Posts Tagged ‘Aaron Schimberg’

CTV News Toronto at 11:30: RICHARD ON THE LATEST RELEASES IN THEATRES!

I join CTV News Toronto at 11:30 anchor Natalie Johnson to have a look at the animated “The Wild Robot,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and the drama “A Different Man.”

Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 19:06)

NEWSTALK 1010 with Jim and Deb: DOES RICHARD CROUSE LIKE THESE MOVIES?

I sit in with hosts Jim Richards and Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the animated “The Wild Robot,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and the drama “A Different Man.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 27:53)

RICHARD’S CP24 WEEKEND REVIEWS FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2024!

I join CP24 to have a look at the animated “The Wild Robot,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” the drama “A Different Man” and the coming of age story “My Old Ass.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

YOU TUBE: THREE MOVIES/THIRTY SECONDS! FAST REVIEWS FOR BUSY PEOPLE!

Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to tie a bowtie! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the animated “The Wild Robot,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and the drama “A Different Man.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

A DIFFERENT MAN: 4 STARS. “a Kafkaesque tale about the perception of beauty.”

SYNOPSIS: In the existential comedy “A Different Man,” now playing in theatres, Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a man who undergoes an experimental medical trial to “cure” the neurofibromatosis that has caused large tumors to grow along the nerves of his face and neck. Post procedure, he becomes obsessed with the actor playing him in an Off-Broadway production about his life and relationship with next-door neighbor Ingrid (Renate Reinsve). 

CAST: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson, C. Mason Wells, Owen Kline, Charlie Korsmo, Patrick Wang, Michael Shannon. Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg.

REVIEW: A postmodern mix-and-match of “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cyrano de Bergerac” propelled by b-movie energy, “A Different Man” is a Kafkaesque tale about the perception of beauty. Writer/director by Aaron Schimberg examines the perception of beauty and what it means to be “normal.”

When we first meet Edward, played by Stan under a thick layer of make-up, he’s jumpy, a bundle of anxiety and paranoia. He draws stares on the subway from curious lookie-loos who turn their heads when he makes eye contact.

An aspiring actor, he dutifully goes to auditions but is frustrated by the lack of opportunity for a man with his facial deformity. When he is “cured” he begins anew, metaphorically killing off Edward. He changes his name to Guy, gets a new career and friends.

Trouble is, while he now has acceptance from others, he isn’t any happier as Guy than he was as Edward. That feeling is compounded when he meets the flamboyant Oswald, played by Adam Pearson, the English television presenter, actor and neurofibromatosis activist.

Oswald is everything Edward/Guy isn’t. He’s comfortable in his skin, moves through the world with impunity and doesn’t allow his genetic condition to define his life. That dynamic sets up the film’s gonzo second half as Guy’s obsession with Oswald forces him to examine the real reason for his insecurity and misery.

“A Different Man” tackles the big issues that shaped Edward/Guy’s life. He wants to be seen for who he is, but is, instead, gawked at, made to feel like an outsider every time he leaves his apartment.

Stan’s remarkable performance transcends the character’s heavy make-up. Stan portrays the “facially different” Edward’s complex inner life through his outward physicality. It’s a full body performance that vividly captures Edward’s self-loathing, melancholy, anger and occasional fleeting moments of happiness.

As Guy, Stan is all frustration. His life takes a surreal turn as he proves to be inadequate at playing himself on-stage in a play based on his life. As a result, he becomes fixated on clawing back the life he left behind.

On the flipside is Pearson whose charming performance cuts through much of the film’s sturm und drang. Without an iota of self-pity Oswald embraces the thing that makes him different and lives a life Edward wants but will never have.

“A Different Man” is a singular movie. Schimberg digs deep to examine the skin-deep notions of attractiveness, and the effect of beauty on the eye of the beholder.

RICHARD NEW MOVIE REVIEWS COMING THIS WEEK – SEPTEMBER 27, 2024!

I’ll be reviewing three movies this week, everything from a matriarchal automaton and a world building genius to a different man.

Based on Peter Brown’s award-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller of the same name, “The Wild Robot,” a new animated film starring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal, and now playing in theatres, features a shipwrecked robot named ROZZUM unit 7134— “Roz” for short—who develops a parental bond with an orphaned gosling. “A ROZZUM always completes its task,” she says.

Megalopolis,” a new fable from legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, now playing in theatres, is a mix of Ancient Roman politics, sci fi, and even a little bit of mime.

In the existential comedy “A Different Man,” now playing in theatres, Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a man who undergoes an experimental medical trial to “cure” the neurofibromatosis that has caused large tumors to grow along the nerves of his face and neck. Post procedure, he becomes obsessed with the actor playing him in an Off-Broadway production about his life and relationship with next-door neighbor Ingrid (Renate Reinsve).