SYNOPSIS: In “Darkest Miriam,” a new romantic drama starring “Severance’s” Britt Lower, and now playing in theatres, the title character’s emotional fog is lifted when she begins an unexpected relationship with an artist she meets in the park.
CAST: Britt Lower, Sook-Yin Lee, Jean Yoon, Jaimara Beals, Clyde Whitham, Susannah Hoffmann, Scott McCulloch, Igor Shamuilov, Joshua Odjick, Sarah Li Wen Du, Anita Yung, Peter Millard, Danté Prince, Scott Ryan Yamamura, Jamaal Grant, Aviva Armour-Ostroff, and Laura Afelskie. Directed by Naomi Jaye.
REVIEW: Set in downtown Toronto, “Darkest Miriam” sees “Severance” star Britt Lower play the title character, a librarian left grief stricken after the passing of her father. Her work life, involving a rogue’s gallery of characters who leave their dentures on library tables and masturbate in the stacks, is as chaotic as her private life is orderly and closed down.
Her life shifts gears when she meets Janko (Tom Mercier), a Slovenian artist and cab driver. Their immediate connection, coupled with odd, enigmatic letters addressed to her that she finds in the books at work—“I am Rigoletto, and I will not be doing any more suffering,” reads one of them—snap her out of the emotional funk that has enveloped her.
Based on a 2009 novel by Martha Baillie called “The Incident Report,” “Darkest Miriam” is a subtle film, one that values introspection and absurdist humour over walking an obvious path. Director Naomi Jaye takes her time unveiling the minutiae of Miriam’s life and the secret of the letters, but this isn’t a mystery that needs to be solved. It’s a slice-of-life that is comfortable in its vague nature.
Keeping it compelling is Britt Lower, who hands in a deadpan performance that, while understated, brings a wry charm to the film’s off-kilter humor and remains fully grounded amid the outlandish characters at the library and the mystery of the letters. The soft-spoken Miriam has been through a lot, and it shows in her haunted state, but Lower never lets us forget there is a real person aching to throw off the shackles of her emotional turmoil.
“Darkest Miriam” is a touching film that replaces sentimentality with a quirky sensibility, but, while unconventional, never forgets to be tenderhearted.
Two film critics, three movies, thirty seconds! Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as me and myself review three movies in less time than it takes to chew a stick of Doublemint gum! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about twofold De Niros in “The Alto Knights,” the return of “Snow White” and the dramedy “Bob Trevino Likes It.”
On the Saturday March 22, 2025 episode of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Emily Diebert. She is a Science Fellow at the Gemini South Observatory in Chile, where she writes children’s books by day and works as an astronomer by night. Her debut novel is “Bea Mullins Takes a Shot,” a novel about a 7th grader who, after being forced to join her school’s hockey team discovers unexpected friendships and a budding crush on the team captain.
Then, 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.
To help me raise awareness is Dr. Peter Stotland, chief of surgery at North York General Hospital and the surgeon who did my colon resection when I was diagnosed with colon cancer twelve years ago, joins me.
Listen to the whole thing HERE! (Link coming soon!)
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!
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.
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I review Robert De Niro’s “Klump” style performance in “The Alto Knights” and open Al Capone’s cocktail vault.
Listen to Shane and I talk about how Michael Fassbender’s 007 audition resulted in Daniel Craig getting the gig HERE!
What cocktail did Al Capone order after a day of mayhem and murder? The answer may surpriuse you. Listen to “Booze & Reviews” and find out!
SYNOPSIS: In “Snow White,” a mostly live action adaptation of the 1937 Disney classic, now playing in theatres, a princess attempts to free her kingdom from her stepmother’s tyranny.
CAST: Rachel Zegler, Emilia Faucher, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Martin Klebba, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, Jeremy Swift, Andy Grotelueschen, Ansu Kabia, Patrick Page, George Appleby, Colin Michael Carmichael, Samuel Baxter, Jimmy Johnston, Dujonna Gift-Simms, Hadley Fraser, Lorena Andrea, Idriss Kargbo, Jaih Betote, Freya Mitchell, Zoë Athena, Dean Nolan, Jonathan Bourne, Luisa Guerreiro, Adrian Bower, Felipe Bejarano. Directed by Marc Webb.
