Done correctly, religious horror, no matter the denomination, can provide the most potent form of terror. Rooted in our prima fears, of good versus evil, of the afterlife and the absence of faith, it preys upon our most basic beliefs to scare the hell out of us.
Unfortunately, although set in a convent, “Immaculate,” a new film starring Sydney Sweeney, and now playing in theaters, is more b-movie exploitation than religious horror.
The film sets the stage with a creepy prologue of a young woman’s desperate attempt to escape from a nunnery, only to be held back and meet a terrible fate. Turns out, the convent is like the Hotel California, “You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!”
The horrific opening fades into the story of the Michigan born-and-raised Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney). As a child, she survived a near death experience that imbuing her with faith that pointed her toward a life of service in the name of God. “God saved me for a reason,” she says. “But I’m still searching for what that reason is.”
As an adult novitiate nun, her American parish is shuttered for poor attendance and she is relocated to a convent tucked away in the Italian countryside. “I will carry myself with grace,” she says, “because I want nothing more than to be here.” Built in 1632 as a transition home for elder sisters on the fast track to heaven, it is a maze of dimly lit corridors, creaky floors and gothic architecture.
“Suffering is love,” she is told by way of welcome from the Mother Superior (Dora Romano).
After a rocky start, it’s revealed that she is pregnant, despite being a virgin. “How long until they start calling you Mary?” asks the edgy Sister Isabel (Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi). Convinced she is carrying the second coming of Christ, the nuns who once treated her with disdain, now regard her as a miracle.
For Cecilia, however, the situation is anything but miraculous. “Out of all the women in the world,” she asks, “why did He choose me?”
“Immaculate” has the look of a religious horror film, from the convent to the iconography and the stern-faced nuns but underneath its sacred façade is a button-pushing exploitation movie dressed up in a nun’s habit.
Director Michael Mohan starts things off slowly, hanging the horror on jump scares and odd imagery. Mysterious red-faced nuns appear, sowing some sacrilegious shocks, and loud sounds startle from time to time, but despite some icky fingernail trauma and branding, it isn’t until the third act that all hell breaks loose.
Sweet Sister Cecilia, pregnant and finally aware that she is in danger, finally flips the switch from meek and mild to extreme and wild. Her attempts to survive shed all pretences of piety to fully submerge the movie in a blood-soaked climax that is as disturbing as it is memorable. The extreme nature of the final moments showcases Sweeney’s ability to hold the screen, but make absolutely no sense in terms of the character. As an answer to reclaiming her bodily autonomy her behaviour makes some sort of horror movie logic, but her sudden personality shift is so jarring, it’s as if her evil twin suddenly enters the picture and takes over.
At a fast-paced 90 minutes of nunsploitation, “Immaculate” rips along, but only really delivers what fans want in its final, barmy moments.
“Road House,” the 2024 Prime Video riff on the much-loved 1989 cult classic of the same name, isn’t so much a remake of the Patrick Swayze flick, but a modern tribute to the cartoon violence of 1980s movies.
Jake Gyllenhaal is Elwood Dalton, a disgraced UFC fighter with a troubled past and an even more troubling left hook. A one-man army, he is a soft-spoken bruiser who usually gives his victims the chance to turn tail and run before he pummels the hell out of them. “Before we start,” he asks, “do you have insurance? Is your coverage good? Like, you have dental?”
After a self-inflicted near-death experience, he finds himself working as a bouncer at the Road House in the picturesque Glass Key, Florida. Brought in by second generation owner Frankie (Jessica Williams), it’s his job to bring order back to the place, even if that means busting a few heads.
As the fists fly, Dalton finds himself caught up in a turf war between Frankie and a rich, mobbed up local family who want to turn the Road House into a resort. When the family brings in a walking, talking wrecking crew (Conor McGregor) to seal the deal, Dalton becomes afraid… “Afraid of what happens when someone pushes me too far.”
Other than bars, bouncers and brawls, “Road House” doesn’t have much in common with the original. The previous film wasn’t exactly nuanced, but at least they took the time to give the bar, the Double Deuce, a name. Here it’s just called Road House. It’s a small detail, and they joke about it in a self-aware way in the film, but it signals a simplicity that permeates the entire, bloody affair.
Not that we can reasonably expect much depth in a movie about a bare-knuckle brawler. What you can expect is the dichotomy of Dalton as aa violent man who hates violence. Gyllenhaal plays him as an affable guy who’ll break your arm, but take the time to drive you to the hospital after the fight is done. The Tai Chi, philosophy and Ph.D. that defined Swayze’s take on the character are gone, replaced by Gyllenhaal’s wide smile and fists of fury.
