I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including Brad Pitt in “Bullet Train,” the true-to-life drama “Thirteen Lives” and “Prey,” the latest in the Predator franchise.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join NewsTalk 1010 host David Cooper on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “Showgram” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about Brad Pitt in “Bullet Train,” the true-to-life drama “Thirteen Lives” and “Prey,” the latest in the Predator franchise.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
The story begins as we get to know the Wild Boars, hours before their group decision to take a detour to explore a cave before heading off to a teammate’s birthday. Alarm bells are triggered when only one boy shows up to the party. It’s soon discovered the team is trapped deep inside a treacherous network of caves. As early monsoon rains approach it becomes a race against time to rescue the stranded soccer players before the caves fill with water.
When a rescue attempt by the Royal Thai Navy SEALs fails, local cave diver Vernon Unsworth (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) appeals to English splunkers, John Volanthen (Colin Farrell) and Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen), for help. After an arduous dive of more than seven hours, they find the boys alive, but how do they get them out through the winding maze of quickly flooding caves?
As water engineer Thanet Natisri (Nophand Boonyai) devises ways of diverting the water from the caves, anesthetist Dr. Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton) and cavers Chris Jewell (Tom Bateman) and Jason Mallinson (Paul Gleeson) who develop an audacious plan to administer a sedative to the boys, ensuring they did not panic during the watery, claustrophobic swim to safety.
“Thirteen Lives” is first and foremost a tribute to the courage of, not only the rescuers, but also of the people trapped in their subterranean prison. In the showdown of man vs. nature, it took bravery and brains to succeed, not just brawn. Howard takes his time, carefully doling out the details of the rescue plan, creating great tension in a story with a well-known ending. But knowing the outcome doesn’t take away from the effectiveness of the tale. The drama here is in the details, the careful planning and its bold execution.
Howard emphasizes action over character in many of the scenes, never allowing Harris, Jewell or Mallinson to overtly hero-it-up and pull focus from the mission at hand. The low-key performances dodge the white savior aspect of the story, while emphasizing the key factors of communication, camaraderie and cooperation between the rescuers. It may be slightly hokey, but when the actual cave diving begins—the narrow caves are almost impossibly tight and very claustrophobic—the all-business approach gives way to a kind of wonder as Howard terrifyingly recreates the cramped retrievals.
“Thirteen Lives” does away with many of the tropes of a big rescue movie. Big speeches and back slapping are kept to a minimum. Instead, the life-and-death stakes speak for themselves.
Richard speaks to “CTV News at Six” anchor Andria Case about the best movies and television to watch this weekend including the action adventure of “Jungle Cruise” (theatres and Disney+ with premium access), “The Green Knight’s” (in theatres) journey of self discovery and the documentary “For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close” (VOD) about the most famous funny person you’ve never heard of.
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:41)
Richard joins CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including the family friendly “Jungle Cruise,” the surreal journey of self discovery “The Green Knight,” the heartwarming comedy of “The Exchange” and the comedy documentary “For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard and CTV NewsChannel morning show host Angie Seth chat up the weekend’s big releases including the action-adventure of “Jungle Cruise,” the surreal journey of self discovery “The Green Knight,” the heartwarming comedy of “The Exchange” and the comedy documentary “For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with guest host Andrew Pinsent to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including the action-adventure of “Jungle Cruise,” the surreal journey of self discovery “The Green Knight,” the heartwarming comedy of “The Exchange” and the comedy documentary “For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins NewsTalk 1010’s Jim Richards 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 action-adventure of “Jungle Cruise,” the surreal journey of self discovery “The Green Knight” and the heartwarming comedy of “The Exchange.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“The Green Knight,” a new medieval fantasy film now playing in theatres, reaches back to Arthurian legend and a fourteenth century poem for its hero’s journey.
Based on the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” the movie stars Dev Patel as King Arthur’s nephew and Knight of the Round Table, Sir Gawain. The young man is headstrong and rash but, despite his bravado, he says, “I fear I am not meant for greatness.”
The young knight sees a chance to prove his mettle when the Green Knight (Ralph Ineson), a larger-than-life, green skinned “tester of men,” throws down a challenge to King Arthur. “O greatest of kings, let one of your knights try and land a blow against me,” he says. “Indulge me in this game.”
Gawain impulsively accepts, charging at the stranger, removing his head with one blow.
But the challenge isn’t over.
Picking his own head up off the floor, the Green Knight mocks Gawain, commanding him to meet again in one year’s time at a cursed place, the Green Chapel, to finish their duel. As the headless adversary gallops off, Gawain’s quest to test his prowess begins. The journey to the Green Chapel is a dangerous adventure, fraught with supernatural forces, betrayal and challengers who will test the strength of his character.
“What do you hope to gain from all of this?” he is asked. “Honour,” Gawain replies. “That is why a knight does what he does.”
Calling “The Green Knight” an adventure implies that it is also exciting. It has all the earmarks of an old school “Lord of the Rings” style adventure story—there are trippy giants, a talking fox, a headless woman and more—but exciting it is not.
Director David Lowery has made a cerebral movie about finding one’s true path in life through trials and temptations. His retelling of the classic poem is dense, deliberate and often beautiful. But just as often it is willfully obtuse as it gets lost in the surreal deconstruction of Gawain’s journey. As a result, the film is oft times more interesting than actually entertaining.
Near the end of the film Gawain asks, “Is this all there is?” Oddly enough, life imitated art in that moment as I found myself wondering the same thing.
