I join CP24 to have a look at the flirty “Challengers,” the social comedy “Humane,” the cartoonish violence of “Boy Kills World” and the eerie “The King Tide.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to stamp your feet! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the flirty “Challengers,” the social comedy “Humane” and the cartoonish violence of “Boy Kills World.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“Humane,” the debut film from director Caitlin Cronenberg, and now playing in theatres, places a violent family drama against the backdrop of a global ecological collapse.
Set in the near future, the movie takes place as a climate change has reached a critical point. Crops are failing around the world, and food is so scarce that world governments have ordered a voluntary 20% cull in the overall population to reduce the strain on the planet.
“We are engaged in a life and death struggle against our own extinction,” says Professor Jared York (Jay Baruchel).
Into this situation comes the rest of the wealthy York family, led by patriarch Charles (Peter Gallagher). A retired newscaster, Charles has had a good run and, to the surprise of his family, has signed up, along with wife Dawn (Uni Park) for the euthanasia program.
Despite his big talk on television news shows, Professor York doesn’t think the rules apply to his wealthy, well-known family, which includes piano playing adopted brother Noah (Sebastian Chacon), edgy sister Rachel (Emily Hampshire), Ashley (Alanna Bale) and the youngest, Mia (Sirena Gulamgaus).
The family’s resolve is put to the test when cheery government exterminator Bob (Enrico Colantoni) arrives to euthanatize and collect two bodies. Trouble is, Dawn has taken off.
“I can’t do it,” she says in a note. “I will always love you.”
One body short of his quota, Bob announces, “I need a second cadaver. We’re here to collect two bodies. We’ve got three hours before my next appointment.”
His offer to give the family time to decide which of them should sacrifice themselves for the betterment of the world, sends the siblings into a chaotic fight to stay alive.
“Think about your lives,” Bob says. “I’m sure one of you will realize it’s not all that great.”
Using dark humor to expose the selfishness and cruelty of human nature, “Humane’s” social farce cuts like a knife. As the action escalates, dirty secrets are revealed and the soft underbelly of the family exposed as each member makes a case for survival. It’s a dystopian “August: Osage County” with hints of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Step Brothers.” Cronenberg keeps the action contained to one day, mostly in one house, decisions that bring a sense of ticking-clock urgency and claustrophobia to the proceedings.
The tone vacillates between life-and-death and oddly chipper—thanks to Colantoni’s sprightly executioner Bob—but its far-fetched situation is taken as seriously as a heart attack, which amps up the dark, deadpan humor.
That none of the characters are particularly likable, save for Bob, turns the tables. Bob may be the bringer of doom, and an enthusiastic one, but the villains here are the family and Hampshire and Baruchel, who previously appeared together in “The Trotsky” and “Good Neighbors,” revel in their 1% smarminess.
“Humane” makes good use of Trooper’s fatalistic hit “We’re Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time)” and wisely never allows the focus to wander away from the family satire.
On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we get to know, all the way from Cornwall in South West England, Jeremy Brown and Jon Cleave, two of the founding members of the sea shanty singing group Fisherman’s Friends. They have incredible story of being discovered by a music producer who visited their small fishing village of Port Isaac, and propelling them to stardom. Their recordings of traditional sea shanties have topped the charts and they’ve played on the main stage of the Glastonbury Festival in front of 100,000 people and for royalty at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Their story has inspired two films, “Fisherman’s Friends” and the sequel, which is in theatres now, “Fisherman’s Friends: One and All,” starring James Purefoy and now it’s a stage show called “Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical which has just touched diown at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto after a successful run in the UK.
Then, Enrico Colantoni stops by. You know the talented actor from portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom “Just Shoot Me!,” Keith Mars on the television series “Veronica Mars.” On the big screen he has appeared in the films “Galaxy Quest,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” “Contagion,” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Today we talk about his latest film, a comedy about four stoners, the self-proclaimed “Vandits”, have a bright idea to knock over a senior citizens bingo hall on Christmas Eve. In this segment we talk about the unusual way he paid for theatre school in New York City and how the cast and crew of “Vandits” persevered after all their equipment was stolen the night before they were to start shooting.