REVIEW: For a film that has generated so much controversy and cultural debate in the weeks and months leading up to its release, “Snow White” is rather bland. A mostly live-action remake of the classic 1937 animated film, it’s a mix of new and old.
In the old column you have the basic story of Snow White (Rachel Zegler), an evil stepmother and seven helpers who help protect the title character. There’s also familiar songs like “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh-Ho,” the latter of which is given a treatment that feels like a template for an amusement park ride, an Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) who is as obsessed with herself as any ten TikTok influencers combined, a poisoned apple and an on-the-lam Snow White (Rachel Zegler) who still finds refuge with the Seven Dwarfs.
The new stuff includes Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), a Robin Hood style rebel character who replaces the traditional prince and new songs by the “Dear Evan Hansen” duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The biggest story shift comes with the portrayal of the title character. No longer a damsel in distress, in 2025 Snow White is a leader, a go-getter with a Power to the People dream, rather than dreaming of love.
Director Marc Webb manages a balance between the new and old elements, but, despite Zegler’s impressive vocal abilities, some lively choreography and vibrant set design, the result is more Ho Hum than Hi Ho.
The new tunes, like “Waiting on a Wish” and the villain theme “All Is Fair” are tuneful enough but lack personality when placed side-by-side to the classic songs by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey. Zegler has the pipes and sells the heck out of her solos with vibrant theatre kid energy, but you won’t leave the theatre whistling anything other than “Whistle While You Work.”
Near the beginning of “Snow White” the forest near the castle is described as “a place where magic still abides.” It’s too bad the same can’t be said about the movie.
SYNOPSIS: Set in the 1950s, and based on a true story, “The Alto Knights” stars Robert De Niro in the double role of gangsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese and their battle to control the streets of New York City.
CAST: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, and Michael Rispoli. Directed by Barry Levinson.
REVIEW: A story of friendship and betrayal, “The Alto Knights” is the tale of gangsters Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, one a violent hothead, the other a cautious diplomat, both played by Robert De Niro.
Director Barry Levinson keeps De Niro busy, but this isn’t exactly “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps,” which saw Eddie Murphy play five of the Klump family members in the same scene. De Niro is the star X 2 of the show, the fourth wall-breaking narrator, and even appears as the de-aged Costello.
It’s a whole lotta De Niro, which his fans may enjoy, but you can’t help but think he’s breathing new life into two old characters.
His Frank Costello plays like “Casino’s” Sam “Ace” Rothstein with a few years more experience while his Vito Genovese feels like a riff on Joe Pesci “Goodfellas” role. It’s a fun gimmick, but De Niro’s double the fun approach doesn’t add much to the film overall.
De Niro differentiates the two characters with vocal inflections, and Vito usually wears a hat, but other than that and their temperaments, it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of who is who.
Written by Nicholas Pileggi, whose book “Wiseguy” was the basis for “Goodfellas,” it covers familiar ground. According to IMDB, the rivalry between Costello and Genovese, and the resulting busts at the famed The Apalachin mob boss meeting, have been part of no less than 22 other productions.
A deeper dive into their relationship as kids and ultimately, their Cain and Abel conflict—we are mostly told about the past through Costello’s expository narration—may have freshened things up, raised the stakes to and turned “The Alto Knights” into a human drama of power and betrayal rather than a retelling of a shop-worn tale.
“The Alto Knights” is a slick movie, with nice period details, but the shallow look at the relationships of the protagonists and a repetitive, drawn-out script blunts the power of the story.
SYNOPSIS: A family drama loosely based on the personal experiences of director Tracie Laymon, “Bob Trevino Likes It,” now playing in theatres, is the story of a lonely young woman who keeps track of her estranged father, Bob Trevino, on Facebook. As her relationship with her dad deteriorates, she finds another Bob Trevino online who becomes a father figure.
