A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at “Smallfoot’s” messages of togetherness, the pioneering life story of a famous French writer “Colette” and “My Generation,” Michael Caine’s look back at the Swingin’ Sixties.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard has a look at “Night School’s” report card, the animated Yeti’s of “Smallfoot” and “Colette’s” coming-of-age with the CFRA Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Bad theatre is like dentistry,” declares critic and author Henry Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West). “You’re compelled to sit in your chair, as they drill into your head, until the procedure is over.” Luckily there is no such endurance test in “Colette,” a sparkling biopic that shows star Keira Knightley in top form.
“Colette” begins traditionally enough, with “Masterpiece Theatre” style attention to detail as the love affair between Parisian “literary entrepreneur” Gauthier-Villars, who goes by the nom-de-plume Willy, woos country girl Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Knightley). They soon marry, and after slowly adapting to life in the salons of the big city—“You must present your personality with a capital P,” he says.—she is drawn into the family business ghost writing a novel loosely based on her life. The resulting book, “Claudine à l’école,” released under the Willy name, becomes a sensation, bringing in some much needed money.
As Willy hogs the spotlight she continues to write the increasingly popular books. Soon her character, Claudine, is the fictional exemplar of the Belle Époque, influencing fashion, literature and dominating the trendy magazines of the day. Denied the recognition that should accompany their success Colette asserts her independence, beginning an affair with “wayward American debutante” Georgie Raoul-Duval (Eleanor Tomlinson). That relationship blows up when it’s revealed that Willy is also trysting with the same woman.
Professional and personal twists and turns lead the increasingly distant couple into bankruptcy and into a dodgy business deal that sees Colette financially cut out of her most popular character’s future earnings. On a happier note she begins a relationship with “Missy” (Denise Gough), the highborn transgender pioneer Marquise de Belbeuf.
“Colette” is a period piece, all corsets and dinner jackets, but one with a very modern approach. Before her awakening Colette finds herself under the thumb of a domineering husband but afterward she forges a life that broke rules and paved the way for modern feminism and LGBTQ acceptance. It is a well-told story of empowerment that blends creative process, sexual politics and Colette’s progressive spirit.
“Colette’s” set decoration and Wash Westmoreland’s direction are top notch but it is Knightley that breathes life into the frothy but fascinating story of a pioneering woman. She provides both the heart and furious intellectualism necessary to present a fully rounded portrait of a person who waged a battle against societal norms and a life lived in the shadows.
Richard sits in on the CJAD Montreal morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk about the animated Yeti’s of “Smallfoot,” “Colette’s” coming-of-age and the reminiscences of Michael Caine in “My Generation.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
The busy actor — Goggins soon be seen in the TV remake of L.A. Confidential and the Marvel blockbuster Ant-Man and the Wasp — drew on personal experience to create a backstory for his character. Like the villainous Vogel, Goggins’s job frequently takes him away from his son Augustus and wife, filmmaker Nadia Connors.
“My in for this experience was thinking about the day (Vogel) said goodbye to his family,” he says. “He’s a father and has two daughters. I just kind of meditated on saying goodbye to them, kissing his wife, walking out the door for what Mathias Vogel thought would be a year of his life and culminate in some great discovery.
“One year turned into two years, which turned into four years, and hopelessness set in. You meet this guy seven years into this experience and he has a real opportunity to get off this island. People will do whatever it takes to get back home and see the ones they love.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins CP24 to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including “Tomb Raider,” the dark comedy “The Death of Stalin,” the old folks road trip “The Leisure Seeker,” the crime thriller “7 Days in Entebbe” and the Cecil Beaton documentary “Love, Cecil.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases, “Tomb Raider,” the dark comedy “The Death of Stalin,” “7 Days in Entebbe” and the old folks road trip “The Leisure Seeker.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at “Tomb Raider,” the dark comedy “The Death of Stalin,” and the old folks road trip “The Leisure Seeker.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
By Richard Crouse – Metro Canada
The last time we saw archeologist-adventurer Lara Croft on the big screen she looked like Angelina Jolie and saved the world by dunking a bad guy into a pool of acid.
The new Tomb Raider takes us back — back to a time when Lara Croft was an emo 21-year-old whose biggest adventure was navigating London’s busy streets as a bicycle courier. This time around she bears a striking resemblance to Swedish Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.
The reboot also comes with a new villain. Mathias Vogel, played by Hateful Eight star Walton Goggins, is a member of evil organization Trinity and an all-around bad dude. He’s been stranded for years on a remote island searching for the tomb of an ancient entity whose touch caused instant death.
His job is to uncover her resting place, discover the secret of her deadly power and unleash it on the world. Like I said, he’s a bad guy, but Goggins says, “I can’t judge him.”
Not even if he ruthlessly shoots people point blank?
“If I sat back in judgement of him then what am I doing for the audience?” Goggins asks. “I am just an impartial interpreter and that’s what I should be even if I am playing a good guy.
“I don’t think you want to pat yourself on the back every time you read a line. ‘Oh my God! I’m such a great guy. I just saved this girl.’ No, you are just in the process of telling the story so that the audience can feel what they want to feel.”
The busy actor — he’ll soon be seen in the TV remake of L.A. Confidential and the Marvel blockbuster Ant-Man and the Wasp — drew on personal experience to create a backstory for his character. Like Vogel, Goggins’s job frequently takes him away from his son Augustus and wife, filmmaker Nadia Connors.
“My in for this experience was thinking about the day (Vogel) said goodbye to his family,” he says. “He’s a father and has two daughters. I just kind of meditated on saying goodbye to them, kissing his wife, walking out the door for what Mathias Vogel thought would be a year of his life and culminate in some great discovery.
“One year turned into two years, which turned into four years, and hopelessness set in. You meet this guy seven years into this experience and he has a real opportunity to get off this island. People will do whatever it takes to get back home and see the ones they love.”
For Goggins, coming home is the best way to leave a character in the rearview mirror. “I have a seven-year-old waiting at home for me,” he says. “There is no room for anything other than him…. I used to really revel in that experience of bringing the character home and living and stewing in it. You romanticize being alone, having a glass of wine and thinking about it, but it is not necessary.”
