Movie review: "Reign Over Me"

"Reign Over Me" is a dramatic, character-driven film written and directed by Mike Binder and featuring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler. Cheadle's character, Alan Johnson, is a dentist with his own practice, a wife, a daughter and a nice home - a seemingly ideal life. When Sandler's character, Charlie Fineman, is introduced, he is a shaken, distant shell of the man that Alan roomed with in college - a man still reeling in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

What proceeds is Alan's effort to rekindle his friendship with Charlie and delve into the man's traumatic history in an attempt to help. While the film drags a bit at some points, the scenes with Cheadle and Sandler together are gold. They're very enjoyable, sometimes humorous and later, absolutely heart-wrenching. "Reign Over Me" is likely the most mature performance of Adam Sandler's career.

ARTS: FILM review (april 2, 2007)

Reign Over Me is a warm and involving film about friendship and loss, that shuns Hollywood formula and plumps for emotional truth. Filmed in New York, Don Cheadle (The Rat Pack, Hotel Rwanda, Crash) plays a Manhattan dentist Alan Johnston, who leaves work one day and spies an old college roommate, Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), buzzing the streets on his scooter.

Charlie lost his family on September 11 five years previously, and apart from the delight he feels at seeing an old friend again, Alan is keen to express the sadness he felt on hearing about Charlie's loss.But when they meet on a street corner, Charlie, with untidy hair, crumpled clothes, and wearing a distracted smile, denies knowing him. Driven by inner needs of his own, Alan perseveres with Charlie, visiting him in his barren, furniture-less flat and braving Charlie's formidable landlady who is protective of him.

Theatre review: The Rocky Horror Show

Every good homo knows the tragic cinematic tale of The Rocky Horror Picture show: Boy meets girl; girl meets tranny; tranny fucks both boy and girl. Even if you haven't actually seen the film, there's a sense of familiarity and old hat to the premise, so any attempt to recapture the movie's oddball nostalgia would be self-indulgent. CanStage and director Ted Dykstra firmly dispel such concerns with the irrepressible and utterly delicious mounting of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show from 1973.

From the moment the audience enters the theatre, it's abundantly clear that this show is intent on shaking the most staid of theatregoers out of their Toronto reserve. Punk-rock bellhops playfully taunt and flirt with the crowd and each other - there's no telling when some glamourous young thing is going to plunk him or herself down next to you, lick your ear and then flit off before your significant other has a chance to wind up for a really good bitchslap.