SYNOPSIS: In “Blitz,” a new World War II drama starring Saoirse Ronan, and now streaming on Apple TV+, nine-year-old George, resentful at being evacuated to a school in the countryside to keep him safe amidst the blitz, defiantly embarks on a journey back home as his distraught Rita searches for him.
CAST: Saoirse Ronan, Elliot Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, and Stephen Graham. Written, produced and directed by Steve McQueen.
REVIEW: The fire and brimstone of the Nazi bombing raids on London, so vividly portrayed in the film’s opening minutes, set the scene, but not the over-all tone of the film.
At its best “Blitz,” and McQueen, capture the tenor of the times of WWII London, particularly on the central characters, Rita (Saoirse Ronan), her father Gerald (The Jam’s Paul Weller, making his feature film debut) and young George (Elliot Heffernan).
But director Steve McQueen, who also wrote the script, has a lot on his mind and allows “Blitz” to wander as he essays the struggles of working-class day-to-day Londoners and topics frequently ignored in WWII films, racial prejudice and the contributions of women to the war effort. Add to that the biracial George’s perilous journey and you’re left with a movie that is part road trip, part social commentary and part war film.
As “Blitz” splinters off in several directions it feels unfocused, as if it’s afraid to settle on one topic for too long.
Still, Heffernan, in his film debut, impresses as George navigating his way home, meeting everyone from a kindly Nigerian air warden (Benjamin Clementine) to a Fagin-like character (Stephen Graham) who recruits the youngster to loot corpses and bombed-out buildings.
It’s a reserved performance, one that relies on his inner monologue as he is exposed to things no child should ever witness. In one poignant moment he comes across a Punch and Judy style puppet show. A small group of kids are laughing, enjoying the antics, but George cannot. His blank stare speaks to a childhood stripped away by circumstance.
George’s journey is the heart of the film, but it isn’t just about his adventures. “Blitz” is a journey of self-discovery as the youngster connects with his heritage. He has experienced racism and name calling in his young life, but, because of his quick bond with Nigerian warden Ife, he learns to take pride in his ancestry.
As usual Ronan, one of the best actors of her generation, hands in top notch work, showcasing Rita’s vulnerabilities and her steeliness.
Despite the episodic wandering of its storytelling and its flirting with clichés, “Blitz” offers up stunning visuals. For example, McQueen’s camera finds a man drinking a cup of tea, in his favorite chair, attempting to lead an ordinary life in a bombed-out building. It’s deftly directed moments like these, and George’s fraught journey, that allows the film to pack an emotional punch in its final moments.
On the Saturday November 16, 2024 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet multi award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist Laila Biali. She has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City’s Carnegie Hall to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and the Washington Post says she “masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy.”
Her latest album “Wintersongs,” is her 10th recording as a bandleader and her first release in almost 2 years. Best described as a musical love letter to winter, it’s an entirely fresh and original offering, composed from a serene cabin surrounded by snow-capped mountains during a writing retreat in the heart of Canada’s Rocky Mountains.
We will talk about “Wintersongs,” how a car accident altered the course of her career, singing with Sting and much more.
Then, we get to know documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist Roxana Spicer. Her new book “The Traitor’s Daughter,” is about her decades-long quest to understand her extraordinary mother, who was born in Lenin’s Soviet Union, served as a combat soldier in the Red Army, and endured three years of Nazi captivity.
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.
SYNOPSIS: In the new Yuletide action flick “Red One,” when Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped twenty-four hours before Christmas, the North Pole’s Head of Security, an ELF “(Extremely Large and Formidable”) named Callum Drift, played by Dwayne Johnson, teams with Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), hacker and the world’s best tracker, in a dangerous mission to save Christmas. “There are worse ways to go out than saving Santa Claus,” says Jack.
CAST: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Nick Kroll, Kristofer Hivju, Wesley Kimmel, and J. K. Simmons. Directed by Jake Kasdan.
REVIEW: As Santa’s bodyguard Callum Drift, Dwayne Johnson complains that for the first time ever more people are on the naughty list than the nice list. It’s ironic, then, that as the star of “Red One,” the new high-tech, low-reward holiday movie directed by Jake Kasdan, Johnson’s name belongs at the top of that ignominious list.
A Christmas movie with product placement for the whole family, from Hot Wheels to Bulleit Bourbon, it’s a formulaic action film, with generic CGI battles and Johnson in automaton mode.
Johnson is in his wheelhouse. This is a big family action flick, reminiscent of “Disney’s Jungle Cruise” and “Jumanji: The Next Level.” Difference is, both those movies gave Johnson the chance to exercise his comedy chops as well as his muscle-bound physique. “Red One” sees him as a dour, oversized ELF with resting Grinch face who, when he isn’t barking orders is glaring at the film’s baddies. Despite one slightly amusing size-shifting fight scene, it’s a particularly uninspired performance that should get noticed come Razzie Awards time.
