Richard joins canada’s number one mid-morning show “The Marilyn Denis Show” to talk about movies and television show to make your Yuletide bright. We talk a pair of tinsel town Christmas movies on Crave, “Four Christmases” with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn and “Elf,” starring Will Ferrell. On the streamers we talk Disney+’s “Home Sweet Home Alone,” the holiday themed “Hawkeye” mini-series and the delightful Netflix holiday movies “Klaus” and “Father Christmas is Back.”
This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast. If you are like my wife and I, for the better part of fifteen years, most Tuesday nights you would tune into “The Rick Mercer Report,” hosted by my guest, Rick Mercer. Part travelogue of our beautiful country, part news satire, part sketch comedy. He golfed with Anne Murray, climbed to the top of a roller-coaster at Canada’s Wonderland and even skinny dipped with Bob Rae. Find out how that happened later in the show.
And don’t forget the Rants, his minute long diatribes about whatever was on his mind that week.
Then, after fifteen years he quit “The Rick Mercer Report,” a job he called, the best job in the world, at the peak of its popularity. Why? We’ll find out.
After that he did stand up and then Covid-19 struck. In lockdown, after four books based on content from the shows, he began writing his most personal story yet. His story. The result is a revealing and hilarious memoir called “Talking to Canadians: A Memoir” and it is available now wherever you buy fine books.
We talk about everything from why the critics called one of his first shows it We Have No Pity for the Audience to turning down a big money offer to head to the United States to host a game show to why his drama teacher told him quitting the school drama club would be, “one of the biggest mistakes of his life.”
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.
Listen to the show live here:
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Richard joins guest host Tamara Cherry and Jay Michaels of the NewsTalk 1010 afternoon show The Rush for Booze and Reviews! Today he talks about Rob Roy, the drink, not the movie, and reviews the Disney+ doc “The Beatles: Get Back,” the animated “Encanto” and Lady Gaga in “House of Gucci.”
Richard joins NewsTalk 1010’s “Moore in the Morning” host John Moore to talk about the reopening of the classic concert hall, Toronto’s Massey Hall, and Peter Jackson’s 468 minute documentary “The Beatles: Get Back.”
“I want to see where this story goes,” says Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) in the early moments of “House of Gucci,” the new dynastic family drama from director Ridley Scott now playing in theatres.
I don’t blame her. It is quite a story.
A Machiavellian mix of love, in-fighting, ambition, fake Guccis, and income tax fraud, “House of Gucci” is almost as outrageous as the accent Jared Leto adopts to play Paolo Gucci, the wannabe designer and, according to his Uncle Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons), “triumph of mediocrity,” who helped create Gucci’s famous double “G” logo.
But is the inspired-by-a-true story movie as attention-grabbing as the designs that made Gucci a household name?
The story begins with a meet cute between Patrizia, a twenty-something who works for her father’s transportation company, and Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), the sweetly naïve grandson of Guccio Gucci, founder of the fashion house House of Gucci, and son of actor and designer Rodolfo.
Rodolfo doesn’t approve of Patrizia—“The Reggiani’s are truck drivers!” he snarls—but Maurizio is smitten, and, even at the risk of being written out of his father’s will, marries her at a lavish ceremony where the Gucci side of the church is noticeably empty.
In the beginning they are happy. Maurizio, who has been disowned by his father, is as awkward as Patrizia is confident and when Uncle Aldo Gucci (Al Pacino), who owns 50% of the company, appears in their life, she turns on the charm. “Strong family,” she says, “makes strong business.”
Maurizio is wary of getting involved in the family trade. He doesn’t like the pomp and circumstance that goes along with the name—“We’re not royalty,” he says—and he’s happy doing his own thing, but his wife tries to orchestrate a new era at Gucci, regardless of the strife it will cause in the family.
Soon Maurizio is in charge, the family is at war and cracks begin to show in Patrizia and Maurizio’s marriage. As resentments grows, Maurizio scolds his wife, “The only thing I need from you is to stay away from Gucci before you cause any more damage.” He also distances himself from her personally, beginning an affair with Paola Franchi (Camille Cottin). Divorce looms and, as her anger turns lethal, Patrizia hires a hitman.
