On the Saturday June 20, 2026 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet Tom Doyle, a veteran music journalist and contributor to Mojo and Q, with books on Paul McCartney in the 1970s, Elton John, and Kate Bush. Today we talk about his latest book, “Ringo: A Fab Life.” It’s a look Starr’s career far beyond the rose-tinted ’60s, through the various addictions and career left turns in the ’70s and ’80s, before reaching the ’90s, his legacy and reputation intact.
Then, playwright, actor and the internationally bestselling Canadian author of more than twenty novels, C.C. Humphreys drops by. Today we talk about his latest work of historical fiction, “The Double Life of Eve Sinclair,” a story of a female spy who must push herself to her very limits to save herself and everything she holds dear.
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 wrote about the first ever Toronto Star Theatre Series, hosted by critic Joshua Chong, which saw participants watch a performance of ‘Primary Trust’ before enjoying a delicious dinner at Piano Piano Leslieville.
“Playwright Eboni Booth’s “Primary Trust,” a play about the importance of human connection, recently brought together 20 theatre lovers at the Guloien Theatre, located inside Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre, for the first ever Toronto Star Theatre Series…” Read the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisco to talk about the playful “Toy Story 5,” the grim historical drama “The Death of Robin Hood” and the supernatural horrors of “Leviticus.”
I join “CP24 Breakfast” hosts Nick Dixon and Jennifer Hsiung to talk about the playful “Toy Story 5” and the grim historical drama “The Death of Robin Hood.”
I review “Toy Story 5” for ctvnews.ca: “By the time a franchise gets to the fifth instalment it’s usually a case of diminishing returns. The further you get from the source, the worse the movie. Luckily, “Toy Story 5” defies traditional wisdom, delivering a movie for the whole family that brims with heart and humour…” Read the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to brush your teeth. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the playful “Toy Story 5,” the grim historical drama “The Death of Robin Hood” and the supernatural horrors of “Leviticus.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Toy Story 5,” the new Pixar animated film now in theatres, eight-year-old Bonnie shifts from tradition toys to a newfangled tablet.
CAST: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, Annie Potts, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Keanu Reeves, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Ernie Hudson, Melissa Villaseñor, Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson, Shelby Rabara, Matty Matheson, Bad Bunny. Directed by Andrew Stanton.
REVIEW: By the time a franchise gets to the fifth instalment it is usually a case of diminishing returns. The further you get from the source, the worse the movie. Luckily, “Toy Story 5” defies traditional wisdom, delivering a movie for the whole family that brims with heart and humor.
The story revolves around lonely eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), the only kid on the block who still plays with toys, like the cowgirl rag doll Jessie (Joan Cusack) and superhero action hero Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). The other kids spend their time on their screens and don’t have time for a girl who still plays with dolls.
Hoping to help her fit in, Bonnie’s parents (Lori Alan and Jay Hernandez) buy her a Lilypad (Greta Lee), a frog-shaped smart tablet that comes complete with games, chat rooms, social media and a very assertive attitude.
“Once tech enters your home,” says tech-phobic toy Dr. Nutcase (voiced by Matty Matheson), “it’s over.”
As Bonnie plays games and joins chat rooms on the device she spends less and less time with Jessie and the other toys.
“Extinction!” yelps Rex the dinosaur (Wallace Shawn). “Not again!”
With the help of a team of Buzz Lightyears and cowboy ragdoll Woody (Tom Hanks), who returns from rescuing abandoned toys, Jessie sets off to make sure Bonnie makes new friends, without forgetting about her toy pals.
“Playing games isn’t play,” Woody says.
“Toy Story 5” isn’t the old man of the franchise, yelling at tech to get off their lawn. Nor is it a story about the evils of tech. Instead, it’s a testament to the power of imagination.
It’s about screens vs. imagination and the joys that come when an unstructured young mind is allowed to run wild, to create and learn. But the screenplay, by Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, doesn’t dismiss the place of passive tech in the modern world, it simply favors playtime over screen time.
As a movie, “Toy Story 5” has a sense of play about itself. Like the best of Pixar, it tackles real world issues like on-line bullying, insecurity (“What if am I just no good at being a toy?” asks Jessie.), the value of childhood memories and what true friends are but does so in a way that never feels maudlin. Director Stanton keeps things lively, pulling fun voice work from the returning cast, plus new additions like Conan O’Brien who has a blast voicing Smarty Pants, a toilet training tablet, and inserting some self-aware jokes, like depicting Woody, presumably the oldest of the toys, with a bald spot.
Add to that, beautiful cinematic visuals, with state-of-the-art 3D computer animation embellished with a lovely, handcrafted look for the imagination scenes, and you have a fine addition to the “Toy Story” franchise, rich in timely themes of the effects of tech on blossoming minds but never preachy or pedantic.
