Posts Tagged ‘memoir’

YOU TUBE: THREE MOVIES/THIRTY SECONDS! FAST REVIEWS FOR BUSY PEOPLE!

Watch Richard review three movies in less time than it takes to make 72 million red blood cells! Have a look as he races against the clock to tell you about Ben Affleck in “The Tender Bar,” the home invasion thriller “See For You” and the family drama “June Again.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL REVIEWS FOR JAN. 09 WITH LOIS LEE.

Richard and CTV NewsChannel host Angie Seth have a look “The Tender Bar” (Amazon Prime), the Olivia Coleman drama “The Lost Daughter” (on Netflix) and the heartwarming “June Again” (VOD/Digital).

Watch the whole thing HERE!

NEWSTALK 1010: BOOZE AND REVIEWS WITH RICHARD CROUSE ON THE RUSH!

Richard joins hosts Jay Michaels and Jim Richards of the NewsTalk 1010 afternoon show The Rush for Booze and Reviews! Today we ask, “To Lick, Shoot and Suck, or NOT to Lick, Shoot and Suck?” and review the Ben Affleck coming-of-age story “The Tender Bar” (Amazon Prime), the Olivia Coleman drama “The Lost Daughter” (on Netflix) and the heartwarming “June Again” (VOD/Digital).

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY JANUARY 7, 2022.

Richard joins CP24 to pay tribute to Sidney Poitier and have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including “The Tender Bar” (Amazon Prime), the Olivia Coleman drama “The Lost Daughter” (on Netflix) and the heartwarming “June Again” (VOD/Digital).

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL REVIEWS FOR JAN. 7 WITH MARCIA MACMILLAN.

Richard joins CTV NewsChannel and anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including the Ben Affleck coming-of-age story “The Tender Bar” (Amazon Prime), the Olivia Coleman drama “The Lost Daughter” (on Netflix) and the heartwarming “June Again” (VOD/Digital).

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!

Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including the Ben Affleck coming-of-age story “The Tender Bar” (Amazon Prime), the Olivia Coleman drama “The Lost Daughter” (on Netflix) and the heartwarming “June Again” (VOD/Digital).

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

THE TENDER BAR: 3 ½ STARS. “Affleck does some of his best work.”

There are many life lessons in “The Tender Bar,” a new easygoing drama starring Ben Affleck based on the life of journalist and author J.R. Moehringer, and now streaming on Amazon Prime. Set in and around The Dickens, a bar named after the author of “David Copperfield,” barstool wisdom about the value of books, education, taking care of your mother and “not keeping money like a drunk” in the front pocket of your shirt, abounds.

The story begins in 1973 Long Island. “Radar Love” by Golden Earring out of the car the car radio and the impressionable J.R. (played as a youngster by Daniel Ranieri) lives with his mom Dorothy (Lily Rabe) and cranky grandfather (Christopher Lloyd). His father, a radio DJ nicknamed The Voice (Max Martini), isn’t in the picture.

J.R.’s father figure is Uncle Charlie (Affleck), charming bookworm and owner of the Dickens. He is a font of advice, all of which J.R. soaks up “the male sciences” like a sponge. Charlie’s instructions range from the pragmatic—never order bar scotch neat—to the ideological—he urges J.R. to study philosophy. “You always do well in that class,” he says, “because there’s no right answers.”

Charlie’s guidance and the colorful regulars who populate the bar, like Bobo (Michael Braun) and Joey D (Matthew Delamater), help form J.R.’s young life. “When you’re 11 years old,” he says, “you want an Uncle Charlie.”

Cut to a decade later.

J.R., having inherited his Uncle Charlie’s love of storytelling and words, is a student at Yale, studying law but with aspirations to be a writer. Now played by Tye Sheridan, he falls in love with Sidney (Briana Middleton), a smart, “lower upper middle class” schoolmate who gives J.R. another lesson in heartbreak.

“The Tender Bar” is a low key coming-of-age story that works best when it has a glass in front of it. That is to say, when it concentrates on the Dickens and the life lessons young J.R. absorbs at the bar. Those scenes have a lovely nostalgic feel. Director George Clooney vividly recreates a time when ten-year-olds were sent to the local corner bar to by a pack of cigarettes for grandpa. Clooney sets the stage, but it is the actors who bring it to life.

As Affleck settles in to the character actor phase of his career, he’s doing some of his best work.  His Uncle Charlie has an effortless charm, a fierce intellect and is a bit of a scoundrel. It’s a performance that feels perfectly shaped and worn in, like an old baseball glove.

The scenes Affleck shares with Ranieri provide the film’s highlights. The young actor, making his film debut, brings genuine curiosity to J.R., a kid who has been knocked around but who always has his eyes to the future. It’s a delightful performance. Sheridan nicely mirrors the character as a young adult, but it is Ranieri who makes us care about J.R.

“The Tender Bar” is a nicely crafted, circumspect look at J.R.’s life. The stakes feel low and big dramatic moments are few and far between, but this textured look at the importance of community, including the drunks at the bar, in the formative stages of J.R.’s life is an understated winner.

NEWSTALK 1010: IN DEPTH WITH COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR RICK MERCER!

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast. If you are like my wife and I, for the better part of fifteen years, most Tuesday nights you would tune into “The Rick Mercer Report,” hosted by my guest, Rick Mercer. Part travelogue of our beautiful country, part news satire, part sketch comedy. He golfed with Anne Murray, climbed to the top of a roller-coaster at Canada’s Wonderland and even skinny dipped with Bob Rae. Find out how that happened later in the show.

And don’t forget the Rants, his minute long diatribes about whatever was on his mind that week.

Then, after fifteen years he quit “The Rick Mercer Report,” a job he called, the best job in the world, at the peak of its popularity. Why? We’ll find out.

After that he did stand up and then Covid-19 struck. In lockdown, after four books based on content from the shows, he began writing his most personal story yet. His story. The result is a revealing and hilarious memoir called “Talking to Canadians: A Memoir” and it is available now wherever you buy fine books.

We talk about everything from why the critics called one of his first shows it We Have No Pity for the Audience to turning down a big money offer to head to the United States to host a game show to why his drama teacher told him quitting the school drama club would be, “one of the biggest mistakes of his life.”

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 Ethan Hawke, director Brad Bird, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, Eric Roberts, Brian Henson, Jonathan Goldsmith a.k.a. “The most interesting man in the world,” and best selling author Linwood Barclay.

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

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Click HERE to catch up on shows you might have missed!