The Newsroom Episode 2.3 Recap

The stories of episode three continue to be removed from the flash-forward mystery conflict seen in the season two premiere of The Newsroom. Much like last week’s episode, the show forces us to ‘...wait for it’ without even knowing what ‘it’ is. That being said, there are still some fun moments.

The Smurfs 2 Review

A movie like The Smurfs 2 exists for only four reasons (in order of importance): 1. Sell merchandise 2. Profit 3. Steady employment for all involved. 4. Be a bland enough babysitter so that when the film arrives on DVD parents will buy it in hopes of plunking their kid down in front of it for 90 minutes of peace and quiet.

The To Do List Review

Despite what should be a novel gender switcheroo designed to look at teenage sexuality from a girl's perspective, The To Do List is still just an awkwardly assembled, bodily fluid loving gross out comedy with almost no distinction from its male counterparts.

Hatchet III Review

With even less story, slightly less gore than before, and a new director, Hatchet III is an okay resurrection of modern slasher icon Victor Crowley, but the real joy comes from watching a cast of old horror pros have a bit of fun.

This Week at The Bloor: 7/26/13

This week at The Bloor: a look at many uses of one of the most popular shellfish in Mussels in Love and a fascinating expose about how rampant tourism has damaged one of the world's most beautiful cities in The Venice Syndrome.

The Wolverine Review

The Wolverine is quite daring in terms of how much it tries to not be exactly like every other comic book based blockbuster from the past decade, and despite some problems, it's still vastly better than the character's last big screen outing.

Rufus Review

The Canadian vampire black comedy Rufus is a couple of rewrites away from something that could have been great. Instead it comes packaged with one of the sleaziest and slut-shaming love triangle subplots in recent memory that's totally unnecessary even from a plotting standpoint.

Thursday Till Sunday Review

Well acted and gorgeously shot, the extremely low key and very deliberately paced domestic drama Thursday Till Sunday never fully achieves its goals.

Computer Chess Review

While at times relying perhaps a bit too heavily on period nostalgia, the freewheeling mumblecore comedy Computer Chess is still unquestionably one of the most original films of the year.

Fruitvale Station Review

Despite some questionable narrative elements, the still powerful Fruitvale Station tells a tragic tale with one of the best performances in screen history from Michael B. Jordan. That's not hyperbole. His is the kind of performance that makes a decent film positively superlative.

Crystal Fairy Review

While not particularly deep or even all that narratively engaging, Crystal Fairy does boast a pair of excellent leading performances from Michael Cera and Gaby Hoffman.

The Newsroom Episode 2.2 Recap

The new season of HBO’s The Newsroom is up and running, and the second episode, "The Genoa Tip," is principally spent maneuvering us towards the season’s larger ongoing stories. We get some long-overdue progress in the Jim-Maggie-Don love triangle, more of intrepid-as-opposed-to-incompetent reporter Neal Sanpat, and more than one genuinely fun scene featuring Sloan.

The Hunt Review

Returning once again to the subject of pedophilia, Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt features an incredible leading performance from Mads Mikkelsen and offers the audience no easy answers.

The Act of Killing Review

Unlike anything ever attempted on screen before and certainly something that can never be duplicated, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing gets to the heart, ego, and psyche of Indonesian gangster who massacred for money and now think of themselves as heroes.

Adriatico My Love Review

There isn’t a single second, moment, shot, performance, or line of dialogue within Nikola Curcin’s idiotic, slipshod, useless, and pointless film, Adriatico My Love that can be see as approximating anything close to an artistic triumph.