The Primetime Emmy Awards are tonight and Canada is well represented with nominations for “Schitt’s Creek,” Sandra Oh and more. Richard breaks it down in this CTV National News report.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard speaks to “CTV News at 11:30” anchor Andria Case about movies on VOD to watch this weekend including spy thriller “Jack Ryan” on Amazon Prime Video and the hilarious talk show “Desus & Mero” on Showtime.
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 18:41)
Richard speaks to “CTV News at Six” anchor Andria Case about television and movies to watch this weekend including a pair of dystopian tales, Showcase’s “Brave New World,” based on Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel of the same name and “The Society” on Netflix and a look back at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 38:53)
From tiff.net: Stanley Kubrick’s critically acclaimed Full Metal Jacket was marked by a special drive-in screening of the film in 4K resolution with high dynamic range (HDR) for the first time, complemented by a pre-recorded panel, hosted by Richard Crouse, featuring stars Vincent D’Onofrio and Arliss Howard and Stanley Kubrick’s daughter Katharina Kubrick.
Watch the whole interview HERE!
As the Toronto International Film Festival winds down here’s a look back at some of the highlights of the last few days.
NOT URBAN COWBOY: Despite the similarities in name “Concrete Cowboy,” the new drama starring Idris Elba and Caleb McLaughlin of “Stranger Things” as father and son, has nothing to do with “Urban Cowboy,” the 1980 John Travolta cheese fest. This is a deeply felt, if slightly predictable coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the urban cowboy subculture of north Philadelphia. Loosely based on the book “Ghetto Cowboy” by Greg Neri, “Concrete Cowboy” is a western but told from a different point of view than we usually see. Director Ricky Staub does a commendable job at building the world Harp and Cole inhabit. Their way of life is an anachronism in the big city, but the greater purpose of providing opportunities to the area’s youth is timeless.
DENZEL WASHINGTON ON CHADWICK BOSEMAN: As part of a virtual talk during the TIFF “In Conversation” series, Washington (who was chatting with director Barry Levinson) spoke eloquently about the passing of the “Black Panther” star. “Who knew he didn’t have much life left? He didn’t get cheated. We did. I pray for his poor wife and his family. They got cheated, but he lived a full life.”
WAHLBERG’S JOURNEY in “GOOD JOE BELL”: Mark Wahlberg is the good man of the title, Joe Bell, husband to Lola (Connie Britton), father to sons Joseph (Maxwell Jenkins) and Jadin (Reid Miller), a young gay man who took his own life after repeated bullying from the jocks at his high school. Unable to resolve his feelings, Joe hits the road, vowing to walk from La Grande, Oregon to New York City, the city of Jadin’s dreams. It’s a time of solitude for Joe to wrestle with his own complicity in his son’s death and make stops along the way to mumble his way through halting speeches about bullying at local high schools. Written by the “Brokeback Mountain” screenwriting team of Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, “Good Joe Bell” has its heart in the right place but makes missteps along Joe’s journey.
WORST FATHER EVER: Darth Vader may be the cosmically worst cinematic father in the universe but down on earth Willis, as played by Lance Henriksen in the new film “Falling,” gives the “Star Wars” villain a run for his money. Writer, director and star Viggo Mortensen found inspiration for the story after caring for his real-life father in his declining years. Mortensen plays John, husband of Eric (Terry Chen), son of Willis. He’s ex-Air Force, now working as a commercial pilot based in Los Angeles. It’s a long way from the rural New York farm where he was raised and his father still resides. Willis isn’t doing well. Dementia has robbed him of the ability to live alone in the rambling old farmhouse he’s inhabited for decades. Hoping to make his father’s life easier, John brings him to California with an eye toward making it easier to care for him. Trouble is, Willis’ disease has made him the definition of cantankerous. “Falling” gives genre legend Henriksen his meatiest role in years. He is the dominant and dominating character, a man who makes Archie Bunker look like Justin Trudeau.
