On the March 15, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet Atom Egoyan and Amanda Seyfried of the new film “Seven Veils.” In this a new psychological thriller, now playing in theatres, Seyfried is Jeanine, a director dealing with repressed trauma as she mounts a production of her mentor’s most famous work, the opera “Salome.” Rich with metaphor and suspense “Seven Veils” is an intellectual thriller about art imitating life.
We also meet Sonequa Martin-Green. You know her from “Star Trek: Discovery,” “New Girl” and “The Good Wife.” She also played Sasha Williams, a main character and a survivor of the outbreak in “The Walking Dead.”
Today we’ll talk about her new film, the dark comedy “My Dead Friend Zoe,” now playing in theatres. In it she plays an Afghanistan veteran haunted by her late best friend Zoe. Now in civilian life, she searches for a way forward as she suffers from PTSD and tends to her retired Lieutenant-Colonel grandfather played by Ed Harris.
Then we meet Keira Jang, star of Can I Get A Witness?” a new Canadian eco-sci fi/coming-of-age film now playing in theaters. It’s set in a future where climate change and world poverty have been eradicated. To mitigate these modern-day issues, travel and technology are banned and every citizen must end life at 50. Documenting the process are artists as witnesses, like the character Kiera plays, a teenager on her first day on the job.
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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Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the thrills of “Black Bag,” the speculative “Can I Get A Witness?” and the psychological satire of “Opus.”
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I review the espionage thriller “Black Bag” and suggest drinks that real spies–not movie spies–drink when they are on assignment.
Listen to Shane and I talk about why the TV show “Severance” is making dogs go wild HERE!
What would a real spy order at a cocktail bar? Listen to “Booze & Reviews” and find out!
It’s National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, a month-long campaign aims to educate Canadians about colorectal cancer and encourage screening. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada but can be effectively treated when detected early. I joined CP24’s Lisa Morales to tell my journey through colon cancxer.
SYNOPSIS: In “Opus,” a new psychological satire starring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich and now playing in theatres, a rookie journalist gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she’s invited to a junket, with a group of experienced reporters and influencers, to visit the remote compound of a legendary pop star, known as “The Wizard of Wiggle,” to listen to his first music in thirty years. Once there, however, she discovers there’s more to the weekend than music.
CAST: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami and Tatanka Means. Directed by Mark Anthony Green.
REVIEW: “Opus” has a lot on its mind. Writer/director Mark Anthony Green attempts a satire of celebrity culture and the press’s complicity in spreading ideology, personal and political, but as well intentioned as the film may be, Green hits many wrong notes.
To really sell the story of a reclusive pop star, one able to make people worldwide bend to his will, you need an iconic, alluring actor and songs that feel like they could have lit up the charts and the imaginations of millions of people. In John Malkovich you have the star power and the off-kilter charisma to make the pop star Alfred Moretti really pop on screen. From his laconic, vaguely menacing dialogue delivery to his ornate Michel Jackson-esque costumes, he blends Jim Jones and Marc Bolan to create an image of a celebrity as a borderline fascist figure.
It’s a shame then that the music, a key part of the character’s legacy, falls flat. Written by the legendary songwriter/producer/performer Nile Rodgers and The-Dream, the songs have a dreamy house music vibe, but in no way live up to the hype the movie gives them in its first twenty minutes or so.
It’s one of the things that makes “Opus” feel half baked.
A mix of dark comedy, horror and coming-of-age story, it lightly touches on each, culminating in its final moments (NO SPOILERS HERRE) with a talky reveal of Alfred Moretti’s grand plan. Again, no spoilers here, but within the film’s final few moments is a chilling look at celebrity culture and the press’s response to it. It’s a fascinating coda but feels like it could have done without all the window dressing that came before.
“The Bear’s” Ayo Edebiri, as the neophyte journalist, is the “final girl,” the audience proxy and we experience the bizarre goings on through her perspective. Skeptical of Moretti and his motives, she is the only rational person on-screen, and while her performance is grounded, it’s not enough to keep this indulgent and scattershot satire on track.
SYNOPSIS: In “Black Bag,” a new thriller from director Steven Soderbergh, and now playing in theaters, Michael Fassbender plays a methodical spy who must choose between his country and his wife when a dangerous device is stolen, and she is a prime suspect.
