Archive for August, 2016

CTV NEWSCHANNEL: RICHARD ON GENE WILDER’S FILMS AND LEGACY

Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 8.03.01 PMRichard spoke about his favourite Gene Wilder moments to CTV News.

Watch the whole thing from CTV’s NewsChannel HERE!

Watch the whole thing from the CTV National News HERE!

Watch the whole thing from the CTV News At Six HERE!

NKPR AT THE ‘IT’ HOUSE: RICHARD’S EARLY TIFF PICKS FOR 2016

Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 8.45.06 AM“The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) premieres some of the most anticipated blockbuster films and attracts some of the biggest A-listers in Hollywood. This year is certainly no exception with expected appearances from Denzel Washington, Justin Timberlake, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and many more.

“Each year we get the inside scoop on the hottest TIFF premieres from renowned Canadian critic Richard Crouse. As the the regular film critic for Metro Canada, the 24-hour news source CTV’s News Channel and CP24, Crouse is an expert in what films to see…and what films to skip. From biographies to dramas, he’s rounded up his Top 10 Must-See Films of TIFF 2016 exclusively for NKPR… Read the whole thing HERE!”

CHECK IT OUT: RICHARD’S “HOUSE OF CROUSE” PODCAST EPISODE 63!

Screen-Shot-2015-06-30-at-1.42.28-PM-300x188Welcome to the House of Crouse. West of Memphis, is a documentary from Oscar nominated director Amy Berg, details the efforts to find justice for Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. and James Baldwin, collectively known as the West Memphis Three. Last week I saw a tweet from Echols–“I walked off of death row exactly 5 years ago today.”–and was inspired to go back into the HoC vault to find chats with Echols, his wife Lorris Davis and Berg. It’s fascinating stuff, so c’mon in and sit a spell and listen in.

 

CTV NEWSCHANNEL: War Dogs stars Jonah Hill sits down with Richard Crouse

Screen Shot 2016-08-28 at 9.27.28 AMBy definition the term ‘war dogs’ refers to “bottom feeders who make money off war without ever stepping foot on the battlefield.” In the film “War Dogs” Jonah Hill plays Efraim Diveroli, a true to life 20-something arms dealer who fits that description to a tee. Richard sat with HIll to discuss the film on the CTV NewsChannel.

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY AUGUST 26, 2016.

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 2.55.15 PMRichard and CP24 anchor Jamie Gutfreund talk about the weekend’s big releases, the scared-of-the-dark thrills of “Don’t Breathe,” the walking-and-talking of “Southside with You,” the noirish grit of “Manhattan Night” and Natalie Portman’s directorial debut “A Tale of Love and Darkness.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL REVIEWS FOR “DON’T BREATHE” & MORE FOR AUG 26.

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 2.54.14 PMRichard sits in with Todd van der Hayden to have a look at “Don’t Breathe,” a new edge-of-your-seat home invasion flick, the romantic “Southside with You,” the noirish “Manhattan Night” and Natalie Portman’s directorial debut “A Tale of Love and Darkness.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

Metro: Mechanic: Resurrection & Statham’s perfect stubble brand

Screen Shot 2016-08-24 at 12.14.04 PMBy Richard Crouse – Metro In Focus

Jason Statham isn’t so much an actor as he is a brand. When you go to McDonald’s you know you can expect the two all beef patties, special sauce and the sesame seed bun to taste the same whether you’re in Toronto or Hong Kong. It’s that kind of brand management that has made Statham a star. You know what to expect from his movies—rippling abs, some high kicking action, his trademarked facial stubble and loads of explosions. It’s a simple formula but one that works for his fans. Perhaps the advertising slogan for his new film, The Mechanic: Resurrection should be New, But Still Exactly the Same.

Statham returns to the role of Arthur Bishop, a part originated by Charles Bronson and resuscitated by Statham in 2011’s The Mechanic. The new film finds the actor playing a variation on his Statham Character #1 in which he is a “loner with a past who must protect a loved one,” (as opposed to Statham Character #2 which is the “loner with a past who must protect a youthful innocent.”). As Bishop he has put the bloody work of professional assassin in the past and is now trying to lead a normal life. When a villain kidnaps the love of his life, however, he must get his hands dirty and return to his specialty, killing people and making it look like an accident.

What Statham lacks in range he makes up for in muscle tone. His well crafted on-screen persona is equal parts stoic masculinity and lithe athletic ability. He’s Charles Bronson (who starred in the original The Mechanic in 1972) with better moves, a man of action and few words in the mould of Clint Eastwood, if Clint had a better roundhouse kick. In The Mechanic: Resurrected, his 38th film since 1998 (and he has at least three more in the pipeline), he doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen him do before, but no matter, he simply does the things we expect him to do. That’s what brands do, and as movie brands go these days he’s about as reliable as it gets.

He is either remarkably consistent or just really enjoys playing guys who can break your neck with a steely gaze. Recently a scientific poll—OK, I posted a question on facebook—posed this question: What makes Statham movies so popular? Here are some of the comments:

  • His Blue Steel stare puts Zoolander to shame!
  • His complete lack of facial movement? It’s like if Buster Keaton were an emotionless British killing machine.
  • He always manages to kick someone’s butt while being tied to a chair.
  • Not since Don Johnson, circa Miami Vice, has an actor managed to maintain a perfect three-day stubble…

Statham’s movies are predictable as heck. “You gotta be kidding me!” you’ll be tempted to say at some of the plot twists, if only the movie’s characters didn’t beat you to it. They are cliché-a-thons, but because Statham understands his audience and persona his films are dumb good fun. His über-macho presence is more important than the scripts. As long as he is in motion, running and leaping, kicking and punching, and giving voice to action movie platitudes in his distinctive English rasp, his pictures work.

DON’T BREATHE: 4 STARS. “best bug-eyed acting in a horror film in some time.”

Screen Shot 2016-08-24 at 12.14.45 PMHalf lit hallways and gloomy basements are standard backdrops for spooky stories. “Don’t Breathe” makes good use of them, playing on our primal fear of the dark in a topsy turvy home invasion story that sees the invaders terrorized by the man who was meant to be their victim.

Set in Detroit, the movie follows Alex (Dylan Minnette), Rocky (Jane Levy) and Money (Daniel Zovatto) as they hatch a plan to rob the house of a blind military vet (Stephen Lang). “I got our ticket outta here,” says Money. “Rumour is, this guy is sitting on at least three hundred K.” Their goal is to grab the stack of cash The Blind Man won in a wrongful death settlement when his only child was killed and hightail it to California to start new lives. Despite Alex’s reservations—“It’s pretty messed up to rob a blind guy, isnt’ it?”—the trio go to the man’s house on an abandoned block of the city’s downtown, drug the guard dog and search for the money. Their easy score proves elusive when their victim turns the table, and hunts them in the dark.

“Don’t Breathe” presents a conundrum. Who do you root for the bad people who broke into the house or the bad man who lives in the house? Either way, one thing is clear, you don’t need to be afraid of the dark, you need to be afraid of what’s in the dark. “Evil Dead” rebooter Fede Alvarez combines the primal scares that come along with claustrophobic, dark spaces with a weird anxiety inducing soundtrack a slow building sense a=of dread and some of the best bug-eyed acting I’ve seen in a horror film in some time to create a down-‘n-dirty horror flick.

From Lang sniffing, as though tracking his prey through scent to Levy’s large expressive eyes to the prerequisite gore—although the film gets more violent than clever near the end—“Don’t Breathe” is suspenseful and unpredictable, just like whatever is out there hiding in the dark.