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.
“Bruised,” a new MMA drama directed by and starring Halle Berry, and now streaming on Netflix, punches through the usual sports cliches and training montages to tell a redemption story of a woman whose rage dominated her life.
Berry is Jackie Justice, a disgraced UFC mixed martial arts star who left the sport in disgrace when she vaulted out of the cage during a match. Four years later her hair trigger temper gets her fired from a job as a nanny and booze helps her cope with abusive boyfriend/manager Desi (Adan Canto). It was his push to take on bigger fights that sent her over the brink at the height of her fame, and now he wants her back in the ring, making money.
“I don’t want to fight,” she says, “I’m happy.” Trouble is, she doesn’t appear to be happy.
When she is spotted by fight league promoter Immaculate (Shamier Anderson), who promises to set her up with top flight trainer Buddhakan (Sheila Atim), her career looks to be back on track until the 6-year-old son (Danny Boyd, Jr.) she abandoned years ago suddenly comes back into her life.
“Bruised” is a slickly produced sports flick that takes us into a little explored world, women’s MMA. Berry doesn’t shy away from the brutal nature of the fight game, both in and out of the ring. It paints a vivid portrait of the physical and mental toll paid by Jackie as she seeks personal and professional redemption, but often veers into melodrama. Plots lines crisscross as we follow Jackie’s relationships with her mother (Adriane Lenox), her trainer, Desi and Manny. Each thread clutters the plot with storylines that are not only predictable, but also take away from the movie’s main thrust, how Jackie’s life has been shaped by trauma and rage.
When “Bruised” focusses on the fighting, it succeeds. It is interesting to see that world from a female point of view and about a woman older than might be expected in the punishing sport. Even Jackie’s trainer calls her “Betty White.”
But as Jackie’s road to redemption meanders through a laundry list of misery, the two-hour, 15-minute movie becomes weighed down by the sheer volume of story.
In “C’mon C’mon,” a new black-and-white drama now playing in theatres, radio journalist Johnny, played by Joaquin Phoenix, says he likes to record sound because “it makes the mundane immortal.” Writer/director Mike Mills attempts to create that same kind of magic in his straightforward, unassuming film.
The soft-spoken radio presenter is travelling around the United States, interviewing children about their lives, experiences and the future, when he offers to look at after his nine-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman). Jesse’s mom Viv (Gaby Hoffmann) will be out of town for a week, helping her ex-husband (Scoot McNairy) get settled in a mental health facility. When she is delayed on her return, Johnny takes the youngster on work trips to New York and New Orleans. While Johnny becomes a father figure to Jesse, his relationship with Viv deepens as the long distance, shared experience of looking after the boy brings them closer.
“C’mon C’mon” is a quiet movie that speaks volumes. It asks simple questions, like “Are you happy?” and tries, often in a roundabout way, to answer them. Jesse and Johnny’s conversations, which make up the vast bulk of the movie, are simultaneously insightful, frustrating and vulnerable. Just like real life.
As Jesse, Norman is a child wise beyond his years. He’s a fan of conspiracy theories, asks pointed questions to adults, has a vivid imagination but no friends. What he shares with his uncle is an emotional directness, even if he doesn’t completely grasp what he’s feeling and why.
Oscar winner Phoenix approaches Johnny with warmth and keeps the theatrics to a minimum. They complement one another, feeling out their relationship as they go, learning from one another. It’s lovely in its ordinariness, made all the more special by the naturalistic performances.
I don’t know if “C’mon C’mon” will become immortal, it’s a little too freeform for that, but the simple human truths it essays already are.
“Last Call with Richard Crouse” is a weekly podcast on the stories behind the places where everybody knows your name. This week, we visit Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, the home of the Bloody Mary!
“I’m Richard Crouse. I tended bar for seventeen years everywhere from hot spots to dive bars and I thought I had seen it all…
“In my life behind bars I witnessed everything from first dates and marriage proposals to knife fights and a woman who brought a pet monkey in for a drink.