Chris Evan fares slightly better. He shrugs off the Captain America persona to play a Jack, a deadbeat dad, drunk and degenerate gambler. “I’m not a scrupulous person,” he sneers. “Ask anybody.”
Of course, they will learn from one another. Jack will discover how to be good from Callum, while proving to Callum that there is good in everyone, even a “Level Four Naughty Lister.” The movie’s messages of nice triumphing over naughty are the usual holiday fare, hammered home with the subtility of fifty-foot Christmas tree.
Add to that a forgettable villain with very little screen time and even less presence when we do see her and you’re left with a film about the magic of Christmas, with very little magic.
“Red One” is a big, $300 million movie, but, as the season has taught us, not all good things come in big packages.
SYNOPSIS: In “Magpie,” a new neo-noir thriller starring Daisy Ridley, and now available on all major platforms for digital rental and purchase, Ben (Shazad Latif) and Anette’s (Daisy Ridley) young daughter (Hiba Ahmed) lands a co-starring role alongside 20-something movie star Alicia (Matilda Lutz). Trouble brews as Anette, stuck at home in the suburbs with a new baby, becomes suspicious that Ben has fallen in love with the actress.
CAST: Daisy Ridley, Shazad Latif, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Hiba Ahmed, Cherrelle Skeete, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Alistair Petrie. Directed by Sam Yates.
REVIEW: Based on a story idea by star Daisy Ridley, “Magpie” is a revenge drama disguised as a study of a toxic relationship.
That the self-absorbed Ben is a needy man who falls for a glamorous woman while gaslighting his wife and children is nothing new. He’s a cad who thinks his wife has changed, not him, and he’s more than open to the charms of someone younger and shinier. “You made me feel alive,” he whispers to Alicia, “for the first time in years.”
Been there done that in dozens of other movies.
What is unique is Anette’s way of equaling the playing field. No spoilers here, but let’s just say comeuppance is on “Magpie’s” menu in the form of a flashback montage that reveals what was really happening all along. It’s a satisfying way to wind up this tale of twisted relationship dynamics, even if it is somewhat preposterous.
It succeeds because of Ridley’s committed performance. Her recent work in films like “The Young Woman and the Sea” and “Sometimes I Think About Dying” displays a range and an interest in textured material. “Magpie” allows her the chance to dig into another layered character. As Anette battles depression and low self-esteem, but Ridley brings a stoic intensity that sizzles. We’re not told that much about her, but we don’t need to be, it’s all in the performance.
“Magpie” is a slow burn pulpy thriller that pays off with a satisfying third act, but you’ll need to suspend your disbelief during the not entirely believable events in the film’s last few minutes.
SYNOPSIS: The weird and wonderful stop-motion film “Memoir of a Snail” is the heartbreaking but somehow life-affirming story of Grace Pudel, voiced by “Succession’s” Sarah Snook. She’s a young girl in 1970s Melbourne, Australia who collects snails, to fill the void left by her inability to make connections with others. “If I saw something snail-y,” she says, “it had to be mine. I became a snail hoarder.”
CAST: Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon, Tony Armstrong, Paul Capsis, Nick Cave, and Jacki Weaver. Written, produced and directed by Adam Elliot.
REVIEW: An animated film for adults, “Memoir of a Sail” touches on alcoholism, loneliness, shame, grief and even “Prey the Gay Away.”
Grace, a clay figure with sad, watery eyes and a knit cap with snail antennae, is the kind of character who could have escaped from Edward Gorey’s “Gashlycrumb Tinies,” but as tragic as her life may be right from the start—her mother died giving birth to her and her twin brother Gilbert (voiced by Kody Smith-McPhee)—she perseveres, struggling as life lobs grenades at her. Sarah Snook’s lowkey, but empathetic voice work goes a long way to humanizing Grace and her journey.
Australian actor Jacki Weaver, as the elderly, former table dancer Grace befriends, also delivers knowck-out voice work. “For the first time in my life I feel older than I look, and I look like a testicle,” she says.
Grace’s lot in life is miserable, and yet despite all the grimy love, loss and heartache on display, writer-director Adam Elliot manages to mine humor, a sense of hope and courage from the mostly melancholy material.
The painstaking, frame-by-frame animation is gloomily beautiful with stunning details woven into the film’s fabric. That it is also 100% CGI free brings an organic, handmade feel that gives the images, and by extension the entire movie, a great deal of heart. “Life has bashed me around a bit,” Grace says near the end of the movie, “but the roses smell better, and I am finally becoming the person I always wanted.”
On the Saturday November 9, 2024 edition of The Richard Crouse Show I’ll tell you about the new psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, “Heretic,” now playing in theatres. In the film, door-to-door Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are lured into a theological cat-and-mouse game by the curious (and possibly deadly) Mr. Reed, played by Hugh Grant.
Grant is remarkable in the film. It’s really something different for him, and I had the chance to talk about the movie and that performance with the film’s two other stars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, and the film’s directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Then, we’ll meet Afro-Canadian rapper, singer-songwriter, and producer Kofi, who releases his newest album, “Pettyboy” on November 15th via Red Bull Records / The Orchard on all streaming platforms. We’ll learn how he balances life as a musician and professional volleyball player.
