Richard Crouse

MIKE & NICK & NICK & ALICE: 3 ½ STARS. “a time travel flick about living in the moment.”

SYNOPSIS: A story of hitmen, romantic betrayal, a cannibal assassin and time travel, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice,” now streaming on Disney+, is not your average underworld story.

CAST: Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, Jimmy Tatro. Written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski.

REVIEW: A buddy comedy with a time travel twist, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” delivers solid laughs and is a welcome return of Vince Vaughn’s vaunted comic timing.

The action begins with crime lord Sosa (Keith David) vowing to get revenge on the snitch who ratted out his son Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro), throwing him in prison for eight years. The wet work has been assigned to hitman Nick (Vince Vaughn), who has set up Quick Draw Mike (James Marsden), a rival in crime and for the attention of Alice (Eiza González), as the fall guy.

Into this deadly love triangle comes another assassin called The Baron who kills and eats his victims, betrayals, secrets and a chatty inventor named Symon (Ben Schwartz) whose time machine complicates an already complicated situation.

“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is a welcome return to the swaggerlicious, slick talking characters that made Vaughn an R-rated comedy fan favorite. He’s made comedies in the last few years, but his work in shows and films like “Bad Monkey,” “Nonnas” and “Easy’s Waltz” feel lowkey compared to the snappy delivery on display here.

Writer/director BenDavid Grabinski stages enough big shoot-‘em-up sequences for this to qualify as an action comedy, but he knows the secret sauce is in the chemistry between the cast.

In a dual role the above-mentioned Vaughn is fun, playing Present Nick as ruthless, ruled by anger and loyalty to Sosa while he softens Future Nick, presenting hm as a reflective guy with regret for the life he’s led. To paraphrase iconic slogan for Doublemint gum, Vaughn doubles his performance and doubles the fun.

Marsden brings a way with a punch and a punchline, while never losing the likability that characterizes his best work, like his arc as Liz Lemon’s boyfriend Criss Cross on “30 Rock” and “Enchanted’s” Prince Edward.

In her first big comedic role González isn’t given as much to do as Marsden and Vaughn but brings great comic timing and a dose of humanity to the absurd story.

Propelled by the cast’s chemistry, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is a time travel flick about living in the moment that doesn’t forget to have fun along the way.

03.26.2026

Film Review

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE: 3 ½ STARS. “something you don’t see often.”

SYNOPSIS: In “A Magnificent Life,” a new animated film now playing in theatres, looks at acclaimed playwright, novelist and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol.

CAST: Laurent Lafitte, Géraldine Pailhas, Matt Berry. Directed by Sylvain Chomet.

REVIEW: “A Magnificent Life” is something you don’t see often. An animated biopic, it’s the story of playwright, novelist and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, one of the giants of 20th century French culture.

“The Triplets of Belleville” writer/director Sylvain Chomet assembles a loving portrait of Pagnol, beginning the story at a low moment in the subject’s life. Pagnol is 6o years old, struggling with his own relevance and his latest work, writing a collection of stories from his “magnificent life” for Elle magazine.

Feeling defeated by his faulty memory, his memoir begins to take shape when he is visited by an unusual muse, his 10-year-old self who magically appears to guide him through the vagaries of his memory. Playfully, Marcel pokes and prods the older man to write about success and failure, and his hard-scrabble life growing up in Marseilles.

Chomet’s beautiful hand-drawn animation (with minor digital tinkering) is the star of “A Magnificent Life.” Detailed, Chomet takes a painterly approach to the work, which stands in slight contrast to the more whimsical look and character movement of the jazz age “The Triplets of Belleville.”

He’s opted for a more realistic look but doesn’t forget the mischievousness that make his films memorable. Any movie with a magical manifestation of the main character’s youth is bound to have a sense of fun, but that spark is also demonstrated by a silent-film sequence, complete with intertitles and the story’s interchangeable use of theatrical, cinematic and literary devices to tell the tale. It’s engaging, even if the story itself is a bit Wikipedia in its approach.

“A Magnificent Life” has one perplexing element. Much is made of Pagnol’s insistence on using the Marseilles accent in his work, despite producer’s concerns that general audiences wouldn’t be able to understand the dialect. Thing is, the accents here are all pretty much the same, with no discernable difference for Pagnol’s lilting “accent du Midi.”

What “A Magnificent Life” lacks in adventurous storytelling it makes up in warmth and visual invention as it blends magic realism with reality.

03.26.2026

Film Review

ALPHA: 1 ½ STARS. “prioritizes provocation over coherent storytelling.”

SYNOPSIS: In “Alpha,” a new French-language body horror/pandemic film now playing in theatres, a teenager’s tattoo may have exposed her to a deadly disease.

