Packaged Goods’ Best of 2013

The TIFF Packaged Goods series once again returns to the Lightbox this Wednesday at 7:00pm for their annual year end round-up of the best in commercials and music videos, and this year’s final programme is definitely heavier on the latter than the former.

Home Entertainment Round-Up 10/10/13

This week on video store shelves we look at new releases Fast and Furious 6, Man of Steel, We're the Millers, Touchy Feely Frances Ha, Force of Execution, Jayne Mansfield's Car, Clear History, and Despicable Me 2, as well as classics Nashville, City Lights, and Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.

Let the Fire Burn Review

Jason Osder's documentary Let the Fire Burn looks at a tragic 1985 incident in Philadelphia that caught everyday citizens in the crossfire of an increasingly agitated inner city political organization and a local government that wanted to stop the group by any means necessary.

This Week at The Bloor: 12/6/13

A trio of new films hit The Bloor this week: Jingle Bell Rock is a well made bit of holiday nostalgia. The Italian Character can never quite find an even handed way of showcasing one of the world's best orchestras. And InRealLife is a well made, but oddly fear mongering look at how teenagers approach the internet.

Out of the Furnace Review

Out of the Furnace aims for a character driven drama, but despite having an excellent cast of actors giving all they can to the project, there’s not much that can be done to give the movie any kind of pulse or momentum. It’s dull and plodding when the material suggests something with much higher emotional stakes. It’s the perfect example of a film that’s too subdued for its own good.

Spinning Plates Review

Spinning Plates is a well done, crowd pleasing documentary that looks at how three very different restaurants play into the notion that food is an art form that's just as valid as writing, painting, or movies.

CBGB Review

The abysmal CBGB is about as appropriate and fitting of a tribute to the sadly lost NYC Bowery dive and punk rock Mecca as playing a Jock Jams album over pallbearers carrying a casket to a hearse.

Hawking Review

Instead of an in-depth look into the life of one of the world's greatest scientists, Hawking plays more like a low level, unambitious biography of a sports star: a parade of nothing more than statistics and snapshots.

Concussion Review

The sexually charged lesbian drama Concussion comes with a solid premise (one cribbed almost directly from Bunuel’s Belle de Jour), but little sense of focus or any interesting tension.

A.K.A. Doc Pomus Review

A sprawling look at songwriting superstar Jerome Felder, A.K.A. Doc Pomus, looks at one man's unlikely life crafting some of the biggest rock, R&B, and blues tracks of the 1950s and 60s.

This Week at The Bloor: 11/29/13

This week at The Bloor, one of the most harrowing and unflinching documentaries of the year, Narco Cultura, takes a look at the lesser seen sides of the Mexican drug trade, while the much lighter, but still great Tokyo Waka: A City Poem examines how one city deals with a large number of pesky crows with equal parts admiration and annoyance.

The Armstrong Lie Review

Alex Gibney’s firsthand look into the rise and fall of cyclist Lance Armstrong, The Armstrong Lie, becomes even more increasingly interesting as a result of how flawed the film is overall. It’s not that Gibney’s points about the tarnished seven time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor’s deceptions and lies about doping allegations aren’t perceptive or valid, but with a bloated and unwarranted running time north of two hours it’s not only about its subject’s inability to come clean. In many ways it’s an almost overly emotional document of Gibney’s own inability to let go of his own film.

Blood in the Snow 2013: Evangeline Review

Evangeline (Opening Night Film) A mishmash of halfbaked genre elements cribbed from other far better films and filmmakers and an almost inscrutable story, Karen Lam’s Evangeline is an unfortunate mess that never comes together and sets some genuinely good performances hopelessly adrift. Kat de Lieva stars as the titular protagonist, a shy young student just […]