RichC2

Movie about every business's early 2000s smartphone. Opens May 12th.

Brian T

"You said they were the best engineers in the world!"

"I said they were the best engineers in Canada."

Seems to have gotten decent reviews: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackberry

I run hot and cold on Baruchel depending on the film, but he seems ok in this (despite not looking much at all like the person he's playing), and rise-and-fall tech stories don't get much more Canadian than this one.

Coral

Yeah, Baruchel really doesn't look like Lazaridis... and continues to basically be himself in roles.

The trailer didn't do much for me, so I'm surprised at the decent ratings on RT.

dex14

This is out in a limited release this weekend. Only playing at one my nearby AMCs.

Crocker Jarmen

If you watch [B]It's Always Sunny...", it's impossible to not see Howerton as Dennis in the trailer. Every line, every reaction has me thinking, "That's exactly how Dennis would be in that situation."

I am shocked, SHOCKED my local theatre is getting this tomorrow. Really looking forward to seeing it.

Crocker Jarmen

This is the first movie I've seen this year I'd give full stars to. It's a captivating story told in a dynamic style. It explains things so a luddite like me understands what's happening, but these are done as story moments rather than an info-dump. And boy, is it filled with laugh out loud moments from beginning to end. Both laugher from your incredulity at what is happening, and laughter from genuinely funny moments.

I love how the last (long, important shot) is referencing the final shot of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The movie is filled with easter eggs for nerds; movie posters and T-shirts, action figures, video games and other toys. In the end credit, there is a long scroll listing every one of these similar to music credits.

The audience at my matinee must have been made of tech-heads, or phone-buffs, because whenever the movie named engineers and designers, people cheered or whooped.

I can't emphasize enough how entertaining I found this movie. Not sure how many people are going to see, which is a shame. The English language Canadian fiction film industry is an embarrassment. This masterpiece is some rare fluke.

RichC2

This is now on PVOD.

I agree with Crocker, this was so much more entertaining than it needed to be, and is the best "tech biopic" since The Social Network. Jay did great pitching the Bold, that sequence was brutal.

It's very much a shame it didn't pull any eyes theatrically. I hope it gains the popularity it deserves

Coral

Just watched this.

It was much better than I thought it would be. This could have been the next Social Network if it had more money put into the production and marketing.

There was a lot of artistic license used in this film with regards to timing of events and even the characters. Balsillie wasn't as brutal as they made him out to be, and Lazaridis wasn't as wimpy.
Baruchel was good, but very miscast as Lazaridis.

Was cool that they used an empty store in a plaza on my street for the original RIM office shooting location. Also neat to see Nutech Electronics used for scavenging parts - used that place a bunch of times myself.

I can only relate to the story as an observer of everyone I knew who owned a Blackberry. I never owned one and my first cellphone was the Google Nexus 5 in 2013 (was VERY late to the cellphone game). Although I did follow Balsillie's several attempts to bring an NHL team (Penguins, Predators and Coyotes) to Hamilton.

BDB

Just watched this, incredibly enjoyable, intriguing story, I had a blackberry for work of course.

Nesbit

I was working nextel customer service when it came out. Immediately applied for and got an off the phones position. Wasn’t about troubleshooting pocket computers with whoever had been handed them for work. Fuck your track wheel.

Really good movie. Wish i hadn’t read praises of it being the next Social Network beforehand. Will probably enjoy it even more next time I see it without those expectations.

Noonan

Watched this with my wife last night. We both really enjoyed it. The shot of them watching Apple's event where it swapped to their faces when the iPhone first went on screen was great. I wonder how long Glenn practiced saying Waterloo in a proper accent.

MR Round

I got around to watching this today and really enjoyed it, I was too young to own or need a blackberry when they were popular but I remember everyone in my family seeking to own one. I hope the extended version miniseries that's airing in Canada soon will be streaming too

Crocker Jarmen

Wow! I had no idea this was going to be a thing. Thanks for the tip.

JeffTheAlpaca

Will this show up on Hulu or Peacock or some other streamer?

dex14

JeffTheAlpaca

Is that the exact same thing as the movie but with 3 parts and commercials?

Crocker Jarmen

There's supposed to be 16 extra minutes.
CBC aired the first part in Canada last night, but I haven't watched it yet. My biggest wonder is if AMC will be airing all the "fucks", don't they usually censor that word?

JeffTheAlpaca

Guess I will have to watch the AMC series and skip the 1 hour and 59 minutes or less movie if you take out the closing credits.

JeffTheAlpaca

It is now on Hulu.

Wish I waited so I could watch it with all the profanity remaining intact.

Crocker Jarmen

I watched the mini-series on CBC back in November, and while I enjoyed the extended cuts of various scenes (a lot of hilarious lines, and important details), didn't think it worked as good as a three part series as it did as a full-length film. A lot of the extra footage was inserted as intros to each episode. In a perfect world, I could get a blu-ray with a longer cut of the movie, incorporating the extended scenes, but ditching the three-part structure with the needless intro sections.