Posts Tagged ‘Sinqua Walls’

CTV NEWS AT SIX: NEW MOVIES AND TV SHOWS TO CHECK OUT THIS WEEKEND!

I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend. This week I have a look at he need for speed in “The Flash” and the genre satire “The Blackening.”

Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:01)

NEWSTALK TONIGHT WITH JIM RICHARDS: DOES RICHARD CROUSE LIKE THESE MOVIES?

I sit in for NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the need for speed in “The Flash,” the genre satire “The Blackening” and the new Pixar movie “Elemental.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

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

Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to tie your sneakers! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the need for speed in “The Flash,” the genre satire “The Blackening” and the new Pixar movie “Elemental.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY JUNE 16, 2023.

I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres.  Today we talk about the need for speed in “The Flash,” the genre satire “The Blackening” and the new Pixar movie “Elemental.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL REVIEWS FOR JUNE 16 WITH MARCIA MACMILLAN.

I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to talk about the need for speed in “The Flash,” the genre satire “The Blackening” and the new Pixar movie “Elemental.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY JUNE 16, 2023.

I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres.  Today we talk about the need for speed in “The Flash,” the new Pixar movie “Elemental” and the high tech Netflix drama “Black Mirror.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CKTB NIAGARA REGION: THE TIM DENIS SHOW WITH RICHARD CROUSE ON MOVIES!

I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at the need for speed in “The Flash,” the genre satire “The Blackening” and the new Pixar movie “Elemental.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

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

I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the need for speed in “The Flash,” the genre satire “The Blackening” and the new Pixar movie “Elemental.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

THE BLACKENING: 3 ½ STARS. “something special and interesting within its genre.”

“The Blackening,” a new horror satire now playing in theatres, answers a question never before addressed in a horror film. In the world of modern slasher films, the Black characters are always the first to die, so this new film asks, “How would that change if the entire cast is Black?

Set on a Juneteenth weekend at a remote Airbnb in the middle of nowhere, the story begins with party hosts Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharoah) prepping the house in advance of their guest’s arrivals. In the Game Room they find a game called The Blackening, with a Monopoly-style design around a racist blackface caricature in the center of the board.

Shocked by the game’s iconography, they are even more shocked when the game demands they answer a series of questions, or they will be killed. They play along until Shawn gets a question wrong, and things quickly go south.

Cut to the others as they make their way to the cabin for a weekend of “reckless, unadulterated fun.” Lawyer Lisa (Antoinette Robertson), her BFF Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins, who co-wrote the script), Allison (Grace Byers) and former gang member King (Melvin Gregg) are in one car. Arriving separately are the boozy Shanika (X Mayo), Lisa’s on-and-off boyfriend Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls) and Clifton (Jermaine Fowler), an oddball who says he was invited by Morgan, but no one seems to know him.

As the night wears on weird things start to happen. Doors open by themselves and strange characters appear in the shadows. Not that anyone notices… at first. Dewayne is high on MDMA while everyone else, save for Clifton, plays the card game Spades.

The drinks flow as the old friends gets caught up, and soon the attention turns to the Game Room and the unusual game Morgan and Shawn played hours earlier before their disappearance. With the remaining guests crowded around the board, the game begins to talk and taunt. “If you answer my questions correctly you will live,” the game says, “and Morgan will be released. Get one wrong and you will die.”

As the game asks questions like “Name five Black actors who appeared on ‘Friends,’” it becomes clear the danger is real, and there are consequences for their answers. This is not just a board game, it is a game of survival. As panic sets in, the group has to make a crucial decision. Do we stay together or split up and try and get help?

“The Blackening” borrows tropes from familiar slasher movies. The remote cabin in the woods is a classic location, we meet a couple redneck hillbillies at a gas station and there’s more than a hint of “Saw” on display. But what the movie does is take those elements and use them through a lens to explore Blackness, racism and popular culture. It’s a movie loaded with subtext, one that uses the genre to speak to issues that confront Black people every day.

In its examination of stereotypes and prejudice, from within and outside of their group, the movie tackles big topics but does so with a great deal of humor and some real suspense. The allegories may be more effective than the actual gore, but despite the light touch with the bloody violence, “The Blackening” achieves something special and interesting within its genre.