Several months after winning the best actress award in Berlin for it's leading actor and hot on the heels of its announcement as Canada's official entry for contention at this year's Oscar race, Kim Nguyen's Rebelle (War Witch) has been building considerable momentum in recent weeks and rightfully so.
The good news about House at the End of the Street is that it’s not the aggressive swell of haunted house horror clichés that the trailers promised. Nope, this is actually somewhat of a traditional thriller that has more in common with a certain Hitchcock movie than it does with the latest direct-to-DVD genre rehash. Unfortunately, it’s not a very good thriller and the suspense/scares are doled out in such a dreary ”slow burn” way that about as much time is spent developing a ”battle of the bands” subplot as building up dread or atmosphere.
Making the jump from the computer and television screens of Canada to the big screen, sketch troupe Picnicface makes its first foray onto the big screen with the roller disco opus Roller Town , a funny and appropriately silly send up of 70s disco movie conventions that never lapses into outright nostalgia for the bygone days of bell bottoms and mirror balls.
It might not be too debatable that Dredd 3D works as a more faithful introduction to the cult comic lawman from the future than the character’s Sylvester Stallone vehicle from 1995, but it’s not better by much.
The Trouble With the Curve isn't the worst movie ever made, nor is it even close to the weakest movie of Clint Eastwood’s career. It might be dull and old fashioned, but I suppose it's perfectly watchable for passive viewers who like baseball or the aging movie star. It's just instantly forgettable and brings nothing new to the baseball movie genre that’s already overstuffed with these cliched entries.
With his best film to date, Quebecois wunderkind Xavier Dolan still doesn't overcome his excessive love of style, but he assuredly makes his mark as a masterful storyteller in the lengthy Laurence Anyways .
For our final round-up of TIFF 2012 reviews we take a look at some great stuff yet to come and some films we're doubling back on with reviews for The Paperboy , Song for Marion , Frances Ha , Room 237 , The ABCs of Death , Ghost Graduation , The We and the I , Imogene , Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp , Outrage Beyond , Come Out and Play , The Lesser Blessed , and The Bay .
Resident Evil: Retribution sadly takes a turn for the worse despite some grand action sequences, strong female characters, and great use of 3D. It simply makes the storyline far too complicated for its own good; jerking the audience around like it’s”¦ well”¦ a bad video game.
Following a much earned day off from posting that saw us watching even more movies and preparing more interviews, we return with part 8 of our TIFF 2012 coverage with looks at The Lords of Salem , Zaytoun , Reality , Passion , Byzantium , The Act of Killing , The Suicide Shop , and Hellbenders .
A new week begins and we're still covering the films of TIFF 2012! Today: Cloud Atlas , Quartet , The Impossible , Spring Breakers , Everyday , Writers , In the House , and iLL Manors
As TIFF 2012 finishes up its first weekend, our ongoing coverage looks at The Master , To the Wonder , High Park on Hudson , End of Watch , Aftershock , Sightseers , The Crimes of Mike Recket , No One Lives , and Midnight's Children .
Since we don't get days off on weeks like this, here's part five of our TIFF 2012 coverage with looks at The Place Beyond the Pines , Seven Psychopaths , Hotel Transylvania , A Royal Affair , Thermae Romae , Smashed , Rebelle , and Laurence Anyways .
Day four of our TIFF 2012 coverage rolls on with the festival's second day and looks at Argo , The Company You Keep , West of Memphis , At Any Price , Berberian Sound Studio , Imagine , and All That Matters is Past .
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the worst of movies... it was the worst of movies.
With opening day of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival now upon us, That Shelf's coverage rolls on with looks at Stories We Tell , On the Road , The Hunt , Peddlers , Tower , Lore , 90 Minutes , and Blackbird .
