Griff the Invisible is an odd little film, one that wears a big heart on its sleeve. Writer/director Leon Ford has created a film that is equal parts enamouring and sad. The film stars Ryan Kwanten as the titular Griff, a quiet loner who doubles as a masked vigilante by night. What makes this film different from the growing roster of DIY vigilante movies, is that our hero's crime-fighting adventures are essentially made up. His foes are imagined fantasies and his feats gross exaggerations of his own creation. It's a relatable tale of outsiders who try to fit in the only way they know how.
Fright Night is unquestionably the best film to come out of the recent deluge of recycled properties. This doesn’t just mean it is the best horror reboots in recent years, but it is one of the best remakes in any genre. It is the rare reboot that hits many of the same notes of the original film, while simultaneously subverting the audience’s expectations of what is going to happen. The fact that Fright Night manages to be on par with the original is a miracle in a world of shoddy remakes and cheap cash-ins.
Conan the Barbarian is an unnecessary, but often entertaining adaptation of Robert E. Howard's series of stories about the Cimmerian warrior who was "born of battle." And to the film's credit, it doesn't feel like a full remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger take on the character. This Conan is actually smarter and even more action packed than the beloved films from the 80s, but under the direction of Marcus Nispel sometimes the film can be excessive even by the standards of the character.
30 Minutes or Less is a strange sort of film, but the elements are all there to make for a decent bit of entertainment. It is an affably ridiculous action comedy that takes an extremely convoluted plot and boils it down to a film that clocks in at just a shade over 80 minutes. The film continues in the same self-referential vein of most hybrid comedies of the past few years, with nods to everything from Die Hard and The Great Santini, to Friday the 13th Part 3. It all adds up to a film that is fun while it lasts, but ultimately ends up going nowhere special.
The Final Destination series of films have officially become the movie-going equivalent of the tuxedo T-shirt. The first time you see it you say to yourself, "That's a really clever subversion of my expectations at this party." But after a while you begin to wonder just how long this gag is going to be milked because it really stopped being amusing several years ago. Final Destination 5 is an atrocious mess, but it is admittedly barely better than the last installment.
The Devil’s Double is the disturbing tale of Latif Yahia, a well to-do Iraqi man who is forced to become the body double of Uday Hussein, the sadistic elder son of dictator Saddam Hussein. Despite a strong first half, this is a very uneven film, one that goes from an interesting character study of two wildly different men to an unnecessary action film by the third act.
The first shot of Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises surfaced today. Played by Anne Hathaway, the cat burglar (real name Selina Kyle) wears leather and a high-tech visor of some sort, while riding a bike that looks an awful lot like the one Christian Bale's Batman has been known to use.
It’s a spider-man! It’s an iron man! No, it’s a super man! Earlier today Warner Bros. released the first image of Superman from Zack Snyder’s upcoming Man of Steel slated for a 2013 release. The image shows Henry Cavill as the titular 'Man of Steel' showing off the squareness of his jaw in a suit that replaces the vintage spandex look with the recycled basketball one people seem to really like these days.
An intense new trailer for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has hit the web. The film — an adaptation of the John le Carré's novel of the same name — is the first English-language effort from Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson. Set during the coldest days of the Cold War, semi-retired spy George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is enlisted by MI6 to help sniff out a Soviet double agent within their ranks.
This morning, the Toronto International Film Festival announced the full slate of Midnight Madness titles, and it's an extremely exciting line-up featuring films from newcomers and returning vets alike. Midnight Madness is where you'll find world premieres of some of the best genre flicks of the year. This programme is for your inner dork; the place to be if you don't feel up for the stuffiness and pretension found elsewhere in the festival. Crime, action, horror, sci-fi - it's all here.
It's that time of year again! With the 2011 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival just around the corner, the festival group today announced the first batch of special presentations and galas.
If a man in a giant bat costume can be rationalized – intensely and dramatically – then so too can a man named Captain America. The name alone makes my skin crawl; it’s filled with so much camp and pomp. When I imagined what such a film would feel like I thought of Independence Day. With that as my prejudice, this movie had some challenges to overcome in the battle of authenticity versus believability. However, I am happy to report that Captain America: The First Avenger nailed it.
Fresh off his directorial debut, Marc Webb takes a crack at one of Marvel’s most popular characters. No simple feat. Webb has the burden of taking over from director Sam Raimi, whose first two Spider-Man films won critical praise and set impressive records in terms of numbers and total gross. However, this trailer looks spectacular and should wash the taste of Spider-Man 3 out of the mouths of any disappointed fans.
In the St. Catherines area, he was known as local TV spirit Cap'n Video. If he saw a post, he'd climb it and then jump from it. See a wall? He'd run into it. If he saw a raw egg, he'd eat it through his nose. In Beauty Day, the audience gets a thorough profile of a semi-retired goof, long after his raid on the airwaves but still more than ready to slip back into the wacky-tight-pants.
Gil and Inez are on a trip to Paris, tagging along with her parents. It's evident from the start that their personalities clash. He is a successful Hollywood screenwriter in the middle of writing his first original novel, while she scoffs at her fiancé's new occupational wishes. After a less than cordial dinner with some new acquaintances, Gil goes for a walk around the city, finally stopping at an nondescript staircase. As a nearby clocks chimes midnight, an old-fashioned car pulls up and a stranger beckons Gil inside.
