Richard Crouse was the host of Reel to Real, Canada’s longest running television show about movies, from 1998 to 2008 and is the regular film critic for CTV's Canada AM and 24 hour news source NewsNet. He is a regular pundit for Star TV's Best! Movies! Ever! and the host of The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen on Rogers Television. He is also a frequent guest on many national Canadian radio and television shows. In April 2008, his new Saturday afternoon radio show featuring movie reviews and news began its run on News Talk 1010 CFRB in Toronto.

He is also the author of six books on pop culture history including Who Wrote the Book of Love, the best-selling The 100 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen and Reel Winners; his work has also been featured in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, as well as several literary and music magazines. His column, In Focus, runs every Friday in the Metro newspapers all across Canada. In September 2008 his new book, The Son of the 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen was released through ECW Press.

Follow him on Twitter @richardcrouse.

Washington has made some bold career choices

February 08, 2012

Denzel Washington is a famous guy.

What makes a hero super?

February 01, 2012

What does it really take to become a superhero? Wikipedia simply defines a superhero as “a type of stock character, dedicated to protecting the public.”

How movies teach us about life’s Grey areas

January 25, 2012

This Christmas I got a book titled The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

Aviation films still fly

January 18, 2012

The first Best Picture Oscar winner was Wings, a 1927 aviation flick featuring an inane love story but some spectacular aerial footage.

Good box office vibes

January 11, 2012

“I’ve always looked at my career as an athlete would look at his,” said Mark Wahlberg, star of this weekend’s thriller Contraband.

Bringing hellfire back

January 04, 2012

Demonic possession has been terrifying moviegoers for decades.

A Swedish invasion

December 21, 2011

These days it seems there are almost as many movies set in Sweden as there are Billy bookshelves in college dorms.

The chips are definitely not down

December 14, 2011

The Chipmunks have done for small striped squirrels what Rin Tin Tin did for German Shepherds.

Sitting through a familiar film

December 07, 2011

This weekend Jonah Hill plays an irresponsible college student who reluctantly looks after his neighbour’s wild kids.

Helen Mirren got it right when she said ‘flesh sells’

November 30, 2011

A website called Mr. Skin notes that Helen Mirren is the only celebrity to appear nude on screen in five different decades.

The orphan adoption

November 22, 2011

The new Martin Scorsese film is the director’s first PG rated film in 18 years. Hugo is a handsome 3D kid’s flick featuring adventure, a broken robot, a toy store owner and one of the mainstays of central casting — an orphan.

Much ado about penguins

November 15, 2011

At the start of the animated penguin picture Surf’s Up, Cody Maverick (the voice of Transformer’s star Shia LaBeouf) takes a shot at another cartoon tuxedoed bird movie.

Playing multiple roles must be twice the fun

November 08, 2011

Ben Affleck did it. So did Eddie Murphy and Charlie Chaplin. Heck, Alec Guinness did it eight times, including once as a woman.

Harold and Kumar put the ‘X’ in Xmas

November 01, 2011

The week after Halloween is a strange time to be writing about Christmas movies. Almost like cooking a Thanksgiving dinner in July.

Popping Shakespeare’s collar

October 25, 2011

A new movie called Anonymous asks a question that has kept academics debating for decades. Was it actually William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, who wrote the plays and poems attributed to him?

Another makeover for the Musketeers

October 18, 2011

What do beloved hoofer Gene Kelly and post-millennial wild man Charlie Sheen have in common? The Hollywood stars both were “all for one, one for all” in a Three Musketeers movie.

Horror-remake factory is working overtime

October 12, 2011

Hollywood is so into recycling you’d think Al Gore was running a studio and green-lighting movies.

Before Twilight, there was the Twilight Zone

October 04, 2011

If the premise of Real Steel sounds familiar, it’s because the last time you saw it was in black and white, coming to you from the Twilight Zone.

Casting cancer

September 27, 2011

Cancer is no laughing matter, but a new film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man afflicted with a rare and deadly form of the disease is both heartfelt and humorous. The result, which hits screens just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is touching, poignant and funny.  Here are some other inspirational films about cancer.

SJP’s flip flopping movie career

September 13, 2011

Sarah Jessica Parker is best known as Carrie Bradshaw, the sharp-tongued figurehead of Sex and the City, the long-running ode to post feminism and stylish clothes. But before Mr. Big and the Louboutins she was a movie star with some classics — like Footloose — and some stinkers — like Dudley Do-Right — to her credit.

Warning: Virus films are contagious

September 06, 2011

If Jaws kept people out of the water, Contagion, this weekend’s all-star Towering Inferno of germ movies, will keep them from touching their faces. The average person touches their face upwards of 3,000 times a day, and in the world of Contagion everything that comes in contact with your skin — an elevator button, a glass at an airport, a handrail on a ferry — could be fatal.

The found footage of missing protagonists

August 31, 2011

The most famous "found footage" film begins with the words, "In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared into the woods of Burketville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found."

Don't fear the femme fatale

August 24, 2011

Chances are the first movie assassin names that pop into your head are The Jackal, Martin Q. Blank or El Mariachi. What do they have in common, other than flashy names and a predilection for gunning down their on-screen enemies? They’re all men.

The career-killing potential of sword and sorcery flicks

August 17, 2011

Sword and sorcery movies are easy to spot. Look for a bare-chested hero, damsels in distress, big swords and at least one character described as “a mysterious warrior of dark magic.” You’ll also see an epic story, a hint of romance, some fantasy and, of course swashbuckling battle scenes.

Beast is the master

August 16, 2011

Sword-and-sorcery movies are easy to spot. Look for a bare-chested hero, damsels in distress, big swords and at least one character described as “a mysterious warrior of dark magic.”

Hollywood's many bad feelings

August 10, 2011

When the first Final Destination movie was released in 2000, no one could have predicted the success of the horror franchise.

The monkey business behind 'Planet Of The Apes'

August 03, 2011

There have been plenty of real flesh and fur movie monkeys.

Taking the western to outer space

July 27, 2011

When we think of westerns, images of cowboy hats, stagecoaches and John Wayne usually come to mind. I say usually because while those may be the most common icons associated with the genre they’re not the only ones.

Film franchises and their phenomenon

July 12, 2011

It’s not uncommon for movie franchises to span years and hang on to loyal fans. But to have the seven films in the series so far gross an average $909,906,449 each is astounding.

There's nothing new about a horrible boss

July 06, 2011

Nobody likes the boss.