Richard and CTV NewsChannel anchor Andrea Bain discuss the upbeat “Trolls World Tour,” the time loop romance of “Love Wedding Repeat” and the teen drama “School Life.”
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 VOD and streaming services including the time loop romance of “Love Wedding Repeat” and the teen drama “School Life.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
New to Netflix this week is “Love Wedding Repeat,” a what-if rom com fantasy that examines one event, a fancy wedding celebration, from several different angles based on a shifting seating arrangement and a nomadic sedative.
Set in an opulent Italian party palace, the action centers around Jack (Sam Claflin), the protective older brother of the bride. It is meant to be Haley’s (Eleanor Tomlinson) big day but as everyone knows, wedding days rarely ever go as planned. Every little detail is important, most of all, if you believe this movie, the seating arrangement. A simple shift of a name or two from table to table changes the dynamic and can lead to chaos. Of course, a simple mix-up of names will only be made worse by the presence of angry exes, a sedative that never finds its intended target, an embarrassing men’s room incident and the proverbial ‘one that got away’ (Olivia Munn).
“Love Wedding Repeat,” has all the trappings of a classic farce. Big personalities and misunderstandings are the name of the game here but the unhurried pace feels more like a rom com than it does “Noises Off.” Dean Craig, the screenwriter behind the 2007 Frank Oz comedy “Death at a Funeral,” finds humour in the shifting-same-day narrative but places the romance front and centre, mostly leaving the screwball antics for another day.
An appealing cast makes the most of this thin but unique twist on romantic time loop farce. Claflin, best known for playing British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley “Peaky Blinders,” is the stabilizing force that keeps the fantasy aspect of the story earthbound. Revolving around him are a cast of characters whose actions bring the flights of fancy. As Jack’s angry, headbutting ex Frieda Pinto brings both fire and warmth while Tim Key convincingly plays the most socially awkward wedding guest ever. Joel Fry, as a desperate actor trying to impress a famous director, who happens to be seated at the next table, shows a different side from the work he did on “Game of Thrones.”
“Love Wedding Repeat” could have used a little more door slamming to amp up the farcical nature of the story but provides a diversion in these strange times, an unusual, if somewhat predictable, rom com with (NO SPOILER HERE, YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING) a happy ending.
Richard sits in on the CJAD Montreal morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk about the weekend’s VOD and streaming releases including the time loop rom com “Love Wedding Repeat” and the drama “School Life,” both on Netflix.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nick Dixon to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including the romantic nautical disaster flick “Adrift,” Ethan Hawke in “First Reformed” and the thought provoking “Black Cop.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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 romantic nautical disaster flick “Adrift,” Ethan Hawke in “First Reformed” and the thought provoking “Black Cop.”
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 romantic nautical disaster flick “Adrift,” Ethan Hawke in “First Reformed” and the thought provoking “Black Cop.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“Apocalypse Now,” offers up some life advice in the form of one salient quote about crossing lines and the point of no return. To paraphrase. “Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goshdarn right. Unless you’re going all the way.” In the case of “Adrift,” a new film starring Shailene Woodley, it might have been a good idea to never have gotten on the boat in the first place.
Based on the true story of Tami Oldham (Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), two sailors who meet disaster on a journey across the Pacific from Tahiti to San Diego, “Adrift” is an adventure tale in search of dramatic tension.
When we first meet her Oldham is a twenty-four-year old on hiatus from real life. Struck with a case of wanderlust, she is metaphorically adrift, jumping from place to place with the goal of making enough money to get to the next port. When she meets experienced seadog Sharp she finds someone who can provide companionship on her travels.
“I’ve never met anyone like you,“ he says. “You’re like a bloke.“ “I’ve never met anyone like you,” she replies. “You’re like a woman.“ Cue the kisses.
The newly minted couple take a job to sail a luxury yacht across the ocean they immediately set off on their nautical adventure. All is well until they sail into a class four tropical storm that goes all “Poseidon Adventure” on the yacht. During the storm that Sharp is banged up, left with a broken leg and ribs. His survival is in her hands. The couple drift for forty-one days, exhausted, dehydrated, delirious and hallucinating but not dead. ‘If this hadn’t happened,” she says, “I wouldn’t have us to remember. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
Flashing them backwards and forwards from their courtship, to the trip and the disaster, “Adrift” is choppier than the waves kicked up by the storm. The broken timeline shatters any kind of forward momentum. Just as a scene starts to build some heat director Baltasar Kormákur jumps around, skipping through time like a flat stone skimming along the water.
In his interpretation of the material director Kormákur seems intent on creating a new genre, the Young Adult Disaster Romance. The film leads up to the storm, an exciting-ish climax in a movie where nothing interesting happens until the final moments. The romance segments have a light feel, brightly coloured, set to bouncy music. They are cut, in sharp contrast, against the stark scenes of survival. Throughout Woodley and Claflin speak to one another in lines seemingly ripped from a Harlequin Romance Jr. “I sailed around the road to find you,” Richard coos. “I’m not letting you go.” “I just want to go everywhere with you,” she replies. How juvenile is it? It takes them 18 days at sea to discover the booze below deck. Any mature disaster artist would have found it in hours.
”Adrift” is meant to be a voyage of self-discovery but is a little more than a trip to the Young Adult section of the library. With little to no insight on the characters and uneven storytelling, for most of the running time “Adrift” is just that… adrift.
Richard and CP24 anchor Stephanie Smythe have a look at the weekend’s new movies, the redonkulous new “Fast & Furious” entry from Vin Diesel and Company, “The Fate of the Furious,” the family drama “Gifted,” the romantic biopic “Maudie” starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke and the bizzaro “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea”!
Watch the whole thing HERE!