SCORSESE AT THE TIFF TRIBUTE AWARDS: Kicking off the virtual fundraiser, aired on CTV, Martin Scorsese was impassioned as he spoke about the importance of film festivals. “It’s becoming sadly common to see cinema marginalized and devalued, and in this situation, categorized sort of as a form of comfort food, so to celebrate its very existence is all the more important and necessary. We can never remind people enough that this remarkable art form has always been and always will be much more than a diversion.”
A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS: As Chief Official White House Photographer for two US Presidents, Pete Souza had an up-close-and-personal look at the hallways of power and the men who walked them. “The Way I See It,” captures a detailed behind-the-scenes profile of power and the responsibility that comes along with the office. “The Way I See It” is Souza’s story but the larger picture it paints is one of the importance of photography. If a picture is worth a thousand words this movie speaks volumes. Souza’s photos capture the hope and empathy that characterized the Obama years in stark contrast to the anxiety that surrounds the current election season. The photos tell the tale, for now and posterity.
Richard sits in on the CTV NewsChannel with host Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including “The Nest,” Jude Law’s story of avarice and privilege, the mind-bending Janelle Monáe drama “Antebellum,” Susan Sarandon’s end of life story “Blackbird” and the documentary “The Way I See It.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard and “CP24 Breakfast” host Pooja Handa have a look at some special streaming opportunities and television shows to kill time over the weekend including the “2020 TIFF Tribute Awards” on Crave, the action adventure series “Hannah” on Amazon Prime Video, the dystopian thriller “The Third Day” on Crave and “Forky Asks a Question” on Disney+.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including the twisty-turny Janelle Monáe drama “Antebellum,” “The Nest,” Jude Law’s story of greed, the documentary “The Way I See It” and Susan Sarandon’s end of life story “Blackbird.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Antebellum,” starring singer and actor Janelle Monáe in a dual role, is a horror film about the intergenerational impact of slavery.
At the film’s beginning Monáe is Eden, enslaved on a plantation at the onset of the Civil War. The plantation boss, Confederate Captain Jasper (Jack Huston), is a cruel drunk with a strict set of rules. He demands no talking and obedience “with a smile.” The cost of speaking out of turn or not working hard enough is misery. Forced to endure sexual exploitation, physical trauma and mental anguish, one night Eden shuts her eyes and goes to sleep.
When she awakens it’s 2020 and she is Veronica Henley, a famous writer on American race relations with a busy schedule that includes television appearance and live speaking engagements. Her latest work, “Shedding the Coping Persona,” a roadmap to revolution for historically marginalized people, examining the intersectionality of race, class and gender, is a hot button book that touches on some of the same concerns that plagued Eden’s life.
“Black women are expected to be seen and not heard,” she says at a conference. “To the patriarchy we’ve been practically invisible but their arrogance is their greatest vulnerability and our greatest opportunity.” She closes her speech with a quote from Assata Shakur, “The only thing that we have to lose are our chains.”
Although successful, wealthy and well-known, she is treated with condescension from everyone from a white television host to a hotel concierge, from a ghostly little girl in an elevator to a corporate headhunter (Jena Malone) who gives her kudos on her lipstick choice. “It compliments your skin tone,” she says. “I don’t think I could… pull it off.”
Eden and Veronica have a connection, brought forth in a ferocious climax, but there will be no spoilers here.
In a “Twilight Zone” finale “Antebellum” asks if Eden was a figment of Veronica’s imagination or vice versa. It’s hard to describe without giving anything away but the writing-directing duo of Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz have done some of the work for me, foreshadow the ending throughout. For instance, at one point Veronica tells her friend Sarah (Lily Cowles), “Our ancestors haunt our dreams to see themselves more.”
“Antebellum” is a horror film that doesn’t rely on jump scares to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Instead, with a tip of the hat to Rod Serling, it blends social commentary on the legacy of American slavery with the supernatural to form a provocative essay on how the unresolved past can create turmoil in the present.
