We close out the year with a final Blu-Ray column looking at The Great Muppet Caper (one of the greatest comedies of all time), why Bill Murray never cared for Scrooged (even though its awesome), the 50th anniversary of Mary Poppins, and the home video debuts of The Lone Ranger and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
The maddeningly cliched Good Vibrations is all surface gloss; the cinematic punk rock equivalent of a Good Charlotte album.
Did you know Splice and Cube director Vincenzo Natali had a new film coming out this week? Neither did we until 10pm on the Wednesday night before it was due to be released. And that's probably for good reason, since the dull and ponderous Haunter does the filmmaker and his star (Abigail Breslin) absolutely no favours.
Nicky's Family is a doc that should appeal to WWII buffs who like more than a simple regurgitation of facts and crave more personal recreations that tells of the exploits of British stockbroker who ended up saving 669 Jewish children from occupied Czechoslovakia.
A solid, throwback long con period piece with an all star A-list cast, David O. Russell’s American Hustle assuredly isn’t one of the best films of the year like many year end critical organizations and best-of lists are positioning it to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. It’s easy to recommend, well acted, and fun to watch, and I really don’t have many problems with it outside of maybe not fully being able to understand or buy into the hype surrounding it.
Directors Joel and Ethan Coen and actor Oscar Isaac work together in the 1960s New York folk music scene set Inside Llewyn Davis to craft one of the most emotionally affecting works to date in a fictionalized tale of a talented obstinate that feels as powerful as the best non-fiction.
Every problem with Walking With Dinosaurs 3D could be solved by simply firing every single person who wasn’t an animator and turning it into a silent film.
Her is nothing short of astonishing: a brainy science fiction yarn set in a not too distant future that also functions as an off kilter, but never ironic, creepy, or off putting modern romance. It’s a reflection of narcissism, consumerism, and most importantly alienation in our modern digital world. It's also the best movie of the year.
The guys behind MDFF return to Double Double Land in Toronto tonight for a free screening of a pair of films from Brooklyn microbudget filmmaker Nathan Silver.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is to Anchorman what Ghostbusters 2 was to Ghostbusters. It’s an inferior, but lighthearted and often very funny retread of ground that had been previously covered much better in the original. Sure, it’s often hilarious (in the first half, anyway) and the cast jumps back into their roles quite nicely, but is it a good movie? Nope.
Can you enjoy A Link Between Worlds if you haven’t played A Link to the Past? The answer is a definitive yes – although the chatter surrounding the dozens of Easter eggs and call-backs you've doubtlessly missed may rankle you.
The drab, lifeless, done to death and cheaply produced pseudo-zombie film, Antisocial is more interested in hitting stock horror movie beats than doing anything all that exciting or thrilling.
This week at The Bloor brings the dry Israeli history documentary The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers and the exceptional and heartbreaking Blood Brother.
It never takes a look at the making of Mary Poppins in any ways that could be seen as eye-opening or controversial, but Disney's Saving Mr. Banks is still a decent enough crowd pleaser with some good performances.
The Punk Syndrome looks at a special brand of punks that rise above disability to create universally identifiable songs about frustration and rage.
