film

Renoir Review

Renoir is a movie that feels like a pleasant homework assignment. It never reaches beyond surface pleasure despite looking and sounding great.

Revolution Review

As an environmental advocacy documentary, Rob Stewart's Revolution is pretty standard and simplistic, but it comes with a layer of personal emotion that's rare for this kind of material.

42 Review

Some may scoff at the total lack of irony and unapologetic sentimentality in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, but there’s something so inherently romantic about this story and sport that anything else would feel inappropriate. They don’t make movies like this anymore and haven’t for decades. Yet, 42 suggests that it might not be a terrible idea to dust off those old naïve Hollywood filmmaking techniques every now and then if the material suits that style.

The Place Beyond the Pines Review

From moment to moment, The Place Beyond the Pines is a strong piece of work comprised of terse dialogue, pain-eyed performances, sudden bursts of violence, and heavy thematic resonance. Unfortunately, it never quite holds together to deliver anything as profound as the somberly existential tone seems to promise.

Trance Review

Trance is more of a return to basics and the beginning of his career for director Danny Boyle, but it's in service of far lesser material than he should be taking on at this point.

Upstream Color Review

Buried deep within layers of overly analyzed obfuscation and mixed metaphors, there's a genuinely sweet story inside of Primer director Shane Carruth's Upstream Color that he just can't quite get a handle on. And yet, that's part of what makes it so interesting in the first place.

TJFF at 21

As it enters it's 21st year, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival kicks off today (running through Sunday, April 21st) and bringing with it some of the best Jewish made and Jewish themed films from around the globe. Here's a look at some of the year's biggest titles.

Like Someone in Love Review

Like Someone in Love, the latest film from master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, is an undeniably poignant look at the yearning for human connection between two people who seemingly have their lives run by everyone around them.

Interview: John C. McGinley

We chat with famed and beloved character actor John C. McGinley, who gets to call the games of Jackie Robinson's first season in Major League Baseball as iconic Brooklyn Dodger announcer Red Barber in the biopic 42. We also talk about working with Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland, playing a sports reporter, and the how his approach here was somewhat similar to his small part in Office Space

Interview: Derek Cianfrance

We sit down with The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance about how his own experiences honed the film’s takes on father/son relationships and the concept of heroism, his influences, his working relationship with Ryan Gosling, and the different set of challenges between this film and Blue Valentine. We also talk briefly to Dane DeHaan (as much as we can without spoiling the film) about his character and his approach to such an unconventional and sprawling story.

CineFranco At a Glance: Part 2

Last week we looked at film from the first half of this year's CineFranco French language film festival (continuing at The Royal in Toronto through Sunday, April 14th). Here is a look at several films from the back half including a great documentary, films with appearances from Marc Andre Grondin and Jean Reno, and closing night feature Tango Libre.

TIFF Kids Around

We take a look inside this years TIFF Kids showcase, including several of the films being screened and a look at some of the other great events for the whole family (and especially, you know, the kids) going down at the TIFF Bell Lightbox from April 9th to the 21st.

Jurassic Park 3D Review

As a film, Jurassic Park is just as thrilling as ever, having not aged a day, and thankfully an upgrade and re-release in 3-D for its 20th anniversary does the film a considerable amount of justice.

The Sapphires Review

The Sapphires is the kind of project that gives “the feel good movie” a good name. It’s a little sappy and manipulative, but if you can walk out of the theater with anything less than a big dopey grin on your face then there’s probably something wrong with you.