Archive for June, 2024

CTVNEWS.CA: RICHARD ON Movies to watch when you’re bored

Feeling bored? Here’s a list of supercharged movies to help you fire up the neurons, tweak the imagination and drop kick boredom into the next century.

Read the whole thing HERE!

THE BIKERIDERS: 3 STARS. “plays it by the rules to tell a story about people who don’t.”

LOGLINE: The 1960s set “The Bikeriders,” a new drama starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy, and now playing in theatres, is about the rise and descent into lawlessness of The Vandals, a motorcycle club founded as a surrogate family for its members.

CAST: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, and Norman Reedus. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols.

REVIEW: “The Bikeriders,” based on a 1967 photo-book of the same name by Danny Lyon, wants to be an ode to individuality, but lacks the grit and spirit of rebellion required to feel authentic. It does do a good job of essaying the evolution of motorcycle clubs from groups of outsiders who didn’t belong anywhere—except with one another—their loyalty and camaraderie, to criminal organizations that used fear and illegality as currency.

As a timeline of how male bonding turned toxic within this subculture, the sociological history lesson is interesting, but director Jeff Nichols allows the biker aesthetic and posturing to overshadow the nitty gritty of biker gang life. It’s more effective in its portrayal of how this shift in culture affects the leader of the gang, Johnny, played by Tom Hardy. He becomes a tragic figure when he realizes his club is out of control, and legacy is not what he intended.

Using the chatty narration of Jodie Comer as Kathy, wife of the sensitive but rebellious rider Benny (Austin Butler), as a framework, Nichols injects a different and welcome point-of-view to the story. Biker movies often treat female characters as afterthoughts, but Kathy is the hub from which the story emanates. This is essentially a love story, a story of the platonic love between the bikers, and Kathy’s almost unquestioning love of wild child Benny. It’s a showcase for Comer and her plain-spoken mid-western accent, allowing the “Killing Eve” star to reveal the personality layers of someone who says, wistfully, “I used to be respectable.”

The episodic “The Bikeriders” plays it by the rules to tell a story about people who don’t.

THELMA: 4 STARS. “more delightful than Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne combined.”

LOGLINE: In “Thelma,” a new comedy thriller now playing in theatres, June Squibb plays a 93-year-old grandmother who falls prey to a grandma phone scam. Conned out of $10,000, with the help of a friend (Richard Roundtree) and his motorized scooter, she sets out to find the scammers and get her money back by any means necessary. “What about my money?” she says. “Am I supposed to just let them have it?”

CAST: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell. Written and directed by Josh Margolin.

REVIEW: “Thelma” is something you don’t see very often, a thriller starring a 93-year-old action hero. From a low-speed scooter chase and a show down with the bad guys, to the acquisition of a weapon and a high-octane heist musical score, the movie has all the elements of an edge of your seat suspense film.

But its biggest asset is Squib, who brings steely determination, vulnerability and humor to the title character. She may not exactly be Ethan Hunt, but she’s more endearing and delightful than Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne combined. She’s easy to root for, even if her high stakes mission seems impossible.

At her side is Ben, Richard Roundtree, a.k.a. Shaft, in his final role. His presence is a cool callback to action movies of years gone by, but here he’s a charismatic sidekick, allowing Squibb to mostly take matters into her own hands.

There are also subplots involving Thelma’s grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) daughter Gail (Parker Posey) and son-in-law Alan (Clark Gregg), but at the film’s core is an exploration of old age, and how, as Ben says, “People these days don’t care about old things.” “Thelma” confronts that idea, dismissing it with panache, humor and some genuine excitement.

THE EXORCISM: 2 STARS. “begins with a good premise and goes to hell shortly after that.”

LOGLINE: In “The Exorcism,” a new horror film now playing in theatres, Russell Crowe plays a troubled actor whose life crumbles while shooting a horror film. As he descends into devilish behavior, his daughter is torn between wondering if his conduct is the result of his personal demons, or something actually demonic.

CAST: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar, David Hyde Pierce. Directed by Joshua John Miller.

REVIEW: You know those social media posts that challenge you to change one letter or word in a song or movie title to alter the meaning? Let’s play that with “The Exorcism.” Change the “m” to a “t” and you get one of the greatest horror films ever made. Leave the “m” in place and you get “The Exorcism,” a sluggish, scare-free movie that begins with a good premise and goes to hell shortly after that.

“It’s a psychological drama wrapped in the skin of a horror film,” says the director-within-the-movie, played by Adam Goldberg. That was, perhaps, the goal of the real film, the one we’re seeing in theatres, but the result is a mixed bag.

A riff on the legends of the supernatural events that allegedly plagued the sets of “The Exorcist” and “The Omen,” the new film mines a potentially rich vein of Hollywood history, but the plodding set-up and hokey finale fail to deliver an engrossing character study or pulse-racing horror flick.

At the heart of it all, for better and for worse, is Crowe. His considerable star power goes a long way to keep “The Exorcism” watchable. His descent into bad behavior gives the movie whatever steam it has, but the film’s lack of overall lack of drama and scares is a sin.

THIS IS GOING WELL, I THINK: RICHARD ON movies that traumatized millennials

What movies traumatized you as a kid? The Dark Crystal? My Girl? Find out which of those upset David Cooper, host of the podcast “This is Going Well, I Think,” when he welcomes Richard to the show.

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

IHEARTRADIO: PERDITA FELICIEN + HALEY MCGEE + BLAKE HAMMOND

On the Saturday June 15, 2024 we get to know Olympian and World Champion Hurdler Perdita Felicien. These days you can see her as the host “All-Round Champion,” a competition show you can check out on TVO, TVOkids YouTube and TVOkids.com. Now in season six, the show, which sees young athletes come together to learn and compete in each other’s sports and earn enough points to become the All-Round Champion, is changing things up. This season the athletes will also have to compete as pairs in sports like Pickleball, Teqball, Roller Derby, Cricket, Synchronized Diving, MMA, Beach Volleyball, Canoe Sprint, Cheer, Ice Dance and Breaking.

We’ll meet Haley McGee, the writer and performer of “Age is a Feeling,” a beautiful, funny and poignant one-woman show that follows a woman from the age of 25 until her death. The twist? It’s a choose-your-own-adventure show, where the audience dictates the general; direction of the play. It’s an impressive theatrical achievement that offers up 180 possible iterations of the material Haley will perform on any given night.

We’ll also meet the Wizard in the form of veteran Broadway actor Blake Hammond who can currently be seen onstage in the touring production of “Wicked.”

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 Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!

All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across Canada via live stream on iHeartRadio.caand the iHeartRadio Canada app. iHeartRadio Canada stations are also connected through Alexa, Siri, and Google Home smart speakers.

Listeners across Canada can also listen in via audio live stream on iHeartRadio.ca and the iHeartRadio Canada app.

Listen to the show live here:

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Massey Hall Memories: Tom Wilson of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings!

Massey Hall opened its door for the first time on this date in 1894! 130 years of memories… including this one from the great Tom Wilson of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. I asked him about a significant experience on the venerated stage.

Watch the whole thing HERE!