On the Saturday June 21, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we spend some time with 8x JUNO Award-winning and multi-Platinum selling blues-rock artist Colin James. He released the first of his eighteen albums in 1988. He’s had international hit singles like “Five Long Years,” he’s worked with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Pops Staples, Robert Cray, Albert King and Mavis Staples to name a few. He appeared on an episode of the television program Corner Gas and gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II. Today, we talk about his first band, his new record “Chasing the Sun,” the impact Stevie Ray Vaughn had on his career and working with regular collaborators like Tom Wilson and Colin Linden.
Then, Brittlestar, also known as Stewart Reynolds, is a social media personality and author of two books. His last book, the best-selling “Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon,” is a collection of short comedic essays on politics, life, and more as a field guide for life.
His latest book, available now wherever fine books are sold, is “Lessons From Cats For Surviving Fascism.” Through humor, sharp insights, and unapologetic defiance, the book lays out eleven essential cat-inspired strategies for resisting control and reclaiming power. From staying nimble and unpredictable to demanding what you need with the confidence of a hungry tabby, each chapter is packed with lessons that are as subversive as they are practical.
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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I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the kid-friendly Pixar film “Elio,” the ragelicious “Years Later” and the 50th anniversary of “Jaws.”
SYNOPSIS: The third film in the “28 Days Later” post-apocalyptic horror franchise, “28 Years Later” takes place, as the title suggests, thirty years after the Rage virus devastated the UK. A small group of survivors lives in isolation on a fortified island accessible only by a causeway connected to the mainland. When one of the islanders and his son goes to the mainland, they discover the grim reality of the outside world. “There are strange people on the mainland,” says Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). “That’s why our home is so precious.”
CAST: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Erin Kellyman, Edvin Ryding. Directed by Danny Boyle, written by Alex Garland.
REVIEW: A grisly coming-of-age story, “28 Years Later” has elements of graphic horror, but director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland focus on the emotional travails of its twelve-year-old protagonist Spike (Alfie Williams) to provide the film’s bleak tone. A mix and match of pulse racing action scenes and earnest introspection, it’s as much about the horror of growing up and learning about the harder edges of life as it is about the terror of the infected zombies.
Divided into two expeditions as Spike ventures into the mainland on a rite of passage with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to learn how to kill the infected—“The more you kill,” Jamie tells Spike, “the easier it gets.”—and later, as he goes back on a journey of discovery with his mother Isla (Jody Comer), the storytelling is episodic but bonded by the study of death in all its forms.
In a kill or be killed world, death is around every corner, and young Spike learns to process the existential idea of death as necessary to his own survival. His lessons deepen when death becomes personal and he learns to find meaning in loss, something that transcends the primal urge to survive.
Through death and loss, he learns about life and resilience. It’s this exploration of personal growth that separates “28 Years Later” from the previous films in the franchise which leaned into survival and systemic failures over emotional evolution.
“28 Years Later” features some unforgettable imagery. Partially shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max cameras, Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle adopt a guerilla style that adds a frenetic intensity to the action sequences.
An abandoned Shell petrol station with a sign missing the “S,” is a playful reminder of the terrible situation that transpired as the Rage virus turned the area into a living hell.
Later, a long sequence in Dr. Ian Kelson’s (a terrific Ralph Fiennes) “Memento Mori,” a wooded area decked out with bones as a loving tribute to the dead, infected or otherwise, is visually stunning as an eerie reminder of mortality.
Despite some choppy storytelling, and a sequel ready ending, “28 Years Later” is a welcome addition to the franchise. More reflective, it is both intellectually and emotionally intense.
SYNOPSIS: “Elio,” a new Disney and Pixar animated adventure now playing in theatres, centers on Elio, a space-obsessed young boy who accidentally gets beamed up to the Communiverse, a cosmic hub where representatives from Earth meet with extraterrestrials. Mistaken for an ambassador from the blue planet, Elio learns about other civilizations and himself. “Back home I didn’t fit in,” he says. “I thought Earth was the problem, but what if it’s me?”
CAST: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil, and Shirley Henderson. Directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina.
REVIEW: As empathetic as it is predictable, “Elio” treads familiar ground but packs a light emotional punch with its story of an outsider who learns he is not alone.
Humans have always gazed at the stars and wondered, “Are we alone?” That includes Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) an eleven-year-old boy being raised by his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) after the death of his parents. Despite Olga’s best efforts, Elio feels abandoned and alone. “There’s 500 million inhabitable planets out there,” he says to her, “and maybe one of them will want me because you don’t.”
When his efforts to be abducted by aliens lead to trouble, he’s sent to a military school where his ham radio helps connect him to the stars and he is beamed up to a colorful world whose aliens think he is an ambassador from Earth who will save their “Communiverse” from the evil Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett).
“Elio” is a kid’s film, with imaginative, vibrantly colored characters and fanciful new worlds, that looks to what Carl Sagan (whose voice appears briefly near the film’s end) called “the deepest of human concerns: Are we alone?” It’s a big concept for a film aimed at the little ones, but it’s presented with a sense of childlike wonder that makes it accessible for all ages.
Beautifully animated in Pixar’s signature style, it looks great but doesn’t have the nuance or deeply felt emotion of the company’s classics. Films like “Up” and “WALL-E” masterfully wove story and sentiment together to form soulful movies that hit the head and heart in equal measure. “Elio” reaches for the stars but remains earthbound in terms of finding the texture that once made Pixar so special.
Still, while “Elio” isn’t a gushing firehose of authentic emotion, it is an imaginative journey into empathy, community and self-acceptance.
SYNOPSIS: “The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop,” a new documentary now playing in select theatres, looks at the subculture of board games through the people who love playing them.