CAST: Barbie Ferreira, John Leguizamo, French Stewart, Rachel Bay Jones. Directed by Tracie Laymon.
REVIEW: A story of finding your logical family, “Bob Trevino Likes It” is a heartfelt look at age-old topics of loneliness, healing and personal growth processed through the modern medium of social media.
The tale of two Bobs, one Lily’s (Barbie Ferreira) selfish father (French Stewart), the other a compassionate contractor (John Leguizamo), begins with the quiet trauma of a daughter who feels cut adrift from her family. Lost and rejected by her bio-dad, who is more concerned with finding a new girlfriend than he is in Lily’s wellbeing, she accidentally finds a father figure on Facebook. Together they fill the gaps missing in each other’s lives.
A feelgood tearjerker, “Bob Trevino Likes It” could easily have slid into easy platitudes and sentimentality but director Tracie Laymon displays a light touch, even when dealing with difficult topics. Abuse and loss figure heavily in the storytelling, but so do empathy and optimism and that goes a long way toward to reinforce the movie’s themes of self-worth and healing.
None of it would matter if the central characters weren’t so compelling. Lily feigns a cheery disposition, but beneath the open smile is a deep chasm of sadness. Ferreira, best known as Kat Hernandez in the HBO series “Euphoria,” sets Lily on her healing journey in an authentic, earnest way that keeps the story from becoming a misery.
Leguizamo brings a quiet power to surrogate Bob. He’s broken, unfulfilled at work and at home, but determined to forge ahead.
Together, they complete one another, finding a logical, not biological father daughter relationship.
On the other end of the spectrum is French as Lily’s unpredictable, self-interested father. He is unbearable, and that is exactly his function to keep the story chugging forward.
“Bob Trevino Likes It” is a four-hankie weepie, but don’t worry, you’ll cry out of joy not sadness.
SYNOPSIS: In “O’Dessa,” a post-apocalyptic musical now streaming on Disney+, “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink plays the title character, a dirt farmer who follows in her father’s footsteps as a “Rambler,” a musician whose music has the power to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” When he died he left her a “mighty guitar” and a mission. When the guitar is stolen O’Dessa travels to the dangerous world of Satylite City where the power of her music is tested.
CAST: Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, and Regina Hall. Directed by Geremy Jasper.
REVIEW “O’Dessa” builds a cyberpunk world for its characters to inhabit that feels, like the rest of the movie, like a new story built on the foundations of films like “Mad Max” and “The Hunger Games.”
During its 106-minute runtime “O’Dessa” wears its influences on its colorful sleeve.
Everything from “Phantom of the Paradise” to “Repo! The Genetic Opera” garners a nod, but what writer/director Geremy Jasper’s vision lacks in originality, it makes up for in enthusiasm. This dystopian mash-up is vibrant, often extravagant and may even get your toe lightly tapping along with the folk-rock songs.
Trouble is, while the songs are plentiful, they don’t leave much of an impression, let alone have the power to change the world and bring humanity together.
Visually, Jasper evokes 19809s music videos, with wild splashes of colour and costumes that would make Grace Jones envious but, ultimately, while it may entertain the eye, it won’t engage the brain.
Even a pair of pretty good villains, Regina Hall as wicked Neon Dion and Murray Bartlett (“White Lotus’s” pooping resort manager) as the evil empresario Plutonovich, O’Dessa feels music video stretched to feature length.
Writer/director Jasper’s vision of the future may not be as original, or as engaging, as it could be to really sell the movie’s premise, but there is a sincerity to the idea that music and the arts have the power to change the world.
I join NewsTalk 1010’s “The Deb Hutton Show” to talk about my new podcast, “Maple Syrup for Your Eyes,” on which I suggest Canadian movies for your entertainment!
SYNOPSIS: In “Darkest Miriam,” a new romantic drama starring “Severance’s” Britt Lower, and now playing in theatres, the title character’s emotional fog is lifted when she begins an unexpected relationship with an artist she meets in the park.
