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List of posts tagged France :


Shepherds – TIFF Canada’s Top Ten 2024

A Montreal copywriter moves to France intending to become a shepherd in Shepherds. After a medical scare, Mathyas Lefebure (Félix-Antoine Duval) decides to abandon his life coming up with advertising slogans in Montreal and relocates to Provence, France intending to become a shepherd and write a book about his experience. Multiple local sheep farmers give […]

I’m Still Here

A woman seeks answers after her husband is forcibly disappeared in I’m Still Here. It is the early 1970s and Brazil is under a military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) lives in a beachside house in Rio De Janeiro with her former congressman husband Rubens (Selton Mello) and their five children. Despite the ongoing dictatorship, […]

Inland Empire – Premium Classics

The filmmaking world experienced a great loss this week as David Lynch passed away at 78. This ends a nearly six-decade-long career, with a weird and surreal filmography that included Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, the TV series Twin Peaks and its prequel film Fire Walk With Me, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, and […]

Better Man

Robbie Williams tells the story of his tumultuous career, characterized as an anthropomorphic chimpanzee, in Better Man. Growing up in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England, Robert Williams (Jonno Davies) dreams of being a performer like his absentee father Peter (Steve Pemberton). Robert gets his big break at 15 when he is chosen by manager Nigel Martin-Smith […]

The Room Next Door

A woman receives a grave request from her cancer-diagnosed friend in The Room Next Door. Ingrid (Julianne Moore) is an autofiction novelist, who discovers that her old friend Martha (Tilda Swinton) has been diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer. The two were close in their youth when they worked at the same magazine, but grew […]

The Count of Monte Cristo

The classic novel by Alexandre Dumas receives an epic new adaptation with The Count of Monte Cristo. Young sailor Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney) is promoted after risking his life to save a woman named Angèle (Adèle Simphal), against the orders of his captain Danglars (Patrick Mille). This promotion allows Edmond to propose to his love […]

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

An old enemy returns in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Wallace (Ben Whitehead) has been using his inventions to automate his daily life, much to the minor annoyance of Gromit. Wallace’s latest invention is the “Smart Gnome” Norbot (Reece Shearsmith), which becomes a surprise hit for Wallace due to Norbot’s exceptional gardening skills. This […]

The Girl with the Needle

A struggling woman in post-WWI Copenhagen is taken in by a confectioner running a side business taking unwanted babies in The Girl with the Needle. In the dying days of the first World War, seamstress Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is suddenly evicted from the apartment she shared with her MIA husband Peter (Besir Zeciri). Karoline […]

Flow

An unlikely group of animals gather on board a boat to protect themselves from a massive flood in Flow. A lone black cat scavenges around for food and ends up running away from a pack of dogs. However, the waters in the wilderness begin to rise and the animals rush to take shelter. The cat […]

Bird

A 12-year-old Kent girl befriends an odd drifter in Bird. Bailey (Nykiya Adams) is a tomboyish 12-year-old living in Gravesend, North Kent with her chaotic father Bug (Barry Keoghan) and wayward brother Hunter (Jason Buda). As Bug is distracted by his upcoming wedding, Bailey meets Bird (Franz Rogowski), a mysterious man looking for his family. […]

Emilia Pérez

A cartel leader seeks a new beginning in Emilia Pérez. Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) is a Mexico City Defense Attorney, who draws the attention of cartel boss Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón). Manitas wants Rita to help arrange gender reassignment surgery, so he can start a new life as his true self. Rita […]

We Live in Time

The highs and lows of a young couple’s relationship are depicted non-linearly in We Live in Time. As he is finalizing the divorce from his failed marriage, Tobias (Andrew Garfield) ends up being hit by a car driven by Almut (Florence Pugh), a former figure skater turned Bavarian fusion chef. The two begin a passionate […]

Never Let Go

A mother tries to protect her sons from an evil spirit surrounding their home in Never Let Go. In a post-apocalyptic world, a single Mother (Halle Berry) has created strict rules to protect her twin sons Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) from the Evil surrounding their home. The most important of […]

The Substance

This is an expanded rewrite of the review originally published as part of our coverage of TIFF 2024 A has-been actress uses an experimental drug to become a better version of herself in The Substance. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is a once-popular actress who has now been reduced to hosting the aerobics program Sparkle Your […]

The Invisibles

A man on the brink of an ending marriage finds out one day that he has disappeared from the real world in The Invisibles. Charlie (Tim Blake Nelson) is a man who is not only dealing with being turned down for a coveted promotion, but he is struggling with the aftermath of a personal tragedy […]

The Shrouds – TIFF 2024

A grieving man develops a burial shroud that allows him to observe the decaying body of his deceased wife in The Shrouds. Karsh (Vincent Cassell) has been grieving the death of his wife Becca (Diane Kruger), who died four years prior from cancer. Through his company GraveTech, Karsh has developed burial shrouds that can allow […]

Daniela Forever – TIFF 2024

A grieving man takes an experimental drug, which brings his dead girlfriend back to life through lucid dreams in Daniela Forever. Nick (Henry Golding) is a British DJ living in Madrid, who is in a depressed funk after his Italian girlfriend Daniela (Beatrice Grannò) is killed in a hit-and-run. Nick’s therapist Victoria (Nathalie Poza) refers […]

The Substance – TIFF 2024

A has-been actress uses an experimental drug to become a better version of herself in The Substance. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is a once-popular actress now reduced to hosting the aerobics program Sparkle Your Life. However, Elisabeth ends up being fired, on her birthday, by her chauvinistic boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid), who begins looking for […]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The ghost with the most returns after three decades in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Three decades after nearly being forced to marry Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) puts the her powers as a medium to use as the host of the paranormal TV series Ghost House, with her dating the show’s producer Rory (Justin Theroux). […]

The Crow

A murdered man comes back to right the wrongs that were committed in The Crow. While serving time in a rehab facility, Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgård) meets and falls for Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs), who he helps escape from Marion (Laura Birn), a woman working for Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston), a crime lord who made […]

The Soul Eater – Fantasia 2024

Two police officers tackle a grisly serial killer case tied to a local legend in The Soul Eater. Captain Franck De Roland (Paul Hamy) and Commander Elizabeth Guardanio (Virginie Ledoyen) both arrive in the village of Roquenoir on different cases. Franck is on the search for answers about missing children and Elizabeth has arrived to […]

Meanwhile on Earth (Pendant ce temps sur Terre) – Fantasia 2024

A woman has to help an alien race to save her lost space brother in Meanwhile on Earth. Elsa Martens (Megan Northam) is a care home nurse, who is grieving for her astronaut brother Franck (Sebastien Pouderoux), who vanished without a trace while on a mission. One night, Elsa begins hearing Franck’s voice and learns […]

Robot Dreams

A budding friendship develops between a dog and a robot in 1980s New York City in Robot Dreams. Living an isolated existence in his New York City apartment, Dog orders for himself an Amica 2000 robot. Dog and Robot become fast friends, exploring the city to the sounds of Earth, Wind, & Fire’s “September.” However, […]

The Click Trap

The dark side of digital advertising is exposed in The Click Trap. Tech giants such as Google and Facebook have effectively turned themselves into advertising companies, by tracking users around the web and sharing relevant ads. However, there is a dark side to this digital advertising model, as advertisers inadvertently find themselves funding misinformation or […]