“House of Gucci” is one of the rare, recent two-and-a-half-hour movies that earns its running time. Equal parts serious and satirical, it isn’t perfect, but the story of high style betrayal is entertaining. Gaga and Driver have great chemistry and anchor the movie’s chaotic plotting and flights of fancy. I’m looking at you Jared Leto. But more on that later.
As Patrizia, Gaga brings the goods. Simultaneously sweetly charming and ferociously ambitious, she is Gina Lollobrigida mixed with Lady Macbeth, and her performance provides many of the movie’s best moments.
Maurizio’s journey from idealistic to cold-hearted capitalist is handled nicely by Driver and Pacino adds some spice to Uncle Aldo, but the performance everyone will be talking about, for better and for worse, belongs to Leto.
The Oscar winner, known for his transformational roles, is almost unrecognizable as the too- dumb-to-know-how-dumb-he-is Paolo. Looking as though he’s auditioning for the Italian language version of the “Jeffrey Tambor Story,” he is heightened to the point of parody. Paolo longs to be a designer, but is stymied by his lack of talent and judgement. No one will accuse Leto of having no talent, not at all, but some may question his judgement. It may be tough to deliver lines like, “I could finally soar… like a pigeon,” but Leto digs in, chewing the scenery like every line will be his last meal. It’s entertaining, but tips the scales from serious drama to satire in a way Sir. Ridley may not have intended.
With some uneven storytelling, bigger-than-life performances and wealth porn, “House of Gucci” sometimes plays like a high fashion soap opera, but like soap operas, it knows how to keep its audience coming back for more.
“The Beatles: Get Back,” Peter Jackson’s 468-minute documentary on the making of the Beatles’ final album “Let it Be,” now streaming on Disney+, asks music fans to rethink some commonly held beliefs about John, Paul, George and Ringo’s January 1969 recording sessions and the demise of the band.
The fifty-plus-year-old fly-on-the-wall footage, originally shot for Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary “Let It Be,” has been salvaged, cleaned up and portrays a band that may be frayed at the edges, worn thin from years of constant pressure and the recent loss of their manager Brian Epstein, but still able to create timeless music. The film puts to rest notions that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles, or that George’s frustrations with his role split them apart, or that ego drove a wedge in the group or that manager Allen Klein’s aggressive business practices were to blame.
The real culprit? Familiarity. Stress. Who knows?
What is made clear by “Get Back” is that there was no one thing that led to one of the most public band divorces in rock history.
The downer atmosphere of Lindsay-Hogg’s documentary is missing. With the restored, sparkling audio and picture comes a new, sunnier take on those recording sessions. The bond between the band members is clear, even if tensions arise from time to time.
There is a definite family vibe between them, made stronger when McCartney’s wife Linda and daughter Heather are on the scene, playfully interacting with the most famous musicians in the world. Linda and Yoko chat, roadie Mal Evans cavorts and Lennon introduces the band as “The Bottles” as they work their way through songs like “Get Back” (the writing of which takes up a substantial chunk of the film), “Let it Be” and “I’ve Got a Feeling.” At the end of the final take of “Let it Be” Lennon playfully says, “I think that was rather grand. I’d take one home with me.”
It’s fascinating to see them take the germ of an idea and massage it into fruition. It shows the camaraderie, the experimentation, tension, tedium and talent it takes to mold a thought into a song.
Along the way there are charged moments. John and Paul earnestly discuss George’s (temporary) retirement from the band. There’s a candid conversation between Paul and the studio techs about John and Yoko’s relationship, off-the-cuff performances of old rockers from the band’s Hamburg days like “Rock ‘n Roll Music,” and, of course, the climatic rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row.
Mostly though, it’s an intimate window into the professional and personal world of the Beatles. At upwards of 8 hours (spread over three episodes) it’s a hang out film for fans. There is no real narrative momentum, save for disagreements with Lindsay-Hogg regarding what form a live performance of the new songs will take, just a remarkable, exhaustive document that sheds new light on Beatles folklore.
Gamers will recognize Raccoon City as the name of the once prosperous home base of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corp. That we’re talking about it on this page can only mean one thing, a new “Resident Evil” movie. The seventh film in the series, “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” now playing in theatres, reboots the videogame-inspired franchise, taking the story back to the beginning.
