Richard sits in on the CFRA Montreal morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the seventeen-years-in-the-making sequel “Bad Boys for Life,” the reboot of a remake “Dolittle” and France’s entry for Best International Picture at the Oscars “Les Misérables.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
A weekly feature from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest and most interesting movies! This week Richard looks at the the reunion of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in “Bad Boys for Life,” the talking animals of “Dolittle” and France’s entry into the Academy Awards “Les Misérables.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Another franchise, another eccentric genius. Robert Downey Jr. laves Tony Stark behind to return to the big screen in a reboot of a remake of a classic story of a man who could talk to animals.
When we first meet Dr. John Dolittle (Downey) he’s at the Howard Hughes recluse stage of his life. The passing of his wife has left him despondent, unable to enjoy the company of humans so he lives in seclusion with only a menagerie of animals for company.
To pass the time he plays chess with a timid gorilla named Chee-Chee (voice of Rami Malek) and in conversation with the various animals who crowd his home, including his trusted macaw advisor Polynesia (voice of Emma Thompson) and Jip (voice of Tom Holland), a bespectacled dog.
“I don’t care about anyone, anywhere, anymore,” the doctor says.
Of course, that’s not true. When animal lover Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) shows up at Dolittle’s gate with an injured squirrel (voice of Craig Robinson)—“I’m too beautiful to die,” the squirrel says.—on the same day the doctor is summoned to Buckingham Palace to see the ailing Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley), he is brought back into the human world. Her Majesty is gravely ill and if she dies the treasury will take the animal sanctuary Dr. Dolittle calls home. Worse, all his animals will be thrown out into the world during hunting season.
To save the Queen‘s life he must embark on a journey to find the Eden Tree and its magical, healing fruit. It’s trip fraught with danger and is the same journey that cost his beloved wife her life. Add to that some palace intrigue, an island of misfits and thieves, turbo boosting whales, a vengeful squirrel and even a dragon and you have a new chapter in the life of the man who can talk to animals.
Kids will likely find “Dolittle’s” chatty animals amusing but this isn’t simply a movie about wise cracking beasts. At its beating heart it is a movie about pain, but, as one character says, not the kind of hurt inflicted by a bullet or a knife. It’s about the agony of losing someone. Dolittle’s heart is broken by the death of his wife, and that ache is the engine that propels the entire movie. So, while the young’uns may giggle at the animals but the movie’s underlying downer vibe and generic approach suggests that Dolittle’s wife isn’t the only lifeless part of this movie.
Downey plays the character with a sense of bemused confusion, topped with a mealy-mouthed Billy Connolly impression that changes from scene to scene. It’s a pantomime performance that makes the best of his finely tuned comic timing but feels sloppy and needlessly mannered.
“Dolittle” contains some good pop psychology for children about working together—”Teamwork makes the dream work!”—and facing their fears but overall a movie featuring talking animals shouldn’t be this banal.
Richard sits in on the CJAD Ottawa morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the seventeen-years-in-the-making sequel “Bad Boys for Life,” the reboot of a remake “Dolittle” and France’s entry for Best International Picture at the Oscars “Les Misérables.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins CP24 to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including the action comedy “Stuber” and two documentaries, “Leonard and Marianne: Words of Love,” about Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen and “Maiden,” about the first all-female crew to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Race.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CTV NewsChannel with news anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases including the action comedy “Stuber” and two documentaries, “Leonard and Marianne: Words of Love,” about Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen and “Maiden,” about the first all-female crew to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Race.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
A weekly feature from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest and most interesting movies! This week Richard looks at “Stuber” and two documentaries, “Leonard and Marianne: Words of Love,” about Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen and “Maiden,” about the first all-female crew to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Race.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard has a look at the new movies coming to theatres, including “Stuber” and two documentaries, “Leonard and Marianne: Words of Love,” about Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen and “Maiden,” about the first all-female crew to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Race with CFRA Morning Rush host Matt Bill Carroll.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I recently had a conversation with someone who hires people to work at a large financial institution. Qualifications? Math and people skills are high on the list, as are attention to detail and honesty. His killer question, the one that separates the candidates who will move forward to a second or third interview from those who won’t is deceptively simple. “What’s your Uber rating?” That’s right, in a word that increasingly places a star value on random performance, a ride-sharing service driver you may have only met once can determine your employment future. “Stuber,” a new comedy starring Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, begins with a star rating and ends in an odd couple comedy.
Bautista is Vic, an LAPD detective on a mission to capture Teijo (Iko Uwais), the heroin dealer responsible for the death of his partner Sara Morris (Karen Gillan). When Teijo resurfaces during a Los Angeles heat wave Vic prepares to take him down. Trouble is, he’s just had Lasik surgery and can’t see. Fortunately, his daughter Nicole (Natalie Morales) installed the Uber app on his phone.
Enter Stu (Nanjiani), a sardonic retail clerk, with a crush on his best friend Becca (Betty Gilpin), a part time job driving for Uber and a license plate that reads FIVESTARS. Ironically, he also has a comically low star rating, the result of a string of one-star reviews left by drunks and racists. “I can’t drop below four stars or I’ll lose my job,” he says.
He picks up Vic, takes him to the scene of a murder and, desperate for a five-star review hangs around, getting deeper and deeper into trouble. “If you want five stars,” says Vic, “keep the motor running.”
“Stuber” is more than just product placement for ride-sharing. Equal parts action and gags, it feels like a throwback to the odd couple buddy movies of yore.
Let’s play Retro Fantasy Casting. Imagine it’s 1985. You have an action-comedy about a hulking cop and a motor-mouthed cab driver. It’s violent, rough and raunchy. Sounds perfect for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eddie Murphy. You get the idea.
The premise is as dated as Koosh Balls but like those colorful rubber balls, it’s still fun. Arnold and Eddie likely would have dialed back the pop psychology somewhat—“You give people your Glock,” says Stu, “not your love. That’s your problem.”—and upped the grit, but the other buddy movie puzzle pieces are very much in place.
These movies are all about chemistry and Bautista and Nanjiani bring it. Physically they’re Laurel and (a pumped up) Hardy and their size differential leads to some laughs. Bautista’s Mr. Magoo routine offers up some good opportunities for pratfalls but it is Nanjiani who really provides the comedy in this action-comedy. His is a steady comedic approach, with a drily hilarious delivery that wrings laughs out of lines that aren’t funny on the page. “I’ve done things tonight you wouldn’t believe,” is a standard line in movies like this but out of Nanjiani’s mouth it becomes a laugh line.
“Stuber” doesn’t reinvent buddy cop wheel but it does take it out for a spin and it’s a fun ride.
