Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about “The Monkey’s” damn dirty ape, the family story “The Unbreakable Boy” and the Canadian drama “Morningside.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the CTV NewsChannel to talk about “The Monkey’s” damn dirty ape, the family story “The Unbreakable Boy” and the Canadian drama “Morningside.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Morningside,” a new indie feature starring two-time Juno Award winner Fefe Dobson and now playing in theatres, is a multi-pronged story of seven characters as they navigate life, and creeping gentrification, in the tight-knit Toronto suburb of Scarborough.
CAST: Fefe Dobson, Oluniké Adeliyi, Alex Mallari Jr., Lovell Adams-Gray, Kiana Madeira, Joanne Jansen. Directed by Ron Dias.
REVIEW: A fractured portrait of a place and a place in time, “Morningside” does a good job of weaving together disparate stories to form a narrative whole. The structure is complex, but the content is down-to-earth, essaying themes of resilience, hope, gentrification and tragedy. It’s a broad canvas, but captivating characters keep the piecemeal story cohesive and compelling.
From a young man with dreams of opening a resort and a security guard who wants to become a police officer to an influencer with an eye on a career in music and the threat of gun violence, the film touches on a wide array of topics and characters until they dovetail in a dramatic finale.
Director and co-writer Ron Dias and writer Joanne Jansen end on a bittersweet note with an effective coda that says a great deal about gun violence without ever actually mentioning gun violence. It’s one of the film’s most effective scenes (NO SPOILERS HERE) because it juxtaposes the promise of what might have been with the grim reality of what is.
“Morningside” captures the spirit of its Scarborough, Ontario neighborhood—locals will recognize many landmarks—but it isn’t just about a vibrant geographical location, it’s about the people who make the neighborhood, for better and for worse.
On the Saturday March 2, 2024 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we get to know Alex Mallari Jr. The actor is known for his performances in the television series “Dark Matter” and “Ginny & Georgia.” You’ve seen him in movies “The Adam Project,” with Ryan Reynolds and “Shotgun Wedding” with Jennifer Lopez. Today we’ll talk about his latest Netflix movie, “Code 8 II” and working with Ryan Reynolds and Jenifer Lopez.
We’ll also meet Liz Locke. If you like cocktails and classic movies like I do, you’ll want to check out her site CinemaSips.com and then check out her debut novel “Follow the Sun,” a portrait of the 1960s International Jet Set Era through the eyes of an aspiring singer-songwriter.
Then, Dianne Whelan stops by. She is an award-winning director and cinematographer known for making films in extreme locations. She’s made movies in the Canadian Arctic and Mount Everest’s base camp but her latest, “500 Days in the Wild,” tested her in ways she had never experienced before. She filmed herself traversing the entire 24,000 kms of longest trail in the world, Canada’s land and water trails from sea to sea to sea. It is an epic journey of discovery—hiking, biking, paddling, snowshoeing and skiing across the country–that provided challenges over the six year it took her to complete the journey, but at the end she emerged a bit wiser, and certainly more hopeful about the state of the world.
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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The crowd-funded “Code 8” is speculative fiction, set in the future, but addresses real world issues like marginalization and the healthcare crisis.
Robbie Amell is Connor Reed, one of the 4% of the population born with extraordinary powers. Instead of being celebrated, however, Reed and his kind are discriminated against, forced to live in poverty.
Blessed—or cursed, depending on how you look at it—with the ability to generate electricity, Reed lives a quiet life, working in construction. The low profile job keep him off the radar of Agents Park in Davis (Sung Kang and Aaron Abrams), leaders of a militarized police unit, but doesn’t earn enough to pay for his mother‘s (Kari Matchett) mounting hospital bills.
To make some much-needed cash he agrees to expose his abilities to aid crime boss Marcus Sutcliffe (Greg Bryk) and his sadistic henchmen Garrett (Stephen Amell).
The aura of “X-Men” hangs heavy over “Code 8.” Director and co-writer (with Chris Pare) Jeff Chan has re-contextualized the idea of superbeings being persecuted for their powers—they don’t wear costumes, have character names like Electro or attend tony private schools—but all roads lead back to artist/co-writer Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee’s timely take on the mistrust of those seen as different. There’s more grit here and the characters aren’t as showy, they are simply trying to survive in a world that is inhospitable to them.
Chan does a good job balancing the action with ideas, effortlessly mixing and matching real word and sci fi elements to create a movie that has enough to say about the fear of diversity and tolerance to earn a look.
