Algonquin Review
The Canadian indie drama Algonquin is a perfect example of a rare kind of film: the kind of idea that sounds terrible on paper or in a pitch, but one that works just fine in practice.
Dom Hemingway Review
Dom Hemingway contains plenty of thoughtful comedic performances and general ideas that are engaging enough to make one forget that the film itself isn’t all that great.
Home Entertanment Round-Up: 4/7/14
We kick off this Home Entertainment round-up with two Martin Scorsese comedies - The King of Comedy and The Wolf of Wall Street - before looking at new releases for Sam Raimi's Darkman, Howard Hawks' El Dorado, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, and Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. There's also some B-movie goodness with looks at Alec Baldwin in The Shadow, the 1980s horror flick Night of the Demons, and the made for TV 1973 thriller The Horror at 37,000 Feet
Game of Thrones Episode 4.1 Recap
Between its fantastic bookends, “Two Swords” is everything you would expect from a healthy HBO drama entering its fourth season: statements of intention, an occasional piece of exposition, and a lot of resetting the board for a new game of intrigue, brutality, and maybe even a little glimmer of hope.
Hannibal Episode 2.6 Recap
When Dr. Lecter is plucking the strings and writing the notes, Hannibal is thrilling, unpredictable and disgustingly beautiful to look at. In “Futamono” we get all of that, some meta humor, and the most disturbingly delicious looking human leg eaten on network TV. Also a fun dinner party.
Community Episode 5.11 Recap
“G.I. Jeff” constantly delivers nostalgic 80’s animated fan service, but Community has set a strong precedent for making these fun departures into character exploration exercises, so there is an implied mystery afoot as well: Who is imagining this? Why? And does it matter?
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls: I am renewed
Much of the discussion surrounding Diablo 3's expansion pack is about changes to the systems: loot drops, experience points, item variety. But Act V also adds more incidental events, characters and dialogues that flesh out Westmarch better than any of the locations we've seen before.
Afflicted Review
Afflicted can be easily dismissed as simply being a more supernatural-than-superhero take on the found footage origin story that Chronicle attempted, but it’s still a fun and innovative low budget bit of meta-horror.
This Week at The Bloor: 4/4/14
After a few weeks away, our Bloor Cinema column returns with new looks at Errol Morris' look at Donald Rumsfeld in The Unknown Known and the gorgeous experimental documentary The Great Flood.
Thought Bubble:
On not watching
Game of Thrones
HBO's landmark series is one of the best things on television. Even for those who don't watch television.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review
Delivering a good stand alone story and not getting too far bogged down in Avengers mythology, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a great follow-up to one of the best films Marvel Studios has produced to date.
Hannibal Episode 2.5 Recap
“Mukozuke” succeeds in providing the contemplative space that other serial killer centric shows don’t. It’s a case study in what we will let our icons get away with and what makes them different from us and the fictional people they prey on.
Noah Review
Definitely not a straight-faced biblical epic, the first 90 minutes or so of Darren Aronofsky's Noah is a highly entertaining fantasy epic with scope and grandeur. The remaining 40 minutes is exactly the same kind of sour and dour film Aronofsky has made throughout his career thus far. It's okay overall, but wildly uneven.
The Returned Review
The Spanish-Canadian co-production The Returned offers an interesting spin on the zombie film, even if it does play a bit like a fourth sequel to Danny Boyle’s take on the genre that skips over “months” and simply goes to 28 YEARS Later.
Cas & Dylan Review
An unpretentious road comedy with a cosmically aligned odd couple, Cas & Dylan gets incredible mileage thanks to great leading performances from veteran actor Richard Dreyfuss and rising star Tatiana Maslany.
