Roc-Rz

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.

"Rock and Roll", John Gray's musical was turned into a CBC special by its author under the title The King of Friday Nights

ROCK & RULE  * 1/2  setting: USA.
(1983) voices of Paul Le Mat, Susan Roman, Don Francks, Dan Hennessy, Sam Langevin, Catherine O'Hara.....In a post W.W. III future an aging, malevolent pop star (Francks) decides to release a demon into his reality but needs an aspiring singer (Roman) in order to breach the dimensional barrier. Adult animated SF musical has good vocal performances and some great, even amazing, animation (better than Heavy Metal, the movie that probably inspired it) though it's considerably less raunchy (which, depending on your point of view, might be a minus). But like so much "adult" animation, it's thin on plot and true characterization (despite stabs at the latter) and suffers from an awkward mix of mature subject matter and juvenile delivery. If only all this effort could have been expended on a truly grown-up animated movie. Largely unmemorable soundtrack performed by American pop stars Debbie Harry, Lou Reed and others -- these folks are fine on the radio, but for a musical you need singers (and songs) with more oomph. sc: Peter Saunder, John Halfpenny with additional dialogue credited to five other writers (story Patrick Laubert, Saunder). dir: Clive A. Smith. - violence, brief nudity.- 85 ...78 min. (video)

THE ROCKET  see Maurice Richard

ROCKET BOY  * * 1/2
(1984) Dave Thomas, Ron James, Robert Denner, Gillie Fenwick, Kathleen Laskey, James Hong, John Candy, Mark Parr.....Super hero Rocket Boy (Thomas) must stop an alien (Denner) from stealing everyone's hair and destroying the earth. Low-budget (and low-brow) made-for-TV SF/super hero spoof looks like an extended sitcom (with a laugh track, yet!) but it's pretty inoffensive and does manage some chuckles. Stick with it. Denner and Candy (in a bit part) come off best. sc: Dave Thomas, Tom Gammill, Max Press. dir: John Blanchard.

ROLLERCOASTER  * 1/2  setting: B.C.
(1999) Brendan Fletcher, Kett Turton, Crystal Buble, Brent Glenen, Sean Amsing, David Lovegren.....A group of troubled, anti-social teens sneak out of their group home to spend a day at an abandoned amusement park, where two of them intend to end the day by committing suicide. Nice performances from the cast, and director Smith puts together a slick, good looking film...but writer Smith produces an aimless, pointless script that never delivers the promised insight into either the characters...or disaffected young people in general. Frankly, it seems a little like the movie was given the go-ahead before Smith had a script, or even a clear idea. Presumably it's hoping to be a Canadian "River's Edge", but one can't decide if Smith knows his world of nihilistic, "lost" youth too well, and needed to take a step back...or doesn't know it at all! sc./dir: Scott Smith. 87 min. (video)

ROLLING VENGEANCE *  setting: USA.
(1987) Don Michael Paul, Lawrence Dane, Ned Beatty, Lisa Howard, Todd Duckworth.....Trucker (Paul) uses a monster truck to go after the local red-neck clan (headed by Beatty) who killed his father (Dane). Lethargic, stupid revenge flick is really awful. It doesn't work as a drama, comedy or even a catharsis. Dangerous attitudes, too. sc: Michael Montgomery. dir: Steven H. Stern. - violence, brief female nudity.- 90 min. (video)

ROMANTIC LADIES see Dames galantes

ROMANTIC UNDERTAKINGS  * * 1/2  setting: Ont.
(1995) (/U.K.) William Katt, Valerie Buhagiar, Ishwar Mooljee, Paul Berry, Greg Blanchard, Simon Richards.....Story of the love-hate relationship that evolves between a woman (Buhagiar) who reluctantly inherits her father's funeral home, and her border (import Katt), a short order cook whose shady past starts to catch up with him. Modest but amusing and genuinely likeable romantic comedy. sc: Melissa R. Byer, Treena Hancock (story Chuck Micallef). dir: Peter McCubbin. 94 min.

ROOKIES  * *  setting: Ont.
(1990) Yannick Bisson, Peter MacNeill, Ian Tracey, Dean McDermott, Jason Blicker, Andrea Roth, Christianne Hirt.....Talented, small town hockey player (Bisson) goes to the big city to play for a minor league team. Slick, well-acted made-for-CBC TV drama drags out too many cliches and the protagonist never comes into focus. Recommended only to hockey fans since it lacks the character emphasis to appeal to those who don't care about the sport. sc: Paul Shapiro, Jeffrey Cohen. dir: Paul Shapiro.

