I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to discuss the weekend’s flickers including including the eye-popping “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the self-reflective “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” the dark comedy “I’m Totally Fine” and the eerie Tilda Swinton movie “The Eternal Daughter.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the host of NewsTalk 1010’s “The Rush” for a segment called “Entertainment Court.” Each week I serve as the judge, Reshmi as the juror, and we render a verdict on the week’s biggest pop culture stories.
This week we ask, Is “Avatar: The Way of Water” a drama with lots of animation, or an animated movie with dramatic elements, like “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which was only nominated in the animation category? Did the pandemic kill off movies for adults, or are adults to blame for the lack of success of recent movies aimed at mature audiences? Does Adam Sandler deserve the Mark Twain Prize for Humour?
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the eye-popping “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the self-reflective “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” the dark comedy “I’m Totally Fine” and the eerie Tilda Swinton movie “The Eternal Daughter.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“The Eternal Daughter,” now playing in theatres, is a gothic ghost story set at a hotel, but don’t check in expecting thrills and chills. This is psychological drama that plays upon the power of memories to create a sense of unease.
Written and directed by Joanna Hogg, the film stars Tilda Swinton in a dual role as screenwriter Julie Hart and her elderly mother Rosalind. Julie is in the early stages of writing a film about her relationship with her mother and has planned a stay at a stately, but remote hotel that once belonged to Rosalind’s aunt, in Wales. In the quiet of the Welsh countryside Julie hopes to mine her mother’s memories for details to enrich her screenplay.
When she was evacuated from London during the Blitz, Rosalind lived at the hotel, then a grand country mansion. Julie questions her about that time, “Were you aware of the war going on?” but Rosalind is reticent to dredge up some of the old memories. She remembers the happy times, but grows heartfelt when evoking the death of her brother, lost in the war during battle over the English Channel.
“You always said you had such happy memories here,” says Julie. “Oh mom, I’m so sorry. I feel so bad for bringing you here.”
“I did have happy memories here,” Rosalind replies, “but I also had other memories here and they’re all still alive.”
Despite her mother’s attempts to placate her, Julie is distraught at the pain she has caused by bringing Rosalind back to her childhood home. “It’s really difficult for me to think of her as being sad,” Julie says.
There is a fuzzy line between fantasy and reality in “The Eternal Daughter.” The old hotel, run by a tetchy front desk clerk (Carly-Sophia Davies), whose passive-aggression brings some humor to the staid situation, creaks in the night and shadows loom in the corners. It is the perfect Gothic breeding ground for Julie’s growing dread and paranoia. Director Hogg takes her time revealing the film’s direction, and whether or not characters, like the groundskeeper Bill (Joseph Mydell) are real or a figment of Julie’s imagination.
It’s not about thrills, it’s about mood. As the two women attempt to connect, to find a way through the memories to a real, tangible place, Hogg creates melodramatic psychological miasma that questions the very proceedings on the screen. There are no easy answers, as Swinton, masterfully playing both mother and daughter, explores the connection between reality, fantasy and memory, but the questions about identity left by the story will linger.
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 the Will Smith drama “Emancipation,” Olivia Colman in “Empire of Light” and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 36:46)
I join 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 Will Smith drama “Emancipation,” Olivia Colman in “Empire of Light” and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a handstand! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the Will Smith drama “Emancipation,” Olivia Colman in “Empire of Light” and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres. Today we talk about the Will Smith drama “Emancipation,” Olivia Colman in “Empire of Light” and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to talk about the Will Smith drama “Emancipation,” Olivia Colman in “Empire of Light” and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
