RICHARD’S REVIEWS FOR FRI. FEB. 14, 2014 W CTV NEWS CHANNEL HOST MARCIA MACMILLAN.
Richard’s “Canada AM” reviews for “RoboCop,” “WEinter’s Tale” and “About Last Night.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Archive for February, 2014
A time-travelling Colin Farrell riding a magic flying horse? No thanks
By Richard Crouse & Mark Breslin Reel Guys – Metro Canada
SYNOPSIS: Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes the romantic time travel tale of Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), a turn-of-the-last century burglar who comes across the love of his life while robbing a mansion he thought was empty. Beverly Penn (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay), the beautiful-but-doomed daughter of a wealthy newspaper tycoon, is a precocious and philosophical young woman with just months to live. He wants to save her, but first he must save himself from evil crime lord Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), a brutal man who wants Lake dead. Then, in a twist suggested by the Brothers Grimm, he finds himself thrust one hundred years into the future with only the faded memory of Beverly and a white guardian angel horse as company.
STAR RATINGS:
Richard: 1 ½ Stars
Mark: 2 Stars
Richard: Mark, I am not a cold-hearted man. I like love stories as much as anyone and, as a fan of Say Anything, almost well up whenever I hear Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes, but the sledgehammer romance of Winter’s Tale left me feeling bruised rather than buoyed. The mix of metaphysical romance, magic realism and demonic revenge is a strange stew that worked well in the book by Mark Helprin but seems to have lost something in the translation to the screen. I feel the sight of Colin Farrell flying above New York on a winged Pegasus is best left in the mind’s eye.
Mark: Richard, sometime in the Eighties, I was dating a girl who gave me a copy of the book, which she said was the “greatest novel of all time.” I read about a third of it, tossed it on the floor, and subsequently broke up with her. So obviously the story, with its magic/tragic, hocus/pocus view of romance isn’t for me. This is not a poorly made movie. It’s lovely to look at, has some fine acting, and has a lot of good dialogue mixed in with the bad. But Richard, there’s a magic horse in it. That horse will separate those who will be enthralled by the film from those who think it’s embarrassing hooey. Guess which group I fall into?
RC: I’m with you on the Pegasus and it is a credit to the charm of Colin Farrell and Findlay that the romantic side of the tale comes alive at all. The first meeting between Peter and Beverly, over a cup of tea, is simple, effective and bristles with starry-eyed tension. More of that and less of the magic horse and I might have bought into the story. As it was I felt like I was strapped to a chair and force-fed all the Valentine’s Day episodes of “Touched by an Angel.” What did you make of Russell Crowe? He seemed like he was having fun with his demonic gangster routine, but did it work for this movie?
MB: Yes, Crowe is one of the things in the movie that worked for me. It was the casting of his boss that was ridiculous, a preposterous cameo that threw off the already precarious balance of the film. When he came onscreen, there was no turning back from its silliness. But even if I accept the movie on its own ridiculous terms, it still has a major problem. It’s like a two act play, but the two halves don’t cleave together. The second act, which happens in present day New York, feels rushed and arbitrary. At least the first act takes some time building characters and mood. What did you think of the female lead, Jessica Brown Finlay?
RC: She’s beautiful, a little frail and doesn’t get buried by the schmaltz. I thought she was nicely cast.
MB: As was William Hurt. Always nice to see him working again.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: 2 STARS. “frisky but not as funny or insightful as it thinks it is.”
It’s the second cinematic go-around for David Mamet’s 1974 play, “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.”
The 1980s version was a peak into the lives of yuppified twenty-somethings played by pretty people Demi Moore and Rob Lowe.
The new version, in theatres this weekend, changes the location form Chi-Town to Los Angeles, focusing on singles in their 30s. The story hasn’t changed that much, just the faces; this time around the pretty people are played by Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart and Joy Bryant.
The story focuses on two couples. Danny (Ealy) and Debbie (Bryant) and Bernie (Hart) and Joan (Hall). The former are lonely hearts who find one another, but don’t discover the passion needed to sustain their relationship. The latter are all passion with no firm commitment outside of kinky sex and “No you didn’t!” one-liners.
Like the original film the story is organized around various holidays and seasons and follows most of the same plot points but that’s where the similarity ends. Keep in mind, this isn’t a remake of David Mamet’s play, it’s a remake of a movie that was based on Mamet’s play, so there is no reverence for the tone established by one of America’s leading playwrights.
The easy sentimentality of the 1986 film has been replaced by raunchy jokes and situations, and if it is possible for a film, outside of the kind that play at The Pussycat Theatre, to have too many sex scenes, “About Last Night” is that movie. Instead of plot we’re handed sex scenes, but the kind of sex scenes that happen under blankets and reveal nothing, physically or story wise.
The story relies on the characters to maintain interest, but although they intersect—one of the movie’s stylish twists is the intercutting of scenes between the men and women to highlight their similarities and contrast their differences—the two couples seem to be from different movies.
Hart and Hall appear to be making a farce, while Ealy and Bryant are entrenched in a more sentimental—and duller—film. Hart and Hall have enough personality to make up for the dreary pretty people, but your enjoyment of the film overall may well be linked to your capacity for Kevin Hart’s wild antics.
“About Last Night” is frisky and a little freaky, but not as funny or insightful as it thinks it is.
