1998)   * *  Bryan Hennessey ("Calvin Pope"), Brenda Devine ("Iris Hussey"), Michael Wade ("Pis Parsons"), Elizabeth Pickard ("Dolly Pope"), Janis Spence ("Angoar Pope"), Jody Richardson ("Nuts O'Neil"), Philip Dinn ("Bert"), Brian Best ("Russell"), Frank Berry ("Jimmy Gullage"), Mercedes Barry ("Mrs. Clancy"), others.....Sitcom focusing on a St. John's taxi driver (Hennessey) who lives with his mother (Spence), daughter -- and fellow cabbie -- (Pickard), grandchild, and whose ex-wife (Devine) lives next door.  Barry played another neighbour.  Wade played the shifty new owner of the taxi stand, Gullage's, and the others drivers. This TV series was an eccentric, well-intentioned attempt to do nothing more than a silly sitcom, with oddball characters and situations.  And it was mildly amusing -- with mild being the operative word.  Cute but not much more.  Compared to a lot of Canadian-made comedies, a series which doesn't make the viewer cringe with embarrassment is a definite plus, but that still didn't make it riveting viewing.  Nice Newfoundland ambience with saltier dialogue than most previous series, though never seeming exploitive.  Ironically, this close-but-no-cigar effort aired the same season as The Newsroom -- a considerably more effective Canadian comedy series.  The series was written and directed by William D. MacGillivray.  Two seasons of half-hour episodes (6 the first season, 12 the next) on the CBC.

THE GUNFIGHTERS  * 1/2  setting: USA.
(1987) Art Hindle, Reine Schoene, Tony Addabbo, George Kennedy.....Two American brothers and their cousin are forced into becoming outlaws by a greedy land baron (American star Kennedy) who is after their ranch.  For die-hard western fans only.  Cliche riddled script, weak performances and an aimless, wandering plot are only some of the problems with this western adventure which was a pilot to a never-realized series.  sc: Jim Byrnes. dir: Clay Borris. 100 min. (video)

THE GUNRUNNER   *  setting: P.Q.
(1989) Kevin Costner, Ron Lea, Sara Botsford, Paul Soles, Gerard Parkes, Martin Neufeld.....Returning to 1920s Montreal to buy guns for the Chinese revolution, a man (Costner) becomes mixed up with kidnappings and, uh, stuff.  Even the novelty of a communist hero can't save this incomprehensible, awful suspenser.  It seems to have enough money for the period cars and costumes, but not for decent sound or editing.  Lea and Parkes manage to avoid embarrassing themselves, but imported Costner, who made this before his superstardom, is his usual wooden self.  And isn't that U.S. actor James Hong's voice dubbed in for the Asian clerk?  Filmed in '84.  sc: Arnie Gelbart. dir: Nardo Castillo. - violence.- 92 min. (video)

Go to Top

Next

Back

Back to The Great Canadian Guide to the Movies & TV