I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the Canadian sports comedy “Racewalkers” and the heightened comedy “Gail Daughtery and the Celebrity Sex Pass.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:47)
Had an absolute blast hosting the #Racewalkers opening night and doing a Q&A with the cast at the Scotiabank Theatre. The movie is really fun (read my review here: https://richardcrouse.ca/racewalkers-3-%c2%bd-stars-finds-emotional-depth-and-humor-by-not-punching-down/)! Go see it this weekend, you’ll feel better on the way out of the theatre than you did on the way in. Thanks to @Route504PR, producer Evan Landry, co-writers/co-directors/co-stars Kevin Claydon and Phil Moniz, producer/star @RobbieAmell, and stars Greg Bryk, Jess Salgueiro and Rebekah Francoz for letting me lead the conversation! Thanks to @shawngoldbergphotos for the pictures!
Here’s some info on the film: A Canadian sports comedy directed by and starring Kevin Claydon and Phil Moniz. The underdog story follows a struggling racewalking coach and a washed-up pro baseball player who team up to qualify for the Olympics, facing off against an ultracompetitive, villainous father-son racing duo. Often compared to “Cool Runnings” and “Happy Gilmore” for its mix of humor and heart.
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the live-action “Moana,” the sport comedy “Racewalkers” and the wacky “Wizard of Oz” homage “Gail Daughtery and the Celebrity Sex Pass.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the live-action “Moana,” the sport comedy “Racewalkers” and the wacky “Wizard of Oz” homage “Gail Daughtery and the Celebrity Sex Pass.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to drink a Mai Tai. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the live-action “Moana,” the sport comedy “Racewalkers” and the wacky “Wizard of Oz” homage “Gail Daughtery and the Celebrity Sex Pass.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Racewalkers” a new underdog sports comedy now playing in theatres, an aspiring track and field coach and a washed-up baseball player team up to compete in the competitive world of race walking.
CAST: Kevin Claydon, Phil Moniz, Robbie Amell, Greg Bryk. Directed by Kevin Claydon and Phil Moniz.
REVIEW: “Racewalkers” walks the walk, molding a handful of sports cliches into a crowd-pleaser about perseverance and redemption, with equal parts slapstick and sincerity.
The story begins with Matt Mackenzie (Kevin Claydon, who also co-wrote the script), a washed-up former pro baseball player, now living in a van as he umpires little league games and pines for his ex-wife.
Meanwhile, physiologist and racewalking fan Will Lester (Phil Moniz, who co-wrote and co-directed) is stymied in his attempts to become a coach, kept out of the club by his hypercompetitive uncle Kurt Lester (Greg Bryk), whose son Ched (Robbie Amell) is an Olympic hopeful in the sport.
When Will meets Matt he immediately sees promise in the former ball player’s natural heel-to-toe gait. Race walking is not quite jogging or running; it’s a specific discipline that requires clenched butt cheeks and a distinctive rolling hip motion that creates a wiggle that propels the walker forward. “Looks like he’s coked out at a salsa bar,” says Ava (Italia Ricci).
With some training, he could give Chad a run for Olympic glory. “Racewalking is not walking, it’s a dance,” Will tells Matt.
But before they make it to the big leagues, they must work through Matt’s shattered confidence and Kurt’s dirty tricks.
Like all good sports movies “Racewalkers” isn’t just about the sport, although there is a fair amount of it on display. Instead, it’s about perseverance, passion, friendship and finding purpose. That it makes you laugh during its snappy 80-minute runtime is a bonus.
Kevin Claydon and Phil Moniz provide the film’s heart, bringing easy chemistry and razor-sharp comic timing to their roles. They bring the funny, but there’s also a great deal of warmth between them that gives the movie a great deal of charm.
“Racewalkers” could have been an over-the-top movie about a sport that, by its hip-swiveling nature, lends itself to parody, but instead it finds emotional depth by not punching down.
“Trigger Point,” a new action movie starring Barry Pepper and now on VOD, is stylish looking and features good actors but suffers from a bad case of been there, done that.
