#TIFF13

TIFF 2013: Horns Review

Horns Vanguard Director: Alexandre Aja Daniel Radcliffe delivers his best performance to date – and horror maestro Aja, his best film – with this devilishly entertaining dark comedy that seems pitched squarely at teenagers, but isn’t afraid to be as gory, sexy, or disturbing as possible. Framed for the murder of his one true love, […]

TIFF 2013: One Chance Review

One Chance Special Presentation Director: David Frankel One Chance, the title of David Frankel’s biopic about singer Paul Potts’ rise to stardom, refers to the British tenor’s first album. Yet it’s also an ironic nod to Potts’ difficult career trajectory. No one “makes it” from one chance—we need more than a single opportunity to achieve […]

TIFF 2013: McCanick Review

McCanick Contemporary World Cinema Director: Josh C. Waller To say that the corrupt cop drama is overdone might be an understatement, which makes the fact that Josh C. Waller’s McCanick works as well as it does quite the achievement. Eugene “Mack” McCanick is not a cop who plays by the rules, but as the film […]

TIFF 2013: Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon Review

Supermensch: The Legend Of Shep Gordon Gala Presentation Director: Mike Myers For a few years, it seemed like Mike Myers just might never make another movie. Thankfully he has. Weirdly, it’s a documentary. Fortunately, it’s a good one. As the title suggests, Supermensch profiles the legend of Shep Gordon, an infamous Hollywood agent and all […]

TIFF 2013: Gravity Review

Gravity Special Presentation Director: Alfonso Cuaron Following a prolonged absence from the director’s chair after the remarkable Children of Men, Cuaron has finally returned with Gravity and the result demands the use of descriptors like “astounding” and “groundbreaking.” As a visceral viewing experience and space simulation, there’s simply never been anything like this before. Continuing […]

TIFF 2013: Oculus Review

Oculus Midnight Madness Director: Mike Flanagan Told with a great deal of ambition and style, the “possessed random object” subgenre of horror movies (and the even narrower subgenre of such films using mirrors) gets a much needed shot in the arm with Flanagan’s tightly plotted and original story. Oculus begins by showing 21 year old […]

TIFF 2013: The Sacrament Review

The Sacrament Vanguard Director: Ti West Strangely the most commercial and smartest and thoughtful film yet from Ti West (House of the Devil, The Inkeepers), The Sacrament terrifies simply by feeling as realistically as possible. A Vice magazine reporter and his cameraman (AJ Bowen and Joe Swanberg, respectively) follow a photographer (Kentucker Audley) to document […]

TIFF 2013: Enough Said Review

Enough Said Special Presentation Director: Nicole Holofcener A sweet and unforced romantic comedy of errors set against the spectre of divorce, Enough Said finds writer/director Holofcener going for a bit more warmth and good will this time out following the darker Please Give. While not a reinvention of anything, it’s a well acted, snappily realized […]

TIFF 2013: The Station Review

The Station Midnight Madness Director: Marvin Kren A creature feature in the spirit of The Thing, The Station manages to do a few things exceptionally well while dropping the ball in other areas.  The crew of a remote weather station in the German Alps finds a glacier with a retreating ice layer that unleashes a […]

TIFF 2013: The Double Review

The Double Special Presentation Director: Richard Ayoade After starting his directorial career with a pitch perfect recreation of bad 80s television in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Richard Ayoade has slid into to feature filmmaking by mimicking much artier affair. His sweet little debut Submarine riffed on Wes Anderson and all the French New Wave directors that […]

TIFF 2013: The Green Inferno Review

The Green Inferno Midnight Madness Director: Eli Roth While the actual cannibal element to Roth’s latest tale of entitled American brats finding themselves in deadly situations seems more of a means to an end, the actual message at the heart of The Green Inferno’s bloodletting is the smartest and sharpest the gore-auteur has managed yet. […]

TIFF 2013: Dallas Buyers Club Review

Dallas Buyers Club Special Presentation Director: Jean-Marc Vallee A definite high point in the still rising career Matthew McConaughey, and a very good, but lesser film in the career of Vallee as a director, Dallas Buyers Club runs a bit overlong, but it delivers a firm emotional punch at the hands of an unrepentant and […]

TIFF 2013: The Fifth Estate Review

The Fifth Estate Gala Director: Bill Condon Thankfully not painting Julian Assange as an idealistic do-gooder worthy of lionizing, Condon’s look at the rise, tarnishing, and partial dismantling of WikiLeaks gets off to a bit of a rough start before settling into a thrilling and nuanced character drama with some great performances. Focusing largely on […]

TIFF 2013: Rigor Mortis Review

Rigor Mortis Midnight Madness Director: Juno Mak A visually stunning, but fleetingly entertaining mess, pop-star and first time filmmaker Mak bases a story so firmly steeped in Chinese folklore that it’s positively inscrutable to an outside audience. Not only is the story hard to follow, but it constantly contradicts itself and is so melancholy that […]