Le Mans 55: The Unauthorized Investigation – Hot Docs 2024

French filmmaker Emmanuel Reyé investigates the worst accident in the history of motor racing, which took the lives of two of his uncles in Le Mans 55: The Unauthorized Investigation. On June 11, 1955, during the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, the Mercedes driven by French driver Pierre Levegh crashed into the stands, killing […]

Michel Gondry, Do It Yourself

The career of filmmaker Michel Gondry is looked back upon in Michel Gondry, Do It Yourself. Beginning as the drummer for the band Oui Oui, Michel Gondry became an influential music video director for artists such as Björk, Daft Punk, the White Stripes and the Chemical Brothers. Moving into feature films in the mid-2000s, Michel […]

Riddle of Fire

Three friends find themselves on a wilderness adventure on a quest to acquire a blueberry pie in Riddle of Fire. Hazel A’Dale (Charlie Stover), his younger brother Jodie (Skyler Peters), and their friend Alice (Phoebe Ferro) make up Three Immortal Reptiles, a prepubescent dirtbike gang, betting up to mischief and petty crimes in Ribbon, Wyoming. […]

Wicked Little Letters

A seaside English town is thrown into chaos as neighbours feud over potty-mouthed letters in Wicked Little Letters. Inspired by a true story from the 1920s, Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) is a deeply conservative woman living with her disapproving father Edward (Timothy Spall) and mother Victoria (Gemma Jones) in the seaside town of Littlehampton. Edith […]

Io Capitano

Two cousins from Dakar try to make the difficult journey to Italy in Io Capitano. Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall) are two impoverished teenage cousins in Dakar, Senegal. Hoping to escape to a presumably better life, the two set out on the dangerous journey across Africa to Lybia, hoping to secure passage across […]

The Taste of Things

A romance blossoms between a cook and the gourmet she worked for the past twenty years in The Taste of Things. Set in 1885 France, Eugénie Chatagne (Juliette Binoche) has been working for gourmet Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel), cooking exquisite meals for Dodin’s friends. Though the latter has rebuffed multiple marriage proposals, Dodin and Eugénie […]

Four Daughters

A Tunisian woman and her two youngest daughters tell their story with the help of actors playing the two eldest daughters in Four Daughters. Olfa Hamrouni is a Tunisian woman, whose two eldest daughters Ghofrane and Rahma disappeared in 2015 when they were 16 and 15 years old respectively. With her youngest daughters Eya and […]

The Last Emperor

Last night I got to cross another film off the list of films that won the Oscar for Best Picture when I attended a screening of a 4K restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1987 historical epic The Last Emperor. The story begins in 1950, with the former emperor Pu Yi (John Lone) as a political prisoner […]

Anatomy of a Fall

A German author is indicted for the death of her husband in Anatomy of a Fall. Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) is a successful German-born novelist living with her husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) and their visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) at an isolated chalet in the French Alps. One day, Daniel comes home […]

The Deep Dark (Gueules Noires) – Toronto After Dark 2023

A team of French miners uncover an ancient evil in a hidden tomb in The Deep Dark. Roland Neville (Samuel Le Bihan) is the leader of a team of coal miners in 1956 France, which includes Louis (Thomas Solivérès), Miguel (Diego Martín), Polo (Marc Riso), Santini (Bruno Sanches), and Morocon newcomer Amir (Amir El Kacem). […]

Strange Way of Life

Two former lovers apart for 25 years reunite under unfortunate circumstances in Strange Way of Life. Silva (Pedro Pascal) rides from his ranch to the town of Bitter Creek, where he is reunited with Sheriff Jake (Ethan Hawke). The two haven’t seen each other for 25 years, since they were young gunslingers and secret lovers […]

Sisterhood – TIFF 2023

Three teenage friends attract outcry after the video of an assault is posted online in Sisterhood. Amina (Léah Aubert), Djeneba (Médina Diarra), and Zineb (Salma Takaline) are three lifelong friends from varying social backgrounds. At a party, Amina ends up filming Zineb receiving unwanted sexual advances from Zakaria (Oscar Al Hafiane), the best friend of […]

Aggro Dr1ft – TIFF 2023

A Miami hitman battles metaphorical and literal demons in Aggro Dr1ft. In a dystopian and infrared world, the world’s greatest assassin Bo (Jordi Mollà) traverses the underworld of Miami, while being haunted by a giant demon. For his latest job, Bo is assigned to take off the head of the hulking crime lord Toto. Aggro […]

Passages

A gay filmmaker causes strife in his marriage when he begins an affair with a woman in Passages. Tomas Freiburg (Franz Rogowski) is a German-born filmmaker living in Paris with his English printer husband Martin (Ben Whishaw). After Martin leaves early from the wrap party of Tomas’ latest film, the latter ends up hooking up […]

The Visitor from the Future – Fantasia 2023

A ragtag group of time travellers try to protect the Earth from nuclear disaster in The Visitor from the Future. Gilbert Alibert (Arnaud Ducret) is on the verge of signing a deal to take over the Axomako Nuclear Plant, much to the protest of his environmentalist daughter Alice (Enya Baroux). Breaking into her father’s house […]

Tiger Stripes – Fantasia 2023

A 12-year-old Malaysian girl undergoes immense changes after hitting puberty in Tiger Stripes. Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) is a student at a Muslim all-girls school in Malaysia, who often ends up breaking the rules when hanging out with her friends Farah (Deena Ezral) and Mariam (Piqa). When Zaffan has her period one night, the resulting changes […]

Vincent Must Die – Fantasia 2023

A man discovers that everyone he makes eye contact with tries to violently kill him in Vincent Must Die. Vincent Borel (Karim Leklou) is an office worker who is suddenly by an intern. These attacks soon repeat and Vincent soon learns from a stranger nicknamed Joachim DB (Michaël Perez) that these incidents aren’t isolated and […]

Asteroid City

The attendees of a youth astronomy convention find themselves quarantined after an encounter with aliens in Asteroid City. Asteroid City is a small desert town known for being the site of the arid plains meteorite. Many Junior Stargazers and their parents descend upon the town for Asteroid Day, including photographer and recent widower Augie Steenbeck […]

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood – Hot Docs 2023

A group of women bare their souls in an Estonian smoke sauna in Smoke Sauna Sisterhood. In Southern Estonia, a group of women gather in a traditional smoke sauna to cleanse themselves. Each of the women tells their own personal stories, with subjects ranging from having breast cancer, coming out as lesbian, and being a […]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The Guardians of the Galaxy go on one final mission together in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The Guardians of the Galaxy have established their headquarters in the colony of Knowhere, where Peter Quill, aka Starlord (Chris Pratt), has entered a depressed funk due to the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana). However, Knowhere is […]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Nintendo stars hit the big screen in a new animated adventure in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are two Italian brothers running a plumbing business in Brooklyn. While trying to fix a broken water main, the Mario Bros. gets sucked into an old pipe in the sewers. […]

