This week on “Pop Life” author and comedian Erin Gibson stops by the bar to discuss her book, “Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself to Death,” and her decision to overhaul her makeup collection.
Film critic and pop culture historian Richard Crouse shares a toast with celebrity guests and entertainment pundits every week on CTV News Channel’s talk show POP LIFE.
Featuring in-depth discussion and debate on pop culture and modern life, POP LIFE features sit-down interviews with celebrities from across the entertainment world, including rock legends Sting and Meat Loaf, musicians Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman, comedian Ken Jeong, writer Fran Lebowitz, superstar jazz musician Diana Krall, stand-up comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, actors Danny DeVito and Jay Baruchel, celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Nigella Lawson, and many more.
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nathan Downer to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” “The Sun is Also a Star” and the social documentary “This is North Preston.”
Richard joins midday host Jerry Agar to have a look at the Elton John biopic ‘Rocketman,” listen to “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” the new song from the movie’s soundtrack and talk about the unique way Cannes’s audiences show their displeasure.
This week on The Richard Crouse Show: In 1976, Ian McEwan’s first collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham award; his first novel, The Cement Garden, was published two years later. He won the Booker prize in 1998 with Amsterdam. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of British Empire) in the 2000 Queen’s Millennium Honors List for his services to Literature. His novels Atonement, On Chesil Beach, Enduring Love and The Children Act have been made into films. His new book Machines Like Me is in bookstores now. 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 Ethan Hawke, director Brad Bird, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, Eric Roberts, Brian Henson, Jonathan Goldsmith a.k.a. “The most interesting man in the world,” and best selling author Linwood Barclay.
Click HERE to catch up on shows you might have missed!
A weekly feature from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” “The Sun is Also a Star” and the social documentary “This is North Preston.”
Richard sits in on the CTV NewsChannel with news anchor Marcia MacMillan have a look at the weekend’s big releases including the shoot-punch-stab-’em-up “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” the romantic teen drama “The Sun is Also a Star” and the social doc “This is North Preston.”
Richard has a look at the new movies coming to theatres, including fists of fury of “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” the teen dreams of “The Sun is Also a Star” and the social documentary “This is North Preston” with CFRA Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
Cast your mind back to 2014. John Wick, the retired super assassin played by Keanu Reeves, was attempting to move on after the death of his wife. Keeping him company was a puppy, sent by his wife just before she died in the hopes that the dog’s love will help ease his pain. But then came the bad men who broke into his house to steal his super nifty 1970 Mustang. Things go sideways and the thieves do the unspeakable.
They kill the dog.
Big mistake. The doggy’s daddy is a killing machine. How wicked is John Wick? “Is he the boogeyman?” asks one former associate. “He was the one we sent to kill the boogeyman.”
Thus, was set into motion the series of bloody, open-up-a-can-of-whoop-ass events that lead us to “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.”
Following “Chapter 2” which saw Wick ostracized from the exclusive world of killers-for-hire after breaking some very Old Testament style rules laid down by Winston (Ian McShane), operator of the mysterious assassin association the High Table. Now Wick has a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of international bounty-hunters on his tail.
You don’t go to “John Wick” movies for nuanced character development. You go for the kick butt-ery. “Chapter 3” delivers on the promise of action with scenes that show Wick dispatching a man using nothing but a book, stabbing somebody in the eye – that one is gruesome – and, of course shooting everyone in sight. There is so much and gunplay it’s as if they had to use up all of “Chapter 3’s” bullet budget or they wouldn’t get it again for the inevitable sequel.
These action scenes are carefully choreographed and the absence of music in the early fights emphasizes the brutality and the absurdity of the violence. But while we expect uber-violence from this franchise, we also expect consistently inventive battle scenes. There’s some of that—the action scenes involving horses and motorcycles are wild and woolly—but a long shoot-out in Casablanca is just that – a long shoot-out in Casablanca that feels plucked from a video game.
As the series moves further away from the original “dead puppy“ revenge plot of the original it is losing some of the simplicity that made the first two movies so enjoyable. The world of the High Table comes with rules of plenty but in the context of these action films less could be more. We don’t need complicated world building. This isn’t a Marvel movie, it’s a fists of fury action flick that threatens to get bogged down by details.
Having said that, “Chapter Three – Parabellum” (a Latin phrase meaning ‘prepare for war’) is still a hoot and features some of the coolest fight scenes in movies right now despite its excesses.
“The Sun is Also a Star,” an existential romance starring Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton, is about love struck young people with two distinct points of view, brought together by chance.
Based on Nicola Yoon’s award-winning novel, the story follows high school seniors Natasha (Shahidi) and Daniel (Melton) whose lives change in one day. “Compared to the life span of the universe our lives begin and end in a single day,” she says.
She’s in crisis, a Carl Sagan-quoting realist dealing with the stark fact that her family is to be deported to Jamaica in twenty-four hours. “This is my home,” she says. “New York is my home.”
He’s a dreamer, a poet who loves Emily Dickenson and believes that love can conquer all. “I don’t believe in love,” she says. “So, no magic, no fate, no meant-to-be?” he replies. “What if I told you I could get you to fall in love with me? Just give me a day.”
They meet cute and spend an eventful twelve hours in New York City to discover if Daniel’s notion of love conquering all is true or a pie in the sky pipe dream. “This is real,” he says. “I know you feel it too.”
Whether you find “The Sun is Also a Star” naïve or heartwarming will say much about whether you are a Natasha or a Daniel. The touchy-feely why-can’t-we-all-just-get-along vibe is a simple and frequently over used sentiment but here it works if you buy in. Score one for Daniel. It’s the kind of movie where NYC Transit announcements are more poetic pronouncements—”You never know why you were meant to be here at this time,” blares a late subway notice—than simple information and life-changing events happen in the blink of an eye.
It’s a sorta-kinda millennial “Before Sunset.” Heavy on the dialogue, it proceeds at an unhurried pace building toward romantic moments geared to make teen’s hearts beat a little faster. Like an emo love song, the minor chord story mixes romance with heightened situations about the human cost of deportation and two lovebirds who may never have the chance to be together, destiny be damned.
“The Sun is Also a Star” has some charming moments—his giggle when she unexpectedly calls, and the way they look at each other at a karaoke bar—provided by the impossibly good-looking leads and aided by their chemistry. Those unwilling to embrace the “open up your heart to destiny” premise, however, may be better rewarded by cracking open the decided less romantic but equally metaphysical “Cosmos” by Natasha’s hero Carl Sagan.
This week on “Pop Life” author and comedian Erin Gibson stops by the bar to discuss her book, “Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself to Death,” and her decision to overhaul her makeup collection.