“Nothing could surprise me… Or so I thought…
“Then I heard about how a lion who visited Harry’s New York Bar in Paris inspired Ernest Hemingway to write one of his greatest novels. And why there are century old chicken bones hanging above the beer-stained bar at McSorleys in New York City. And how Vincent Sardi refused to do business with the mob during Prohibition, so his famous Broadway Restaurant didn’t serve alcohol until the 21st amendment passed, six year after they first opened…
“With the help of the “Last Call” Prove That You Love Me And Buy The Next Round Players, music and interviews, I bring these stories, and many more, to life in my podcast Last Call. It’s fact folded in with a sprinkling of fiction, because, well, who doesn’t exaggerate after a few drinks?
“So, open that bottle of wine or crack that beer and join me for an intoxicating guided tour of some of the strange stories from some of the world’s best watering holes.
Ballet star Guillaume Côté calls it “a sacred space.” Executive Director of the Canadian Film Centre Maxine Bailey said it is “the place of memories, laughter, and shared joy.” It’s Massey Hall, the Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street, the 2700 seat concert hall that’s been making memories, musical and otherwise, for performers and audiences alike for 127 years. Richard collected memories from people who have graced the stage and the audience to commemorate the legendary’s hall’s November 25 reopening.
“Unless your name is Elon Musk, it’s unlikely you’ll be wrapping up cars with a Christmas bow and putting them under the tree for your loved ones. So, instead of giving cars, here’s a list of gifts, ranging from the fun and frivolous to the practical and functional, to make the Yuletide brighter than high beams on a dark winter night for the drivers on your naughty and nice list…” Read the whole thing HERE!
This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Danny Goldberg. Regular listeners of this show may remember my interview with him from a year or two back when we talked about his rock ‘n roll life as the manager of Nirvana, the publicist for Led Zeppelin and record a company executive who released Stevie Nicks’ solo records and Warren Zevon’s Grammy winning “The Wind,” Steve Earle’s Grammy winner “The Revolution Starts Now,” and the Baha Men’s “Who Let The Dogs Out.”
What you may not know is that he is also an activist, sitting on the Board of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the Nation Institute and Americans for Peace Now and many others.
His new book is “Bloody Crossroads 2020: Art, Entertainment, and Resistance to Trump.” It’s available wherever you buy fine books and takes a look at how singer Taylor Swift became an unwitting idol of the neo-Nazi movement, explores the impact of entertainment celebrities in communications, fundraising, and campaigning to support the election of Joe Biden and much more.
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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Click HERE to catch up on shows you might have missed!
Richard appears on the November 18, 2021 edition of the Totally Useless Information podcast to talk about things, once standard, that you don’t find on cars anymore with hosts Nick Maiorano and Roy Locascio.
Some info on the podcast: Listen, laugh & learn: this is the premise of The Totally Useless Information podcast, created by Nick Maiorano and Roy Locascio. The two hosts scour the internet every week and bob and weave their way through the morass of fake facts in search of real – but totally useless – information that you thought you’d never need to know. The information can get so wildly ridiculous and intriguing that it has attracted audiences in more than 50 countries which have been tuning in and coming back again and again.
Stories, photos and memorabilia in a new limited-edition book by the fans for the fans
In original words and stunning photography, That Night At Massey Hall captures famous, favourite and unique “Nights” at The Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street as told by the artists, audience members and employees who were there on those special evenings.
The classic stands of The Hip, Rush and Dylan, historic appearances by Marley, Sinead and Iggy, as well as the ticket scalper, obstructed view and usher tales that are less often told. This hard cover collector’s piece is packed with more than 300 stories across a century of history, illustrated in full colour.
Buy the book HERE and read Richard’s story about his father, Tom Waits and Louie Armstrong!
Find answers to the questions:
How did protestors of the former USSR choose to mark their presence ?
Which artist turned up at the wrong venue?
Why was the ‘Greatest Jazz Concert Ever’ not sold out?
Which show was the perfect prelude to a spell in jail?
