Zack Kotzer

This hopeless weirdo is a bit of a culture addict, given an NES and Bubble Bobble at a young age all going downhill from there. Zack is the assistant editor of Canadian culture mag, Steel Bananas as well as a contributing writer to the SPACE Channel, Newsarama and Torontoist. Zack is also working on a new safe haven for nerds called Giygas, though a word of warning, if you ask him about it, he will tell with gusto. Email - [email protected]


Articles by Zack Kotzer:


  • September 3, 2014

    TIFF 2014: Wild Tales Review

    Wild Tales Special Presentations Wild Tales, an anthology film, has a mixed definition of what makes something wild. It begins with something that’s easily considered its wildest element, an massive EC Comics-style revenge plot that begins and ends in a few joyfully sadistic minutes. Other times, and for a bulk of its duration, the tone […]

  • September 2, 2014

    TIFF 2014: A Hard Day Review

    A Hard Day City to City When you first meet Detective Ko Gun-soo (Lee Sun-kyun), it’s clear that he’s at the dawn of a real, real bad day. Driving to his mother’s funeral procession while on the phone with his snack-hungry daughter, a stray dog appears on the road causing him to swerve head on […]

  • September 2, 2014

    TIFF 2014: Two Shots Fired Review

    Two Shots Fired Contemporary World Cinema After a day of clubbing, swimming and garden work, Mariano (Rafael Federman) found a gun in his shed and shot himself twice. If this was a suicide, or an act of boredom, is unclear, as after surviving the incident he doesn’t seem anymore despairing than his generally blasé community. […]

  • August 7, 2014

    Night Moves Review

    Although a taut thriller like Night Moves is a change of pace for normally minimalist director Kelly Reichardt, it’s even more thrilling thanks to her knack for slow burning character work.

  • July 25, 2014

    Hercules Review

    If Hercules has one major accomplishment, it’s how it’s somehow managing to be both incredibly cheesy and starved of fun at the same time.

  • July 4, 2014

    Gerontophilia Review

    Bruce LaBruce, Canada’s most shocking film director and queer zombie porn auteur, has officially mellowed. That doesn’t mean he’s got nothing left to say or shout about, but it does mean that in Gerontophilia he isn’t doing it with his tongue wagging around.

  • June 14, 2014

    Interview: Jody Shapiro

    We talk to filmmaker Jody Shapiro about his documentary Burt’s Buzz, a look at Burt’s Bees’ founder and corporate icon, Burt Shavitz.

  • November 8, 2013

    Kill Your Darlings Review

    Despite sometimes gimmicky style and an underlying tendency to dumb itself down in hopes of courting younger viewers, Kill Your Darlings succeeds by daring to actually humanize some of literature’s most previously thought untouchable icons.

  • November 4, 2013

    Interview: John Krokidas

    Dork Shelf talks to Kill Your Darlings director John Krokidas about humbling your idols, the Beat Generation, youthful ambitions, working with Daniel Radcliffe, and wondering aloud about Glen Danzig’s past

  • September 20, 2013

    Our Man In Tehran Review

    The Canadian documentary about the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979, Our Man in Tehran, is more about creating a well rounded and thoughtful history than trying to one up the fictionalized American account of events in Argo.

  • September 13, 2013

    TIFF 2013: R100 Review

    R100 Midnight Madness Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto Japan has absolutely no shortage of absurd, off-the-wall directors, who take already gaga plots and then execute them in even more surreal ways. Matsumoto, with the head-turning Big Man Japan under his belt, has already managed to help establish himself amongst the bewilderbeast heard. R100, his new film about […]

  • September 13, 2013

    TIFF 2013: Gerontophilia Review

    Gerontophilia Vanguard Director: Bruce LaBruce Bruce LaBruce, Canada’s most shocking film director and queer zombie porn auteur, has officially mellowed. Expecting something edgy or cynical from his latest, Gerontophilia, will only have you second-guessing the sentiment as slow motion embraces between the young and the old are actually more sincere than sinister. Lake, a young […]

  • September 13, 2013

    TIFF 2013: The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas Review

    The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas City to City Director: Elina Psilkou Branded by the festival as this year’s new-wave of Greek cinema entry, Antonis Paraskevas isn’t as high concept as Dogtooth, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t as bizarre or unforgettable. Sombre and psychotic, the strange tale is best described as The Shining, but […]

  • September 11, 2013

    TIFF 2013: Ningen Review

    Ningen Contemporary World Cinema Directors: Guillame Giovanettie & Cagla Zencirci Japanese folk lore is whimsical, wide, weird, wonderful but heinously outlandish, overshadowing in alienation because of how odd and specific its supernatural inhabitants are. And much of that likely attracted Turkish filmmakers Giovanetti and Zencirci, nevermind that the film is, shockingly, mostly improvised by its […]

  • September 11, 2013

    TIFF 2013: Fading Gigolo Review

    Fading Gigolo Special Presentation Director: John Turturro Turturro can have some fun with you behind the camera, and as cult actor worth rooting for in front of. Fading Gigolo, Turturro’s New York flavoured rom-com, wears its influences on its sleeve. Actually, it wears it in the film, as the wit snapping Woody Allen stands side-by-side […]