Posts Tagged ‘The Whale’

iHEART RADIO NETWORK: WE MEET FOUR OF THIS YEAR’S OSCAR NOMINEES!

This week on the Richard Crouse Oscar Special we meet four Academy Award nominees!

First up, Ke Huy Quan, nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the most aptly titled movie of last year, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” You can say a lot of things about “Everything Everywhere All At Once” but you can’t say you’ve ever seen anything quite like it before. An eye-popping reflection on the power of kindness and love to heal the world’s problems, it is exhilarating that mixes and matches everything from family drama and tax problems to martial-arts and metaphysics into a whimsical story that moves at the speed of light. The result is a singular film that milks intentionality out of its madness.

You know Ke Huy Quan as Short Round, the plucky kid companion to Indiana Jones in The Temple Of Doom and from a role in cult classic comedy-adventure The Goonies. We’ll talk about why he chose to return to acting in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” after a twenty-year break from Hollywood.

I caught up with Best Director nominee Baz Lurhmann and the stars of “Elvis,” Best Actor nominee Austin Butler, who hands in a terrific performance as Elvis and Olivia DeJonge who plays Elvis’ wife, Priscilla. We talked about what the story of Elvis’s life can tell us about America, Priscilla’s role in the singer’s life and much more.

Then, we meet Best Actor nominee Brendan Fraser, whose performance as a 600 pound man in “The Whale” earned him a six minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, and the film’s screenwriter Sam Hunter, to talk about what Fraser learned from playing the character, how Hunter changed the script from the original stage play and more.

Listen to the whole thing HERE! (Link coming soon)

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!

Listen to the show live here:

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OSCARS 2023: richard and “the whale” star brendan fraser & PLAYWRIGHT SAM HUNTER!

I sit with Brendan Fraser, whose performance as a 600 pound man in “The Whale” earned him a six minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, and the film’s screenwriter Sam Hunter, to talk about what Fraser learned from playing the character, how Hunter changed the script from the original stage play and more.

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S CTV NEWSCHANNEL REVIEWS FOR DEC 23 WITH MARCIA MACMILLAN.

I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to talk about the audacious and epic “Babylon,” starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, the Oscar bound “The Whale,” the animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

1290 CJBK in London: KEN & MARINA MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!

I join 1290 CJBK in London and hosts Ken and Marina to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the Oscar bound “The Whale,” the animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and the golden-age-of-Hollywood epic “Babylon.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND MOVIE REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY DEC 23, 2022.

I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres.  Today we talk about the audacious and epic “Babylon,” starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, the Oscar bound “The Whale,” the animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”

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 discuss the weekend’s flickers including including the Oscar bound “The Whale,” the animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and the golden-age-of-Hollywood epic “Babylon.”

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 Oscar bound “The Whale,” the animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and the golden-age-of-Hollywood epic “Babylon.”

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 buy a lotto ticket! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the Oscar bound “The Whale,” the animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and the golden-age-of-Hollywood epic “Babylon.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

Watch the iontercview on the CTV NewsChannel HERE!

THE WHALE: 4 STARS. “a swirl of love, understanding and empathy.”

Despite its dark subject matter, “The Whale,” Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky’s latest film, is coloured by a swirl of love, understanding and empathy.

Brendan Fraser, in his first leading role in nearly a decade, plays Charlie, a house-bound, 600-pound online English professor. Agoraphobic and unable to leave his apartment, the only outside contact Charlie has is his nurse and only friend Lis (Hong Chau) and the occasional visit from a pizza delivery guy (Sathya Sridharan). He is large to the point where even simple tasks, like standing up to retrieve a dropped remote from the floor, becomes a Herculean task.

“You will die by the weekend,” Lis says, clocking his blood pressure at 238/134. “Then I have to get to work,” he says optimistically. “I have papers to grade.”

Charlie suffers from a twice broken heart; once by congestive heart failure, the second by the death of his partner Alan. “Someone close to me passed away and it had an effect,” he says with great understatement. “I was always big,” admitting he binge-eats to make himself feel better. “I let it get out of control.”

Now, with just days left to live, he has one wish. He wants to repair the relationship with his estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), a 17-year-old he hasn’t seen since he left his family after falling in love with Alan, one of his students. “I need to know I did one thing right in my life,” he says.

Ellie, just eight-years-old when he deserted her, wants nothing to do with him—“I’m not spending time with you,” she says. “You’re disgusting. You’d still be disgusting even if you weren’t fat.”—but reluctantly relents when he offers to pay her and tutor her in exchange for spending time together.

As Charlie’s condition worsens, Ellie spends more time at the apartment, uncovering aspects of her father’s life with the help of a new friend, a naïve missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins).

Aronofsky brings us into Charlie’s world, a place where grief and forgiveness live side by side to create an intimate and compassionate portrait of a man who allowed his life to spiral out of control.

The specter of death hangs over every frame of “The Whale,” and yet Fraser manages to bring optimism to a character not long for this world. He’s looking to set things straight and make sure Ellie will have the tools to have a decent life after he goes. It is a tremendous performance that soars, transcending the stage-bound nature of the story.