Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the gameplay of “Marty Supreme,” the slithery charms of “Anaconda” and the tuneful “Song Sung Blue.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
On the Saturday December 20, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet author Joe Hill. His bestselling novels & short stories have inspired hit adaptations like “Locke & Key,” “Horns,” and “The Black Phone,” as well as “In the Tall Grass” (which he adapted for film and co-wrote the novella of with his father Stephen King.) Today we’ll talk about “King Sorrow,” a genre-bending horror epic that spans 25 years. It follows six college friends who summon a dragon using a book bound in human skin. Each year, they must choose a sacrifice—or become one.
Then we get to know Jen Viens. They work in both film and theatre across Canada. When Jen is not wearing one of their many hats on set or on stage, they coach actors of all ages and keep productions safe and creative as an Intimacy Coordinator
Then we spend some time with Will Arnett. The Canadian born actor, comedian, and producer is known for his voice roles, particularly as the title character in the Netflix series BoJack Horseman and as Batman in “The Lego Movie” franchise. He is also famous for his live-action roles, most notably G.O.B. Bluth in “Arrested Development.” He is also the host for the US version of “LEGO Masters.”
He has been Primetime Emmy Award-nominated for “Arrested Development,” “30 Rock,” and “BoJack Horseman.” Since 2020, he has hosted the Fox reality series Lego Masters. Arnett began co-hosting the comedy podcast “SmartLess” alongside Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman.
Today we talk about his new film “Is This Thing On?” In the film, which is already getting Oscar buzz, he plays Alex, who, after many years with Tess, played by Laura Dern, reach an amicable end to their marriage. As they figure out how to live separately while raising two boys and maintaining their friendships, Alex discovers stand up comedy and, in the process, learns more about himself and his relationship.
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!
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Every once in a while, a conversation about entertainment turns into a conversation about… everything else.
This week’s episode of Entertainment Is Broken starts with something we don’t usually talk about when we’re arguing over movies and algorithms… losing control of your own face.
Richard opens the show by talking about recovering from Bell’s palsy. Not in a dramatic, TED Talk way. In a practical, unsettling way. One side of your face just… stops cooperating. Smiling becomes a project. Cheeks go on strike. Eyebrows refuse to negotiate.
And suddenly you realize how much of your life is built on things you never once thanked for showing up.
Which, weirdly, turns out to be a pretty good place to talk about culture.
Because when something stops working… whether it’s your face, a touring model, or the entire concept of “television” … you don’t immediately panic. First, you notice. Then you reassess. Then you start asking uncomfortable questions like: Why did we think this was the only way it could work?
From there, the conversation widens… into legacy. Into the idea that some people don’t really leave when they go. They stick around as flickering images. As lines of dialogue you’ve accidentally memorized. As catchphrases that have fully moved into your brain without paying rent.
Pop culture has always done that. It sneaks past your defenses. You think you’re just watching a sitcom… and twenty years later you realize it taught you how not to be a terrible person.
Which is why the timing of all this disruption feels… loaded.
The Oscars are heading to YouTube. Podcasts are becoming television. Instagram wants to live on your TV. Netflix is flirting with radio. Everything is blending, collapsing, remixing itself into something that doesn’t have a clean name yet.
And the reflex reaction is to say, Well that’s the end of old media.
Maybe it is.
Or maybe it’s just the end of pretending there was ever a clean line between “serious culture” and “new platforms.” People didn’t stop caring about stories… they just changed how they find them. The audience didn’t disappear. It moved to the couch. Then the phone. Then the TV again… somehow.
We also talk about aging artists. Musicians whose bodies are quietly filing HR complaints. Performers who still love the stage but maybe not the buses, the schedules, or the expectation that passion should hurt.
There’s a real tension there. Between can I still do this? and should I still do this the same way?
And maybe the answer isn’t bigger stages or louder speakers. Maybe it’s smaller rooms. Concert films. New formats. Intimacy over spectacle. Art that adapts instead of insisting on reenactment.
Because nothing meaningful stays frozen.
Fans want comfort food. Artists want evolution. Platforms want your attention. Bodies want rest. Culture wants to keep going… just not like it used to.
Which brings us back to where the episode starts.
Loss doesn’t always announce itself with sirens. Sometimes it shows up quietly, makes you rethink what you assumed was permanent, and then hands you a strange gift… perspective.
Entertainment is broken.
But maybe it’s not broken in the way we think.
