Richard speaks to “CTV News at 11:30” anchor Andria Bain about TV shows to watch this weekend including the Netflix docu-series “Murder Among the Mormons,” the drug drama “Crisis” with Gary Oldman on VOD and the Disney+ series “Love, Victor.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including Disney’s animated action flick “Raya and the Last Dragon” (Disney+ with Premier Access and theatres), the long awaited sequel “Coming 2 America” (Amazon Prime Video) and the look at the war on drugs “Crisis” (on digital and demand).
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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 Disney’s animated action flick “Raya and the Last Dragon” (Disney+ with Premier Access and theatres), the long awaited sequel “Coming 2 America” (Amazon Prime Video), the biopic “The United States Vs. Billie Holiday” (VOD), the legal drama “The Mauritanian” (premium digital and on-demand), the coming-of-age story “My Salinger Year” (VOD) and the look at the war on drugs “Crisis” (on digital and demand).
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Crisis,” the new Gary Oldham movie now available on demand, aspires to be a multi-pronged thriller in the same vein as “21 Grams” and “Traffic.”
Director Nicholas Jarecki presents three parallel story threads that bob and weave to put a human face on the opioid epidemic. First is Gary Oldman as Dr. Tyrone Brower, a university professor working on developing products for a pharmaceutical company. He is confronted by an ethical dilemma when the company announces a new “non-addictive” painkiller. Bribes and big pharma conspire to push his moral code to the limit.
Elsewhere, architect Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly) beats an oxycodone addiction to get to the bottom of her son’s drug related disappearance while DEA agent Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer) goes deep undercover to bust up a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation as drug movie staple “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” by the Rolling Stones plays on the soundtrack.
Eventually the trio of story shards resolve, mixing the corporate, revenge and procedural plotlines into an entertaining but not particularly substantive look at a very serious subject.
Jarecki slathers an action movie sheen on the proceedings, heightening every scene, and while the propulsive pacing, “power gangsters” and Brower’s habit of snarling pat lines like, “This is the biggest public health crisis since tobacco!” amplify the movie’s popcorn aura, they minimize its complexity.
Oldman is predictably entertaining, all self-righteousness and bluster, while Hammer (in a role shot before his recent controversies) and Lilly are blandly appealing leads who get the job done in roles that require little from them other than angst and action. Canadian actor Guy Nadon brings a toxic mix of charm and danger as a drug lord named Mother alongside an all-star supporting cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Kid Cudi and Luke Evans.
“Crisis” aims high as a well-meaning message movie that plays more like a Saturday afternoon matinee flick.
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 the epic “Avengers: Infinity War,” and the only two films brave enough to open against it “A Swingers Weekend” and “Adventures in Public School.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nick Dixon to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including the superheropalooza “Avengers: Infinity War,” and the only two films brave enough to open against it “A Swingers Weekend” and “Adventures in Public School.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases, the epic “Avengers: Infinity War,” and the only two films brave enough to open against it “A Swingers Weekend, ” “Adventures in Public School” and the eco doc “Panda.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Can a couple be greater than the sum of its parts? That’s the question raised by “A Swingers Weekend,” a new dramedy starring Erin Karpluk, Jonas Chernick and Mia Kirshner.
Set at a spiffy lake house owned by Dan (Randal Edwards) and Lisa (Karpluk), the action begins when the couple invites their married friends Teejay (Michael Xavier) and Skai (Erin Agostino) over for a consensual mixing and match of sexual partners. A swingers weekend. Things get complicated with the arrival of others, Geoffrey (Jonas Chernick) and Fiona (Kirshner), a bickering couple who didn’t realize they were walking into a sexual swap party.
To say anything more about “A Swingers Weekend’s” plot would give away the character’s personal journeys. Suffice to say, the story is less about the actual sex and more about the motivations of everyone involved. What begins almost as a sex farce becomes a deeper exploration of the character’s lives, both individually and as couples. It’s about relationship dynamics and how, when you scratch the perfect veneer, you may find rot underneath.
“A Swingers Weekend” may not be the most searing look at interpersonal relationships to hot big screens but an engaging cast creates and sustains enough sexual tension to keep things interesting.