CAST: Tahar Rahim, Golshifteh Farahani, Mélissa Boros, Emma Mackey, Finnegan Oldfield, Louai El Amrousy. Written and directed by Julia Ducournau.

REVIEW: “Titane” director Julia Ducournau plumbs the depths of tedium to tell an opaque story that doesn’t have the narrative urgency to overcome its emotional inertness.

Set in both the past and present in coastal France as a contagious blood-borne disease turns people into something resembling marble statues, the story centers on the fourteen-year-old Alpha (Mélissa Boros), her physician mother (Golshifteh Farahani) and Amin (Tahar Rahim), Alpha’s junkie uncle.

When Alpha arrives home with an infected “A” tattooed on her arm, her mother thinks she may have contracted the mysterious disease. At school the bleeding “A” gets Alpha bullied, while at home she is now forced to share a room with Amin whose intravenous heroin use may have infected him with the strange illness.

Locked in the room while Alpha’s mother is at work, the rebellious teenager and her uncle sneak out on an adventure that may change both their lives.

An unfocussed allegorical take on an AIDS-like epidemic, “Alpha’s” story is told with a broken narrative structure that jumps through time, a confusing device that becomes distracting and disorienting as the film’s runtime goes on.

The filmmaking is demanding, if uneven, the performances committed, but the unconventional storytelling muddies the waters, allowing the themes of family trauma, disease and caregiving to drown in a sea of style and ever-shifting timelines.

“Alpha” is a frustrating movie. An ambitious, timely story of the effects of a society torn apart by an epidemic is done in by an indulgent, heavy hand that prioritizes polarization and provocation over coherent storytelling.

03.26.2026

Film Review

HOLY DAYS: 3 STARS. “a road trip movie that’s worth the journey.”

SYNOPSIS: In “Holy Days,” a feel-good road trip flick starring Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes and Jacki Weaver and now playing in theatres, a young boy learns about life and loss when he accompanies three nuns on a wild road trip across 1970s New Zealand.

CAST: Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes, Elijah Tamati, Jacki Weaver. Directed by Nathalie Boltt.

REVIEW: A family friendly story of faith, support and mutual growth, “Holy Days” is a dryly humorous movie that presents big ideas about love, life and loss in a playful but heartfelt movie.

Set in 1970s New Zealand, “Holy Days” sees Brian (Elijah Tamati), a Māori boy grieving the death of his mother, befriend three elderly nuns, played by Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes, and Jacki Weaver, at the local convent. Their company provides solace for the youngster, so when he learns that their convent is about to be shut down, he jumps at the chance to accompany the nuns on a chaotic road trip, in a “borrowed car,” to retrieve a deed that may prevent the convent from closing.

As the nuns seek out the deed to the convent, Brian is on a slightly different journey. He’s in solidarity with his car mates, but he really wants to visit Aoraki/Mount Cook, a rugged mountain so tall it appears to pierce the clouds. It’s there he hopes to spiritually connect with his late mother before she disappears forever.

A coming of age for Brian, the road trip becomes a vehicle for all to rediscover purpose and the importance of connection.

“Holy Days” is a period piece, but the film’s nostalgic gaze is tempered somewhat by themes of mortality, redemption and spirituality, and some underdeveloped notions of the importance of the church as the center of the community and the marginalization of Brian’s Māori heritage. Still, director Nathalie Boltt, who co-wrote the script with Joy Cowley, finds the right balance between humor and earnestness, approaching the heavier themes with a light touch.

She is aided by a trio of veterans who bring spark to the trio of nuns, but it is Elijah Tamati as the precocious Brian who gives the movie its heart. His sense of childlike wonder and way with a line—”Sister Agnes, you did a sin,” he says when she “borrows” a car for their trip. ”You should be prostituted.”—goes a long way to bringing real warmth to the story.

“Holy Days” is a road trip movie that’s worth the journey.

03.26.2026

Film Review

IHEARTRADIO: MUSICIAN PETER ELKAS + FILMMAKER ALIREZA KHATAMI

On the Saturday March 28, 2026 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet singer-songwriter and producer Peter Elkas.

He’s toured the world as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist with the likes of Neko Case, Joel Plaskett, and Andy Kim, released a string of celebrated solo records produced by Don Kerr and Charlie Sexton, and shared stages with everyone from Feist and Nick Lowe to The Doobie Brothers and Bruce Springsteen.

Now, “Lion Lion,” originally released on his 2018 EP Lion, is roaring back into focus thanks to an unexpected new chapter. Elkas recently stepped into the acting world, appearing as Ed—the local record store owner—in the 2026 Netflix original series Finding Her Edge. In a perfectly meta twist, the show also features “Lion Lion” in an episode Elkas appears in, with the song landing on Netflix’s official Finding Her Edge playlist.