Babysitter – Canadian Film Fest 2023

A man hoping to cure himself of his sexist mindset hires a nanny eager to please in Babysitter. While at an MMA fight with friends, a drunken Cédric (Patrick Hivon) goes viral after he embraces reporter Chantal Tremblay (Eve Duranceau) on live television. After a scandalous newspaper article written by Cédric’s brother Jean-Michel (Steve Laplante), […]

Infinity Pool

A novelist discovers the dark secret of the country he is vacationing in Infinity Pool. James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) is a novelist suffering from writer’s block who is on vacation with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) in the island country of La Tolqa. James meets a fan named Gabi Bauer (Mia Goth), who asks James […]

Paris Memories – TIFF 2022

The survivor of a terrorist attack struggles to remember the events in Paris Memories. Mia (Virginie Efira) is a radio translator caught up in a mass shooting in a Paris bistro. Mia survives the attack but cannot remember how the events played out. She begins attending a support group for survivors, where she meets Thomas […]

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro co-directed a new stop-motion version of the classic story with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. Distraught over the death of his young son Carlo, wood-carver Geppetto (David Bradley) carves a pine tree into a puppet made in Carlo’s likeness before collapsing into a drunken stupor. Feeling sympathy for the grieving man, a Wood […]

Dark Glasses

An orphaned Chinese boy guides a blind prostitute to track a serial killer in Dark Glasses. Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli) is a prostitute blinded in a car accident while being pursued by a serial killer who has been targeting call girls in Rome. Collateral damage in the accident is a young Chinese boy named Chin (Andrea […]

Triangle of Sadness – TIFF 2022

A luxury cruise goes horribly awry in Triangle of Sadness. Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean) are two models in a highly volatile relationship who embark on a luxury cruise. Crew leader Paula (Vicki Berlin) tries to ensure the passengers are happy, while The Captain (Woody Harrelson) spends most of the trip in a […]

Hawa – TIFF 2022

A young albino girl hopes to be adopted by Michelle Obama in Hawa. Hawa (Sania Halifa) is a 15-year-old afro-sporting albino girl who lives with her grandmother Maminata (Oumou Sangaré), who is not expected to live long. When Hawa finds out that Michelle Obama is in Paris for four days as part of a book […]

Saint Omer – TIFF 2022

A pregnant novelist confronts her traumas while observing a court case involving infanticide in Saint Omer. Rama (Kayije Kagame) is a young, pregnant novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanga) at the Saint-Omer Criminal Court as inspiration for her upcoming book about the ancient Medea myth. However, hearing Laurence’s case involving killing […]

Sanctuary – TIFF 2022

A hotel heir’s attempt to fire his dominatrix leads to a vicious battle of the sexes in Sanctuary. Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott) is on the cusp of taking over his late father’s hotel empire. He has one final session with his regular dominatrix Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), before letting her know that he will no longer […]

The Lost King – TIFF 2022

An amateur historian seeks to spread the truth about King Richard III in The Lost King. Philippa Langley (Sally Hawkins) is a middle-aged woman at a crossroads, who one night takes her kids to a production of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” while her separated husband John (Steve Coogan) goes out on a date. Philippa begins to […]

El Agua (The Water) – TIFF 2022

A teenage girl in a remote Spanish village becomes preoccupied with a local legend in El Agua (The Water). Ana (Luna Pamies) in a teenage girl in a small village in south-Eastern Spain, who lives with her bartender mother Isabella (Bárbara Lennie) and grandmother (Nieve De Medina). Ana recently started dating José (Alberto Olmo), the […]

Bodies Bodies Bodies

A party game goes horribly wrong in Bodies Bodies Bodies. Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) travel to the mansion of Sophie’s best friend David (Pete Davidson) to crash a “hurricane party” that also includes David’s girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), podcaster Alice (Rachel Sennott) and her older boyfriend Greg (Lee […]

Coupez! (Final Cut) – Fantasia 2022

Oscar-winning filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius directs a meta remake of the hit Japanese zombie-comedy One Cut of the Dead with Coupez! (Final Cut). Remi (Romain Duris) is a struggling filmmaker trying to support his wife Nadia (Bérénice Bejo) and daughter Romi (Simone Hazanavicius). Remi is given the opportunity to adapt a single-take zombie film that was […]

Minions: The Rise of Gru

The little yellow henchmen help their new boss become the world’s greatest supervillain in Minions: The Rise of Gru. Gru (Steve Carell) is a 113/4-year-old aspiring supervillain and the latest boss of the Minions (Pierre Coffin). Gru receives his most significant opportunity when he gets the chance to interview for a recently vacated position on […]

Crimes of the Future

David Cronenberg makes his return to body horror in Crimes of the Future. Sometime in the future, humanity has evolved to the point where they can no longer feel pain, which has resulted in body mutilations becoming a perverse form of performance art. Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) is one such performance artist, who regularly performs […]

Pleasure

A young Swedish woman travels to Los Angeles in the hopes of making it in the adult entertainment industry in Pleasure. Linnéa (Sofia Kappel) is a 20-year-old Swedish woman, who comes to Los Angeles and begins working in the pornographic industry under the name “Bella Cherry.” Bella quickly befriends her roommate Joy (Revika Reustle) and […]

Petite Maman

An eight-year-old girl makes a new friend in the woods surrounding her mother’s childhood home in Petite Maman. After the death of her grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) travels with her mother (Nina Meurisse) and father (Stéphane Varupenne) to clean out the former’s childhood home. While venturing into the woods surrounding the house, Nelly meets […]

Paris, 13th District

The intersecting relationships between three residents of a Paris neighbourhood are explored in Paris, 13th District. Émilie Wong (Lucie Zhang) is a young college graduate living in an apartment in the Les Olympiades complex belonging to her terminally ill grandmother. Looking for a roommate, Émilie meets high school teacher Camille Germain (Makita Samba) and the […]

CODA

A Child of Deaf Adults aspires to pursue a singing career in CODA. Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is the only hearing member of an all-deaf family that includes her fisherman father Frank (Troy Kotsur), mother Jackie (Marlee Matlin), and older brother Leo (Daniel Durant). One day, Ruby decides to pursue her love of singing and […]

The Worst Person in the World

A young woman unable to commit to one thing has her romantic feeling divided between two men in The Worst Person in the World. Julie (Renate Reinsve) is a young woman on the cusp of turning 30, who has juggled many career aspirations, before deciding to be an aspiring photographer, with her working at a […]

Sing 2

A reclusive rock star is needed for the opening of a new show in Sing 2. Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) and his musical stage company of Rosita Brown (Reese Witherspoon), Ash Spinosa (Scarlett Johansson), Johnny Serafinowicz (Taron Egerton), Meena Jones (Tori Kelly), and Gunter Schwartz (Nick Kroll) travel to Red Shore City to pitch a […]

Benedetta

A 17th-century nun enters into a forbidden relationship with another member of her convent in Benedetta. Benedetta Carlini (Virginie Efira) is an extremely devout young woman, who as a child was admitted into a convent run by Sister Felicita (Charlotte Rampling). Benedetta has repeated versions of Jesus and she comes to be viewed as saintly […]

Bergman Island

A filmmaker couple travel to the island where Ingmar Bergman lived and made his films in Bergman Island. Chris (Vicky Krieps) and Tony (Tim Roth) are a couple, who travel to the Baltic island of Fårö, where Ingmar Bergman lived and made his most well-known films. Both Chris and Tony are filmmakers, with the latter […]