ROSWELL: The Aliens Attack  * *  setting: USA.
(1999) (/U.S.) Peter Flynn, Kate Greenhouse, Heather Hanson, Brent Stait, Sean McCann, Donelly Rhodes a.k.a. Donnelly Rhodes.....In 1947, a couple of aliens arrive in Roswell, New Mexico (USA) to destroy the earth by sabotaging an army base...only to have the male alien (Flynn) start to have second thoughts when he befriends a local woman (Greenhouse) who works at the base. Made-for-U.S. TV SF thriller (inspired, after a fashion, by the real life Roswell incident) is well-acted all around and good looking, and wants to be smart and character driven, but is slow and meandering, without enough plot -- or character -- to keep it interesting. Not to mention it's kind of dumb in spots. Too bad. Donnelly Rhodes' name is misspelled in the credits! sc: Jim Makichuk. dir: Brad Turner. app. 90 min.

THE ROWDYMAN  * * * 1/2  setting: Nfld.
(1972) Gordon Pinsent, Frank Converse, Linda Goranson, Will Geer, E.P. "Ted" Henley.....Irresponsible, devil-may-care man (Pinsent) finds his care-free lifestyle conflicts with the attitudes of other members of his small hometown. Fine comedy/drama, marred by occasionally excessive melodrama. Strong dialogue, direction and cast, particularly Pinsent, who's exceptional and won the Best Actor Etrog, and Converse is strong as his best friend. This was the first talkie to come out of the Rock and it makes good use of Newfoundland locations (even American imports Converse and Geer adopt Newfoundland accents). It was later turned into both a musical and a novel by its author. sc: Gordon Pinsent. dir: Peter Carter. 95 min.

ROWING THROUGH  * * 1/2  setting: USA.
(1996) (/Japan) Colin Ferguson, Leslie Hope, Peter Murnik, Kenneth Welsh, James Hyndman, Helen Shaver, Michiko Hada, Christopher Jacobs.....Story of the career of U.S. rower, Tiff Wood (Ferguson), and the conflicts that arise during the 1984 training camp for placement in the Olympics -- his last shot at the Olympics. Hope plays a journalist and long-time friend, who narrates. O.K. drama is slick enough, though not much more. Filmmakers, particularly Canadian ones, make an awful lot of sports-themed movies -- and few of them actually work, critically or commercially, largely because they make sports movies, as opposed to dramas that happen to be about an athlete. Still, it's jolly nice to see a Japanese filmmaker capturing the essence of so many Canadian movies: it's set in the States and features characters that never manage to be particularly likeable. Based on a true story. sc: Masato Harada, Will Aitken, with Rebecca Ross (from The Amateurs by David Halberstam). dir: Masato Harada. - female nudity, casual male nudity, seexual content.- 116 min. (video)
 

THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE (TV Series) (1993-)  * * 1/2   Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, John Morgan (-8th), with Jessica Holmes, Alan Park, Craig Lauzon, Penelope Corrin..... Sketch comedy and current affairs satire. After decades on the radio and occasional TV specials, the troupe was finally given a weekly series and immediately brought in solid ratings. As with most sketch comedies, the show was uneven and given to the old Canadian comedy stand-by -- if it's not funny to begin with, do it really broad! And as the series continued, it seemed to get creakier and creakier, the big laughs fewer and farther between. Half-hour episodes on the CBC.

THE ROYAL SCANDAL * * *  setting: other
(2001) (/U.S.) Matt Frewer, Kenneth Welsh, Liliana Komorowska, Daniel Brochu, Seann Gallagher, Robin Wilcock, R.H. Thomson.....Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Frewer and Welsh) get involved in a case involving blackmail, espionage, Irene Adler (Komorowska) and Holmes' brother Mycroft (Thomson). Third made-for-TV teaming of Frewer and Welsh as Holmes and Watson might cause purists to balk as it strays further from the source than had their previous outings. This time trying, not always convincingly, to adapt a couple of Holmes stories into one plot, while giving it a modern ambience of conspiracies and shadowy spies, and Adler (the woman in the Holmes' mythos) as an international thief, the story may not entirely hold together logic-wise. Worse, the movie loses some of the point of the Adler character because she doesn't out fox Holmes (well, except in a muddled flashback). With all that being said, it's still a fun romp. Avoiding the stodginess of some Holmes movies, it's told with energy and fun, while still maintaining a reasonable respect for the character. Probably Frewer's best performance in the role to date, as the plot allows more room for character development and nuance. Though added to the suspect British accents are some dodgy German accents. At least Komorowska's accent is real. See Sherlock Holmes. sc: Joe Wiesenfeld (from the stories "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Naval Treaty" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). dir: Robin Gibbons. 88 min.