We talk about the resurgence of the song and more!

Then, award-winning Iranian Canadian filmmaker Alireza Khatami. His debut feature, Oblivion Verses (2017), premiered at the Venice Film Festival, earning multiple accolades including the Best Screenplay award in that category, the FIPRESCI Prize, and the Interfilm Award. In 2023, he co-directed Terrestrial Verses, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Today we talk about his latest film The Things You Kill, a psychological thriller exploring family dynamics, toxic masculinity, and personal trauma (drawing heavily from his own experiences). It premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance, where he won the Directing Award, and was selected as Canada’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards and it is now playing in theatres everywhere.

Listen to the whole thing HERE! (Link coming soon)

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!

All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across Canada via live stream on iHeartRadio.caand the iHeartRadio Canada app. iHeartRadio Canada stations are also connected through Alexa, Siri, and Google Home smart speakers.

Listeners across Canada can also listen in via audio live stream on iHeartRadio.ca and the iHeartRadio Canada app.

Listen to the show live here:

C-FAX 1070 in Victoria

SAT 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM

SUN 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM

CJAD in Montreal

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

CFRA in Ottawa

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

NEWSTALK 610 CKTB in St. Catharines

Sat 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM

NEWSTALK 1010 in Toronto

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

NEWSTALK 1290 CJBK

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

AM 1150 in Kelowna

SAT 11 PM to Midnight

BNN BLOOMBERG RADIO 1410

03.22.2026

NewsTalk 1010

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 weekend’s best shows and movies including the Crave documentary “Clairtone,” the movie “The Things You Kill,” the Crave sitcom “Rooster” and the Prime Video crime series with Nicole Kidman “Scarpetta.”

Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 13:03)

03.22.2026

Uncategorized

IHEARTRADIO: MIRIAM MARGOLYES + NAT BOLTT + DAVID BOUCHARD

On the Saturday March 21, 2026 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet Nat Boltt and Miriam Margolyes, the writer director and star of a new, heartwarming dramedy called “Holy Days.” The story, set in 1970s New Zealand and adapted from Joy Cowley’s novel, follows a grieving young boy (Elijah Tamati) who joins the nuns on a chaotic journey across the country. They aim to save their convent (or retrieve deeds to it) while dealing with themes of loss, faith, family, and mischief.

Nat Boltt is an actress, you may remember from playing Penelope Blossom on the hit show “Riverdale.” She is a writer and director, and “Holy Days” is her first feature.

British-Australian acting legend Miriam Margolyes, OBE, is the beloved character actress who’s stolen scenes for decades—from Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films and Mrs. Mingott in The Age of Innocence (which earned her a BAFTA) to countless unforgettable turns in Blackadder, Babe and recent projects like the Oscar-nominated short A Friend of Dorothy.

Then, we’ll meet David Bouchard, a highly acclaimed Canadian author (of Métis/Ojibway heritage), former teacher and school principal, Order of Canada recipient, and passionate advocate for literacy, Indigenous stories, and cultural understanding. Today we’ll talk about his new book Dreamcatcher: Grandmother’s Web.

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!

All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across Canada via live stream on iHeartRadio.caand the iHeartRadio Canada app. iHeartRadio Canada stations are also connected through Alexa, Siri, and Google Home smart speakers.

Listeners across Canada can also listen in via audio live stream on iHeartRadio.ca and the iHeartRadio Canada app.

Listen to the show live here:

C-FAX 1070 in Victoria

SAT 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM

SUN 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM

CJAD in Montreal

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

CFRA in Ottawa

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

NEWSTALK 610 CKTB in St. Catharines

Sat 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM

NEWSTALK 1010 in Toronto

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

NEWSTALK 1290 CJBK

SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM

AM 1150 in Kelowna

SAT 11 PM to Midnight

BNN BLOOMBERG RADIO 1410

03.22.2026

NewsTalk 1010

CTV NEWS AT 6: RICHARD ON MOVIES AND TV SHOWS TO STREAM THIS WEEKEND!

I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the new Ryan Gosling sci fi adventure “Project Hail Mary,” the new Steven Spielnerg docuseries “The Dinosaurs” on Netflix and the horror sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.”

Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 36:37)

03.22.2026

Film Review

CTV NEWS TORONTO AT FIVE WITH ZURAIDAH ALMAN: RICHARD ON WHAT TO WATCH!

I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Sean Leathonog to talk about new movies in theatres including Ryan Gosling’s sci fi adventure “Project Hail Mary,” the psychological thriller “The Things You Kill” and the horror sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.”

Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 14:04)

03.20.2026

Film Review