Finally, we’ll meet Elegance Bratton, the film director who turned his story of being a young gay man, who found unexpected strength, camaraderie and support when he joined the Marines, after being rejected by his mother, into a critically acclaimed film called “The Inspection.” It is a classic against-all-odds story that paints a vivid picture of life inside the boot camp, the dehumanization, the violence, but also the brotherhood. The movie carefully builds the world of the boot camp, creating a palette of claustrophobia, brutality and tension that adds layers to the telling of his survival story.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Here’s some info on The Richard Crouse Show!
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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Richard and CP24 anchor Nneka Elliot talk about the weekend’s four big releases, “Ghostbusters,” the new Kristen Stewart sci fi flick “Equals,” “Captain Fantastic,” starring Viggo Mortensen and the new Canadian horror film “The Dark Stranger.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“The Dark Stranger” is one of the rare horror movies that would probably work better if the horror elements were extracted, leaving just the underlying family drama to speak for itself.
Leah Garrison (Katie Findlay) is a comic book illustrator grappling with the suicide of her artist mother. Recovering from a nervous breakdown, Leah has hallucinations and cuts herself as punishment for what she believes was her part in her mother’s death. Old wounds are reopened when art lover Randall Toth (Stephen McHattie) asks Leah’s father (Enrico Colantoni) if he can present the late mom’s paintings in an exhibition showcasing artists who battled depression. Leah hates Toth and doesn’t want her mother’s work displayed in the show. Enter the Dark Stranger, a character from Leah’s recent work. The gaunt stranger might be a metaphor for her troubled state of mind or a physical manifestation of her demons or both. Either way the stranger is a destructive force on everyone around the young artist and just happens to look like Toth.
“The Dark Stranger” is an accomplished film for first time director and writer Chris Trebilcock. I’m just not sure it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. As a horror film with supernatural overtones it leaves a mildly eerie aftertaste. But as a look at mental illness and the life changing effects of depression it packs a wallop. Real true scares are few and far between and the final moments of the movie are a bit too on the money but very solid performances from Findlay, Colantoni and the legendary McHattie keep things moving forward in an interesting way.
Richard Crouse sounds off on his reviews for this week’s releases: ‘Need for Speed,’ ‘Grand Budapest Hotel,’ ‘Veronica Mars,’ and ‘Enemy.’
Watch the whole thing HERE!
PLUS! The Canada AM sock war! Thanks to Marci Ien for the photo. Todd and Richard throw down from the ankle down!
Too old for Nancy Drew? Too young for Jessica Flectcher? How about Veronica Mars?
For three seasons Kristen Bell played the title character on television’s “Veronica Mars,” a teen detective show about a young woman who solved crimes in the upscale town of Neptune, California.
She’s back on the big screen in the inventively titled “Veronica Mars,” co-starring with some familiar faces from the original show, in a reunion movie that sees the former teenaged private eye turned psychologist and Ivy League lawyer pulled back into the PI game when her high school boyfriend (Jason Dohring) is charged with killing his pop star girlfriend.
The movie, which was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, is as cinematic as you might imagine a movie based on a TV show to be. It plays like a longer, blown up version of the show, which will play well to the fans who are hungry for more of their favorite characters, but may leave the uninitiated wondering what the fuss is all about.
Veronica Mars is an engaging character and Bell wears her like a glove, tossing off some zingy one-liners—“You won’t shoot me,” says a bad guy. “Why does everyone say that?” Mars replies, pulling the trigger—and bringing an easy charm to the role.
It’s too bad the story plays like an old episode of “Murder She Wrote,” with none of the sophistication we would expect from a big screen outing. “Veronica Mars” is a character based piece, with the murder tagged on to give us a reason for watching, but it would have been more interesting if the death was more than just a McGuffin.
On the plus side there is a nod to Canada—in the form of a sloppy karaoke version of our national anthem—and there’s even a Barenaked Ladies gag.
From the Canadian International Television Festival at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto on Nov. 16, 2013. CITF celebrates short form films with a screening of 10 best bravoFACT-funded shorts including Winter Garden, an official selection at this year’s TIFF ‘Stage to Screen’ series, starring Enrico Colantoni.
