I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the weekend’s best shows, including the Paul Rudd movie “Power Ballad” and the new Samara Weaving crime drama “Carolina Caroline.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Michelle Dube to talk about new movies in theatres including the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 13:05)
I join CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis to talk about the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 29:53)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
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 wazzzzup with the new “Scary Movie,” the live-action cartoon “Masters of the Universe” and the tuneful “Power Ballad.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Power Ballad,” a new feel-good dramedy starring Paul Rudd now playing on theatres, a pop star, desperate for a hit, steals a song from a washed-up wedding singer.
CAST: Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Havana Rose Liu, Jack Reynor. Directed by John Carney.
REVIEW: Filmmaker John Carney infuses “Power Ballad” with his trademark emotional authenticity. The director of “Once,” “Begin Again” and “Sing Street,” uses music as a vehicle to tell a story of ambition and personal transformation.
Paul Rudd is Rick Power, an American musician who fell in love with an Irish woman while on tour. He relocated to Dublin, married and raised a daughter, leaving his dream of playing Madison Square Garden on the back burner. He pays the bills in a wedding band called The Bride & Groove, playing covers songs that provide a paycheque but no artistic satisfaction.
At a gig at an old Irish castle Rick meets Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) when the former boy-band star jumps up on stage to sing a spirited version of the Stevie Wonder standard “I Wish.” Later, over beers and a bottle of scotch, the two jam, building a tune around one of Rick’s old songs called “How to Write a Song (Without You).”
“I’ve been toying with this one for years,” Rick says. “You have to record that. That’s my song.”
Six months later, while walking through a mall, Rick hears the song again, this time as a fully finished track pouring out of a store speaker. “That’s my chorus and verse. I wrote that song.” As the tune rises on the charts, Rick fights for recognition.
Paul Rudd leaves the broad humor of “Anchorman” behind to blend humor and heart à la his work in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” or “I Love You, Man.” The script, co-written by John Carney and Peter McDonald, is gently humorous, milking laughs out of the situations rather than from outright jokes. There are laughs but they are touched by anguish, allowing Rudd to exercise his dramatic chops.
The showdown between Rick and pop star Danny, nicely portrayed by real life musician Nick Jonas, is a little too slapticky to provide a real emotional crescendo to the story but what that scene lacks in authenticity, the movie makes up for in a crowd pleasing, more personal, final act.
Carney uses music as the basis of “Power Ballad,” but it works best when it puts down the guitar and focusses on Rick’s personal tale and not just his chase for recognition.
On the October 6, 2023 edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet actor Peter Facinelli. You know him from roles on TV shows such like Six Feet Under, Damages and Nurse Jackie but he’ll likely always be best known as Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the wildly popular Twilight franchise. Today we talk about his new film On Fire, the story of a family who lives in a trailer home in the woods who are suddenly confronted by a wildfire.
Then we’ll meet John Carney, the Irish musician and director of Flora and Son, a new Apple TV+. comedy about a mom, played by the fabulous Eve Hewson, who tries to connect with her rebellious son with music. The director of the Academy Award winning film “Once” tells me about his music saved his life and why he didn’t include my favorite Dublin pub in the film.
We’ll also meet Michael Crummey, an award-winning poet and novelist from Newfoundland and Labrador. The Toronto Star called his latest novel, The Adversary, a story about two rivals who represent the largest fishing operations on Newfoundland’s northern outpost, a masterpiece. We’ll talk about the novel and how it begins with one of the best opening lines I’ve read in recent memory.
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 musical dramedy “Flora and Son,” now streaming on Apple TV+, is a tribute to the power of music as an emotional salve, and hits all the right chords with a breakout performance from Eve Hewson as a single mom trying to connect with her rebellious son.
Hewson is the title character, a party girl and parttime nanny, raising her rebellious 14-year-old son Max (Orén Kinlan) in a tiny Dublin apartment. Their relationship is so fraught, she wonders aloud what it would be like if he wasn’t around.
After forgetting his birthday, she plucks an abandoned acoustic guitar from a dumpster, has it repaired and gifts it to him. “Don’t want to play,” he says dismissively. “Since when am I a guitarist?”
Instead of returning the guitar to the dumpster, Flora decides to take on-line lessons and learn the instrument. She comes across Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a charming 1970s singer-songwriter throwback, who teaches from his sun dappled studio in Los Angeles.
“What are you hoping to get out of this?” he asks.
“I thought this guitar might make my son think I’m cool,” she replies.
As Flora studies the guitar, Max is in the small flat’s other room creating rap beats on his laptop.
“How did you make that?” Flora asks. “That sounded epic.”
They’re coming from different corners of the room—she’s Joni Mitchell to Max’s Dr. Dre—but music just might be their middle ground.
“Flora and Son” is a small movie with a big performance that provides its beating heart. As Flora, Hewson is tender and terrible, delightful and disagreeable. She’s made mistakes, and has a hard shell, but in Hewson’s capable hands, her innate goodness shines through. It is, simply put, a star-making performance, chock full of soul.
Gordon-Levitt, Kinlan and Jack Reynor, as Flora’s ex, complete the picture with strong performances, each representing a piece of the puzzle that is Flora’s life.
At its core, “Flora and Son” is a love story, but it’s not a rom com. This is about the love of family, music and self and is a rousing crowd-pleaser that breathes the same air as director John Carney’s other films, “Sing Street” and “Once.”
Was thoroughly charmed by “Flora and Son” (coming soon to Apple TV+) and its Dubliner director John Carney. We talked about the healing power of music and his star Eve Hewson. Full interview coning soon!
Watch the interview soundbite HERE!
