Posts Tagged ‘Elbert van Strien’

NEWSTALK 1010: BOOZE AND REVIEWS WITH RICHARD CROUSE ON THE RUSH!

Richard joins hosts Jay Michaels and Jim Richards of the NewsTalk 1010 afternoon show The Rush for Booze and Reviews! Today we share personal stories about the life of Meat Loaf. Then, it’s the story of the cocktail Jack Rose and how a sordid story of corruption torpedoed its popularity, and no, it has nothing to do with “Titanic.” Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we play “Does Richard Crouse Like These Movies?” and review the new Ethan Hawke thriller “Zeros and Ones,” the psychological drama “Marionette” and the return of Ray Donovan in “Ray Donovan: The Movie.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

 

 

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

Watch Richard Crouse review three movies in less time than it takes to do a handstand! Have a look as he races against the clock to tell you about the new Ethan Hawke thriller “Zeros and Ones,” the psychological drama “Marionette” and “Ray Donovan: The Movie.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY JANUARY 21, 2022.

Richard joins CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including new Ethan Hawke thriller “Zeros and Ones,” the psychological drama “Marionette,” the return of ray Donovan in “Ray Donovan: The Movie” and the Shudder Canada’s “The Last Thing Mary Saw.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL REVIEWS FOR JAN. 21 WITH JENNIFER BURKE.

Richard joins CTV NewsChannel and anchor Jennifer Burke to have a look at new movies coming to VOD and streaming services, including the new Ethan Hawke thriller “Zeros and Ones,” the psychological drama “Marionette” and “Ray Donovan: The Movie.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!

Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including the new Ethan Hawke thriller “Zeros and Ones,” the psychological drama “Marionette” and “Ray Donovan: The Movie.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

THE SHOWGRAM WITH DAVID COOPER: DOES RICHARD CROUSE LIKE THESE MOVIES?

Richard joins NewsTalk 1010 host David Cooper on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “Showgram” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse like these movies?” This week we talk about the Ethan Hawke arthouse thriller “Zeros and Ones,” the psychological thriller “Marionette” and the return of Ray in “Ray Donovan: The Movie.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

MARIONETTE: 3 ½ STARS. “an enjoyable Hitchcockian story.”

“Marionette,” a new psychological thriller, now on VOD, begins with a shocking scene of self-immolation that sets the scene for the psychological fireworks to come.

The story circles around a child psychiatrist Dr. Marianne Turner (Thekla Reuten) who relocates to Scotland from America for a new job. Why did she move to Scotland? “I like rain,” she says.

She replaces Dr. McVittie, who left after psychiatric issues prevented him from properly treating his patients. One of those patients, 10-year-old Manny (Elijah Wolf) is a curly-haired boy with a faraway look who expresses himself through his drawings. “He’s a mystery,” Turner says. “My impression is that his world view is some sort of defence system, a fortress.”

Turns out, Turner is the only doctor Manny has ever spoken to. Usually, he communicates solely through his pictures, drawings of violence and disaster. As Dr. Turner settles into her new job, she makes friends with Kieran (Emun Elliott) at a book club where they discuss the mind-bending thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat among other high-minded ideas. “We all need to see a psychiatrist if we think this is a good way of passing the evening,” Dr. Turner jokes at the end of a club meeting.

Soon, strange things start happening. Mysterious phone calls suggest, “You have to kill him before he kills you,” as Manny continues to draw unsettling images. Dr. Turner soon makes a connection between Manny’s drawings and real-life events. “You draw a lot of accidents and disasters, don’t you Manny?” she says. “What are you thinking of when you draw them?”

Leaving science and the metaphysical cat behind, she looks to the paranormal to determine whether Manny is predicting the calamitous events or causing them. “What’s in there,” she asks, pointing to a large portfolio of his pictures. “The future,” he says.

“Marionette” is a gloomy psychological drama that effectively creates an atmosphere of tension throughout. Co-writer and director Elbert van Strien weaves ambitious ideas into the story, elevating a pulpy story to something approaching gothic proportions.

Dr. Turner arrives in Scotland with the baggage of a dead husband she left behind in the States, and her grief informs the story and her reactions to the situations she finds herself in. Dutch actress Reuten—her uneven accent is explained away with a quick, “Oh, I’m not American. I just lived there for a long time.”—brings the complicated doctor to life in a performance that is equal parts anguish, intellectual curiosity, paranoia and empathy. Her quest for the disturbing truth takes her to some uncomfortable places, but Reuten keeps us interested.

Reuten may provide the heart of “Marionette,” but it is Wolf who brings the creepy kid vibe that is the movie’s engine. With a relatively small amount of screen time, he makes a startling impression with his mannered speech and wide eyes.

“Marionette” spends a bit too much time on its philosophical underpinnings. It asks big questions like, Do we have free will or are we simply marionettes dangling on the end of a string operated by something or someone we don’t understand? without truly exploring them. Also, a bit of knowledge on Schrödinger’s cat might give you a leg up. Or not, depending on how deeply you become invested in the story. Either way , these aspect of the storytelling hammer their points home with a sledgehammer when a tap would have sufficed.

A late movie twist subverts some of what came before, but before it disappears down its philosophical rabbit hole, “Marionette” is an enjoyable Hitchcockian story.