15 year-old Mia’s life is claustrophobic. The council estate flat that she shares with her mother and sister is tiny. The corridors are tiny, and filled with young people who swear in ways that would make Mickey Rourke blush. Her mother seems to care little for her; in fact, there doesn’t seem to be anyone […]
TIFF Review: Defendor
Think Gotham City is the only city with a monopoly on costumed vigilantes? Think again. Hamilton, Ontario has its own guardian of the night: Defendor, a well meaning citizen hero bent on cleaning up the streets of The Hammer, or at least trying to. Defendor is the first feature film from Canadian actor Peter Stebbings, […]
TIFF Review: The Vintner’s Luck
The Vintner’s Luck is Niki Caro’s fourth feature, and it is as mixed as film as the wine and angels on her screen. It is a sumptuous film, one that engages the senses beyond sight and sound. While it is gorgeous to look at, its moments of exchange between story and viewer are too few […]
TIFF Review: Les Herbes Folles
If Les Herbes Folles were directed by a newcomer, you would call it an extraordinary, quirky, thoroughly French look at the strange happenstance of love, the objects that lead us there, and what would happen if we said out loud the often strange things we were thinking. But the film is directed by the great […]
TIFF Review: The Road
If you saw director John Hillcoat’s last film The Proposition, then you know that he is perhaps the only man suited to adapt Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. The world as we know it has been utterly destroyed: Society no longer functions and every bit of infrastructure is gone. A father and son struggle to […]
TIFF Blog: Noah’s Film Festival Experience (Part 1?)
I can’t speak for the rest of this town’s cinema lovers, but one of the best parts of our film festival for me has always been the surprises. Not knowing which films I’m going to end up seeing, who’s going to be at the screenings, and which ones I will like. My priorities when choosing […]
Toronto After Dark Review:
The Forbidden Door
The Forbidden Door‘s protagonist is not a starving artist, but a prosperous one learning that success can be just as torturous. The film opens on him sipping champagne while denying an art collector one of his gallery pieces, as it has already sold. The first few shots inside the art gallery give an initial impression […]
Toronto After Dark Review: Strigoi
The Toronto After Dark Film Festival wrapped up this past Friday, the fest played some of the best genre films from around the world. One film in particular seems poised to become the sleeper hit of the fest: Strigoi, the debut film from director Faye Jackson. An eccentric and extremely black comedy, Strigoi is set […]
Inglourious Basterds Review
Inglourious Basterds is the latest film from Quentin Tarantino. On the surface, you would think that Tarantino’s filmmaking sensibilities wouldn’t fit with a period setting, but surprisingly they do. The movie has been advertised as a “men on a mission” movie, which it is, in part. But the trailers and commercials don’t reveal what the […]
Toronto After Dark: Highlights So Far
The 2009 Toronto After Dark Film Festival is in full swing at the Bloor Cinema. This year’s fest has it all: Horror, action, science fiction and thrillers are all represented. It all kicked off on August 14th with Black Dynamite and ends on the 21st, this Friday, with the zombie-baby flick Grace. Here is a […]
District 9 Review
2009 has been an incredible year for science fiction films. Duncan Jones’ impressive Moon and James Cameron’s super-hyped Avatar can consider themselves in extremely good company with District 9. Director Neill Blomkamp has a very bright future ahead of him. Based on Blomkamp’s short film Alive in Joburg, District 9 is quite simply one of […]
Review: Bit.Trip Core
Bit.Trip Core, the second in Gaijin Games’ Bit.Trip series, is a rhythm game recently released for the Wii. It combines the scrolling notes of Guitar Hero and old-school twitch action games to great effect, presenting a challenging game in a fresh-yet-retro style. Each song is represented by many fast moving blocks that fly across the […]
Moon Review
Director Duncan Jones had the following conversation with himself. Spoilers ahead. “Okay Zowie, so you want to make a movie, eh?” “Yes, I do.” “Well, what kind of movie do you want to make?” “I don’t know. I really like Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick. Maybe something in the science fiction genre?” “Alright, that’s a […]
Review: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
I had been debating whether or not I should even bother reviewing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; the new Transformers film has been almost universally panned by critics, but is doing gangbusters at the box office. Should people even try to critique a film like Transformers 2? It is a film almost entirely bereft of any […]
Up Review
Up, the new animated feature from Disney/Pixar, is buoyant, but gets heavy. It’s a cartoon adventure that doesn’t talk down to its audience, child or adult. The film begins with a young child, Carl, enthralled by newsreels of Charles Muntz, famous adventurer. Carl meets another Muntz fan, Ellie. Carl is silent and reserved, Ellie is […]