Richard and CP24 anchor Cristina Tenaglia have a look at the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including the oddball comedy “Kajillionaire” starring Richard Jenkins and Evan Rachel Wood, the poignant Brticom “Misbehaviour” with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keira Knightley and Jessie Buckley and the second Richard Jenkins movie of the week, “The Last Shift.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CTV NewsChannel with host Marcia MacMillan to have a look at “Kajillionaire” starring Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger, Gina Rodriguez and Evan Rachel Wood now in theatres.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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 oddball comedy “Kajillionaire” starring Richard Jenkins and Evan Rachel Wood, the poignant Brticom “Misbehaviour” with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keira Knightley and Jessie Buckley and the second Richard Jenkins movie of the week, “The Last Shift.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Kajillionaire,” a poignant comedy from director Miranda July and now playing in theatres, is an absurdist tale of survival and control.
The Dynes, Robert (Richard Jenkins), Theresa (Debra Winger) and daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), are a crime family struggling to survive. They live in a low-rent abandoned office next to a bubble factory, where pink bubbles overflow through the vents into their space. Clip artists, they eke out a living by pulling low level scams that are often more work than they’re worth. Even their daughter’s name is part of a con job. They named her after a homeless man who won the lottery in the long shot hope that he would notice and write her into his will.
When Old Dolio wins a trip to New York they concoct a luggage and travel insurance swindle that could finally put them in the bigtime… or at least allow them to pay their back rent and avoid eviction.
Like all their stings, things don’t go as planned but they do meet Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), an outgoing young woman with the makings of a good grifter. Despite Old Dolio’s misgivings about bringing an outsider into their tightly knit group, the Dynes and Melanie set about to separate easy marks from their money.
What begins as an unconventional crime story soon turns into Old Dolio’s story of self-discovery as she comes to realize that her upbringing has left her unprepared for the world outside the petty criminality that has been her life.
Jenkins, Winger and Rodriguez bring something unique to each of their characters. Jenkins and Winger exude desperation as the rumpled, bumbling small timers, while Rodriguez is all charm and warmth as their protégée but it is Wood who steals the show.
Wood transforms completely to play Old Dolio. With waist-length straw hair obscuring her face she drops her voice an octave or two and adopts the physicality of someone who learned how to walk from reading books. It’s a wonderfully nuanced comedic character but there’s more to her than awkward behaviour and a silly name. Wood keeps Old Dolio’s emotions under wraps for much of the film, but there’s an apparent inner life that becomes more and more apparent as she begins to wake up and make a connection with someone whose last name isn’t Dyne for the first time in her life.
Intentionally stilted and oddball, Wood makes Old Dolio the beating heart of “Kajillionaire,” a story that derives its emotional stability from a character whose parents were never emotional or stable with her.
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nathan Downer to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including the animated Yeti tale “Smallfoot” and the GED comedy “Night School” starring Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at “Smallfoot’s” messages of togetherness, the pioneering life story of a famous French writer “Colette” and “My Generation,” Michael Caine’s look back at the Swingin’ Sixties.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard has a look at “Night School’s” report card, the animated Yeti’s of “Smallfoot” and “Colette’s” coming-of-age with the CFRA Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Smallfoot,” a new animated film starring the voices of Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common and LeBron James, does a flip flop on the regular Bigfoot legend. Instead of humans wondering if Sasquatches are real, in this musical fantasy it’s the ape-like Yetis who doubt the existence of humans.
Migos, voiced by Tatum, a giant white-haired Sasquatch lives, in with his clan in the Himalayas, high above the clouds. He, like all the Yetis—they look like distant cousins to Rankin & Bass’s Abominable Snowmonster of the North—believe they fell from the butt of the great sky bison, that they live on a giant ice island supported by mammoths and that a glowing sky snail illuminates their world. Their laws are literally written in stone and kept by tribal leader the Stonekeeper (Common). What they don’t believe in are humans. “Everyone knows the Smallfoot isn’t real.”
One day, while training for his new job of gongmaster—the Yeti who wakes the village every morning—he overshoots the gong and tumbles into the snowy distance where he sees—or at least thinks he sees—a Smallfoot. Excited, he rushes back to his village with the news. He is met with equal parts wonder and anger. “If Migos is saying he saw a Smallfoot,” they say, “he is saying the stone is wrong.” His heresy gets him banished but soon he connects with a secret group, the S.E.S. (Smallfoot Evidentiary Society) run by the Stonekeeper’s daughter Meechee (Zendaya). A small collection of artefacts—like a tiny toilet paper rolls they think is a “scroll of invisible wisdom”—has convinced them of the existence of humans. Together they challenge their belief system to find the truth about Smallfoot. “It’s not about tearing down old ideas,” says Meechee, “it’s about finding new ones.”
Meanwhile in a nearby mountain town a wildlife television show host Percy Patterson (Corden) sees the Yetis as a way to improve his sagging ratings. It would be the scoop of a lifetime but at what price?
“Smallfoot” feels stretched to feature length. The animation is solid, there are jokes to make young and old laugh and Migos even revives a few of Tatum’s “Magic Mike” moves. The trouble lies in the music. It feels wedged in. This isn’t a musical by any stretch but its littered with generic pop songs—and one truly nightmare inducing version of “Under Pressure”—that are nicely realized but add little to the overall experience except for a few minutes of running time.
Better are the ideas. Wedged in between the singing and slapstick are good messages about communication and authenticity—“The truth is complicated and scary,” says Meechee, “but it is better than living a lie.”—and questioning authority. “Questions lead to knowledge,” says Gwangi (LeBron James), “and knowledge is power.” It’s about acceptance, about celebrating our differences and co-existence. In troubled, divided times these are powerful messages even when delivered by a giant Yeti.
“Smallfoot” is a big splashy movie stuffed with important ideas. Unfortunately propping those ideas up is only about an hour’s worth of story padded with songs and silliness to an hour and forty minutes.
Richard sits in on the CJAD Montreal morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk about the animated Yeti’s of “Smallfoot,” “Colette’s” coming-of-age and the reminiscences of Michael Caine in “My Generation.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