Maybe it’s just changing shape… again.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Entertainment Is Broken wherever you get your podcasts
📺 Watch on YouTube if you want to see our faces (one of which is healing nicely, thank you)
💬 And as always… tell us what’s breaking next
Deb Hutton is off this week so I sit with Jim Richards on NewsTalk 1010 to go over some of the week’s biggest entertainment stories and let you know what’s happening in theatres. Today we talk about the Academy Awards on YouTube, The Rolling Stones cancelling their 2026 tour and I review “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the epic “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the feel-good divorce drama “Is This Thing On?” and the psychological thriller “The Housemaid.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join The Vassy Kepelos Show to talk about the big entertainment stories of 2025, including, the box-office rebound, the Kiss Cam scandal and saying goodbye to Ozzy.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” the new animated comedy based on the popular kid’s show, and now playing in theatres, SpongeBob tries to prove his bravery by embarking on a perilous marine journey. “The Dutchman’s taken SpongeBob to the deepest, most dangerous part of the sea…” says Mr. Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown), “the Underworld.”
CAST: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Lawrence, George Lopez, Isis “Ice Spice” Gaston, Arturo Castro, Sherry Cola, Regina Hall, Mark Hamill. Directed by Derek Drymon.
REVIEW: Packed to the gills with silly visual gags and absurdist wordplay, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” is aimed at kids and stoned adults.
The movie starts as many good stories do. “Once Upon a time,” says The Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill), “the most pants wettingly pirate to ever roam the seven seas, “a long, long time ago…” With that the tale of how a curse doomed him to 500 years in an oceanic nightmare realm called The Underworld. The only way he can beat the curse, and return to his dry land home of Santa Monica, is to transfer the hex to someone pure of heart and innocent in mind. “Does such a soul even exist?” he asks.
Meanwhile, in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob (voice of Tom Kenny) has grown half a barnacle taller, and now thinks he’s a “big guy.”
“I’ve never felt so respected before,” he says.
That feeling quickly fades when his boss, Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) tells him he’s not ready to be a Swashbuckler. To prove he’s not SpongeBob ScaredyPants, the innocent, kind-hearted SpongeBob embarks on a quest that puts him directly in The Flying Dutchman’s territory. But is SpongeBob brave enough to accept the Dutchman’s Deal?
Set at breakneck speed, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” wastes no time in unfurling its hero’s surreal journey.
It’s whiplash fast and frenetic but never loses the underlying theme that has made the Nickelodeon show such a favorite for a quarter of a century, and that’s SpongeBob’s optimism, kindness and joyfulness.
The odd little character, originally designed as a tool to teach marine biology at California’s Ocean Institute, has the playful whimsey of Pee Wee Jerman, the energy of Jerry Lewis and naïveté of Stan Laurel, all wrapped up in a spongey, kid-friendly package. That’s been the bedrock of the television series and the other half dozen theatrical and streaming movies in the franchise, and that sweetness and comedic unpredictability remain at the core of “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.”
So don’t expect the new movie to break new ground. Like The Three Stooges, SpongeBob and Company deliver an easily identifiable brand of silliness all their own. From visual gags—like Mr. Krabs entering the Dutchman’s undersea world through Davey Jones’s Gym Locker or a literal showing of intestinal fortitude—to the dense ratio of jokes—it seems like every line is a laugh line—and hidden references to older movies—including a splendid tribute to Ray Harryhausen—it doesn’t feel new exactly, but is a welcome return to SpongeBob’s strange world.
SYNOPSIS: In the third installment of the “Avatar” film series, “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” ex-Marine Corporal Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his Na’vi family’s peaceful way of life on their home planet of Pandora is threatened by the violent Ash People and returning baddie Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).
CAST: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo and Duane Evans, Jr. Directed by James Cameron.
REVIEW: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” does what cinema is meant to do; transport the audience to new worlds while reflecting and commenting on the reality of our world. An epic for the eyes, the visualization of Pandora is impressive and immersive, but the a-list visuals are let down by a b-movie story.
First, the look.
Rendered in eye popping 3D, Cameron’s concept for Pandora and her environs is spectacular will have your synapses firing on all cylinders. An ode to French impressionism by way of the sci fi landscapes of Frank Frazetta, whether his camera is gliding through the jungles of Pandora or swimming under the planet’s oceans or traipsing around gritty fire and ash biodomes or soaring though the sky on the back of a winged Great Leonopteryx, Cameron delivers a dopamine hit directly through the eyes.