CAST: John Hague, Dan Corbett, Elizabeth Hargrave, Tom Vasel, Candice Harris. Directed by Simon Ennis.
REVIEW: A movie about games that focusses on the players, “The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop” is a loving tribute to those whose hobby transcends a pastime to become an obsession.
From a board game philosopher and an ultra-competitive player named Dan Corbett who admits he injured himself running around his cottage in celebration after beating his mother-in-law at Trivial Pursuit to a media creator for the BoardgameGeek platform and the “Roger Ebert of board games,” the film is affectionate, cheery look at people who could “never [be] bored in a world with board games.”
This isn’t a movie about “Monopoly” or “Risk.” It’s about more modern games like “Blood Rage,” “Wingspan,” “Settlers of Catan” and “Ticket to Ride” but you won’t learn how to play those, or any others.
What you will learn is why people play them. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old,” says one gamer. “We grow old because we stop playing.”
Director Simon Ennis profiles Starla and Mik of Our Family Plays Games, a popular YouTube channel devoted to bringing more diversity and inclusion to the board gaming hobby. “Our focus is family and fun,” Starla says.
We also meet John Hague, a board game designer hyping his indie game “The Last Summit,” BoardGameGeek podcaster and designer Candice Harris, who says, “We need to break out of the mindset that boardgames are this thing that only nerds do. Board games are rock and roll,” and take a trip to the World Series of Board Gaming in Las Vegas.
Passion, commitment and competitiveness are the glue that bonds all of the players, but as gamer personality Tom Vasel says, the thing that makes the games meaningful is not the rules or the playing pieces, it’s the people. “People are meaningful,” he says.
“The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop” is a sweet-natured, earnest doc that finds the humanity in a group of quirky characters and the simple pleasures of companionship and community. “We get a chance to talk together, to joke together,” says Starla of playing board games with her family, “leave our problems alone and just enjoy being.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Bride Hard,” a new spy comedy starring Rebel Wilson and now playing in theatres, a bridesmaid must call on her secret agent training when a team of mercenaries invades her best friend’s wedding and takes the wedding party hostage.
CAST: Anna Camp. Rebel Wilson, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Anna Chlumsky, Gigi Zumbado, Stephen Dorff and Justin Hartley. Directed by Simon West.
REVIEW: A mix of comedy and action, “Bride Hard” aims to be a blend of “Bridesmaids” and “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” but isn’t funny or action-packed enough to earn a recommendation.
It’s familiar territory. Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham’s “Spy” did it first, and did it better, generating genuine laughs while delivering kick ass action. In “Bride Hard,” “Con Air” director Simon West delivers neither.
As secret agent and maid of honor, Rebel Wilson brings her trademarked physical humor and way with a line—”I don’t think you understand the stress headache a high ponytail can give you,” she tells bad guy Kurt (Stephen Dorff)—but her work, so effortless in movies like “Pitch Perfect,” “Grimsby” and “Bridesmaid,” falls flat here.
The silly situation does her no favors.
There isn’t a moment in the set-up or the main action that feels authentic. I get that it’s a comedy, but a touch of realism in the heist section would have upped the stakes and made me care about the characters. Despite the presence of guns and bad attitudes, there’s no essence of danger. It’s as if the wedding guests are annoyed by a clumsy cater waiter who spilled a glass of champagne, not a team of desperadoes.
If any of this rang true, the heroic/absurd rescue by bridesmaid/secret agent Sam (Wilson) might have found its way to the funny. As it is, the film’s decision to give everyone a quirky edge becomes old very quickly. If everything is quirky, then nothing is quirky.
In an effort to make you laugh “Bride Hard” has highly trained assassins thwarted by nunchuck curling irons and bad guys yelling, “She’s using the chocolate fountain for cover!”
No doubt, it tries hard to amuse. Perhaps too hard.
“It’s entertaining in the same way The Jerry Springer Show delighted viewers — by playing to the audience’s basest instincts.” I review the Netflix documentary “Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem,” about the Rob Ford years in Toronto, for the “Queen’s Park Observer.”
On the Saturday June 14, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet meet JUNO Award-winning Indigenous artist Crystal Shawanda. Born and raised on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario, Crystal began her career in country music, signing with RCA Nashville. After parting ways with the label, she launched New Sun Records and shifted her focus to the blues. Her highly anticipated new album “Sing Pretty Blues,” blends blues and Southern country soul with Stax, Chess and Motown influences, is available now via her very own label, New Sun Records on all streaming platforms.
Then, Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter, Celine Song stops by. In 2023 she became a Hollywood darling with her Oscar nominated feature film debut, “Past Lives.” The film, nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, follows two childhood best friends who reunite in adulthood years after one emigrates from South Korea to the United States.
She returns to theatres with a new film staring Dakota Johnson. Set against the backdrop of New York City, the Rom Com Capitol of the World®, “Materialists” sees Johnson play Lucy, a matchmaker for the rich and famous. She has arranged nine marriages but personally keeps romance at arm’s length after a messy break-up. Things change for the “eternal bachelorette” when she meets wealthy charm-bomb Harry Castillo, played by Pedro Pascal. As romance blossoms, Lucy’s life is upended by the return of her broke ex-boyfriend, John, played by Chris Evans, forcing her to choose between a perfect match and her imperfect ex.
Then, Eric McCormack, you know him as as Will Truman of the TV series Will & Grace, a role that won him won a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy Award stops by to talk about his new Hollywood Suite show “Hell Motel.” On the creep new show, 10 true crime obsessives are invited to the opening weekend of the newly renovated Cold River Motel, the site of a 30-year-old unsolved Satanic Mass Murder. History repeats itself when the guests get start getting knocked off one by one.
Eric plays Hemmingway, a chef with a wickedly sinister flair. In this interview we talk about Hell Motel, and how to play dead on camera.