The French Dispatch

Wes Anderson presents us with an obituary, travel guide, and 3 featured articles from a fiction magazine in The French Dispatch. Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Bill Murray) was found dead of an apparent heart attack while preparing the final issue of his magazine “The French Dispatch,” a supplement of the Liberty Kansas Evening Sun, detailing life […]

Super Z – Toronto After Dark 2021

Five genetically-enhanced zombies live together as a family in the forest in Super Z. At a sinister laboratory known as “The Purgatory” a mad scientist (Jean-François Gallotte) performs viral experiments for The CEO (Jacques Boudet), leading to the creation of a family of four zombies: Gertre (Johan Libéreau), Stephana (Julien Courbey), Marcelline (Audrey Giacomini), and […]

The Addams Family 2

The kooky and creepy family goes on a cross-country vacation in The Addams Family 2. Wednesday Addams (Chloë Grace Moretz) wins big her school’s science fair, receiving praise from its holographic benefactor Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), but she is embarrassed by the presence of her parents Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) and her […]

After Blue (Dirty Paradise) – TIFF21

On a planet occupied entirely by women, a mother and daughter are sent to assassinate a dangerous criminal in After Blue (Dirty Paradise). Far into the future, humanity has left Earth for the planet After Blue, with the male population dying off early on. Roxy (Paula Luna), nicknamed Toxic by the village girls, is a lonely […]

Mr. Kneff (30th Anniversary Kafka Re-edit)

One of the special events of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival was a screening of a “Surprise New Film” by director Steven Soderbergh. As many predicted beforehand, this “new” film ended up being a re-edited version of Soderbergh’s 1991 sophomore film Kafka, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is a film […]

Saloum – TIFF21

A group of mercenaries end taking refuge in a mysterious region of Senegal in Saloum. Guinea-Bissau’s coup d’état of 2003, the mercenary group Bangui’s Hyenas consisting of Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah), and Minuit (Mentor Ba), extract cartel member Felix (Renaud Farah) and his cargo of gold and drugs, with the group boarding a plane […]

Flee – TIFF21

A refugee tells his story about how he fled Afghanistan and ended up in Denmark in Flee. Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen interviews his friend Amin Nawabi about his life growing up in Afghanistan and how he had to flee with his family to escape the growing war and turmoil. Ending up in Russia, Amil […]

OUT OF SYNC – TIFF21

A sound designer’s life falls into chaos when a delay develops between her vision and hearing in OUT OF SYNC. Sound designer and foley artist C. (Marta Nieto) starts to notice a delay between her vision and hearing, which begins to affect her work, as noticed by her co-workers Iván (Miki Esparbé) and Aurora (Cris Iglesias). […]

Nobody Has to Know – TIFF21

A secret romance is reignited between a farmer’s daughter and an amnesiac farmhand in Nobody Has to Know. Phil (Bouli Lanners) is a Belgian man working as a farmhand for Scottish farmer Angus (Julian Glover). Phil suddenly has a stroke in the middle of the field, though he recovers, albeit with temporary amnesia. Phil is assisted […]

Earwig – TIFF21

A man takes care of a girl with ice for teeth in Earwig. Albert Scellinc (Paul Hilton) is the caretaker for 10-year-old Mia (Romane Hemelaers), who regularly has to be given dentures made out of ice. Albert regularly receives phone calls asking for updates on Mia and he is told that he has 13 takes to prepare […]

Titane – TIFF21

A woman with an obsession with cars poses as the missing son of a fire captain in Titane. As a child, Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) got into a car accident, resulting in a titanium plate being implanted in her skull. This leads to an unnatural connection to cars, which she uses to great success as a gyrating […]

All the Moons – Fantasia 2021

An orphaned girl turned into a vampire must fend for herself in 19th century Spain in All the Moons. At the end of the Third Carlist War in 1876, an orphanage is attacked and a young girl (Haizea Carneros) is mortally wounded. She is saved by a woman (Itziar Ituño), who heals the girl but the […]

Annette

Warning: This Review Will Contain Some Spoilers The torrid love affair between a comedian and opera singer leads to the birth of a very gifted child in Annette. Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) is a highly provocative stand-up comedian who is in a high-profile relationship with rising opera singer Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard). The couple quickly gets […]

Oxygen

A woman wakes up a cryogenic pod with no memory of how she got there in Oxygen. Elizabeth Hansen (Mélanie Laurent) wakes up in a panic tied to a bed in a strange chamber of sorts. She is greeted by the Medical Interface Liason Operator or M.I.L.O. (Mathieu Amalric), who informs her that she is in […]

The Father

A man with worsening dementia is taken in by his daughter in The Father. Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) is an elderly man suffering from the effects of dementia, who moves in with his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) after he has a falling out with his live-in nurse. However, the move is not easy on Anthony, who […]

Happily

A happily married couple’s relationship is tested by the arrival of a mysterious stranger in Happily. Tom (Joel McHale) and Janet (Kerry Bishé) have been extremely happily married for 14 years, which includes an extremely active sex life that comes off as an annoyance to their friends, which consist of fellow couples Karen (Natalie Zea) and […]

Falling

A man has to care for his deeply cruel and homophobic dementia-suffering father in Falling. John Peterson (Viggo Mortensen) is a gay man, who brings his father Willis (Lance Henriksen), who is suffering from the early signs of dementia, to John’s home in California with his husband Eric (Terry Chen) and daughter Monica (Gabby Velis). […]

Another Round

A group of friends perform an experiment about how consuming alcohol can be beneficial to their lives in Another Round. Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), Peter (Lars Ranthe), and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) are four teacher friends from Copenhagen. While out to dinner to celebrate Nikolaj’s 40th birthday, the group begins discussing the theories […]

Savage State

A French family struggle for survival during the American Civil War in Savage State. In the midst of the American Civil War in 1863 Missouri, French colonists Edmund (Bruno Todeschini), his wife Madeleine (Constance Dollé), freed slave Layla (Armelle Abibou) and daughters Abigaëlle (Maryne Bertieaux), Justine (Déborah François), and Esther (Alice Isaaz) seek safe passage […]

Jumbo

A shy and awkward young woman falls in love with an amusement park ride in Jumbo. Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) is an awkward young woman, who works nights at her local amusement park. One night Jeanne is amazed when one of the park’s rides, which she nicknamed “Jumbo,” comes to life before her eyes, with Jeanne […]

The Dark & The Wicked

Two siblings experience strange occurrences at the farm of their dying father in The Dark & The Wicked. Louise (Marin Ireland) and her brother Michael ((Michael Abbott Jr) put their lives on hold to return the farm of their mother (Julie Oliver-Touchstone) and father (Michael Zagst), the latter of whom is on his deathbed. However, […]

A Mermaid in Paris

A cabaret singer encounters a mermaid washed up in the City of Lights in A Mermaid in Paris. Gaspard Snow (Nicolas Duvauchelle) is the primary singer at the Flowerburger, a cabaret club run by his family, which has fallen on hard times. One night, Gaspard encounters an injured mermaid named Lula (Marilyn Lima), who has […]

