A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at Lisbeth Salander’s return in “The Girl In The Spider’s Web,” the Nazi zombie flick “Overlord,” the sun dappled noir “The Padre.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“The Padre,” a neo-noir starring Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, Luis Guzmán and newcomer Valeria Henriquez, is the story of a trio of opportunists all headed to the same place, all searching for something different.
Henriquez is Lena, a young determined Columbian girl trying to find a way to get to Minnesota. “First God takes her parents, “ says a friend, “and then a family in Minnesota takes her sister. Like they bought her on the internet.” Lena sees the Padre (Roth), a white man with some money, as her ticket to the United States and being reunited with her sister. She becomes his apprentice, a toughie with an attitude and an aptitude for grifting. Hot on their heels are retired U.S. Marshall Nemes (Nick Nolte) and local cop Gaspar (Guzmán). For Nemes the hunt is as much personal as it is professional. “He needs to pay. Then I die happy. I lashed my hate to a spear I aimed at his heart,” he grumbles.
“The Padre” ambles its way through the lives of the main players, slowly closing the gap between the hunters and the hunted. The three above the title stars, Nolte, Roth and Guzmán, deliver in familiar roles—Nolte is once again the grizzled face of law enforcement, Roth is another skeevy character while Guzmán plays a convincing second fiddle—but it is Henriquez who steals the show. She is at once gritty and vulnerable, a girl born of poverty who has had to survive by her wits. Henriquez pulls it off and emerges as the film’s most interesting character.
Shot in Colombia, “The Padre” is beautiful looking, a sun-dappled noir that pops with colour. Director Jonathan Sobol has an eye for the locations, it’s just too bad the story isn’t as colourful as the setting.
Richard has a look at Lisbeth Salander’s return in “The Girl In The Spider’s Web,” the Nazi zombie flick “Overlord,” the sun dappled noir “The Padre” and the historical drama “Outlaw King.” with CFRA Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CJAD Montreal morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk about the return of Lisbeth Salander in “The Girl In The Spider’s Web,” the sub-sub-sub-sub genre of Nazi zombie movies and “Overlord,” the sun dappled noir “The Padre” and the historical drama “Outlaw King.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Richard and CP24 anchor Nneka Elliot talk about the weekend’s big releases, the comedy of “Keanu,” the maudlin humour of “Mother’s Day,” the kid’s sci fi of “Ratchet & Clank,” the punk rock fury of “Green Room” and the b-movie action of “Precious Cargo.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard and “Canada AM” host Beverly Thomson kick around the weekend’s big releases. They find out if “Keanu,” the kitten caper movie from Key & Peele is worth a look, if “Mother’s Day” is more than a Hallmark card come to the screen and if “Ratchet & Clank’s” good messages for kids make it a good movie.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Take one part “Key and Peele,” add the appeal of an internet cat video and you have “Keanu,” the new kitty caper comedy from Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. The big screen debut of the sketch comedians isn’t purrfect but it has some furry funny moments.
At the beginning of the movie the Allentown Brothers (the heavily made-up Key and Peele) shoot up a drug lab, killing everyone inside. The only survivor is a kitten who makes a run for it, escaping the carnage and who, after a trek across Los Angeles, ends up at the doorstep of stoner photographer Rell (Peele). It’s fortuitous for both of them. The kitten needs a home and Rell, who was just dumped by his girlfriend, desperately needs a companion. By the time Rell’s pal, family man Clarence (Key) stops by, the lonely guy has bonded with the cat, now named Keanu. When Keanu is stolen in a burglary these two button-down guys take a walk on the wild side, tracking down Keanu’s new owner, gang leader Cheddar (Method Man). Taking the street names Shark Tank and Techtonic they infiltrate the gang, take drugs (“It’s like you’re smoking crack with God!”), get shot at and rescue the cat. “We in the market right now for a gangster pet.”
The SPCA is going to love “Keanu.” The cat hero isn’t exactly the main character, he’s more of an excuse for the action, but he may be the most memorable film feline since Blofeld’s cat. The stars of the show are Key and Peele who bring the strengths of their sketch show to the movie. Key’s facility with voices and words coupled with Peele’s elastic face keep things interesting in what is essentially a skit stretched to feature length.
Unlike me, who couldn’t resist some terrible cat puns while writing this review, K&P don’t go looking for the “purrpatrator” of the crime or anything like that. Instead the movie is a mix of down ‘n dirty jabs—for instance, the local strip club is called Hot Party Vixens or HPV—fish out of water gags, a brilliant celebrity cameo and a fixation on George Michael that borders on the pathological. Throw in a few shoot outs and some quirky characters—thanks to Will Forte as Rell’s pot dealer and Jason Mitchell as gang member Bud—and you have a movie that aspires to be a spiritual cousin of 80s action comedies like “Beverly Hills Cop” or “48 Hours.” It doesn’t quite scale those heights but there are enough laughs to keep things interesting, especially if you are a cat lover.