RUB & TUG  * * 1/2  setting: Ont.
(2002) Don McKellar, Kira Clavell, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Lindy Booth, Richard Zeppieri, Michael Cram, Anthony Lemke, Susanne Sutchy, Pascal Petardi.....Story of the goings on at a shady massage parlour, with the novice, nebbishy manager (McKellar) finding the girls (Clavell, Spencer-Nairn, Booth) are more in charge than he is. Serio-comic flick is O.K., as long as you aren't too demanding, like asking yourself: where is this headed? or do I really care? Particularly when at least one plot question seems to go unresolved (McKellar is suspicious that one of the girls is offering "full service" -- ie: sex -- which would shut them down). But, admittedly, it benefits from a general watchability, with a brisk tempo to the scenes, and a decent cast (though Clavell's part is an awkwardly written immigrant cliche...though, ironically, the guilessness of her character makes her the most sympathetic). And are all massage parlours really just one step removed from brothels, or is that a cinematic cliche that, frankly, slurs what may be a legitimate business? Despite the, intentionally, lurid, racy premise, it's mainly the guys, not the women, who flash their skin (save Sutchy in a brief part as a new employee). a.k.a. Rub and Tug. sc: Soo Lyu, Edward Stanulis. dir: Soo Lyu. - casual male nudity, partial female nudity, sexual content.- 89 min.

THE RUBBER GUN  * * * *  setting: P.Q.
(1977) Stephen Lack, Allan Moyle, Pam Holmes-Robert, Pierre Robert, Peter Brawley, Joe Mattia.....Story of a group of counter-culture drug suppliers -- as opposed to drug pushers -- (led by Lack) and the university student (Moyle) who wants to study them. Effective, fascinating and off-beat drama is hip and extremely well- done with a atypically charismatic performance from Lack. Despite the realist, improvised-feel, it has a strong narrative and character development. Not for all tastes. Great music by Lewis Furey. sc: Stephen Lack with John Laing, Allan Moyle. dir: Allan Moyle. 86 min.

RUDE  * * 1/2  setting: Ont.
(1995) Maurice Dean Wint, Rachel Crawford, Clark Johnson, Richard Chevolleau, Sharon M. Lewis, Melanie Nicholls-King, Steven Shellen, Andy Marshall.....Three stories are intercut (as opposed to interwoven) revolving around black characters in downtown T.O. over the Easter week-end while a pirate radio d.j., Rude (Lewis), broadcasts. Moodily atmospheric but a kind of shallow and insubstantial drama; writer/director Virgo wants to look at serious issues like unwanted pregnancies, homophobia, and drugs, but has trouble coming up with much to say about them. The most developed storyline, with Wint as an ex-con resisting the urge to return to his dealer ways, is still awfully undeveloped. Still, stylish with good dialogue and performances (especially from Johnson, Wint and Shellen) -- enough so to be worth catching. sc./dir: Clement Virgo. -casual male nudity, brief female nudity, sexual content.- 90 min. (video)

RUNNING HOME
(1998) Claudia Christian, Kristian Ayre, see Tales of Intrigue

RUGGED GOLD  * *  setting: Ont./USA.
(1995) (/New Zealand) Jill Eikenberry, Art Hindle, Ari Magder, Graham Greene.....True story of a proper Toronto bred widow (American Eikenberry) who, in the '50s, moves with her son to the wilds of Alaska with her gold prospecting new husband (Canadian Hindle). Middling drama is slow and even kind of extraneous -- after all, similar stories have been done before. Often. Eikenberry whines, Hindle offers sage advice, and both actors are a little bland. Greene adds some flare as Hindle's curmudgeonly partner. This TV movie aired only weeks before Legend of the Ruby Silver, a superficially similar (and slightly better) film. Filmed in New Zealand. sc: Sarah James (from the published journal O Rugged Land of Gold by Martha Martin). dir: Michael Anderson. 94 min.
 

