Posts Tagged ‘Steve Pemberton’

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL WEEKEND REVIEWS FOR FRIDAY DECEMBER 27, 2024!

I  join the CTV NewsChannel to talk about the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the epic “The Brutalist,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside,” the unrelenting evil of “Nosferatu,” the office romance of “Babygirl” and the wild biopic “Better Man.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CKTB NIAGARA REGION: THE STEPH VIVIER SHOW WITH RICHARD CROUSE ON MOVIES!

I sit in with CKTB morning show guest host Karl Dockstader to have a look at movies in theatres and streaming including the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the epic “The Brutalist,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside,” the unrelenting evil of “Nosferatu,” the office romance of “Babygirl” and the wild biopic “Better Man.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

YOU TUBE: RICHARD’S INTERVIEW WITH POP SUPERSTAR ROBBIE WILLIAMS!

If you don’t love me, I don’t love me.”

Robbie Williams discusses his biopic “Better Man,” a sex, drugs and British Pop story given an audacious treatment by “The Greatest Showman” director Michael Gracey. A surreal mix of “Behind the Music” and “Planet of the Apes,” it is a raw portrayal of the singer’s vulnerabilities and foibles in which he’s rendered throughout as a CGI monkey. No explanations are offered, and none are needed. Whether it’s a comment on the performing monkey nature of his work, or his ever-evolving emotional state, or whatever, it’s a startling and surprisingly effective gimmick in a wildly entertaining film.

Watch the whole thing HERE!

BETTER MAN: 4 STARS. “surreal mix of ‘Behind the Music’ & ‘Planet of the Apes’”

SYNOPSIS: “Better Man,” the biopic of Take That singer-turned-solo superstar Robbie Williams is a sex, drugs and British Pop story given an audacious treatment by “The Greatest Showman” director Michael Gracey. A surreal mix of “Behind the Music” and “Planet of the Apes,” it is a raw portrayal of the singer’s vulnerabilities and foibles with a startling gimmick.

CAST: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman. Co-written, co-produced and directed by Michael Gracey.

REVIEW: You can’t talk about “Better Man” without first acknowledging the 500-pound monkey in the room. Or, in this case, in the film’s leading role.

The role of Robbie Williams, international pop star, is played as a chimp in a motion-capture performance by Jonno Davies. It is never directly referred to in the film, although there is some talk about how Williams, who first found fame as a young teen, was somehow stunted by the experience.

In other words, he is not as evolved as his peers.

It’s a stretch, and it is very much a gimmick, but it works. You will believe a chimp can sing and dance, and more importantly, you’ll soon forget the movie’s monkey business and be drawn in by the bombastic, unflinching portrayal of the ups and downs of Williams’s life.

From the fairly straightforward Bob Dylan biography “A Complete Unknown” to the fanciful “Piece by Piece,” the life story of Pharrell Williams, rendered completely in LEGO, 2024 has been an eventful year for music biopics. No matter what the execution, most follow a rags-to-riches trajectory, tarted up with good tunes and some sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll speedbumps along the way to a happy, triumphant ending.

“Better Man” is no different. The story beats are familiar, but it is in its execution that Michael Gracey succeeds in creating something not only entertaining, but memorable. It’s a wild ride, one that paints outside the lines, while still providing a complete portrait.

Bruce Springsteen once said, “You don’t get into this business because you had a normal childhood.” Those words echo throughout “Better Man” as we learn of Williams’s estrangement from his show biz obsessed father, his insecurities and battles with his worst enemy—himself. Amid all the glitz is a very real story of someone who discovered that money and fame can change the bank account and get you a better table at a fancy restaurant but isn’t a remedy for everything.

On some levels “Better Man” is a standard biography, but what separates it from other music bios, like the Wikipedia page style of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is the raw honesty it displays toward its subject. Williams is a superstar whose life has been tabloid fodder for as long as he’s been in the public eye but there is no whitewashing of his foibles here. Director Gracey may sprinkle a bit of glitter over them, but he never shies away from the grit that makes Williams’s story interesting.

The chimp, loads of bad language, excessive drug use and song and dance numbers bring great energy and entertain the eye, but it’s “Better Man’s” raw, emotional that sticks.

IHEARTRADIO: ROBBIE WILLIAMS + JOSHUA MILLCAN + BETTE REYNOLDS

On the Saturday December 21, 2024 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet Bette Reynolds. She’s Everyone’s Favourite Granny and if you’ve been on line in the last few months—and who hasn’t?—you probably saw her performance on The Voice UK.

Earlier this year she became the show’s oldest contestant ever when she did her rendition of The Sugarhill Gang’s, Rapper’s Delight in an effort to get coaches Sir Tom Jones, Will.i.am, LeAnn Rimes and Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones to turn their chairs.

She became a sensation, and she joins me today top talk about being on the show, doing a duet to Black Eyed Peas, I Gotta Feeling, with the song’s writer Will.i.am and her new Christmas single “Grandma’s Christmas Escape.”

Then, we’ll take a deep dive into Christmas horror stories with author Joshua Millican. Over the past decade-plus, Millican has proven himself to be a horror expert of the highest caliber. He is one of the genre’s premiere journalists, and today we’ll talk about the best Christmas horror movies and his two new books, “All Through the House: The Novelization” and “Chopping Mall: The Novelization.”

Finally, I’ll share my conversation with one of the world’s most successful music stars, Robbie Williams. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching his mega successful solo career in 1996. By 2008, he had sold more albums in the UK than any other British solo artist in history and right now his record sales stand at over 77 million worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time, and now his wide ride to fame has been captured in a new movie called Better Man, which comes to select theatres on Christmas Day before opening wide on January 10.

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 Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!

All iHeartRadio Canada stations are available across Canada via live stream on iHeartRadio.caand the iHeartRadio Canada app. iHeartRadio Canada stations are also connected through Alexa, Siri, and Google Home smart speakers.

Listeners across Canada can also listen in via audio live stream on iHeartRadio.ca and the iHeartRadio Canada app.

Listen to the show live here:

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