Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine,” the documentary “Lorne” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 12:11)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Scott Hirsch to talk about the recently announced “Top Gun 3” and new releases in theatres, including the dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine,” the documentary “Lorne” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
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 dark comedy “The Christophers,” the east coast crime drama “Little Lorraine” and the Montreal coming-of-age “Mile End Kicks.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Mile End Kicks,” a new coming of age rom com now playing in theatres, Barbie Ferreira plays a music critic who moves to Montreal in search of inspiration to write a new book but finds much more than she bargained for.
CAST: Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons, Juliette Gariépy, Jay Baruchel, Robert Naylor, Emily Lê. Directed by Chandler Levack.
REVIEW: If “Almost Famous” was an indie-flavored rom com it might look something like “Mile End Kicks,” the newest film from “I Like Movies” director Chandler Lavack.
Barbie Ferreira is 22-year-old Grace, a Toronto music critic who moves to Montreal for inspiration as she works on her latest project, a 33 1/3 book about Alanis Morissette’s album “Jagged Little Pill.”
Working on the book takes a backseat to her interest in Quebec’s indie rock scene. Specifically, she’s interested in Bone Patrol, a quirky band fronted by the charismatic but insufferable Chevy (Stanley Simons). “Charles Manson’s solo material is a big influence on me,” he says.
Also in the band is the socially awkward Archie (Devon Bostick), a sweet-natured but celibate guitarist who has a crush on the self-involved Grace despite her attraction to the flashier Chevy.
Over the summer Grace navigates the chaos of love vs. lust and young adulthood all set to a banging soundtrack with new songs courtesy of the Montreal band TOPS and needle drops from Joanna Newsom, Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne.
“Mile End Kicks” is a romantic coming-of-age story that captures the messiness of the realities of growing up.
Ferreira, best known for her role as Kat Hernandez in the HBO series “Euphoria,” brings humor, charm and relatability to Grace, even when she’s being driven to selfishness by her own insecurities. It’s a career best performance that does something very difficult. It takes a character to the edge of unlikability but never allows her to topple over the edge.
Bostick also stands out, finding the sweet spot between charm and dorkiness. He’s the only character here you’ll root for, and, as the only character who treats Grace with respect, he’s a perfect foil for Simons’s narcissism.
“Mile End Kicks,” with nicely observed details of its characters and the scene they inhabit—like club goers snorting cocaine off a toilet seat in the club—is as funky and cool as the famous Montreal neighborhood that serves as its backdrop.
On this special episode of “Maple Syrup For Your Eyes” I have an in-depth look at the movie “Blackberry,” the lessons learned from the film, about what it means to be Canadian, why we don’t celebrate our own stories and much more with the film’s stars Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson (who also co-wrote and directed).
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
On the Saturday May 4 edition of the Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet novelist and writing coach Heidi Reimer. Her front-row seat to the theater world of her debut novel, “The Mother Act,” began two decades ago when she met and married an actor, and her immersion in motherhood began when she adopted a toddler and discovered she was pregnant on the same day.
Then, we’ll meet photographer-turned-film director, Caitlin Cronenberg. Her new movie “Humane” stars Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire and Enrico Colantoni is a wild story about a family dinner that erupts into chaos when a father’s plan to enlist in the government’s new euthanasia program goes sideways.
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!
All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across Canada via live stream on iHeartRadio.caand the iHeartRadio Canada app. iHeartRadio Canada stations are also connected through Alexa, Siri, and Google Home smart speakers.
Listen to the show live here:
C-FAX 1070 in Victoria
SAT 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
SUN 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
CJAD in Montreal
SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM
CFRA in Ottawa
SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM
NEWSTALK 610 CKTB in St. Catharines
Sat 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
NEWSTALK 1010 in Toronto
SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM
NEWSTALK 1290 CJBK
SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM
AM 1150 in Kelowna
SAT 11 PM to Midnight
BNN BLOOMBERG RADIO 1410
SAT 8 PM to 9:00 PM
“Humane,” the debut film from director Caitlin Cronenberg, and now playing in theatres, places a violent family drama against the backdrop of a global ecological collapse.
Set in the near future, the movie takes place as a climate change has reached a critical point. Crops are failing around the world, and food is so scarce that world governments have ordered a voluntary 20% cull in the overall population to reduce the strain on the planet.
“We are engaged in a life and death struggle against our own extinction,” says Professor Jared York (Jay Baruchel).
Into this situation comes the rest of the wealthy York family, led by patriarch Charles (Peter Gallagher). A retired newscaster, Charles has had a good run and, to the surprise of his family, has signed up, along with wife Dawn (Uni Park) for the euthanasia program.