GLORIA: 2 STARS. “divorcee Gloria is a character in search of a story.”
Santiago divorcee Gloria (Paulina García) is a character in search of a story. Director Sebastián Lelio has stranded the fifty-eight-year old free-spirited woman in a film that plays like a series of incidents rather than a fully realized story. García brings empathy to the woman, painting a picture of a person making the best of lonely life, but the components of story, like a strange, passionate affair with Rodolfo (Sergio Hernández), are so underdeveloped it’s difficult to feel any connection to the characters or situations. García, complete with her Tootsie glasses, does interesting, brave work, but the story does not support her.
WINTER’S TALE: 1 ½ STARS. “requires leaps of faith that would terrify Evel Knievel.”
I am not a cold-hearted man. I like love stories as much as anyone and, as a fan of Say Anything, almost well up whenever I hear Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” but the sledgehammer romance of “Winter’s Tale” left me feeling bruised rather than buoyed. What is meant to be an uplifting experience about the power of love and the triumph of good over evil felt more like being strapped to a chair and force-fed all nine seasons of “Touched by an Angel.”
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Mark Helprin and brought to the screen by Oscar winning writer-turned-director Akiva Goldsman the story begins when Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), a turn-of-the-last century burglar, comes across the love of his life while robbing a mansion he thought was empty.
Beverly Penn (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay) the beautiful-but-doomed daughter of a wealthy newspaper tycoon, is a precocious and philosophical young woman with just months to live. He wants to save her, but first he must save himself from demonic crime lord Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), a brutal man who wants Lake dead. Then, in a twist suggested by the Brothers Grimm, he finds himself thrust one hundred years into the future with only the faded memory of Beverly and a white guardian angel horse as company.
The opening narration let’s us know that “magic is everywhere around us.” I just wish that some of that magic had spilled into the screenplay. The movie’s mix of metaphysical romance, magic realism and demonic revenge is a strange stew that worked well in the novel but seems to have lost something in the translation to the screen. In other words, perhaps the sight of Colin Farrell flying above New York on a winged Pegasus is best left in the mind’s eye.
As silly as the movie is, and make no mistake, this is what I like to call an S.D.M.—Silly Damn Movie—Farrell and Findlay manage to bring the romantic side of the tale alive. Their first meeting, over a cup of tea, is simple, effective and bristles with sexual tension. The love story, although a bit starry-eyed, works until the magic realism takes over and the story becomes loopier and loopier. By the time the words, “Is it possible to love someone so much they can’t die?” spill from Farrell’s lips all is lost, and that’s not even an hour into the story.
Putting aside the enchanted horses and dime store spirituality for a moment, the story often requires leaps of faith that would have even terrified Evel Knievel. This is the kind of movie where mothers willingly hand over their sick children to scruffy looking strangers on the promise of a miracle. It’s the kind of movie where people accept outlandish events with a tossed off phrase like, “How’s that even possible?” It’s the kind of sloppily plotted movie that involves a level of suspension of disbelieve so off-the-charts it’s almost in outer space.
“Winter’s Tale” is a frustrating movie. It overly complicates a boy-from-the-wrong- side-of-the-tracks-meets-rich-girl story with a bunch of hocus pocus that wastes some good work from Farrell, Findlay and Russell Crowe.
Metro asks, “Who should play Rob Ford in the movie of Crazy Town?”
Stedman Graham comes to Extra Entertainment Extra Saturday Feb 15, 2014
Tune into “Extra Entertainment Extra” on NewsTalk 1010 on Saturday February 15, 2014 at 4:30 pm to hear Stedman Graham speak about his new book “Identity: Your Passport to Success.”
From amazon.ca:
Features a foreword by John Maxwell and afterword from Steven R. Covey.
Have you ever thought about the connection between knowing who you are and success? Identity can serve as your greatest asset. Enduringly successful people know who they are, are clear about what matters to them, have established powerful identities, and create value in the world.
In this book, the process for discovering and understanding your identity is brought to life through Stedman Graham’s personal experiences and the stories of individuals who’ve resolved their questions of identity, building a life that matters to themselves and those around them.
Take control of who you are. Take control of your life. Achieve lasting success.
Now a Wall Street Journal bestseller!
Tweets of the Week! “Poor, naive Huls thinks there’s only one @RichardCrouse…”
Canadian Cinema Editors Discussion with Film Critics on Editing.
Please join us for a unique and exciting panel discussion. The C.C.E. welcomes film critics Richard Crouse, Rob Salem and Parker Mott to discuss their views on editing in film and television and how it impacts their reviews and criticism. How did we get from Eisenstein believing editing was the most important ingredient in filmmaking to today, where it is an invisible art known only by those in the industry? A young filmmaker is given a chance by a major studio to direct… with a caveat. They must hire a veteran editor to lead them through the story and pacing. Why will Schoonmaker be mentioned in a review, but not Lee Smith or Dylan Tichenor? How important is the editing to them in reviews? These topics and much more will be discussed, with a Q&A to follow. The discussion will be moderated by Film Editor and Canadian Cinema Editor Co-President Paul Winestock, C.C.E.
This event is open exclusively to C.C.E. members until February 11th, non-members may RSVP now and will be notified February 12th if there is still space available.
