Every now and then a movie comes along that is so misconceived on every conceivable level that it becomes ludicrously entertaining in the ways that the filmmakers never intended. Alex Cross is one of those very special disasters.
The Paperboy Review
Fleetingly campy and sleazy at the opening and closing, The Paperboy is ultimately too boring during the middle hour of the film to leave any sort of lasting impression outside of the film's most bizarre moments.
This Week in DVD: 10/16/12
This week we look at the heavily anticipated DVD and Blu-ray releases of Moonrise Kingdom and Prometheus, which lead off a crowded week where we also look at the Adam Sandler comedy That's My Boy, and four partially Canadian productions: the complete series of The Firm, Red Lights, Surviving Progress, and Crooked Arrows
Just Dance 4 Review
Just Dance 4 is truly the karaoke of dance games, full of guilty pleasures new and old and on-screen lyrics to boot.
Sinister Review
Have you seen every horror film made in the past 30 years? You've already seen all of Sinister.
The Imposter Review
Ingeniously mixing fact and fiction in both form and content, Bart Layton’s The Imposter is easily one of the most gripping films of the year that just happens to be a documentary.
Keep the Lights On Review
In Ira Sach's first film since 2007, Keep the Lights On he crafts a harrowing and expertly acted queer multiyear romance between a needy filmmaker and a crack addicted lawyer that fits perfectly into the new cinematic trend of depressing love stories.
Seven Psychopaths Review
While In Bruges was tightly wound and focused, Martin McDonagh’s sophomore effort, Seven Psychopaths is more of a spiralling series of darkly comic episodes that only gets thoughtful in the climax and even then it's never really meant to be taken seriously. It’s his crack at creating a violent cult comedy and thankfully he’s got the skills (and the cast) to pull off that trick.
Argo Review
In Argo, the exciting and fast paced third feature for actor Ben Affleck as a director, a silver screen scam job comes to actual theatres with the filmmaker starring as Mendez, whose best plan to rescue the trapped diplomats comes in the form of bringing them together as a fake movie crew under the guise of being location scouts for a big budget sci-fi epic.
Antiviral Review
With his debut feature Antiviral, writer and director Brandon Cronenberg might be accused of following in his famous father David’s footsteps, and while he finds himself unquestionably influenced by his old man in terms of plot structure, pacing, and leaning towards the use of body horror as a metaphor for something greater, the young filmmaker hits enough original notes of his own to create a slightly off kilter, but very well directed bit of low key creepiness.
Stories We Tell Review
Everyone has a story, but not everyone can tell them. But with Stories We Tell Sarah Polley proves to be a masterful storyteller in what’s unquestionably one of the best films of the year.
Nobody Walks Review
Olivia Thirlby is making out with a guy in an airport parking lot as they walk to his car. They met on the plane. They're wearing skinny jeans. He drives her to Silverlake. There's a vintage camera on her lap. Light-saturated shots of the passing streetscapes are interspersed. If you're not already thinking “This is some hipster shit” by the time she arrives at John Krasinski and Rosemarie DeWitt's lovely house surrounded by trees, this movie is for you.
Focus on Planet in Focus
We take a look at some of the selections for this year's thirteenth annual Planet in Focus Environmental Film festival, running this October 10th through the 14th at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox, including the opening night film Lost Rivers and the much buzzed about Future Weather.
This Week in DVD: 10/9/12
This post Turkey day DVD release date brings us reviews for The Raven, People Like Us, Iron Sky, and the now even longer Rock of Ages.
The New Old: Bond from 1982 to 2012
We finish up our in-depth look at the BOND 50 Blu-ray box set this Thanksgiving with a look at the British super spy from 1982's Octopussy through to 2008's Quantum of Solace. Our film and arts editor ranks his films from best to worst at the end, and so do you with a list of our Dork Shelf readers' favourites ranked in terms of votes as to which was the best.