Dolphin Tale 2 Review
Dolphin Tale 2 works as nicely unpretentious, inspirational, vaguely educational, entertaining kiddie viewing.
TIFF 2014: The Voices Review
The Voices Vanguard In every horror movie, established or not, there has to be some assumption as to why a slasher is on their spree. Traumatic childhoods, supernatural influences, mental instability. Sometimes, there are films that try to turn the mirror on this, creating empathetic murders who seem like a machine unable to stop, like […]
The Drop Review
The Drop is a solid character based thriller with a heck of a twist.
TIFF 2014: A Little Chaos Review
A Little Chaos Gala/Closing Night Film Actor Alan Rickman’s stately period drama about the construction of the fountains and gardens at the Palace of Versailles couldn’t be more boring if it was actually about the intricacies of gardening. Instead, it’s an inert drama that doesn’t improve on the sight of the same actors digging for […]
TIFF 2014: Time Out of Mind Review
Time Out of Mind Special Presentations I’ll admit a bit of a bias here since I once went through a period where I was homeless, so on some level I think the experience of what it’s like living on city streets in the latest film from Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Rampart) is a bit too […]
TIFF 2014: Tokyo Tribe Review
Tokyo Tribe Midnight Madness There are some cinematic auteurs out there that push boundaries in ways that you can’t even imagine. Tokyo Tribe is, that it almost works but it over stays its welcome and and just goes on too long with its self-centred lunacy. It’s Tokyo in an alternate future, a city that is […]
TIFF 2014: They Have Escaped Review
They Have Escaped Vanguard Teenage outcasts decide to flee their disappointing lives in this new offering from Finnish director J.P. Valkeapää (The Visitor). Joni, played by Teppo Manner, is a quiet young man who starts a job at a children’s home after going AWOL from his military service. He’s a social outcast, due primarily to […]
TIFF 2014: Pasolini Review
Pasolini Special Presentations Pier Paolo Pasolini was one of finest and most outrageous directors during the golden age of Italian cinema. Then his life ended in a sordid murder that wouldn’t have been out of place in one of his own movies. He’s been a figure of fascination amongst film geeks for that very reason […]
TIFF 2014: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence Review
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence Masters So your first question, about the title, is answered immediately. It opens on a pigeon, sitting on a branch, and though it is stuffed and mounted in a natural history museum, it’s not a stretch to imagine it reflects on its existence. The people that […]
TIFF 2014: The Duke of Burgundy Review
The Duke of Burgundy Vanguard In Berberian Sound Studio, Peter Strickland made a delirious love letter to giallo horror, framed in the clever concept of an unassuming foley artist in a strange pocket of filmmaking before melting his work into a fever dream. In The Duke of Burgundy, Strickland revisits genres he had to hide […]
Doctor Who Episode 8.3 Recap
Our lovely companion takes the Doctor up on an offer to go anywhere in time, choosing the period when Robin Hood would have been traipsing around England.
TIFF 2014: The Editor Review
The Editor Midnight Madness A loving homage to lesser, shoddier made giallo films of the 70s and 80s, The Editor finds its greatest strength in pulling together a lot of small details together that film nerds will love, but that others might not find as amusing. Once one of the world’s greatest film editors, Rey […]
TIFF 2014: Short Cuts Canada Program 6 Reviews
The shorts that make up Program 6 all address some kind of exploration. Exploration of other planets, other dimensions, or even just different ways of living. It’s a broad theme that brings with it the best and the worst of the Short Cuts Canada programs. A standout film, not just in this program but in […]
TIFF 2014: Cake Review
Cake Special Presentations A great, but not exactly against type turn from Jennifer Aniston can’t salvage this slovenly, misshapen dramedy about an angrily depressed pill popping woman with chronic pain and a wealth of repressed feelings. Claire (Aniston) has separated from her husband and lost her child following a tragic accident. She goes through her […]
TIFF 2014: 99 Homes Review
99 Homes Special Presentations Essentially Wall Street for the era of the U.S. bailout and sub-prime mortgage collapse, this assured return to form for filmmaker Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Goodbye Solo, At Any Price) benefits from a wealth of style and tension and a pair of exceptionally matched leading performances. After being evicted from […]
