Richard speaks to “CTV News at Six” anchor Andria Case about the best movies and television to watch this weekend including “The Suicide Squad,” starring Idris Elba and Margot Robbie, the Matt Damon drama “Stillwater,” the gritty family story of “Lorelei” and the inspirational sports flick “Twelve Mighty Orphans.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 38:17)
Richard joins CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres including the sickly but sweet “The Suicide Squad,” the family drama of “Lorelei,” starring Jena Malone and the inspirational sports film “Twelve Mighty Orphans.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard and CTV NewsChannel morning show host Angie Seth chat up the weekend’s big releases including “The Suicide Squad,” starring Idris Elba and Margot Robbie, the Matt Damon drama “Stillwater,” the gritty family story of “Lorelei” and the inspirational sports flick “Twelve Mighty Orphans.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres, VOD and streaming services including “The Suicide Squad,” starring Idris Elba and Margot Robbie, the Matt Damon drama “Stillwater,” the gritty family story of “Lorelei” and the inspirational sports flick “Twelve Mighty Orphans.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Inspired by true events, “Twelve Mighty Orphans,” new historical sports drama starring Luke Wilson, and now playing in theatres, reunites Martin Sheen with his “Apocalypse Now” co-star Robert Duvall.
Set during the Great Depression, the story revolves around WWI hero and up-standing citizen Rusty Russell (Wilson), a math and science teacher, tasked with teaching orphans at the Masonic Home in Fort Worth, Texas. The students are exploited, forced to work manual labor and beaten when they step out of line, and even when they don’t. In an effort to build char acter and foster a feeling of self-worth in the boys, Russell forms a football team, even though they don’t have a football or shoes.
“We have two seasons,” says Doc Hall (Sheen). “One without shoes and one with shoes. This is the season without shoes.”
A montage or two later, Russell seems to be making progress with the team of underdogs but not everyone is happy about it. “Every second they’re on the field, we’re losing money. says Frank Wynn (Wayne Knight), the taskmaster who mistreats the boys.
According to Doc, their early practices look more “like an Arthur Murray dance class” than an organized sport but soon the team comes together. Named the Mighty Mites, they use new, innovative strategies that set them up for success and, ultimately, to be an inspiration to a nation in need of heroes. “You have to adapt if you want to be competitive,” Russell says. “We don’t have the size, so we have to utilize what we do have.”
“Twelve Mighty Orphans” is a feel-good film light on surprises but heavy on inspiration. It’s predictable and old-fashioned, but it undeniably has its heart in the right place: right on its sleeve. Fine performances from Wilson, Sheen (who appears to be having the most fun of anyone on set) and Duvall, as the team’s financier, help ground the film’s high strung emotional tone.
You’ll root for the team, and the movie too, even when you can barely see through the clichés.
A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at the Tom Cruise action flick “Mission Impossible – Fallout,” the surreal and surprising “Blindspot” and the political drama “Shock and Awe.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases, the Tom Cruise smash-’em-up “Mission Impossible – Fallout,” the surreal and surprising “Blindspot” and the political drama “Shock and Awe.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CJAD Montreal morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk about the epic action of “Mission Impossible – Fallout,” the epic emotions of “Blindspotting” and the not-so-epic “Shock and Awe.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Blindspotting,” the debut film from director Carlos Lopez Estrada, filters an essay on privilege, gentrification and violence through the lens of one relationship. Colin (Daveed Diggs) and Miles (Rafael Casal) have been friends since childhood but still have much to learn from one another.
Set in Oakland, California the bulk of the action takes place over the course of Colin’s last three days of probation on an assault and battery charge. Living in a halfway house, Colin works as a mover, with best friend Miles, for his ex-girlfriend Val (Janina Gavankar) and has a strict curfew of 11 pm. He’s trying desperately to stay out of trouble but Miles, a loudmouth who carries a gun, is a loose cannon, always on the edge of blowing up the situation. When Colin witnesses a cop shoot an unarmed African-American man in the back he’s plagued by nightmares and an increasing sense of trauma and dread. A situation at a party that escalates out of control forces Colin to assess his place in the world, or at least, his place in a rapidly gentrifying Oakland.
“Blindspotting” is a happily undisciplined a movie. Raw and brimming with ideas, it’s an exciting look at contemporary life that kicks preconceive notions of storytelling to the curb. Co-writers and co-stars Diggs and Casal weave a story that bristles with provactive ideas. Funny one moment, tragic the next, it confronts the viewers ideas not only on the narrative form of the storytelling but the stereotypes so often used to portray people of colour in movies.
Director Estrada builds tension all the way through leading up to a surreal showdown that brings the story into sharp focus.
Despite many stylish flourishes “Blindspotting” feels authentic. Perhaps it’s because of the warm camaraderie between Diggs and Casal or perhaps it’s because of the sense of nuance given to large scale issues of race, loyalty and class.