CAST: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp.
REVIEW: “What’s on the menu?” asks Kathryn Woodhouse (Cate Blanchett) asks her husband George (Fassbender) at the film’s start.
“Fun and games,” he replies, and he ain’t lying.
Like John le Carré meets “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Black Bag” is a dialogue driven spy drama fueled by star power rather than fire power.
Steven Soderbergh, working from a script by his frequent collaborator David Koepp, creates a stylish, slick and suspenseful London-based thriller where people say cool spy things like, “This ends with someone in the boot of a car.”
At the helm is Fassbender. A master spy and happily married man, he’s a buttoned-down character in the John le Carré mode. He’s not a James Bond style bruiser. He’s reserved, a cold fish who once even put his own father under surveillance, concerned only with data and gathering cold hard facts. After one eventful dinner with all his suspects he says, “That was the rock, now I watch the ripples.”
Still, he generates heat in his scenes with Blanchett. They’re both spies, and as such, live in a world where there are secrets and not everything is what it seems to be. Their cat and mouse relationship is effervescent, providing sex appeal, domestic drama and intrigue as the limits of loyalty are tested. Their relationship just may give new meaning to the term, “I would die for you.”
A strong supporting cast—“Industry’s” Marisa Abela, “Mank’s” Tom Burke, “No Time to Die’s” Naomie Harris, “Bridgerton’s” Regé-Jean Page and Pierce Brosnan—add much but the real star here is Soderbergh and his crisp, fast paced and stylish filmmaking. Offset by a chic electrojazz score by David Holmes (who also scored “Out of Sight” and the “Ocean’s” trilogy), “Black Bag” slowly untangles its web of deception and keeps you guessing until the end.
SYNOPSIS: In “Novocaine,” a violent new rom com now playing in theatres, Jack Quaid plays a man with a congenital insensitivity to pain who is driven to extremes when the woman of his dreams is kidnapped by bank robbers.
CAST: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh. Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen.
REVIEW: “Novocaine’s” central premise takes its inspiration from action movies of the past with silly gimmicks.
Remember Jason Statham’s adrenalized “Crank”? How about Scarlett Johansson‘s turbo-charged brainiac “Lucy”? Or Bradley Cooper’s enhanced cognitive abilities in “Limitless”? Each of those films features characters with a special ability that turns them into a superhero of a sort.
“Novocaine” sees Jack Quaid play Nathan Caine, a nerdy assistant bank manager nicknamed Novocaine because he has a rare medical condition that prevents him from feeling pain. “I have the superpower to step on a nail,” he jokes, “and not know until my shoe fills up with blood.”
When bank teller (and Nathan’s love interest) Sherry (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped during a robbery at the bank, Nathan uses his condition to become an accidental superhero as he risks life-and-limb to rescue her.
“Novocaine” is what I call a “qualm rom com” because after the romantic, get-to-know-you vibe of the first half hour, it takes a violent twist that may leave you with some doubts about brutality on display. Most of the gruesome stuff is played for laughs, but after an hour or so of deep-fried hands, impalement and dangerous “Home Alone” style boobytraps, the initial feel-good ambiance has been replaced with a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Luckily, guiding the action is the charming presence of everyman Quaid. As the mild-mannered Nathan he’ll do anything for love, and even when he’s reigning chaos down on anyone who gets in his way, he remains a nice guy. That congeniality goes a long way to keeping “Novocaine’s” on track, even as we get as numb to the violence as Nathan is to the pain in the film’s extended third act.
“Novocaine’s” superpower isn’t Nathan’s immunity to pain, it’s Quaid’s likability.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie,” a brand-new, hand-drawn 2D animated adventure feature now playing in theatres, chewing gum infected with alien goo turns earthlings into zombies. In a strange twist, the fate of the world lies in the hands of odd couple Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.
CAST: Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Directed by Pete Browngardt.
REVIEW: The first fully animated feature-length film in Looney Tunes history pays tribute not only to the legendary cartoons and the kind of b-movies that populated drive in screens when John Diefenbaker was Prime Minister, but also the friendship between Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, both played by Canadian voice actor Eric Bauza.
For longtime Looney Tunes fans, a sense of nostalgia hangs in the air.