Hunted

A woman runs from a predatory man in the woods in Hunted. Eve (Lucie Debay) is a French actress who meets a seemingly charming Man (Arieh Worthalter) in a bar, who helps her to fend off a guy trying to pick her up. However, it soon turn out that this stranger is a sexual predator, […]

A Perfect Plan

A group of four career criminals are forced to plan a diamond heist in A Perfect Plan. Kate (Kathleen Munroe) wakes to find herself liked in a basement with Irishman Rowan (Michael Hough), Mexican woman Magdalene (Gia Sandhu), and smart guy Grayson (William Forsythe), all of whom happen to have a criminal background. It turns out […]

Bacurau

The population of a small Brazillian village has to deal with a group of armed mercenaries in Bacurau. Teresa (Bárbara Colen) returns home to Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, to mourn the death of her grandmother and the town matriarch Carmelita. In the days following the funeral, the members of the village […]

Resistance

An aspiring actor joins a resistance group seeking to save the lives of Jewish orphans during World War II in Resistance. Marcel Mangel (Jesse Eisenberg) is a young man in Strasbourg, France, who works in his father’s butcher shop during the day, while at night aspires to become a mime. One day, Marcel is recruited to […]

The Hunt

Twelve strangers awaken in an isolated area to find that they are being hunted for sport in The Hunt. A group of people awaken to find themselves bound in an open field. It isn’t long until shots begin firing and some of the group recognize their situation as the infamous “Manor-gate,” where “Liberal elites” kidnap and […]

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

A young artist develops a romantic connection with the woman she was hired to paint a portrait of in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is a young painter, who travels to an island in eighteenth-century Brittany, where she is hired by La Comtesse (Valeria Golino) to paint a portrait of her […]

Judy

The story of Judy Garland in the twilight of her career is told in Judy. Three decades after her breakthrough role in The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland (Renée Zellweger) is suffering from depression and substance abuse and is on the verge of losing custody of her two youngest kids to her ex-husband Sidney Luft […]

Sorry We Missed You – TIFF19

A working-class British family struggles to make ends meet in Sorry We Missed You. Having previously lost his home and job in the 2008 financial crash, Ricky (Kris Hitchen) starts a semi-freelance job with a delivery depot. Requiring a long financial deposit for his delivery van, Ricky’s wife Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) is forced to sell […]

Jessica Forever

A woman cares for a group of violent marauders in Jessica Forever. In a dystopian future society, orphans roam the world causing violence and mayhem. However, a group of orphans have been gathered together by the matriarchal Jessica (Aomi Muyock), who teaches them to be more kind and compassionate. Forever on the run from special forces drones, […]

Swallow

A young pregnant woman begins the habit of ingesting random objects in Swallow. Hunter (Haley Bennett) is a young woman who has a seemingly happy life with her husband Richie (Austin Stowell), who comes from a wealthy and successful family. Soon after moving into a new house, Hunter discovers that she is pregnant. It isn’t […]

Idol

A grieving father wants answers about the events that lead to his son’s death in Idol. Councilor Koo Myung-hui is a candidate for governor, who returns home one day to find out that his son Johan was involved in a hit and run and brought the bloody body home with him. Koo convinces his son […]

Ma

A group of friends befriend a middle-aged black woman with sinister intentions in Ma. Maggie (Diana Silvers) is a teenager, who has moved to small town, where her mother Erica (Juliette Lewis) grew up. At school, Maggie quickly befriends Haley (McKaley Miller), Andy (Corey Fogelmanis), Chaz (Gianni Paolo), and Darrell (Dante Brown), who invite Maggie […]

Memory – The Origins of Alien

The influences and history behind Ridley Scott’s Alien is told in Memory – The Origins of Alien. When it was produced in 1979, Alien was quite unlike any science fiction film being produced at the time. Part of this comes from the synergy between screenwriter Dan O’Bannon, conceptual artist H.R. Giger, and director Ridley Scott. […]

Human Nature

The people and science behind the “CRISPR Revolution” are explored in Human Nature. Since the 1970s, scientists have been experimenting with gene therapy. However, since this is a random process, the results of such experiments could not be controlled. However, with the discovery of CRISPR, it has become increasingly possible to manipulate human DNA to […]

Hellboy

Neil Marshall reboots the adventures of the monster hunting hellspawn in Hellboy. Hellboy (David Harbour) is a hellspawn raised by Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane) of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. While on assignment in England, Hellboy comes across a plan by the pig-like fairy Gruagach (Stephen Graham) to resurrect The Blood Queen Nimue […]

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Terry Gilliam finally brings his long-in-development passion project to the big screen with The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Toby Grisoni (Adam Driver) is a washed up filmmaker, currently shooting commercials for an advertising agency run by The Boss (Stellan Skarsgård). Toby comes across a bootleg DVD of a film he made about Don Quixote […]

Everybody Knows

Suspicions build after a woman’s teenage daughter is kidnapped during a wedding in Everybody Knows. Laura (Penélope Cruz) has traveled home from Spain to Argentina to attend her sister’s wedding, bringer her two children in two. With Laura’s husband Alejandro (Ricardo Darín) unable to make the trip, she takes the time to catch up with her […]

Cold War

We follow the tumultuous relationship between two musicians in postwar Europe in Cold War. In 1949 Poland, jazz-loving pianist Wiktor Warski (Tomasz Kot) is forced to play into the communist propaganda machine and audition traditional folk musicians, as part of state-sponsored project. During the auditions, Wiktor finds himself immediately enamored by Zuzanna “Zula” Lichoń (Joanna Kulig), […]

The Grinch

The popular Christmas story by Dr. Seuss gets a new animated adaptation in The Grinch. The Whos in the town of Whoville like Christmas a whole lot, much to the annoyance of The Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch), who would rather stay home alone with his dog Max. Finally getting fed up with all the cheer, The Grinch decides […]

Let the Corpses Tan

A gold robbery results in an epic shootout in Let the Corpses Tan. After robbing 250kg of gold, a gang arrives at the remote ruins of a Mediterranean hamlet to hide out. However, the sudden arrival of cops results in an epic shootout to break out, with the last one left standing to get the gold. […]

Diamantino

A disgraced soccer star decides to adopt a refugee in Diamantino. Diamantino Matamouros (Carloto Cotta) is the star soccer player for Portugal, whose prowess comes from his ability to see nothing but pink clouds and fluffy puppies on the pitch. However, when he becomes aware of the refugee crisis, Diamantino is thrown off his game and […]

Jessica Forever

A woman cares for a group of violent marauders in Jessica Forever. In a dystopian future society, orphans roam the world causing violence and mayhem. However, a group of orphans have been gathered together by the matriarchal Jessica (Aomi Muyock), who teaches them to be more kind and compassionate. Forever on the run from special forces drones, […]

Non-Fiction

A group of people in the Parisian publishing world adjust to changes in the industry and their lives in Non-Fiction. Alain (Guillaume Canet) is a publisher in Paris, who is trying to embrace the switch from books to digital, while also dealing the stagnation of his marriage to his actress wife Serena (Juliette Binoche). At the same time […]

