The Last Days on Mars On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member on Tantalus Base believes he’s made an astounding discovery – fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an […]
All is Lost might be the sparsest of the recent glut of survival dramas in the past few weeks, the sparsest of the bunch by far, but also boasts great set pieces and an incredible leading performance from Robert Redford, who hasn’t had a role this good since Out of Africa in 1985.
The Machine Two computer programmers fall in love creating the first ever piece of self-aware artificial intelligence, designed to help humanity. But things go wrong when the MoD (the U.K. equivalent of the CIA who have been funding their research), decide to alter their breakthrough and teach it to become a robotic weapon. The Machine […]
Cheap Thrills Dark, twisted, and emotionally disturbed in ways almost too delightful and clever to spoil, the coal black comedy Cheap Thrills certainly lives up to its name and then some thanks to clever writing and solid performances. Struggling writer and married father Craig (Pat Healy) has just lost his oil changing gig and finds […]
We talk with filmmaker Randy Moore - the man by the heavily buzzed about and entire shot at Disney World without anyone knowing about it psychodrama Escape from Tomorrow - about how the production stayed secret with so many people working on it, how he kept his cast and crew happy under stressful situations, what his films have in common with the work of Woody Allen, how talk of the film’s legality skews public perception of the final product, and the weird things that happened at Disney that weren’t a part of the film at all.
In the documentary Griot, trumpeter Volker Goetze takes a look at his collaborations with musician Ablaye Cissoko, a man who keeps the historical and cultural traditions of music alive in his home country of Senegal.
On the eve of a TIFF Bell Lightbox retrospective looking at the works of still up and coming Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn, our film writers look at their favourite films from the uncompromising filmmaker behind Drive, The Pusher trilogy, and Only God Forgives
Odd Thomas In what almost felt like the launch of a new TV series, Odd Thomas works as a quirky supernatural crime procedural that’s somewhat of a departure for director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy). In a small California desert town, a short-order cook named Odd (Anton Yelchin) has the unique ability to see the work […]
Found A shy and bullied 12 year old, Marty (Shane Brown), find his refuge in horror films to escape the pain of his day to day life. Unfortunately for him, his life turns into a real life horror story when he discovers that his older brother Steve (Ethan Philbeck) is keeping severed heads in his […]
We Are What We Are Recently widowed father Frank Parker (Bill Sage) and his two teenage daughters try to keep their time-honored family tradition a secret from their increasingly suspicious small town neighbours in the wake of a torrential downpour. But as the evidence starts building, daughters Iris (Ambyr Childers) and Rose (Julia Garner) are […]
Septic Man A rare example of a slow-burning gross out flick, Septic Man might spend a bit too much time wallowing somewhat dully in the predicament of its main character instead of the literal pile of shit he finds himself in. Thankfully, there are still some elements that float above the sometimes messy narrative. From […]
Motivational Growth Much of the best cinema can be called “weird.” The stuff that pushes boundaries of what the audience either expects or has the stomach for. But “weird” can be a crutch, and the bizarre can be confused for thoughtful absurdity. Motivational Growth falls into this latter camp. It’s a dark comedy, which morphs […]
The Battery One of the sparsest and most realistic feeling zombie films ever crafted, writer-director-star Jeremy Gardner’s American indie film The Battery puts a touching and poignantly gracious face on the standards of the perilous horror sub-genre. A pair of minor league baseballers from Pittsfield, Masschusetts are making their ways across the backroads, smaller suburbs, […]
Eega An unequivocal delight from start to finish, the absolutely bonkers Indian film Eega is unlike anything you’ve ever seen or likely to see ever again. It’s almost unfathomable that anyone could have even come up with this concept to begin with, but it’s incredibly heartening that someone took a chance on such a unique, […]
Stalled While clearly referring that the films main protagonist spends most of his time trapped in a washroom stall trying not to get eaten by zombies, it also explains the tone of the movie from the outset perfectly. Incredibly laboured, staggeringly unfunny, ludicrously implausible, and with the film’s few speaking roles given to inherently terribly […]
