Men, Women, & Children Special Presentations Despite chronically lapsing into the kind of melodrama that only parents who would bubble wrap their kids to keep them from from getting hurt would love, this story of the internets and the interconnectedness of our daily wired lives told through the microcosm of a small Texas town represents […]
Elephant Song Special Presentations In the moment, it’s easy to get a little invested in Elephant Song, a mysterious drama about a senior doctor, Toby Green (Bruce Greenwood) being called in on Christmas to see if a charismatic patient, Michael (Xavier Dolan, acting in a film he didn’t make himself), knows anything about a missing […]
’71 Discovery Not all wars have glory and not all intense war films are glorifying. ’71 is a relentless, impressive and frank film about the IRA conflict, The Troubles at its peak, and moreover how no battles are fought strictly between combative soldiers on isolated battlefields. Gary (Skins’ Jack O’Connell) is an anxious soldier being […]
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness TIFF Docs It’s not often that we as the viewing public get an outside glimpse into a dream factory. The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, while a bit dry at times, is a unique look inside one of the premiere animation houses on the planet. To the general public […]
Revenge of the Green Dragons Special Presentations It’s very easy to see why Martin Scorsese produced the latest film from Andrew Lau. Not only did Lau create the successful Infernal Affairs franchise that would allow Marty to make The Departed, but this decade spanning and thoroughly brutish crime saga (a collaboration with co-director Andrew Loo) […]
Cut Bank Contemporary World Cinema Coming down somewhere between a late 90s Tarantino knock-off that has been pulled out of mothballs and a Coen Brothers homage that never should have been made in the first place, the bizarrely atonal and baffling small town crime thriller Cut Bank from first television director Matt Shakman fails at […]
Big Game Midnight Madness A thoroughly over the top and infinitely exciting action romp, the sure to be noticed Finnish import from the man who brought the world Rare Exports (you know, the really wild killer Santa Claus movie) will leave genre fans wishing it never ended by the time the credits roll. When the […]
Boychoir Gala An unabashed crowd pleaser that recalls the troubled youth movies of the 1950s more than it does standardized performing arts showcases, François Girard’s first film in ages goes for the heartstrings while eschewing most troubling genre clichés. Following the loss of his mother in a drunk driving accident and a father (Josh Charles) […]
The Humbling Special Presentations These days, the news that a bunch of grizzled old Hollywood types have gotten together to make a film about aging should be received with a mixture of abject terror and disgust. The world needs another Bucket List or Last Vegas about as much as it needs nuclear warfare. Thankfully, the […]
Haemoo Gala With Snowpiercer finally out and as beloved as all assumed it would be, the time has come to appreciate Joon-ho Bong’s next movie….kind of. He produced and co-wrote Haemoo, while directing duties fell into the hands of his longtime writing partner Sung-Bo Shim. Bong’s fingerprints remain on the film in its radical tonal […]
In Wavelengths Program 3, Tales Told, we deal with the structure of narratives, and observe as they are manipulated and conveyed, with varying results. Yuri Ancarani’s San Siro is filmed in and around the football stadium in Milan of the same name. We watch as preparations are made before the match- the tedious, arcane details […]
THE WANTED 18 TIFF Docs A tax rebellion, political clashes, border disputes… and cows? Veteran documentarian Paul Cowan and newcomer Amer Shomali put cattle at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in their collaboration, The Wanted 18. The 18 refers to the 18 cows purchased by the Palestinian residents of Beit Sahour, a suburb of […]
Nightcrawler Special Presentatons Jake Gyllenhaal delivers easily a career best performance as an amoral psychopath drawn into the highly profitable world of freelance journalism, capturing grisly crime scene footage throughout the overnights and selling it to the highest bidding local news source. The directorial debut for screenwriter Dan Gilroy (Real Steel, Freejack, The Bourne Legacy), […]
St. Vincent Special Presentations In what might be Bill Murray’s best chance at Oscar gold yet, the comedic actor plays a boorish, loutish, scoundrel who helps a young man learn how to stand up for himself. It’s basically a kinder, gentler, funnier Gran Torino (or a white trash, Brooklyn version of his character in Rushmore) […]
Spring Vanguard Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, directors of the exceptional indie horror film Resolution, come up with a nice blend of the sappy and scary in this off beat romance. Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci) has just lost his mother and his job so he uses some of his inheritance to take an impulsive trip […]