His Dalton is interesting when the fists are flying—director Doug Liman has a way with staging big, fun fight scenes that mix MMA with slapstick and Russian car rash videos—but less so when he’s not in action. That is emphasized with the introduction of McGregor. With a maniacal grin, a skip to his step and an unstoppable Terminator approach to fisticuffs, his ridiculous performance is the blast of energy the movie needs after a saggy middle section.
“Road House” may disregard the original movie, but it doesn’t disregard its audience. The fight scenes, and let’s face it, that’s why we’re here, are high-octane, old-school battles that punch above their weight.
“You Can Call Me Bill,” a new first-person documentary about the life, career and philosophy of William Shatner, boldly goes where no film has gone before to present a contemplative look at that man whose life’s work encompasses everything from Kirk and commercial spokesperson, to pop singer and Shakespearean stage actor.
The many ups and downs, ins and outs, of Shatner’s career are on display. Clips from “Star Trek,” both the iconic television show and movies, and his myriad other projects (like “Boston Legal,” “Judgment at Nuremberg,” “The Intruder” and “Incubus”) sit side-by-side archival footage and ephemera from the actor’s scrapbooks, set to a soundtrack of Shatner’s distinctive voice and cadence.
The result is something you don’t often find in celebrity documentaries. “You Can Call Me Bill” may be a tad self-indulgent, but the neither the actor or director Alexandre O. Philippe, can be accused of pulling punches.
It’s stream-of-consciousness, without input from any talking heads, save for the 91-year-old actor. In an in-depth, wide-ranging and often thoughtful interview the story is told in his own words. From the creation of Kirk, to the loneliness that has shaped his life to a sad story about his childhood pet dog, it is a raw portrait, that feels blessedly free of the meddling influence of protective publicists.
Shatner emerges as a thoughtful, yet maximalist guy, brimming with a big, theatrical personality and even bigger ideas. In touch with both his self-deprecating “Free Enterprise” persona, as well as his introspective side. His thoughts on acting and career should give fans the juice they want from a celebrity doc, but it’s the deeper stuff, his talk of death and what comes next that is most effective. Particularly effective, and emotional, is his recounting of his 2021 trip to space on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space shuttle. “Our brains aren’t made to encompass the vastness of the things we’re talking about,” he says.
Perhaps the most striking revelation in the thought provoking “You Can Call Me Bill” is the extent to which the actor has adopted the “Star Trek” ethos of boldly going forward. Whether he goes where no man has gone before is up for conjecture, but after watching the doc, it’s clear he has rarely been anything but bold.
On the Saturday March 16, 2024 edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, a.k.a. Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took, from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. They’ve built upon their famous friendship by working together on podcasts (“The Friendship Onion,” “Moriarty: The Devil’s Game”) and TV (Boyd appeared on Monaghan’s travel show “Wild Things,” and the two just announced a new reality series “Billy and Dom Eat the World”). But now they’re making their stage debut together as a different dynamic duo.
The pair will star in a new production of Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” in Mirvish Productions’ Off-Mirvish series at Toronto’s CAA Theatre until April 6, 2024.
Then, best-selling author Dolly Alderton stops by. She’s a regular columnist for the Sunday Times Style Magazine, and the author of the phenomenally successful memoir “Everything I Know About Love,” which she’s just finished making into a hit BBC TV series; and a bestselling novelist thanks to her barnstorming fiction debut “Ghosts.” Her latest best seller, “Good Material,” a story of heartbreak and friendship and how to survive both.
We wrap up with Glass Tiger singer Alan Frew who talks about music, how he keeps his voice in shape and much more.
In the classic 1998 film “Smoke Signals” Cree actor Cody Lightning played the younger version of the lead character Victor. “I’m Cody Lightning,” he says, “Little Victor, as most people know me. Or should know me. ‘Smoke Signals.’ Big movie. I was in it.”
A quarter century later comes “Hey Viktor!,” a new mockumentary, now playing in theatres, starring Lightning as an exaggerated version of himself as he desperately seeks to relive old glories.
“I did not want this movie to end,” said Gene Siskel of “Smoke Signals.” “In fact, I wanted a sequel.”
In the new film, Lightning aims to give Siskel his wish and create a sequel to the movie that started it all for him. “When ‘Smoke Signals 2’ comes out,” he says, “game over.”
We first meet Lightning, as an alcoholic teacher of a very intense acting classes for kids while performing in cut-rate pornos in his off hours. “A lot of people don’t understand the artist’s life,” he says.
