Deceptively simple, but effective on the surface, Mama has a lot more depth than one would expect thanks to sharp writing and a great lead performance from Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain. It revives the "creepy child" horror movie from the jaws of tedium.
It's gleefully over the top, but The Last Stand easily stacks up nicely side by side with Arnold Schwarzenegger's best work, marking a true return to form for the long missing action hero.
Offering an interesting counterpoint to dry and stuff polemics and television fantasies, the hospital set documentary The Waiting Room offers a great counterpoint and a nuanced look at the personal side of hospital economics.
Already somewhat underrated, Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut Quartet will appeal beyond the older crowd it's aimed at and giving plenty of laughs and great performances to people who couldn't care less about old people and the opera in the slightest.
Looking to shake the early winter doldrums? Before you head out or order in a movie out on DVD this week, take a look at our eclectic line-up of reviews including the action of Taken 2 and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, the martial arts mayhem of Swords of Dragons Gate, the drama of Won't Back Down, the visual splendour of Samsara, and the return of Woody Allen in To Rome with Love.
It's not much more than pulpy, violent gangster entertainment, but Gangster Squad is a blending of old timey conventions with modern filmmaking techniques that makes for major studio B-movie goodness that should be praised rather than condemned.
In the best film of her already great career, Kathryn Bigelow and a thoroughly excellent Jessica Chastain create the ultimate impartial treatise on modern warfare with Zero Dark Thirty.
With his satirical expose of diplomatic corruption in the meta-documentary The Ambassador Danish provocateur Mads Bruegger has crafted a fascinating film that's more easily admired than it is liked.
In honour of his first (and possibly only) retrospective at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (starting this Friday), and Phil Brown take a look at some of the selected works of the one and only Mr. Keanu Reeves.
A Dark Truth is an important film... Or at least writer/director Damian Lee is convinced that’s the case and is prepared to slap his audience in the face repeatedly until they agree.
Signing up for un film de Michael Haneke guarantees that you’ll be shocked and emotionally shattered at some point during a chilly slow burn European think piece. So, it’s not exactly a relaxing night of escapism. Haneke’s latest project Amour might be one of his trickiest films to watch yet in that regard. For large portions of the running time, you’ll actually find yourself becoming deeply emotionally invested and even experiencing moments of genuine warmth. Don’t worry though, that’s all part of his plan.
Dork Shelf sits down with Gangster Squad actor Giovanni Ribisi to talk about growing up in Los Angeles and starring in a period piece from before his time, transitioning to older roles after starting young, the controversy surrounding the film's shifted release date, and why he loved being immersed in the world of the 1940s.
As we dig out from piles of new releases from before and after the holiday season, we take looks at the home video releases for Looper, Frankenweenie, Cosmopolis, Dredd, Pitch Perfect, Compliance, The Words, Hit and Run, and season one of Anger Management
Kicking off a new feature of the week where we focus on some of the best Kickstarter campaigns out there, we choose as our first showcase, Daniel McCabe's documentary This is Congo.
It's not high art by any stretch, but Texas Chainsaw 3D should be more than enough to please genre hounds and fans of the series.