Despite his big talk on television news shows, Professor York doesn’t think the rules apply to his wealthy, well-known family, which includes piano playing adopted brother Noah (Sebastian Chacon), edgy sister Rachel (Emily Hampshire), Ashley (Alanna Bale) and the youngest, Mia (Sirena Gulamgaus).
The family’s resolve is put to the test when cheery government exterminator Bob (Enrico Colantoni) arrives to euthanatize and collect two bodies. Trouble is, Dawn has taken off.
“I can’t do it,” she says in a note. “I will always love you.”
One body short of his quota, Bob announces, “I need a second cadaver. We’re here to collect two bodies. We’ve got three hours before my next appointment.”
His offer to give the family time to decide which of them should sacrifice themselves for the betterment of the world, sends the siblings into a chaotic fight to stay alive.
“Think about your lives,” Bob says. “I’m sure one of you will realize it’s not all that great.”
Using dark humor to expose the selfishness and cruelty of human nature, “Humane’s” social farce cuts like a knife. As the action escalates, dirty secrets are revealed and the soft underbelly of the family exposed as each member makes a case for survival. It’s a dystopian “August: Osage County” with hints of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Step Brothers.” Cronenberg keeps the action contained to one day, mostly in one house, decisions that bring a sense of ticking-clock urgency and claustrophobia to the proceedings.
The tone vacillates between life-and-death and oddly chipper—thanks to Colantoni’s sprightly executioner Bob—but its far-fetched situation is taken as seriously as a heart attack, which amps up the dark, deadpan humor.
That none of the characters are particularly likable, save for Bob, turns the tables. Bob may be the bringer of doom, and an enthusiastic one, but the villains here are the family and Hampshire and Baruchel, who previously appeared together in “The Trotsky” and “Good Neighbors,” revel in their 1% smarminess.
“Humane” makes good use of Trooper’s fatalistic hit “We’re Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time)” and wisely never allows the focus to wander away from the family satire.
It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when we were not tethered to our smart phones. A new film, “BlackBerry,” starring Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson, and now playing in theatres, vividly recreates the scrappy story of friendship, betrayal and hubris that began our obsession with our phones.
Baruchel and Johnson play Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, founders of small tech company Research in Motion. When we first meet them it’s 1996 and they are about to pitch a new kind of pager to hotheaded executive Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton). He’s the kind of Art of War-style boss who snaps at an assistant who reaches for a bottle of water. “Thirst is a display of weakness.”
Too busy trying to backstab his way to the top of the corporate ladder to give the tech nerds his attention, he dismisses the awkward pitch before they even get to the end. But when his latest grab at a promotion gets him fired from his cushy corporate job, he reaches out to RIM with an offer.
Under his aggressive leadership, coupled with Lazaridis’s uncompromising search for perfection and Fregin’s clever engineering and heart, the Waterloo, Ontario storefront start-up soon debuts “the world’s largest pager.” Or is it “the world’s smallest email terminal?” Either way, it is a handheld game changer that combines a phone with the capabilities of a computer.
The odd little phone, with a QWERTY keyboard, encrypted messaging and low data cost, becomes a status symbol, used by some of the world’ most powerful people. In the hands of everyone from President Barack Obama and Justin Timberlake to Katy Perry and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, the phones helped the world communicate in a whole new way.
The halcyon days of BlackBerry lasted a few years until shady business dealings, ambition and lack of vision relegated RIM’s products to the scrap heap; the “phone people had before they bought an iPhone.”
“BlackBerry” isn’t just a business story or the story of innovation. Instead, it is an underdog tale that emphasizes the human foibles that led to RIM’s downfall, not just the financial ones.
Baruchel and Howerton, as the characters who provide the story’s yin and yang, hand in strong performances.
Baruchel, topped with a shock of white hair, goes deep to play Lazaridis as a socially awkward man with a rich inner life, a perfectionist who can’t help himself from fixing a buzz on the office intercom in Balsillie’s office on the day of their big pitch.
As Balsillie, Howerton is all bluster, a thin-skinned man who covers his weaknesses with a thick veneer of bellicosity. From attempting to buy a hockey team after a rival slights the game to his wanton manipulation of RIM to suit his own ambitions, he is simultaneously the best and worst thing that ever happened to Lazaridis and Fregin.
As director and writer (as well as co-star), Johnson concentrates on the human side of the story, amping up the anxiety with a terrific sense of pacing and claustrophobic close-ups of his cast as their lives and business unwind.
“BlackBerry” is an interesting slice of recent history, made all the more interesting by the study of hubris that makes this tech story so human.