The character designs harken back to the Bob Clampett-directed cartoons from 1939-1945, the heart of the Looney Tunes classic era, as does the anarchic brand of comedy on display in the movie’s big set pieces. Director Pete Browngardt, who co-wrote the script with Darrick Bachman along a laundry list of nine other writers, shows genuine respect for the history of the franchise but adds in some modern touches.
In order to pay for the upkeep of their home, bequeathed to them by their adoptive father, Farmer Jim (voice of Fred Tatasciore), Daffy gets a very 21st century job as a barista, but in keeping with his explosive personality, the testy duck loses it when people order complicated drinks.
None of it, the jokes, the slapstick or the cartoon anarchy, would mean much if the relationship at the heart of the movie didn’t work. Daffy and Porky are lifelong friends and the film’s portrayal of their camaraderie, which is threatened by the end of the world scenario, is both amusing and touching. There’s even a hint of passion as Porky and Petunia (voice of Candi Milo) become romantically involved. It’s all very sweet and provides a nice emotional counterpoint to the film’s preposterous humour.
Jam packed with jokes, sight gags and the well-worn friendship between Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” creates a world for the characters that should please old fans and get new viewers up to speed.
SYNOPSIS: “Can I Get A Witness?” a new Canadian eco-sci fi/coming-of-age film starring Sandra Oh, and now playing in theaters, is set in a future where climate change and world poverty have been eradicated. To mitigate these modern-day issues, travel and technology are banned and every citizen must end life at 50. Documenting the process are artists as witnesses, like Kiah, a teenager on her first day on the job.
CAST: Keira Jang, Joel Oulette and Sandra Oh. Directed by Ann Marie Fleming.
REVIEW: “Can I Get A Witness?” is a science fiction film of ideas, not splashy special effects, that asks, What would you be willing to sacrifice for a better world?
The dystopian picture painted by director Ann Marie Fleming’s new film is something a little different from end-of-the-world movies like “The Road” or “Mad Max.” Fleming’s world is tranquil, picturesque, not at all the hellish landscape suggested by most dystopian stories. This movie imagines an idealized world, brought back from the brink of destruction and now free of climate change, poverty and inequality.
The price for a healthy planet is the elimination of anyone over the age of 50, a fate, the movie suggests, most people accept for the betterment of humanity.
The conflict comes, then, from the main characters, Kiah (Keira Jang) and Daniel (Joel Oulette), young witnesses whose job it is to document, through pen and ink, the ritualistic sacrifices and provide moral support for those who have reached their Best Before Date.
It is Kiah’s first day on the job. Her gig as a professional witness becomes personal as her mother Ellie (Sandra Oh) counts down the days to her fiftieth birthday.
Sacrifice lies at the heart of “Can I Get A Witness?” It wonders how far people are willing to go to create a better world for their children and loved ones. The solution is equal parts utopian and authoritarian, but Ellie and others seem more or less comfortable with doing their death duty. There is an aura of sadness to the scenes of sacrifice, but not resentment, and your enjoyment of the movie may well rest in your ability to buy into their unquestioning, altruistic behavior.
Instead of forgoing my life at fifty, I think I’d be investing in anti-aging creams. But that’s just me.
Sandra Oh’s warm performance goes a long way to selling the film’s audacious premise. Her character’s mix of grace and vulnerability, acceptance and commitment anchor the film in humanity and not just in the hot button issues surrounding its hypothesis.
As Ellie’s daughter, newcomer Keira Jang does much of the emotional heavy lifting. The film is at its best when she and Oh are in conversation. Their dynamic is familial, yet urgent as they approach the end of their time together. Those moments are heartfelt and do more in terms of answering the question at the film’s heart than any of the script’s rhetoric.
With very few exceptions, “Can I Get A Witness?” is subtle in its approach to the material. There is some clunky, scolding and expository dialogue and the use of the Ink Spots’ tune “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire” is a bit on the nose, but by the time the end credits roll, Fleming’s film proves to be a life-affirming sermon with several emotional high-points.
On the March 15, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet Atom Egoyan and Amanda Seyfried of the new film “Seven Veils.” In this a new psychological thriller, now playing in theatres, Seyfried is Jeanine, a director dealing with repressed trauma as she mounts a production of her mentor’s most famous work, the opera “Salome.” Rich with metaphor and suspense “Seven Veils” is an intellectual thriller about art imitating life.
