I appear on “CTV News at 6” with Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend. I’ll tell you about the new Crave comedy “The Trades,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to brush your teeth! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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 the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join CP24 to have a look at the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres and streaming including the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“You Can Call Me Bill,” a new first-person documentary about the life, career and philosophy of William Shatner, boldly goes where no film has gone before to present a contemplative look at that man whose life’s work encompasses everything from Kirk and commercial spokesperson, to pop singer and Shakespearean stage actor.
The many ups and downs, ins and outs, of Shatner’s career are on display. Clips from “Star Trek,” both the iconic television show and movies, and his myriad other projects (like “Boston Legal,” “Judgment at Nuremberg,” “The Intruder” and “Incubus”) sit side-by-side archival footage and ephemera from the actor’s scrapbooks, set to a soundtrack of Shatner’s distinctive voice and cadence.
The result is something you don’t often find in celebrity documentaries. “You Can Call Me Bill” may be a tad self-indulgent, but the neither the actor or director Alexandre O. Philippe, can be accused of pulling punches.
It’s stream-of-consciousness, without input from any talking heads, save for the 91-year-old actor. In an in-depth, wide-ranging and often thoughtful interview the story is told in his own words. From the creation of Kirk, to the loneliness that has shaped his life to a sad story about his childhood pet dog, it is a raw portrait, that feels blessedly free of the meddling influence of protective publicists.
Shatner emerges as a thoughtful, yet maximalist guy, brimming with a big, theatrical personality and even bigger ideas. In touch with both his self-deprecating “Free Enterprise” persona, as well as his introspective side. His thoughts on acting and career should give fans the juice they want from a celebrity doc, but it’s the deeper stuff, his talk of death and what comes next that is most effective. Particularly effective, and emotional, is his recounting of his 2021 trip to space on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space shuttle. “Our brains aren’t made to encompass the vastness of the things we’re talking about,” he says.
Perhaps the most striking revelation in the thought provoking “You Can Call Me Bill” is the extent to which the actor has adopted the “Star Trek” ethos of boldly going forward. Whether he goes where no man has gone before is up for conjecture, but after watching the doc, it’s clear he has rarely been anything but bold.
By Richard Crouse – Metro In Focus
Everybody knows what happens on stage at a big show like this Sunday’s Canadian Screen Awards. A host sings, dances and/or tells jokes, glamorous presenters tear open envelopes and announce award winners who thank everyone from managers to spouses to Jesus. There’s the slapping of backs, bespoke tuxedos and flowing gowns and tears.
Add in some drama, a red carpet and you have the ingredients of a big awards show, but what happens backstage?
Lots, as it turns out. Every year at the Canadian Screen Awards there’s a whole other show that happens offstage in the pressroom. Located deep in the bowels of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts it’s my domain during the live broadcast. Every year I host the room, interviewing the winners as they come off stage in front of an “audience” made up of local and national reporters there for the free food and access to the celebs. I am the purveyor of sound bites, the compère to the press who take the interviews I do and turn them into stories for the next day’s papers and newscasts.
Over the years Elvis Costello, Tatiana Maslany, William Shatner and many others have passed through, tossing out bon mots like they were candy. Jay Baruchel let it slip he was engaged to Alison Pill on our small stage. Viggo Mortensen proudly waved the Montreal Canadiens flag in the face of a roomful of Leafs fans and Jill Hennessey gushed about the Canadian Screen Awards gift bag, thanking the Academy for the Norman Jewison Maple Syrup.
It’s an easy gig for me. Everyone who comes down from the main stage is a winner, automatically in a good mood and ready to have some fun.
When Lifetime Achievement Award winner David Cronenberg was asked where the inspiration for his movies came from he took a moment to examine the assembled crowd of journalists before deadpanning, “Just standing here is giving me all kinds of ideas for horror films.”
Call Me Fitz star Tracy Dawson picked up a CSA for Best Actress but later told me that awards don’t guarantee work. She won a Gemini in 2011 for playing Meghan Fitzpatrick on the show and thought she had it made. Then her phone didn’t ring for ten months. In the pressroom she joked that she wanted to be clear—she was looking for work. “I’m totally available,” she laughed.
It’s a different show downstairs, less glitzy and more relaxed.
This year Andrea Martin is taking over hosting duties from fellow-SCTVer Martin Short but I’ll never forget last year how Short tore up the pressroom, still jacked up from hosting the show. He was hilarious when I asked if he’d try and top his spectacular flying entrance next year. “I can only fly so many times,” he said. “That harness chafes.”