Finally, we’ll get to know meet Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, choreographers who have been at the forefront of dance creation in Europe for over 35 years. This month they come to the National Ballet in Toronto for the first time with Silent Screen, a profound theatrical experience that brings a silent film to life, set to the music of Philip Glass.
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.
Check out my CTVNews.ca interview with “Heretic” stars Sophie Thatcher (who stars of Crave’s “Yellowjackets”) and Chloe East and co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. We talk about the movie and about working with Hugh Grant and how different this role is for him.
SYNOPSIS: A story of legacy and spirituality, in “The Piano Lesson,” starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler, and now playing in theatres, a treasured heirloom reveals a family’s past and possibly its future.
CAST: August Wilson, Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Danielle Deadwyler, and Corey Hawkins. Directed by Malcolm Washington.
REVIEW: “The Piano Lesson,” based on the 1987 stage play by August Wilson, isn’t about practicing scales or learning to read music. It’s a story about honoring ancestors, generational trauma, self-determination and facing the ghosts that haunt.
The story begins in 1911 Mississippi with the Charles Brothers and the theft of an ornate upright piano from the home of former slave owners, the Sutter family. Decorated with carvings on the front and sides, we later learn that the piano’s art is a history of the Charles family, carved by an enslaved relative.
Cut to 1936 Pittsburgh. The piano now rests in the front room of the home of Doaker Charles (Samuel L. Jackson), his niece Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), her young daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith), and a ghost Berniece is convinced lives upstairs.
The relative calm of their lives is upended when Berniece ‘s brother Boy Willie (John David Washington) arrives from Mississippi with Lymon (Ray Fisher) with a plan to make money to buy the land where his family had once been enslaved. Trouble is, his plan involves selling the piano and Berniece will not hear of it.
The story is layered, and crisply complex, a tangle of emotion, the paranormal and family dynamics. In his directorial debut Malcolm Washington opens up the story with some brief flashbacks to Mississippi and some outside scenes, but the action here mostly takes place in the Charles house. It lends a stage bound feel to the film, and yet, the topflight performances and dialogue never allow “The Piano Lesson” to become overly theatrical in its claustrophobic setting.
It’s about the words, the ideas, and characters so carefully written each and every one of them could be the star of their own story. As it is, it’s an ensemble, that spreads the wealth, allowing each actor to shine. As the easy-going Lymon, Fisher has a playful moment when he buys a suit and some ill-fitting shoes from Wining Boy (a great Michael Potts). Washington is all kinetic energy and dreams for the future, but it is Deadwyler whose presence captivates. As a grieving widow and single mother, her character is the film’s beating heart and has the widest arc, leading up to an intense crescendo in the film’s final moments.
“The Piano Lesson” is a period piece, but the topics raised by Wilson’s script remain powerful and timely.
SYNOPSIS: The morality play “Small Things like These” is Cillian Murphy’s follow-up to his Oscar winning work in “Oppenheimer.” Lowkey though it may be, this study of religious morality and individual responsibility allows him space to hand in a quietly powerful performance that speaks volumes.
CAST: Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Emily Watson, Clare Dunne, and Helen Behan. Directed by Tim Mielants.
REVIEW: Adapted from the novella by Claire Keegan, “Small Things Like These” is a story of courage in an era of complicity.
Set in 1985, Murphy plays Bill Furlong, a taciturn coalman in a small, conservative Irish town, where he lives with wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh) and five daughters. As Christmas, his busiest season, approaches he has a chilling encounter with Sarah (Zara Devlin), a young, unmarried and pregnant woman, cold and afraid, in the coal shed of the local Catholic run Magdalene Laundry.
As she begs for help, Bill is haunted by memories of his youth as an orphan, the son of an unmarried mother who passed when he was a child. In a community held in sway by the church, Bill is torn between offering aid and the potential blowback from Mother Mary (Emily Watson), head of the convent and a powerful figure in the town. “You better watch what you say about what’s there,” he’s told. “People can make things difficult for you.”
Poetically paced, “Small Things Like These” is a serious film that showcases not only the abuses of the Magdalene institutions, but the moral complicity of those who knew about it and did nothing. “If you want to get on in this life,” says Eileen, “there are things you have to ignore.”
As Bill, Murphy is quietly restrained, observant and empathetic but it is the inner torrent of torment that bubbles just beneath the surface that makes him so compelling. There are long stretches spent in silent close-up of Murphy’s face that speak volumes about Bill’s
moral conundrum and feelings of indecisiveness in the face of injustice. The film’s real action happens inside his head and Murphy’s gift is the ability to externalize the character’s interior mechanisms.
“Small Things like These” is a powerful study of quiet heroism in the face of self-interest, buoyed by Murphy, and his committed cast’s, deeply felt, rich performances.
