I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the Will Smith drama “Emancipation,” Olivia Colman in “Empire of Light” and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Pinocchio,” the wooden boy with a lie detector for a nose and dreams of becoming a real boy bouncing around his sawdusty brain, is one of the most reimagined characters in children’s literature. Earlier this year Tom Hanks starred in a traditional remake of the 138 year-old-story that echoed the classic Disney film.
The Oscar winning director of “The Shape of Water” takes the story in his own direction in “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,” a stop motion retelling, now playing in theatres and coming soon to Netflix. In what may be the only version of the story featuring a cameo by Mussolini, the movie travels a different, darker path than previous adaptations.
Del Toro keeps the original story’s Italian location, but places the action between World Wars I and II. Woodworker Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) is a skilled artisan, lovingly teaching his young son Carlo the ropes of the craft while working on large crucifix at a local church. When Carlo is killed in a bombing raid, Geppetto spirals into despair and alcoholism.
While soothing his loss with booze, the heartbroken Geppetto cuts down an Italian pine tree near his late son’s grave and builds a roughhewn puppet as a replacement for his boy. Gangly, with a long nose, the puppet sits slumped in Geppetto’s workshop until a magical Wood Sprite (voice of Tilda Swinton) breathes life into him and appoints Sebastian J. Cricket (voice of Ewan McGregor), a mustachioed insect who lives inside the puppet, as his guide and conscience.
The rowdy newborn, dubbed Pinocchio (voice of Gregory Mann), doesn’t make a great first impression on Geppetto or the local townsfolk. But as Geppetto warms to him, the locals, including fascist government official Podestà (Ron Perlman), don’t quite know what to make of him.
“Everybody likes him,” says Pinocchio, pointing to the still under construction crucifix. “He’s made of wood too. Why do they like him and not me?”
As Pinocchio tries to figure out his place in the world, he soon discovers that not everyone has his best interests in mind.
This is not your parent’s “Pinocchio.” Del Toro sticks to the bones of author Carlo Collodi’s original plot, but expands the story with a deep dive into what it means to be human, mortality, the weight of expectation and the horrors of fascism. It doesn’t sound particularly family friendly, but while there are some intense, nightmarish images, this is a fairy tale in the Brothers Grimm tradition. It speaks to the issues surrounding growing up, whether you’re made of wood or flesh and blood, and should be fine for kids ten and up.
Visually spectacular, the stop motion animation gives the movie a more organic feel than it may have had if rendered in computer generated images. Rich in detail and imagination, the film’s style mixes and matches dreams with nightmares to create a palette that paints the fanciful and the earthbound in equal measure.
“Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” does something remarkable. Just as the Wood Sprite breathed new life into Geppetto’s puppet, Del Toro breathes new life into a very familiar and often-told story. He is buoyed by fine voice work and visuals, but it is the auteur’s allegorical stamp that really brings this wooden boy to life.
Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to pull a rabbit out of your hat! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the romantic fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the Stallone superhero flick “Samaritan” and the vampire bride flick “The Invitation.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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 “Mike,” the controversial story of boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson on Disney+, the prequel to “Game of Thrones” on Crave, “House of the Dragon,” the Netflix documentary “Inside the Mind of a Cat,” the animated “Star Trek: Lower Decks” season three on Crave and the romatic fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:43)
Richard sits in on the CKTB Niagara in the Morning morning show with guest host Stephanie Vivier to talk the new movies coming to theatres. This week we look at the romantic fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the Stallone superhero flick “Samaritan” and the vampire bride flick “The Invitation.”
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 romantic fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the Stallone superhero flick “Samaritan” and the vampire bride flick “The Invitation.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join NewsTalk 1010 guest host Dave Kaufman on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “Showgram” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the romantic fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the Stallone superhero flick “Samaritan” and the vampire bride flick “The Invitation.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
George Miller may be best known as a director of wild action movies, but at the heart of all his films, whether it is the outback opera of his “Mad Max” series, or the gentle inspiration of “Babe: Pig in the City,” or the fantasy of “The Witches of Eastwick,” is masterful storytelling.
His latest movie, “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, celebrates the art of storytelling with a tale about how a well told story can bring people together.
Swinton plays Alithea Binnie, a lonely professor of narratology. “I am a solitary creature by nature,” she says. “I have no children, or siblings, nor parents. I did once have a husband.” Her work has left her wondering about the importance of mythology in the age of technology. “Sooner or later,” she says, “our creation stories are replaced by science.”
Her compartmentalized and orderly life is turned upside down when she buys a memento at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. “Whatever it is,” she says of her purchase, a small decorative glass bottle shaped like a Genie’s lamp, “I’m sure it has an interesting story.”
Make that stories. Within are a multitude of stories. And a Genie.
When Alithea opens the bottle, she unleashes a cloud of iridescent smoke. The Djinn (Elba), as the magical character imprisoned by King Solomon (Nicolas Mouawad) inside the bottle for three thousand years because he “cried out my heart’s desire,” appears. His only path to true freedom comes with granting Alithea’s wishes based on her three deepest yearnings.
Alithea’s study of ancient myths has left her wary of accepting the Djinn’s offer. “I cannot for the life of me, summon up one eligible wish, let alone three,” she says.
Nonetheless, the Djinn regales her with stories from his life, Scheherazade style, in an attempt to lure her into making a wish.
Based on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S. Byatt, and co-written for the screen by Miller, “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” has much of the director’s visual flair, and rock-solid performances from Swinton and Elba, but this fairy tale about the importance of stories and romance doesn’t contain the magic promised by its premise.
There is sentimentalism to burn in the Djinn’s retelling of the great loves of his life and how his “fondness for the conversation with women” has kept him bottled up, literally, for millennia, but this often feels like an academic exercise. His stories reveal an appealing vulnerability in the mysterious creature’s personality, but instead of being swept away by the spectacle of the storytelling into worlds of romance, we’re left waiting for the emotional impact which is delayed and, even then, muted. It’s all allegory with not enough passion.
“Three Thousand Years of Longing” has undeniably cool moments, most likely conjured up in Miller’s fevered imagination. King Solomon’s magical, self-playing stringed instrument is wondrous, and the period details contained in the flashback from the Djinn’s life are beautifully rendered, despite some dodgy CGI. But, unlike the great stories it celebrates, the movie doesn’t have the kind of tension between the leads necessary to create a compelling narrative.
Richard speaks to “CTV News at Six” anchor Andria Case about the best movies and television to watch this weekend. This week we have a look at the Netflix biopic “tick, tick… BOOM!,” the documentary “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road” and the Tilda Swinton movie “The Souvenir Part II” in theatres.
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 23:34)