When his ex, and mother of his kids, begins dating “Canada’s latest Indigenous superstar” (Peter Craig Robinson) and announces she’s moving to the United States, he hits rock bottom.
We see all this, because the documentary crew following him around isn’t actually making a movie about his life and career, they’re actually from an intervention style TV show called “Getting Sober” hosted by Craig Broner (Colin Mochrie).
He takes the opportunity to realize his dream. Along with the crew and his manager and BFF Kate (Hannah Cheeseman) he begins production on “Smoke Signals 2.”
“If we don’t do this,” he tells Kate, “I have nothing. I’m losing my kids. I’m not getting parts. I’m losing you. Let’s do this for us.”
“Hey Viktor!” may be the “Spinal Tap” of child actor movies. Funny and absurd, but with an undercurrent of reality that grounds the heartfelt moments, it delivers laughs and some bittersweet moments. Make no mistake, this is a comedy, first and foremost, and a raunchy one at that, but as it works its way to the end, it careens through a dysfunctional journey of self-discovery.
At the heart of the film is Lightning. Playing a character who wants to overcome the demons that plague his adult life, he makes peace with those he has wronged, and with himself. It’s not a subtle performance, the nudity, the poop jokes and the ruthless swearing see to that, but it is a heartfelt one.
He’s supported by nice performances from the cast, including Cheeseman, who does powerful work as Lightning’s faithful friend, Mochrie, who brings the fire and Simon Baker, who plays himself as a grown-up star of “Smoke Signals.”
“Hey Viktor!” is a go-for-it comedy that matches humour with heart.
The Quebec-set “French Girl,” now playing in theatres, may be the only rom com to feature Mixed Martial Arts as a plot point. Other than that, it’s a standard romantic comedy, heavy on the romance but light on real comedy.
Zach Braff plays Gordon Kinski, a Brooklyn, New York born-and-raised high school English teacher, who has never wandered outside the neighborhood he was born into. He lives close to his eccentric writer father (William Fichtner) and teaches at the school he attended as a teen.
He’s forced out of his comfort zone when his live-in chef girlfriend Sophie (Evelyne Brochu) gets the chance to work in a fancy hotel kitchen, run by world-famous chef Ruby Collins (Vanessa Hudgens), in her Quebec City hometown.
Bags packed, he goes along for the ride. Trouble is, Gordon, a bundle of anxiety and insecurity, tries a little too hard to impress Sophie’s French-Canadian family. On top of that, unbeknownst to Gordon, Sophie and Ruby were once a couple, and the flame of attraction may still be burning.
The CanCon rom com “French Girl” is a fish-out-of-water story that leans heavily into the genre’s conventions. You know how it will end—if you don’t, give up your RomComCard—so it is important to make the journey to the end credits as entertaining as possible.
Braff does yeoman’s work bringing as much charm as possible to Gordon. His photo should be next to the word “neurosis” in the dictionary, and after a time, his ability to put his foot in his mouth becomes almost as tiering for the audience as it does for Sophie’s family.
Brochu, in a fairly thankless role, has good chemistry with Braff, but really shines when she is interacting with the members of her family.
Hudgens plays Ruby as a ruthless chef with a passion for perfection. It’s a stereotype straight out of “Hell’s Kitchen,” which might have had more impact if we actually saw her prepare some food, and not just dip her finger into a sauce with an unkind word on her lips and a sneer on her face.
Romantic comedies can be comforting in their cliches. Like a great meatloaf or mac ‘n’ cheese, they are unpretentious, don’t demand much and in return provide a warm happy feeing. “French Girl” has the comforting traits of the genre, but in the end is mostly empty calories.
Chances are good you have seen the extraordinary viral video of elderly London stockbroker Nicolas Winton, given a standing ovation by the grown survivors of the 669 children, mostly Jewish, he rescued from Czechoslovakia before the Nazi occupation closed the borders. Taken from the BBC television show “That’s Life,” it is moving footage that has been viewed millions of times.
“One Life,” a new biopic starring Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter, and now playing in theatres, provides the background of the much-viewed video and the man known as the “British Schindler.”
Based on the book “If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton” by Barbara Winton, the film toggles back-and-forth between 1987 London and 1938 Czechoslovakia. In the contemporary scenes Winton (Hopkins) is in retirement, puttering around a house stuffed with memories, paperwork and artefacts from his past. He continues his charitable work, still haunted that he was not able to save more children, while his wife Grete (Lena Olin) urges him to clear out the ephemera of the past and slow down. “Why would I want to slow down?” he asks.
