A Little Chaos Gala/Closing Night Film Actor Alan Rickman’s stately period drama about the construction of the fountains and gardens at the Palace of Versailles couldn’t be more boring if it was actually about the intricacies of gardening. Instead, it’s an inert drama that doesn’t improve on the sight of the same actors digging for […]
Time Out of Mind Special Presentations I’ll admit a bit of a bias here since I once went through a period where I was homeless, so on some level I think the experience of what it’s like living on city streets in the latest film from Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Rampart) is a bit too […]
Tokyo Tribe Midnight Madness There are some cinematic auteurs out there that push boundaries in ways that you can’t even imagine. Tokyo Tribe is, that it almost works but it over stays its welcome and and just goes on too long with its self-centred lunacy. It’s Tokyo in an alternate future, a city that is […]
They Have Escaped Vanguard Teenage outcasts decide to flee their disappointing lives in this new offering from Finnish director J.P. Valkeapää (The Visitor). Joni, played by Teppo Manner, is a quiet young man who starts a job at a children’s home after going AWOL from his military service. He’s a social outcast, due primarily to […]
Pasolini Special Presentations Pier Paolo Pasolini was one of finest and most outrageous directors during the golden age of Italian cinema. Then his life ended in a sordid murder that wouldn’t have been out of place in one of his own movies. He’s been a figure of fascination amongst film geeks for that very reason […]
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence Masters So your first question, about the title, is answered immediately. It opens on a pigeon, sitting on a branch, and though it is stuffed and mounted in a natural history museum, it’s not a stretch to imagine it reflects on its existence. The people that […]
The Duke of Burgundy Vanguard In Berberian Sound Studio, Peter Strickland made a delirious love letter to giallo horror, framed in the clever concept of an unassuming foley artist in a strange pocket of filmmaking before melting his work into a fever dream. In The Duke of Burgundy, Strickland revisits genres he had to hide […]
The Editor Midnight Madness A loving homage to lesser, shoddier made giallo films of the 70s and 80s, The Editor finds its greatest strength in pulling together a lot of small details together that film nerds will love, but that others might not find as amusing. Once one of the world’s greatest film editors, Rey […]
The shorts that make up Program 6 all address some kind of exploration. Exploration of other planets, other dimensions, or even just different ways of living. It’s a broad theme that brings with it the best and the worst of the Short Cuts Canada programs. A standout film, not just in this program but in […]
Cake Special Presentations A great, but not exactly against type turn from Jennifer Aniston can’t salvage this slovenly, misshapen dramedy about an angrily depressed pill popping woman with chronic pain and a wealth of repressed feelings. Claire (Aniston) has separated from her husband and lost her child following a tragic accident. She goes through her […]
99 Homes Special Presentations Essentially Wall Street for the era of the U.S. bailout and sub-prime mortgage collapse, this assured return to form for filmmaker Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Goodbye Solo, At Any Price) benefits from a wealth of style and tension and a pair of exceptionally matched leading performances. After being evicted from […]
Good Kill Special Presentations Voltage Pictures had a huge hit six years ago with The Hurt Locker. This year they deliver a very different kind of war movie with Good Kill. Ethan Hawke plays Tommy Egan, an ex fighter pilot who now fights terrorists 7000 miles away as a drone pilot based in Las Vegas. While the bomb […]
The Imitation Game Special Presentations Benedict Cumberbatch carries the day in a role that feels almost custom made for the sort of droll loner act he has been perfecting across his past several films and his hit TV series, Sherlock. Only this time, he’s certain to get some award season buzz because he’s playing noted […]
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films Midnight Madness Genre buffs need no explanation as to what Cannon Films is. The biggest action, horror, skin, and exploitation outlet from the 70s through the early 90s has become synonymous with some of the strangest, goofiest, most exciting, action packed, and sometimes strangely artful films […]
Top Five Special Presentations Chris Rock has been appearing in films since the 80s, but they’ve rarely ever managed to capture what it is that makes him special. Much like Richard Pryor before him, Hollywood producers saw a brilliant, honest, and vicious stand-up comic and cast Rock in mugging slapstick roles unsuited to his talents. […]