It’s a whole lotta CGI, which is ironic, given that this is a story about the organic connection between nature and all of God’s creatures in which all the dazzling images were created in the least organic way possible. Still, the pictures, no matter how they were created, do come alive on the screen.
Less exciting is the story.
Cameron has spent the better part of two decades world building, creating the belief systems, language and traditions of the Na’vi people, only to hang them on the most generic of fantasy storytelling. His hot button pet themes of colonization, government overreach, community and environmentalism are very much in place, but the storytelling isn’t as passionate as the visual work.
Essentially picking up a few months after “Avatar: The Way of Water” left off, when “Fire and Ash” begins Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their children Lo’ak, Tuk, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and Spider (Jack Champion) are grieving the death of Neteyam, the family’s eldest son.
Their peaceful life amid the reef-dwelling Metkayina clan is disrupted when Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the ruthless RDA colonel reborn as a Na’vi recombinant, teams with the aggressive, volcano dwelling Mangkwan, or “Ash People,” lead by the vicious Varang (a compelling Oona Chaplin).
As Jake fights for the survival of his family, the fate of all of Pandora hangs in the balance.
Packed with big action set pieces, smaller, more intimate family moments, and one, “I am Spartacus” scene, “Fire and Ash” has a new, unsettling villain in the form of Varang but otherwise recycles old ideas under a slick CGI veneer.
The mix of A-list tech and B-movie dialogue like Quaritch’s quip, “I guess I don’t die that easy,” feels like watching a Saturday morning serial with boffo, stare-of-the-art visuals that distract from the often-cheesy dialogue.
The familiar story beats and the worn-out dialogue quickly take a backseat to Cameron’s unique vison. He is the star of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Like the other films in the franchise the new one invites the viewer to exit the real world and enter his world of imagination of three hours, and, despite some déjà vu story wise, it’s a trip worth taking.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Housemaid,” a new psychological thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, and now playing in theatres, a parolee gets a job working for a wealthy family, in a beautiful home filled with secrets.
CAST: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins. Directed by Paul Feig.
REVIEW: A story of a campaign of domestic psychological warfare, “The Housemaid” is a drawn-out, twisty-turny story of gaslighting, an attic room and a broken dinner plate.
The story begins with Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) looking for work to satisfy the conditions of her parole. In prison for ten years, she’s living in her car and if she doesn’t get a job soon, it’s back to the big house to finish her sentence.
When she lands a job as a live-in housemaid at the Winchester family estate, tending to the ultra-wealthy Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), her husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and daughter Cecelia (Indiana Elle), it appears to be a dream job. Given flexible hours and a new phone and credit card, she moves into a bedroom in the attic, the one with the lock on the outside.
“Hold on to this job and the living situation,” her parole officer reminds her, “or you’ll be back in Bedford to finish the last five years of your sentence.”
Desperate to avoid going back to jail, she puts her head down and gets to work, even though Nina’s personality leans toward Jekyll and Hyde; kind one second, cruel the next. “Today wasn’t a total disaster,” Nina says to Millie by way of praise.
Smoothing things out is Andrew, who always has a kind word and a way of keeping the peace between Nina and Millie. He’s a good guy, but is he too good to be true?
Director Paul Feig is best known for making comedies like “Bridesmaids,” but “The Housemaid,” despite sharing four letters in the title of his biggest hit, is not a laugh-a-minute. It has more to do with the intrigue and suspense of his 2018 film “A Simple Favor” than his other films.
Feig sets the dark story against the dazzling backdrop of the Winchester’s palatial home, a sun-dappled mansion painted inside and out in bright white, save for the creepy little room in the attic. The opulent home silently establishes film’s the power dynamic; the disparity between Nina’s effortless cruelty and Millie’s desperation, and it’s the last time anything in the film goes unsaid.
The movie takes some big swings and has more twists than a winding country road and screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine wants to make sure you don’t miss a thing. I suppose, that’s great if you’re scrolling through your phone while watching (which you shouldn’t be, especially in a theatre) but it draws out the action, especially two flashback sequences near the end. By the time we get to the story’s revenge aspect, it feels played out.
Still, despite being overlong, it’s a bit of a romp, with the main cast, Sweeney, Seyfried and Sklenar, jumping in with both feet, throwing themselves at the pulpy premise with vigor that helps smooth most of the storytelling’s rough edges.
“The Housemaid” isn’t quite as clever as it needs to be to keep the audience on the edge of their seat until the end credits but has enough wackadoodle twists and engaging characters to register as a playful “evil one-percenters” time waster.