SYNOPSIS: In “Leviticus,” a new Australian supernatural horror film now playing in theatres, a church “exorcism” to “cure” two teenage boys of their queerness unleashes a violent entity. “This is what they wanted,” says Ryan (Stacy Clausen). “They wanted us to be scared.”
CAST: Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Nicholas Hope, Zamira Newman, Mia Wasikowska. Written and directed by Adrian Chiarella.
REVIEW: A coming-of-age story with overtones of horror mixed in, “Leviticus” has emotional depth, and some genuinely creepy moments, as it expands and explores its story as a metaphor for the horror of conversion therapy and repression.
Set in a close-minded, drab industrial town in Victoria, Australia, the story focusses on two queer teenage boys Niam (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen). When their romance is discovered, their “Bible belt” religious families submit them to an exorcism to rid them of their “sinful” urges.
“Indecency. Lust. Desire,” intones the Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope). “It has to go now. Look at the light.”
But instead of conversion, the ceremony summons a demon who launches a psychological and physical assault on the teens by manifesting itself as the person they most desire, each other.
“If you see anything that looks like me,” warns Ryan, “don’t go near it. It comes when no one else is around. Nothing can make it stop.”
Their fight for survival sees them question everything they know, their faith, families, and feelings.
At a bleak but quick 88 minutes “Leviticus” packs a punch with a mix of real life and supernatural horror as Niam and Ryan are literally demonized for their passion. Their story of young love is raw and resilient, enhanced by sensitive, natural performances courtesy of Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen. The effectiveness of them as a couple, two characters looking for happiness and acceptance, but denied both, drives and deepens the action, creating empathy in the face of evil.
The central idea of a demon who transfers from one person to another may be cribbed from the wonderfully weird “It Follows” but the film’s queer representation adds allegorical layers to the story and the effectiveness of the (sometimes grisly) horror.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Death of Robin Hood,” a new historical drama now playing in theatres, Hugh Jackman stars as the legendary thief as he reckons with his past and searches for a chance at redemption. “People speak of Robin Hood,” he says. “Tell his stories. They’re all lies. He was not a hero. He were a murderous brigand.”
CAST: Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett, Noah Jupe. Written and directed by Michael Sarnoski.
REVIEW: Taking its story from the 17th-century ballad “Robin Hood’s Death,” “The Death of Robin Hood” focusses on the murderous, not merry, legacy of the storied thief and killer. This retelling of the story has more to do with Hugh Jackman’s “Logan” than the traditional take. “He was not a hero. He robbed and killed for the joy of it.”
Grim and uncompromising, the movie begins with an aged Robin Hood (Jackman), outlaw archer and equal opportunity killer contemplating his life and the deaths of his victims. He’s murdered so many men, women and children he has lost count, and now finds himself haunted by generations of those who fell at the end of his arrows and blades.
That doesn’t mean he’s going to stop the mayhem, but he’s had a reckoning and now longer finds the joy in taking lives.
Weary, he’s prepared for death when he is grievously wounded in battle. But instead of letting his die, sidekick Little John (Bill Skarsgård) transports him to a remote island and the medical attention of The Prioress (Jodie Comer).
As she nurses him back to health Robin is torn between salvation and the deadly instincts that brought him to The Prioress’s care.
A brutal act of violence in its opening moments immediately differentiates “The Death of Robin Hood” from the romanticized version of the steal-from-the-rich-to-give-to-the-poor character from medieval poems, folk songs and recent movies and television.
Gone is the dashing Douglas Fairbanks style hero, replaced by Jackman’s deeply flawed rogue, a heartless killer who says things like, “I’ll slit your throat and never think of you again.”
Cursed by a gift for violence, he now contemplates if salvation is even available to a man like him.
Director Michael Sarnoski sets the scene for Hood’s reckoning with a series of startling images of brutality. Raw, mano-a-mano-rip-your-foe’s-jaw-off-with-your-bare-hands violence characterizes the film’s first half. It’s unpleasant, raw savagery; all cracking bones, agonized screams and ripping flesh. To paraphrase Marsellus Wallace, Hood and Little John get “medieval on their enemies’ asses.” Shot in low light, these scenes work because of what you don’t see as much as what you do. They are primal, unadorned and brutally effective in showcasing Hood’s special set of skills.
The cloud of unremitting grimness lifts in the film’s second half as Hood becomes introspective, but even then, this film is no barrel of laughs. It is a serious, some might say dire, look at a half-hearted search for redemption.
Jackman does interesting work as the conflicted Hood, but the script’s flowery language doesn’t do him any favors. He’s looking inward, but it feels like there is a barrier between the character and the audience. We never really feel his pain, other than to witness the winces during the blood lettings The Prioress administers to him throughout.
For all its sturm and drang it’s not the introspection that lingers after “The Death of Robin Hood,” it’s the violence, which blunts the potency of the redemption arc, and any ideas of tenderness and morality that may have been on writer/director Sarnoski’s mind.