RUMOURS (TV Series) (2006-)  * *  David Hadyn-Jones ("Ben Devlin"), Amy Price-Francis ("Sarah Barnaby"), Sadie LeBlanc ("Helen Chartlon"), Jennifer Dale ("Michelle Lawrence"), with Elliott Larson-Gilmore ("Felix"), Stephanie Mills ("Kate Devlin"), Lucinda Davis ("Emily"), Phillip Jarrett ("Frank"), Cindy Sampson ("Sandra"), others.....Comedy about the two mismatched co-editors of a frothy "women's" magazine, she (Price-Francis) with ambitions to turn it into something provocative and sophisticated, and he (Hadyn-Jones) an ex-sports writer who only took the job, reluctantly, for the money. LeBlanc plays her wild living best friend. Dale their publisher.  This TV series was an unusual effort in English-Canada: to try and capture the success of French-Canadian TV by taking a successful Quebec series (Rumeurs) and simply remake it in English with an anglophone cast, but keeping the same scripts, directors, sets, etc. Unfortunately, the results are uneven and fault lies, mainly, with the basic material. Price-Francis and Hadyn-Jones are good, and there are some amusing zingers and, more important, at times, there's some genuine warmth and chemistry between the two characters (when they're not snapping at each other). But as a comedy, it's just not that funny, and as a stylish, sophisticated urban series, it's not that sophisticated. In fact, it seems completely unsure of its basic tone -- a lot of the scenes seem as though they're more meant to be "observational" humour, rooted in reality more than the one-liner, even as a lack of care and consistency to the characters and plotting seems as though it's just meant to be a wacky gag fest where we aren't supposed to really buy into the characters as real people! Even what the show is about seems vague. It was sort of marketed as a will they/won't they romantic-comedy, except often the two leads barely have any scenes together, it's sort of about the magazine, except we spend a lot of time away from that locale, particularly with Haydn-Jones' family scenes of raising his kid. And LeBlanc's character often consumes whole chunks of the episodes in separate plot lines, yet she is neither one of the "main" characters, not does she work at the magazine (tuning into some episodes, a viewer might wonder who this character is we keep cutting to) and, frankly, she's just an annoying personality. The episodes are often awkwardly structured, trying to be fast and zippy (but more seeming frantic), while juggling two or three plots per episode, but the climaxes can sometimes seem confused or unfocused. Ironically, as Langlois is just recycling her original scripts, you'd think this would be a chance to refine and polish them, but that doesn't seem to have happened. The result? Can elicit a few smirks and an occasional chuckle...but not enough, particularly when you just don't really like the characters! Created by Isabelle Langlois. Half-hour episodes on the CBC.

Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, Evelyn Lau's memoir, became the CBC TV movie The Diary of Evelyn Lau

RUNNING  * * 1/2  setting: USA./P.Q.
(1979) Michael Douglas, Susan Anspach, Lawrence Dane, Eugene Levy, Charles Shamata, Philip Akin, Jennifer McKinney, Jim McKay, Gordon Clapp.....American (Douglas) who's never managed to stick with anything for long, decides to become a marathon runner in the '76 Olympics while, at the same time, patch things up with his ex-wife (Anspach). Good-looking, well-acted drama has some good scenes, as well as some manipulatively hokey ones. Not bad if you take it on its own level. sc./dir: Steven Hilliard Stern. 103 min. (video)

RUNNING BRAVE  * *  setting: USA.
(1983) Robby Benson, Pat Hingle, Claudia Cron, Graham Greene, Denis LaCroix, Jeff McCracken, August Schellenberg.....Fictionalized bio of native U.S. runner Bill Mills (Benson) who became an Olympic champion in 1964. Well done but no soul to the film, nor is it very exciting. Questionable values too (like painting up white-man Benson). Greene is especially good. sc: Henry Beam, Shirl Hendryx. dir: D.S. Everett (alias Don Shebib). - casual male nudity.- 105 min.

RUPERT'S LAND  * * *  setting: B.C.
(1998) Samuel West, Ian Tracey, George Wendt, Susan Hogan, Gabrielle Miller, William MacDonald, Suzy Joachin, Bernie Coulson, Ted Kozma..... Rupert, a prim British solicitor (West), and his coarse Canadian half-brother (Tracey), reunite for the first time since childhood, taking a road trip through the backroads of B.C. to attend their father's funeral. Smart serio-comic flick is well-acted (particularly British actor West and the always reliable Tracey) and well-put together, with a sturdy plot and well-rounded characters...moreso than the "road trip" premise might imply. Though the penchant for drinking and driving is unfortunate (despite the end disclaimer that such scenes aren't meant to endorse such behaviour -- if the filmmakers don't mean to endorse it, why include the scenes in the first place?). Rupert's Land was the name originally for much of pre-Confederation northern and western Canada -- but you knew that, right? sc: Graeme Manson. dir: Jonathan Tammuz. 97 min. (video)

Go to Top

Next

Back

Back to The Great Canadian Guide to the Movies & TV