Posts Tagged ‘Pablo Larraín’

CTV NEWS AT 11:30: MORE MOVIES AND TV SHOWS TO STREAM THIS WEEKEND!

I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including Hercule Poirot and “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Watch the whole thing HERE! `(Starts at 20:00)

NEWSTALK TONIGHT WITH JIM RICHARDS: DOES RICHARD CROUSE LIKE THESE MOVIES?

I sit in with NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about Hercule Poirot and “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

YOU TUBE: THREE MOVIES/THIRTY SECONDS! FAST REVIEWS FOR BUSY PEOPLE!

Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to shut the door! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about Hercule Poirot and “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2023.

I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres.  Today we talk about Hercule Poirot and “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

 

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL WEEKEND REVIEWS FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2023!

I  join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about Hercule Poirot and “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CP24 WEEKEND REVIEWS & VIEWING TIPS! FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2023.

I  joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres.  Today we talk about Hercule Poirot in “A Haunting in Venice,” the Nicolas Cage crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the return of the Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CKTB NIAGARA REGION: THE TIM DENIS SHOW WITH RICHARD CROUSE ON MOVIES!

I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at Hercule Poirot in “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!

I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the new adventure of Hercule Poirot and “A Haunting in Venice,” the crime comedy “A Retirement Plan” and the political satire “El Conde.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

EL CONDE: 3 ½ STARS. “sinks its teeth into the legacy of a monster.”

Based on Chile’s former authoritarian leader Augusto Pinochet, “El Conde,” now streaming on Netflix, is a satire that reimagines the president and dictator (and other politicians) as a soulless vampire. Metaphorically, the idea of politicians as bloodsucking leeches is not new, but this movie isn’t allegorical. It’s an ambitious vampire movie first and an alternate history political satire second.

Jaime Vadell plays the Count, a 250-year-old vampire, living in a self-imposed exile in a crumbling mansion/bunker in remote Chile, with his wife, Lucia (Gloria Münchmeyer), and loyal and an attentive butler (Alfredo Castro). Since getting his first taste of blood licking Marie Antoinette’s plasma off the blade of a guillotine during the French Revolution, he’s been a power-hungry tyrant, most recently taking control of Chile until his “death” in 1990.

Hidden from view for decades, surviving on human heart smoothies he whips up in a blender, he is now in the throes of an existential crisis, troubled by what he perceives as the injustices of his legacy and the ennui of eternal life. “Some people live longer than they should,” he says.

Dispirited, he’s given up drinking blood, and is wasting away, but just as his immortality appears to be finding an end point, some unwelcome visitors—his five inheritance hungry children and a young nun (Paula Luchsinger) with exorcism on her mind—give the undead monster a reason to live.

Shooting in luscious, gothic black and white, Chilean director Pablo Larraín and cinematographer Ed Lachman recall F. W. Murnau and the Expressionist films of the 1920s and 30s. But just as the movie subverts what a political satire can be, the look of the movie also throws expectations off-kilter. The stately black and white suggests classic horror but the film’s grimly funny and witty script is closer on the laugh-a-minute meter to “Young Frankenstein” than “Dracula.” It’s not exactly a giggle fest, it is, after all, about the existence and persistence of evil, but it does trade in dark comedy in a way that Tod Browning never could have imagined.

The vampire allegory—that Pinochet is a parasite who sucked the life blood of his people—isn’t the most subtle, but it does have bite, sinking its teeth into the legacy of a monster.

Although “El Conde” veers off track near the mid-section, the sheer audacity of the idea and a third act reveal gets it back on track. It’s the most original vampire film to come along in years and one of the best sociopolitical satires this side of Armando Iannucci.