Climax

A dance troupe’s rehearsal party degenerates into chaos in Climax. Based on real events that happened in France of 1996, a group of dancers have just finished a three day rehearsal and have begun a celebratory party. However, it isn’t too long until they discover that the punch bowl of sangria has been spiked with LSD. […]

The Little Stranger

A country doctor returns to a manor he once visited as a child in The Little Stranger. Dr. Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson) first visited Hundreds Hall in the summer of 1919, when he visited the manor with his mother, who used to work as a maid. Three decades later, the manor has fallen into despair, with the owner Angela […]

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team faces their most impossible mission in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Following the capture of Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), a new shadowy organization known as The Apostles have formed out of the remains of The Syndicate. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) […]

Cold Skin

A man is stationed on an island inhabited by amphibious creatures in Cold Skin. In the fall of 1914, a young man (David Oakes) sails to an isolated island in the Antarctic to survey the weather. The only other person on the island is the crazed lighthouse keeper Gruner (Ray Stevenson), who is less than welcoming […]

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

An Indonesian widow kills the men who rob her, before going on a journey of redemption in Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts. Marlina (Marsha Timothy) is a young woman living in an remote farmhouse, who is robbed and raped by a gang on men. With the help of poisoned soup and a machete, Marlina manages […]

The Night of All Nights

Four longtime couples reflect on that status of their relationships in The Night of All Nights. It can be easy to assume that when a couple gets married, that their relationship would last forever. That way of thinking is tested by a profile for four long term couples from around the world. This includes Hildegard & Heinz-Siegfried […]

Luba

A single mother tries to turn her life around, while dealing with her addict ex-husband in Luba. Luba (Nicole Maroon) is a single mother struggling to make ends meet, while raising her six year old son Matty (Porter Schaefer). At the same time, Luba has to deal with her ex-husband Donnie (Vladimir Jon Cubrt), who […]

Call Me by Your Name

A teenage boy develops a relationship with his father’s research assistant in Call Me by Your Name. Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a 17 year old boy living with his archaeologist father (Michael Stuhlbarg) and mother (Amira Casar) in Northern Italy. In the summer of 1983, graduate student Oliver (Armie Hammer) comes to live with the family, […]

In the Fade

A grief-stricken woman seeks justice for the death of her family in In the Fade. Katja Sekerci (Diane Kruger) is a woman living in Hamburg, married to Turkish ex-con Nuri (Numan Acar). Katja’s world falls apart when a bomb blast kills Nuri and their 5 year old son Rocco. Dealing with prejudice about her husband’s drug […]

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

This review was originally published as part of my coverage for Hot Docs 2017 The indigenous contributions to music history are revealed in Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. In 1907, the first recording of native music was made, since it was believed that the culture of the First Nation’s community would disappear. However, as […]

Let the Corpses Tan

A gold robbery results in an epic shootout in Let the Corpses Tan. After robbing 250kg of gold, a gang arrives at the remote ruins of a Mediterranean hamlet to hide out. However, the sudden arrival of cops results in an epic shootout to break out, with the last one left standing to get the gold. […]

Revenge

A woman left for dead seek vengeance against those who wronged her in Revenge. Jen (Matilda Lutz) is an American socialite, who travels with her married French millionaire lover Richard (Kevin Jannsens) for a weekend of passion. However, thinks go awry when Richard’s hunting buddies Stan and Dimitri arrive early, with Jen being the recipient of […]

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

An Indonesian widow kills the men who rob her, before going on a journey of redemption in Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts. Marlina (Marsha Timothy) is a young woman living in an remote farmhouse, who is robbed and raped by a gang on men. With the help of poisoned soup and a machete, Marlina manages […]

The Cured

Those previously infected by an infectious virus are viewed as outcasts to society in The Cured. Ireland is in the process of recovering from the outbreak of the Maze Virus, which effectively turned the infected into violent zombies. A cure for the virus was found, with 75% of the infected returning to their pre-infected state, […]

Dunkirk

Thousands of soldiers seek rescue during World War II in Dunkirk. During the Second World War, 400,000 British and French soldiers are surrounded by the enemy on a beach in the town of Dunkirk, located in the north of France. The attempted evacuation of the soldiers are told from three perspectives. On land, told over […]

Game of Death

A group of friends play a board game that literally blows their minds in Game of Death. While gathered together for a party, Tom (Samuel Earle), Beth (Victoria Diamond), Ashley (Emelia Hellman), Mary-ann (Catherine Saindon), Tyler (Erniel Baez Duenas), Kenny (Nick Serino), and Matthew (Thomas Vallieres) find an begin playing a mysterious board game called “Game […]

I, Daniel Blake

An elderly man struggles to receive government assistance in I, Daniel Blake. Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is a 59 year old carpenter in Newcastle, who has been out of work following a heart attack. After a work capability assessment by the government support centre, Daniel is deemed fit for work and denied employment and support allowance, […]

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

Winner, Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary The indigenous contributions to music history are revealed in Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. In 1907, the first recording of native music was made, since it was believed that the culture of the First Nation’s community would disappear. However, as it turns out, the indigenous […]

The Girl Down Loch Änzi

A Swiss farm girl is curious to learn the truth about a local legend in The Girl Down Loch Änzi. Laura is a 12 year old girl, who lives with her family of a charcoal burners on a farm in the Swiss mountains. Laura has becomes obsessed with the local legend of the Änziloch Maiden, who […]

Shadowman

The life and career of artist Richard Hambleton is told in Shadowman. Born in Vancouver, Richard Hambleton became known for his New York City street art in the 1980s, which were often done in the form of shadowy silhouettes. Hambleton eventually moved into studio painting and quickly became a sensation along with his friends Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. […]

Libera Nos

The daily routines of a Sicilian exorcist is observed in Libera Nos. Over the past number of years, the requests to the Catholic Church for the rite of exorcism has been on the rise, to the point where exorcism conferences are held in Rome. Father Cataldo is a veteran exorcist, who regularly performs the rite […]

I Am Not Your Negro

The unfinished final manuscript from author James Baldwin narrates the history of race relations in America in I Am Not Your Negro. Towards the end of his life, author James Baldwin began writing a memoir entitled “Remember This House,” where Baldwin gives his recollections on murdered civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin […]

Toni Erdmann

A corporate consultant has to deal with the prankish behaviour of her father in Toni Erdmann. Winfried (Peter Simonischek) is a retired piano teacher in Germany, who delights in playing pranks on people. However, he has a bit of a distant relationship with his daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller), who is a high-ranking management consultant in Bucharest. Winfried spontaneously […]

The Red Turtle

A shipwrecked man develops an unlikely relationship with a giant sea turtle in The Red Turtle. After a shipwreck, a man washes up on an island, occupied only by seals, crabs, and turtles. The man gathers wood to build a raft, but every time he tries to leave the island, the raft is destroyed by […]

It’s Only the End of the World

A terminally ill man returns home to tell his family he’s dying in It’s Only the End of the World. Louis (Gaspard Ulliel) is a successful writer, who has returned home after a 12 year absence, with his ultimate goal being to tell them have he has a terminal illness. He is welcomed by his mother (Nathalie […]

Elle

A middle-aged woman with a dark past deals with a sexual assault in her own way in Elle. Michèle Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert) is the head of a video game company, who is one day brutally raped in her home. However, despite the pleas of her ex-husband Richard (Charles Berling) and friends Anna (Anne Consigny) and Robert (Christian […]

