While In Bruges was tightly wound and focused, Martin McDonagh’s sophomore effort, Seven Psychopaths is more of a spiralling series of darkly comic episodes that only gets thoughtful in the climax and even then it's never really meant to be taken seriously. It’s his crack at creating a violent cult comedy and thankfully he’s got the skills (and the cast) to pull off that trick.
In Argo, the exciting and fast paced third feature for actor Ben Affleck as a director, a silver screen scam job comes to actual theatres with the filmmaker starring as Mendez, whose best plan to rescue the trapped diplomats comes in the form of bringing them together as a fake movie crew under the guise of being location scouts for a big budget sci-fi epic.
With his debut feature Antiviral, writer and director Brandon Cronenberg might be accused of following in his famous father David’s footsteps, and while he finds himself unquestionably influenced by his old man in terms of plot structure, pacing, and leaning towards the use of body horror as a metaphor for something greater, the young filmmaker hits enough original notes of his own to create a slightly off kilter, but very well directed bit of low key creepiness.
Highlighting video game culture at large, Gamercamp is presenting Capcom's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney film, directed by infamous Japanese schlockmeister-turned-auteur Takashi Miike, in its Toronto premiere.
We talked to Seven Psychopaths writer and director Martin McDonagh and its star Colin Farrell about their second collaboration following In Bruges, metafiction, the dark side of Los Angeles, and working with Christopher Walken and Tom Waits.
We talk to director Bart Layton about his intense and mysterious new documentary The Imposter and the challenges of finding truth in a bunch of liars.
Everyone has a story, but not everyone can tell them. But with Stories We Tell Sarah Polley proves to be a masterful storyteller in what’s unquestionably one of the best films of the year.
We talk to Toronto native and actress Sarah Gadon about her upcoming role in Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral, the creation of one's perceived image, and what role she initially wanted to play in the film.
Olivia Thirlby is making out with a guy in an airport parking lot as they walk to his car. They met on the plane. They're wearing skinny jeans. He drives her to Silverlake. There's a vintage camera on her lap. Light-saturated shots of the passing streetscapes are interspersed. If you're not already thinking “This is some hipster shit” by the time she arrives at John Krasinski and Rosemarie DeWitt's lovely house surrounded by trees, this movie is for you.
We take a look at some of the selections for this year's thirteenth annual Planet in Focus Environmental Film festival, running this October 10th through the 14th at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox, including the opening night film Lost Rivers and the much buzzed about Future Weather.
We talk to writer and director Brandon Cronenberg about his debut feature Antiviral and how illness informs creativity, how celebrity obsession becomes a form of sickness, and his film's impressive production design.
This post Turkey day DVD release date brings us reviews for The Raven, People Like Us, Iron Sky, and the now even longer Rock of Ages.
We finish up our in-depth look at the BOND 50 Blu-ray box set this Thanksgiving with a look at the British super spy from 1982's Octopussy through to 2008's Quantum of Solace. Our film and arts editor ranks his films from best to worst at the end, and so do you with a list of our Dork Shelf readers' favourites ranked in terms of votes as to which was the best.
While the first Taken was a dirty revenge movie with a moral compass skewed beyond anything expected from Hollywood, Taken 2 is a more sanitized action feature that’s pleasures appeal primarily to those who love laughing themselves silly at the most ridiculous action fluff. Both are guilty pleasures, but this one is a little more difficult to defend. It’s not really a good movie in a traditional sense, yet it is far from boring and without trying has become the funniest action movie of the year.
Frankenweenie might be Tim Burton's best film since Edward Scissorhands and his most assuredly made since Big Fish. It's an absolute winner and a really seasonal treat from a director out to give his audience exactly what they want and expect from him.