Played by Flynn in the flashbacks, Winton is on assignment for the British Committee for Refugees From Czechoslovakia. In Prague, taken by the plight of the stranded children he encounters, the hunger and the mortal danger the impending Nazi occupation, he puts into motion the massive relocation of hundreds of children. Through money raising efforts, arranging visas and foster care, he spirits nine trainloads of children, through precarious circumstances, to safety in Britain.
The famous viral video, in which Winton is finally able to see, and maybe for the first time, understand, the results of his work, is recreated to great emotional effect. But even as his status as a national hero grows, he grumbles, “This is not about me.”
As the latter-day Winton, Hopkins gives a quietly powerful performance. It is empathetic work colored by the guilt Winton carried. “I’ve learned to keep my imagination in check,” he says, referring to the children left behind, “so I don’t go raving mad.” In a restrained movie, it is his inner work that bursts forth, making us feel the immense impact of Winton’s work.
“One Life” is a potent story of doing the right thing, trapped in a staid historical biopic, but given life by the emotional story and performances.
Romance and ‘roid rage collide in “Love Lies Bleeding,” a pulpy new romp starring Kristen Stewart, now playing in theatres.
Set in 1989, Stewart is Lou, a loner who works at Crater Gym, a rundown fitness center owned by her estranged father Lou Sr (Ede Harris). When she isn’t fixing plugged toilets at the gym, she listens to How to Quit Smoking cassette tapes while inhaling deeply on cigarettes and helps her sister (Jena Malone) and abusive brother-in-law JJ (Dave Franco) look after their kids.
When ambitious bodybuilding drifter Jackie (Katy O’Brian) blows into town, on a quick pitstop on her way to a Vegas bodybuilding competition, she falls hard for Lou. But will a sudden, violent chain of events get in the way of their love and bodybuilding glory?
“Love Lies Bleeding” is a squirmy, no-holds-barred hybrid of crime thriller, family drama, psychological study and LGBTQ2S+ romance. Director Rose Glass entertainingly juggles the various elements, and isn’t afraid to shock and amuse the audience with audacious breaks from reality. No spoilers here, but the visualization of the protective power of love is eye-popping, funny and, if you are willing to take an artistic leap, really effective.
Stewart is a brooding character whose actions are governed by new love and some old habits (again, no spoilers here). She’s a jumble of rough edges, but underneath her sneering facade is a warm, beating heart, open to those brave enough to get close. As the situation around her spins out of control, old instincts arise, and Lou morphs from taciturn gym worker to a dynamo fueled by anger and lust.
O’Brian plays Jackie as a fit and toned archetype, a drifter with a past and maybe not much of a future. Glass cleverly uses the traits of Jackie’s bodybuilding—the bulging muscles, popping veins shot in extreme close-ups—as a metaphor for the rage that bubbles just underneath her carefully sculpted physique.
The chemistry between them lies at the heart of the success of the film and yet, Anna Baryshnikov (dancer Mikhail’s daughter) as the messy Daisy manages to steal every scene she appears in. As a young woman with an unrequited love for Lou, she is a catalyst for some of the film’s chaos, with a baby voice and some strange, but kinda sweet, energy that almost makes you feel bad for her. Almost, but not quite.
“Love Lies Bleeding” is a bloody and brutal twist on the neo noir that harkens back to films like “Wild at Heart” and early Coen bros. It comes equipped with a scruffy looking Ed Harris, some shocking violence, but also an attitude. It is a wild and occasionally thrilling ride that plays into old crime story tropes with fresh and fun execution.
On the Saturday March 9, 2024 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet Kathleen Munroe, “Law & Order” superfan, and the star of the new “Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.” It’s the new adaptation of the legendary “Law & Order” brand, based on the classic series created by Dick Wolf. A psychological thriller wrapped in a criminal investigation, It will showcase original Canadian stories written and produced by, and starring, Canadians.
Kathleen Munroe, who you’ve seen for portraying Dr. Amanda Perry on Stargate Universe, Samantha Flack on CSI: NY, and on shows like Chicago P.D., Chicago Med and FBI, plays Det. Sgt. Frankie Bateman, part of an elite squad of detectives who investigate high-profile crime and corruption in metro Toronto.
Kathleen and I talked about how watching Jill Hennessy as Claire Kincaid influenced her decision to pursue acting and more!
Then, we’ll get to know reggae-fusion artist Ammoye, who recently received a JUNO Award nomination for Reggae Recording of The Year for her incredible song, “Stir This Thing”. Seven-time JUNO Award-nominee Ammoye presents an innovative and unique reggae sound that blends elements of old-school rocksteady, dancehall, soul, and R&B. With an infectious voice and messages of empowerment, Jamaican-born Ammoye is a self-declared soul rebel.
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 Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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