One More Time with Feeling

Nick Cave tries to move past personal tragedy, as he finishes the recording of his latest album in One More Time with Feeling. In the summer of 2015, as he was in the process of writing and recording his latest album “Skeleton Tree,” musician Nick Cave’s 15 year old son Arthur died in a tragic […]

Little Sister

A goth girl turned nun returns home to visit her disfigured older brother in Little Sister. Colleen Lunsford (Addison Timlin) is a young woman about to give her first vows to become a nun. Colleen receives an e-mail from her mother Joani (Ally Sheedy) stating that her older brother Jacob (Keith Poulson) has returned home after being […]

Rage

Three seemingly unrelated stories are connected by the hunt for a killer in Rage. At a bloody crime scene, police find a murdered couple and the word “rage” written on the wall in blood. This begins a manhunt for the prime suspect Yamagami, who is known to change his appearance. This manhunt affects the lives […]

Salt and Fire

A delegation of scientists are kidnapped by a rogue businessman in Salt and Fire. A team of United Nation scientists, lead by Laura Somerfeld (Veronica Ferres) and Fabio Cavani (Gael García Bernal), travel to South America to investigate the severity of the Diablo Blanco salt flats. However, the delegation is kidnapped by men working for Matt Riley […]

Raw

A vegetarian veterinary student gains a taste for human flesh after being forced to eat meat for the first time in Raw. 16 year old Justine (Garance Marillier) has just enrolled into a veterinary college, following the steps of her family, including her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf). Despite her entire family being devout vegetarians, Justine is […]

Toni Erdmann

A corporate constant has to deal with the prankish behaviour of her father in Toni Erdmann. Winfried (Peter Simonischek) is a retired piano teacher in Germany, who delights in playing pranks on people. However, he has a bit of a distant relationship with his daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller), who is a high-ranking management consultant in Bucharest. Winfried […]

Personal Shopper

Kristen Stewart reunites with filmmaker Olivier Assayas in the artful ghost story Personal Shopper. Maureen (Stewart) is a young woman, whose job it is to do all the clothes shopping for Paris socialite Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten). Maureen is also a medium and she has been trying to make contact with her twin brother Lewis, who recently […]

We Are the Flesh

Two siblings are encouraged by a mysterious man to engage in taboo and forbidden acts in We Are the Flesh. Lucio (Diego Gamaliel) and Fauna (María Evoli) are a brother and sister find themselves in a dilapidated building, occupied by the sadistic and peverted Mariano (Noé Hernández). Mariano makes the siblings do whatever he demands, whether […]

Bad Blood

A troubled teen becomes an amphibious were-monster in Bad Blood. One night when out with her friend, Victoria Miller (Mary Malloy) is attacked and seriously injured by some sort of creature. She is helped by a mysterious, yet helpful gas station attendant (Vikas Adam), who has developed a serum that can halt Victoria’s transformation at the next […]

I, Olga Hepnarova

A depressed woman is pushed into committing a horrible crime in I, Olga Hepnarova. For all of her life, Olga Hepnarova (Michalina Olszanska) was a victim of bullying, whether it be the abuse she received from her parents or the torment by fellow girls at a psychiatric hospital. Despite having a number of female lovers, Olga is […]

Demon

The review was originally published as part of my coverage of TIFF 2015 A groom gets possessed during his wedding day in Demon. Peter (Itay Tiran) is preparing to marry his fiance Zaneta (Agnieszka Zulewska) at her family’s country home in Poland. The night before the wedding, Peter finds skeletal remains on the property, after which he […]

Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex

The ever-changing world of monster special effect is examined in Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex. The love of monsters comes from a deep seeded fear of the unknown, which is with us from our earliest memories. From the early works of Lon Chaney and Jack P. Pierce to the 1980s “rock stars” of Stan Winston, Rick […]

The Neon Demon

A young model finds herself the envy of the fashion industry in The Neon Demon. Jesse (Elle Fanning) is a sixteen year old woman, who has just moved to Los Angeles with the hopes of starting a modeling career. At her first shoot, photographed by new acquaintance Dean (Karl Glusman), Jesse meets make-up artist Ruby (Jena […]

The Happy Film

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister explores his own happiness in The Happy Film. For his latest graphic design project, Stefan Sagmeister has decided to find out what is the best path towards happiness. Sagmeister sets off to try meditation, therapy, and meditation for three months each and record the results of each trial. There is a title […]

Carol

A young aspiring photographer has an affair with an older woman in Carol. Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) is an aspiring photographer in her twenties working in a department store. One day she meets Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), a middle-aged housewife, who is in the beginnings of a bitter divorce with her husband Harge (Kyle Chandler). Therese and […]

Legend

Tom Hardy stars as the infamous London gangsters The Krays in Legend. Reggie and Ronnie Kray (Hardy) are twin gangsters in London during the 1960s. Reggie, the more level-headed of the two, fronts his criminal enterprises as the head of a nightclub, white Ronnie is a mentally unstable violent psychotic. All the while, the actions […]

Room

A young boy and his mother adjust to life outside the confined quarters where they lived in Room. Jack (Jacob Tremblay) is a five year old boy, who has only known existence in “room,” where he lived with his mother Joy (Brie Larson). Joy has tried her best to shelter Jack from the truth of […]

Drone

The controversy surrounding US drone strikes is explored in Drone.  Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the CIA announced to George W. Bush that they had the capability to arm drones.  Drone strikes went on to become the defining weapon of the War on Terror, with the main selling point by politicians being that these strikes […]

Demon

A groom gets possessed during his wedding day in Demon. Peter (Itay Tiran) is preparing to marry his fiance Zaneta (Agnieszka Zulewska) at her family’s country home in Poland. The night before the wedding, Peter finds skeletal remains on the property, after which he begins acting strangely during the wedding reception.  It quickly becomes apparent that […]

Love

Warning: The content described in this review is only suitable for people 18 years or older. Reader discretion is advised.Controversial filmmaker Gaspar Noé (Enter the Void) mixes romantic drama with explicit sex in Love. Murphy (Karl Glusman) is an American film student, who begins an extremely passionate relationship with Parisian artist Electra (Aomi Muyock). Featuring a […]

Yakuza Apocalypse

Takashi Miike gets foolish in the action-comedy Yakuza Apocalypse. When vampire Yakuza boss Kamiura (Lily Franky) is taken out by an unusual syndicate, his young protegé Kagayama (Hayato Ichihara) inherits his boss’ vampire powers. Creating a gang of vampire Yakuza out of the local citizens, Kagayama prepares to battle the evil syndicate, which includes a […]

The Idol

A young refugee from Gaza goes on to win Arab Idol in The Idol. Mohamad Assaf grew up in the the troubled Palestinian region of Gaza. As a ten year old, he formed a band with his older sister Nour, who recognized Mohamad’s immense singing talent. Many years later, Mohamad Assaf would sneak out of Gaza on a fake […]

Let Them Come

A family must cope with increased terrorist violence in Algeria in the drama Let Them Come. Noureddine (Amazigh Kateb) is a man living in Algiers, who follows his mother’s bedside wishes and marries Yasmina (Rachida Brakni), even though he is not sure if he truly loves her. However, the familiar faces greater problems as Islamist militants begin staging […]