Pepper is Lewis, a retiree leading a quiet life in a quiet upstate New York town. His days are spent at the local diner, flirting with waitress Janice (Nazneen Contractor) and sipping tea at the quaint local book store.
His home life, however, isn’t so quaint. His cabin-in-the-woods is a veritable fortress, complete with high tech surveillance gear and drone security.
Turns out Lewis is actually Nicolas Shaw, a former superspy for a shady operation called The Agency. In hiding after his actions resulted in the assassinations of his entire team, he’s brought back into the dangerous world of international intrigue by his former handler Elias Kane (Colm Feore).
Kane’s daughter Monica (Eve Harlow) has been kidnapped by the shadowy figure who may have been responsible for the methodical murder of Shaw’s team.
So, just when he thought he was out, Shaw is dragged back to the underworld to rescue Monica and search down the man responsible for his professional and personal undoing.
“Trigger Point” director Brad Turner has a long and varied list of television credits, including episodes of “MacGyver,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Hawaii Five-O.” He knows how to shoot action and where to put the camera so the movie looks good when the bullets are flying.
He’s also good at casting interesting looking, solemn-faced actors like Pepper, Feore and Carlo Rota, all of whom have tread this territory before.
It’s in the storytelling that things go south. Weighed down by tough guy banalities, there is very little in “Trigger Point” that we haven’t seen before and done better. The actors breathe whatever life they can into this collection of clichés but no amount of grim determination can elevate this above the level of a forgettable direct to video time waster.
“Parallel Minds,” now on VOD, is a mystical murder mystery with a high-tech twist.
Set in the near future, the action begins during an important presentation for Red Eye, a new device capable of accessing memories. “A contact lens,” announces inventor Conrad Stallman (Neil Napier) at the product launch, “that records not what the eye can see but hat the mind can remember.
“We are made up of our experiences and the memories of those experiences. Now, your memories are no longer a thing of the past. Be where you remember being. See old friends, family.”
Stallman’s sales pitch is compelling but backstage there are problems. “It’s not ready,” says Red Eye’s head programmer Elise Perrott (Michelle Thrush) as she scurries away, returning to her lab. There she gives her best friend, Metis researcher Margo Elson (Tommie-Amber Pirie), the secret password for her work computer. “Consider yourself my back up plan,” she says ominously.
The next morning, after a tormented sleep, Margo awakens to the news that Elise has been found dead in her lad of an apparent suicide.
Investigating the case is Thomas Elliot (Greg Bryk), a troubled police officer who, when asked if he is the detective on the case, snarls, “Till someone tells me otherwise.” He’s a tough guy (who drinks expired milk) with a habit doing things like inexplicably kicking open the already open door to Elise’s apartment. “You know you could have just asked me for the key to the door,” says Margot, arriving a second later. Or perhaps he could have just used the doorknob, but either way, he’s a walking cliché. The two agree to work together, he’ll do the police work, she’ll help him navigate the high-tech aspects of Elise’s work.
Secrets abound and there’s suspicion and skullduggery around every corner. The brand-new technology has a serious glitch, a shady multi-national security company is hiding something and Thomas has more baggage than the cargo hold of a 747. But there’s more. A hacker named Jade Drayton (Madison Walsh) hints at something huge. “You’ve wandered into a war no one knows is being waged. A war of conscience and knowledge.”
A return to Margo’s childhood home, the scene of trauma, forces her to confront old memories that may hold the key to solving the mystery of Elise’s death.
Benjamin Ross Hayden, the Métis director, writer, producer and actor from Calgary, weaves together a story that embraces new and old. Margo is a scientist but it is her connection to and belief in Indigenous traditions that gives her the inner strength to get to the bottom of the mystery of “Parallel Minds.”
Cliched and melodramatic dialogue mars the film, which is a shame because the female characters have great promise. Margo, Jade and Elise are interesting people and the engines that keep “Parallel Minds” moving forward.
“Parallel Minds” shows promise. There are many cool ideas here but they are hampered by a modest budget unable to realize the set pieces Hayden offers up. There’s stylish photography and some good location work but the film’s ambition outstrips its execution.
