This weekend, a free retrospective of films by American photographer Robert Frank at the TIFF Bell Lightbox brings a screening of one of the rarest and most controversial rock and roll documentaries of all time: the 1972 look into the touring life of The Rolling Stones, Cocksucker Blues, a film so rare it might not be seen on the big screen (legally) in the city every again.
We talk to Louise Archambault, the Quebecois director of the Canadian Screen Award Best Picture nominee Gabrielle about avoiding misery and melodrama, her documentary-style approach to filmmaking, how coming of age stories can happen at any point in life, how her cast never felt pressured, and the relationship between her two award nominated leads.
Due to our Film Editor being down for the count this week (tearing tendons in his foot and having the flu at the same time), there will sadly be a few reviews missing this week, including the Bloor Cinema column, but he did want to pass along these thoughts for the films he saw but couldn’t write about: I am Divine, Persistence of Vision, Gabrielle, and Ms. 45.
Although it could use a more accomplished director at the helm, August: Osage County is a gleefully misanthropic, exceptionally acted dark family comedy from the same crazy writer who brought you Killer Joe and Bug.
As far as wartime sagas go, Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor is certainly a technical marvel and it’s nothing if not genuine at heart, but as a film it’s far too underdeveloped and misguided to really have any impact.
Enter for a chance to win a pair of passes to an advance screening of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit on Wednesday, January 15th at 7:30pm in Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal, courtesy of Dork Shelf and Paramount Pictures!
There was precisely one moment in the fourth entry in the Paranormal Activity franchise that terrified me. It happened just as the credits hit and I was in such a hurry to get out of the theatre that I dropped my keys. I got down on my hands and knees in a panic. It was the absolute worst.
The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema kicks off 2014 with a trio of new films looking at the American educational system (in the perceptive, but flawed and skewed American Promise, extreme marathon runners (in the crowd pleasing Desert Runners), and the plight of the modern honeybee (in the gorgeous looking More than Honey).
Think 2013 was a weak year for Canadian cinema? Think again because most of the best work from this past year is merely being sat on for release this year. Our Film Editor looks at this year's TIFF Canada's Top Ten (kicking off this weekend) and the finest line-up of Canada's best to date.
The Bollywood action import Dhoom 3 has become quite a success in North America over the past few weeks, but while it's still a considerable amount of fun, it's also the weakest in the franchise.
It makes perfect sense why Universal largely declined to press screen their $175 million budgeted and largely already written off 47 Ronin. It's the new Cutthroat Island, only less fun, which really only means that Carl Rinsch's debut feature somehow sucks at the very art of sucking.
The latest concert film from the now allegedly retired Justin Bieber isn't awful as far as these things go, but it's certainly redundant since it's essentially the same film he already made once.
Martin Scorsese's best and most thoroughly insane film in years, The Wolf of Wall Street isn't for everyone and is bound to be misread by people not willing to think about the rampant greed, avarice, and drug use on display, but for those who can stomach the breakneck paced three hours with one of the worst human beings in screen history, it's a very rewarding experience.
Although it doesn't work 100% of the time, Ben Stiller's take on James Thurber's famous short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty shows the filmmaker and actor maturing as an artist full of wonderful vision and boundless ambition that make it a joy to watch.
Grudge Match is pretty tired and cliched sports movie pablum, but made a lot more palatable by a cast willing to go the extra mile to make their own comedic opportunities.
