Paul Giamatti

12 Years a Slave
Video Review

And now for something a little different: A video review! Dork Shelf's own Brandon Bastaldo takes a look at Steve McQueen's slavery drama 12 Years a Slave starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender.

12 Years a Slave Review

There’s no doubt in my mind that 12 Years a Slave will go down in history as a landmark film. Never before, and quite possibly never again, has the issue of African American slavery and the still present pain and anguish been this viscerally and brilliantly realized. Its effect is provocative, much like gazing into an unattended open wound that never quite heals itself, but rather reaches a point of stasis beyond which things couldn’t possibly get any worse no matter how awful a situation may be.

Romeo and Juliet Review

There’s almost nothing that I can say about Carlo Carlei’s big screen staging of Romeo and Juliet. It would be redundant to say there’s nothing here that you haven’t already seen before, and yet it’s worse than that. This is EXACTLY what you have seen before. It’s a drab, lifeless Shakespearean melodrama perked up ever so slightly by a few decent performances that does absolutely nothing whatsoever to warrant its existence.

Parkland Review

As a depiction of the events on the day of American President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22nd 1963 – as well as the three days in the immediate wake of the killing – Parkland doesn’t cover any historical or narrative ground that hasn’t been touched on before, nor does it go out of its way to create melodrama.

TIFF 2013: 12 Years a Slave Review

12 Years a Slave Special Presentation Director: Steve McQueen A mere capsule review at festival time could never do justice to McQueen’s powerful masterwork that’s not so much an excellent piece of filmmaking, but a landmark cinematic achievement. While no one left alive today could possibly ever be able to relay the atrocities of America’s […]

TIFF 2013: Parkland Review

Parkland Gala Director: Peter Landesman As a depiction of the events on the day of American President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22nd 1963 – as well as the three days in the wake of the killing – Parkland doesn’t cover any historical or narrative ground that hasn’t been touched on before, nor does […]

Turbo Review

There’s no mistaking Turbo for anything other than a fairy tale fantasy aimed squarely at the young, but there’s something incredibly winsome about it that other films these days miss entirely. It’s genuine and free of any sense of irony.

This Week in DVD: 1/8/13

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

Contest: Win Cosmopolis on DVD!

Enter for a chance to win one of five copies of David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis on DVD or one grand prize of a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack of the film, a copy of Don DeLilo's novel, the film's soundtrack, and a mini-poster signed by David Cronenberg and actors Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Gadon, Emily Hampshire, and Kevin Durand!

Cosmopolis Review

While a challenging film for average viewers to get involved with David Cronenberg's big screen adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis holds a lot to like for attentive viewers with great acting and dialogue, but very little of Cronenberg's own personality in favour of focusing on DeLillo's.

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.

TIFF 2011 Picks Part Two: Galas

Two of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival's biggest (or at least its most star-studded) gala presentations take place today: the Brad Pitt n' baseball crowd-pleaser Moneyball and the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March, starring Ryan Gosling. Our has seen both films and lets us know whether or not these celebrity-filled galas are worth the rather hefty price of admission.