Raccoon City once thrived. A company town, from the 1960s to the late 90s the Midwestern city grew and prospered as pharmaceutical giant Umbrella set up shop there, and invested heavily in infrastructure and the townsfolk, who made up the bulk of their employees.
Everything changed in 1998 when a genetically-altered organism named Queen Leech attacked the facility, kicking off a series of events that left the city a desolate wasteland with a zombie problem.
It’s into this world director Johannes Roberts drops college student Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) and rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia) on one terrifying night in Raccoon City. Claire has come to the dying city to locate her brother Chris (Robbie Amell). The T-virus, Umbrella’s top-secret biological weapon isn’t much of a secret anymore, and the infected residents of Raccoon City are now terrifying zombies. Over the course of one night Claire, Chris, and others from the video game series like Leon (Avan Jogia), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen) and Albert Wesker (Umbrella Academy’s Tom Hopper), fight to survive.
Adapted from the first and second “Resident Evil” games by Capcom, “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” returns the series to its video game roots. The previous films emphasized action over horror. This time around Roberts reverts to scary vibe of the videogames, paying homage to both the games and vintage John Carpenter for the atmosphere of dread that builds throughout. Stylistically, as a videogame tribute, that approach works quite well.
As a movie, however, it comes up lacking. Despite some good gooey and gory zombie action and some fun action scenes, it takes too long to get where it is going. While we wait for the going to get good, we’re subjected to dialogue straight out of the Handbook of Horror Clichés and too much exposition.
The opening feels long winded and the ending rushed, but, especially for gamers looking for Easter Eggs, “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” has enough moments in between to satisfy fans of the series.
Rooted in Colombian culture, “Encanto,” now playing in theatres, is the 60th film from Disney Animation and features eight original songs from Broadway superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The tale begins decades ago when the family’s matriarch Abuela Alma Madrigal (María Cecilia Botero) lost her husband as they, and their three children, escaped persecution. In that moment Abuela comes into possession of a magical candle. The candle’s sorcery helps the single mother not only build a new life for her children, but also a magical home and village tucked away in the mountains of Columbia.
Cut to years later. Encanto is thriving, the candle is burning bright, ensuring the enchantment that created the house and village continues.
The candle has also imbued magical powers on Abuela’s children and grandchildren. Daughter Julieta (Angie Cepeda) can heal people with her cooking, while granddaughter Isabela (Diane Guerrero) is the very picture of perfection, able to make flowers bloom anywhere and everywhere. Luisa (Jessica Darrow) has super strength, which comes in handy when the mules get loose or a building needs moving to another location.
All the children have powers except for youngest daughter Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), a spunky youngster who is as down to earth as her siblings are otherworldly. The family is exceptional, she is told, she is “un-ceptional.”
When she discovers the magic of the candle may be dimming, she takes action to save her family and the village.
“Encanto’s” story is told in a swirl of primary colours. The animation is eye-popping, paying homage to vintage Disney like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” while updating the look with state-of-the-art computer animation. The sequences of the house coming alive, expressing a mind of its own, are playful, proving once again that Disney’s clever artists can imbue personality into almost any inanimate object.
The story is a flight of fancy that feels stretched to feature length, but the movie’s sheer exuberance makes up for any narrative lapses. Lively performances—almost as lively as the animation—upbeat Broadway style tunes by Miranda and a beautiful score by Germaine Franco, the first woman to score a Walt Disney Animated Studios movie, all underscore the movie’s messages of the importance of family and how we are all special in some way, no matter what gifts we have.
“Encanto” is a celebration of Latino culture that stresses embracing our differences, and what it lacks in narrative propulsion, it makes up for in joy and sense of wonder.
Richard joins canada’s number one mid-morning show “The Marilyn Denis Show” to talk about movies and television show to make your Yuletide bright. We talk a pair of tinsel town Christmas movies on Crave, “Four Christmases” with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn and “Elf,” starring Will Ferrell. On the streamers we talk Disney+’s “Home Sweet Home Alone,” the holiday themed “Hawkeye” mini-series and the delightful Netflix holiday movies “Klaus” and “Father Christmas is Back.”
