I appear on “CTV News at 6” with Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend. I’ll tell you about the new Crave comedy “The Trades,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Watch 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 ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in with NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join CP24 to have a look at the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres and streaming including the ghostly goings on of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the nun on the run of “Immaculate,” the brawlers and bruisers of “Road House” and the Shatner doc “You Can Call Me Bill.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“You Can Call Me Bill,” a new first-person documentary about the life, career and philosophy of William Shatner, boldly goes where no film has gone before to present a contemplative look at that man whose life’s work encompasses everything from Kirk and commercial spokesperson, to pop singer and Shakespearean stage actor.
The many ups and downs, ins and outs, of Shatner’s career are on display. Clips from “Star Trek,” both the iconic television show and movies, and his myriad other projects (like “Boston Legal,” “Judgment at Nuremberg,” “The Intruder” and “Incubus”) sit side-by-side archival footage and ephemera from the actor’s scrapbooks, set to a soundtrack of Shatner’s distinctive voice and cadence.
The result is something you don’t often find in celebrity documentaries. “You Can Call Me Bill” may be a tad self-indulgent, but the neither the actor or director Alexandre O. Philippe, can be accused of pulling punches.
It’s stream-of-consciousness, without input from any talking heads, save for the 91-year-old actor. In an in-depth, wide-ranging and often thoughtful interview the story is told in his own words. From the creation of Kirk, to the loneliness that has shaped his life to a sad story about his childhood pet dog, it is a raw portrait, that feels blessedly free of the meddling influence of protective publicists.
Shatner emerges as a thoughtful, yet maximalist guy, brimming with a big, theatrical personality and even bigger ideas. In touch with both his self-deprecating “Free Enterprise” persona, as well as his introspective side. His thoughts on acting and career should give fans the juice they want from a celebrity doc, but it’s the deeper stuff, his talk of death and what comes next that is most effective. Particularly effective, and emotional, is his recounting of his 2021 trip to space on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space shuttle. “Our brains aren’t made to encompass the vastness of the things we’re talking about,” he says.
Perhaps the most striking revelation in the thought provoking “You Can Call Me Bill” is the extent to which the actor has adopted the “Star Trek” ethos of boldly going forward. Whether he goes where no man has gone before is up for conjecture, but after watching the doc, it’s clear he has rarely been anything but bold.
Formatted almost like a film school lecture, “Leap of Faith,” a new documentary about the making of “The Exorcist” and now streaming on Shudder, is a master class in how a classic movie was made.
In the almost fifty years after the release of a movie that was heralded as everything from “religious porn” to “pure cinematic terror,” “The Exorcist” has not lacked for critical analysis. Thousands of gallons of ink have been spilled printing books and articles on the subject while in the internet age everyone who has ever stepped into a theatre seems to have written something about the film. “Leap of Faith” does everyone who has ever posited an opinion on the film’s meaning one better. It goes to the source with an in-depth interview with the movie’s director William Friedkin.
Documentary filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe goes long with the director on the creative process, nailing down the definitive stories of how the 1973 horror film came to be. Much of the information was covered in the 2014 autobiography, “The Friedkin Connection,” but here the director’s way with a story and Philippe’s use of visuals makes the stories cinematic.
This isn’t a casual fan doc. Friedkin and Philippe dig deep to uncover the film’s visual influences—everything from Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1955 “Ordet” to Magritte’s “The Empire of Light” series—to how recording the score ended a long-time friendship. There is great detail on the casting, the filming of controversial scenes and why star Max von Sydow, who once played Jesus in a film, had so much trouble performing one of “The Exorcist’s” most pious and famous sequences.
Over and over Friedkin talks about following his instincts and making decisions that either seemed counterintuitive or deemed too costly by the studio. “I didn’t question my instincts,” he says, which I suppose is at least part of the reason the film is called “Leap of Faith.” There’s the obvious reason and then there’s the small leaps of faith that those working with Friedkin had to take along the way. Hearing about his battles with everyone from studio heads on down to get his vision to the screen is an interesting reminder of Hollywood when creative vison could trump corporate interference.
“Leap of Faith” isn’t a flashy film. It’s a detailed, if straightforward, making of documentary that connects the dots between the filmmaker and his faith in an interesting, if long winded way.
Richard and CP24 anchor Jamie Gutfreund have a look at the weekend’s new movies including the birthday blues of “Happy Death Day,” Jackie Chan’s return to adult drama “The Foreigner” and Liam Neeson in the self explanatory “Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
