Marley Review
A complex, thorough, and painstaking tribute to the legend of reggae icon Bob Marley, director Kevin Macdonald has crafted the documentary experience of the year so far with Marley.
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Interview: The Samaritan Director David Weaver
We talk to The Samaritan director David Weaver about how the noir films of his youth crafted his latest Toronto shot project, working with Samuel L. Jackson, and the fine art of crafting a film about a con.
The Dictator Review
The Dictator is simultaneously tasteless and toothless – a provocation in search of a point, taking a potentially explosive premise and reducing it to the level of a mediocre studio comedy and never living up to any of its transgressive promises.
This Week in DVD: 5/15/12
This week's a busy one at the video store, as we take a look at Chronicle, Hard Core Logo 2, a BBC remounting of Great Expectations, Rampart, Albert Nobbs, the first season of Hell on Wheels, Wrestlemania XXVIII, and a very brief, curt message about The Devil Inside.
Scenes from The Dictator Press Junket
We went to the press conference for The Dictator last week, and while star Sacha Baron Cohen put on a great show in character as General Aladeen, where does the character end and the man behind it begin?
The Sylvester Stalloeuvre: Stallarting Over
Our Sylvester Stallone retrospective reaches the manliest part of his career yet with Rocky III and the first introduction to John Rambo in First Blood.
The New Old: Boys, Men, Aliens, and Gremlins
Lots of talk about boys and men this week as Brandon Bastaldo takes a look at the coming of age tale La Haine, looks at the Quebecois hockey comedy Les Boys II, and Phil Brown looks at Men in Black, About a Boy, and the almost childlike inhibition of Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
Big Boys Gone Bananas!* Review
The very best kind of David and Goliath stories are the ones where the David in question eventually wins out. However in his battle against fruit giant Dole Foods, victory never feels completely assured for Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten. Big Boys Gone Bananas!* is an autobiographical documentary about Gertten's protracted moral and legal fight to get his 2009 doc Bananas!* released. The film is essentially a documentary about a documentary, with the director of both movies becoming the central character in his own story.
Interview: Kevin Durand
We talked to Canadian character actor Kevin Durand about his latest role as a bank robber in the historical drama Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster, what it's like to play a lot of character driven roles, and about being able to adapt to filming in Sault Ste. Marie. Oh, and we asked him a tad about Cosmopolis.
Dark Shadows Review
While definitely closer in tone to what director Tim Burton should be making with his vivid imagination, wit, and eye for detail, Dark Shadows shouldn’t be heralded as a comeback for the director just yet. The potential for this film to serve as a middle ground between the big haired auteur’s beloved Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice feels somewhat squandered by a lightweight script and a really terrible final 20 minutes.
Interview: Yung Chang
We sat down with China Heavyweight director Yung Chang to talk about making a documentary about boxing in a country where the sport was outlawed for decades.
Summer Movie Preview: June Part Two
Wrapping up our look at the cinematic offerings for the month of June, we take a look at some real heavy hitters with Brave, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Snow White and the Huntsman, Rock of Ages, and Piranha 3DD, which will undoubtedly win the box office crown for the month.
Sound of My Voice Review
The twisty sci-fi tinged mystery Sound of My Voice raises as many questions as it does answers, and despite a great performance from co-writer Brit Marling as an enigmatic cult leader, viewer enjoyment hinges on the ability to deal with large amounts of ambiguity well.
Interview: Joe Swanberg
Dork Shelf sits down to talk with prolific independent DIY filmmaker and actor Joe Swanberg about a trilogy of films he will be presenting at Innis Town Hall in Toronto on Sunday, May 13th.
Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster Review
Featuring a great leading performance from Scott Speedman, Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster stands to be one of the best English language Canadian films in quite some time, and it marks director Nathan Morlando’s debut as a filmmaker to watch for in the future.