On the White Planet

The issue of race is explored in the dark animated film On the White Planet. On a planet completely devoid of colour, there is one teenage boy who has coloured skin. This glaring difference makes him a complete outcast, with the boy turning into a murderous fugitive. The boy is welcomed in by a group […]

Hostile

Strange occurrences centre around two sisters in Hostile. Meredith Langston (Shelley Ward) has recently adopted sisters Emilie (Julie Venturelli) and Anna (Luna Belan). Shortly after moving into their new home, the three experience strange occurrences, which includes seeing a man around the house. Meredith calls in reporters Chloé (Anatolia Allieis) and Chris (Morgan Hec) to stay with […]

Goodnight Mommy

Two twin brothers are bothered by the apparent changes in their mother in Goodnight Mommy. Elias and Lukas (Elias and Lukas Schwarz) live on their own with their mother (Susanne Wuest). When she comes home heavily bandaged after an operation, the two brothers notice that the behaviour of their mother isn’t like it once was, particularly […]

Shrew’s Nest

This review was originally published as part of my coverage of TIFF 2014 An extremely complicated sisterly relationship is at the centre of this Spanish thriller, produced by Alex De La Iglesia.  Montse (Macarena Gómez) is an agoraphobic and devoutly religious woman, who has acted as a surrogate parent for her younger sister (Nadia de […]

Nowhere Girl

From Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) comes this film about a teenage girl suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.  Ai (Nana Seino) is a student at an all-girls school, who often remains silent in her art classes and often goes off to do her own thing, including the construction of a large structure in the […]

Extinction

Two men and a young girl try to survive in a post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland in Extinction.  Nine years after a zombie apocalypse, the world has frozen over and all of humanity appears to be extinct.  Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) tries to live a relatively normal life with his daughter Lu (Quinn McColgan), while Patrick (Matthew Fox) […]

Minions

Those lovable yellow henchmen get their own movie in Minions.  Minions have existed since the dawn of time, with their primary goal being to serve the most despicable of masters.  Having caused the inadvertent deaths of all their previous masters, the Minions are on the bring of depression in their Antarctic hideaway.  This results in […]

Horsehead

A young woman is tormented by lucid nightmares in Horsehead.  Jessica (Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux) has been studying the psychophysiology of dreams in an attempt to understand the recurring nightmares that she is plagued with, many of which feature a horseheaded creature.  After the death of her grandmother, Jessica returns home to an icy reception from her […]

Tomorrowland

A teenage girl finds a pin that leads her to a futuristic city in Tomorrowland.  Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is a troublesome teen, who is arrested when she is caught trying to sabotage the deconstruction of the former Cape Canaveral NASA launch site.  When she makes bail, Casey finds a pin, which provides her with […]

Spring

A man finds love with a woman with a monstrous secret in Spring.  Following the death of his mother, Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci) goes into a personal tailspin, which includes getting into a bar fight that costs him his job.  Looking for a change of scenery, Even travels to Italy and gets a job working […]

Drone

The controversy surrounding US drone strikes is explored in Drone.  Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the CIA announced to George W. Bush that they had the capability to arm drones.  Drone strikes went on to become the defining weapon of the War on Terror, with the main selling point by politicians being that these […]

Clouds of Sils Maria

A veteran actress reflects on herself while preparing for a play in Clouds of Sils Maria.  Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is a successful middle-aged actress, who is best known for performing the role of Sigrid in the play and film Maloja Snake twenty years ago.  Maria is asked to star in a new revival of […]

Monsoon

From filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson (Force of Nature) comes this meditation on the torrential rains of India.  Beginning around June of every year, the annual monsoons decent upon India.  This incomparably vast weather system affects the country in multiple different ways, including being India’s primary source of water for drinking and farming.  Over the course of […]

Still Alice

Julianne Moore plays a 50 year old woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease in the drama Still Alice.  Alice Howland (Moore) is an esteemed linguistics professor at Columbia University, who has recently celebrated her 50th birthday.  Alice begins to forget small details about her life and decides to get tested by a neurologist, where […]

Selma

The fight for the voting rights of African Americans is at the centre of the historical drama Selma.  Shortly after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) sets his sights on the town of Selma, Alabama, which imposes strict restrictions on black citizens, who try […]

Force Majeure

A split-second decision drives a wedge between a married couple in the Swedish drama Force Majeure.  Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) is on a ski trip in the French Alps, with his wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and two children Vera and Harry.  On the second day of their trip, while having lunch at a mountain restaurant, […]

Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll – Reel Asian 2014

Following its independence from France in the 1950s, Cambodia had a very prosperous popular music scene.  Influenced by Afro-Cuban music and rock and roll, acts such as Sinn Sisamouth, The Bayon Band, and Houy Meas became huge hits on Cambodian radio.  However, things would change with the Cambodian Civil War in the 1970s and the […]

Maps to the Stars

David Cronenberg directs the Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars.  Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) is a young woman with burn scars, who arrives into Los Angeles from Florida and become acquainted with limo driver, and aspiring actor, Jerome (Robert Pattinson).  Through her connections, Agatha becomes the new personal assistant Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), an aging actress […]

The Door

Indie Spotlight is a series focusing on reviews of independent films After saving a wealthy Japanese gentleman from a mugging, Owen (Sam Kantor) is offered a job at one of the man’s family businesses.  Owen arrives at an old abandoned meat-packing plant and is told to put on a security uniform, sit at a desk, […]

ABCs of Death 2

Once again, 26 filmmakers present 26 ways to die in the horror anthology ABCs of Death 2.  As with the first film, each of the filmmakers were given creative freedom to create a short segment corresponding to the letter of the alphabet they were assigned, with each ending in a highly creative and often gory […]

White Bird in a Blizzard

From Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation, Mysterious Skin) comes this coming of age drama about a teenage girl’s relationship with her missing mother.  17 year old Kat Connor (Shailene Woodley) used to have a close relationship with her mother Eve (Eva Green), but they steadily grew more distant as Kat grew older and started to […]

Over Your Dead Body

From Japanese auteur Takashi Miike (13 Assassins) comes this multi-reality ghost story.  A theatre troupe are in rehearsals for a production of the 200 year old play Yotsuya Kaidan.  The play is a story of betrayal and revenge, centring on a samurai named Tamiya Iemon and his spurred lover Oiwa.  As rehearsals of the play […]

Alleluia

Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz directs this darkly humorous romantic thriller, loosely inspired by the true story of the “The Lonely Hearts Killers” from the 1940s.  Michel (Laurent Lucas) is a con man, who finds women through personal ads and extorts them out of their money.  Michel is found out by his latest mark, a […]

Pride

A group of gay activists finds a common cause with a group of striking Welsh miners in the true story Pride.  Set in 1984, while the UK was still under the rule of Margaret Thatcher, a young gay activist named Mark (Ben Schnetzer) decides to raise money to support striking miners in Wales, forming a […]

The Expendables 3

The team of mercenaries recruit new blood to face an old foe in The Expendables 3.  After freeing imprisoned Expendables member Doc (Wesley Snipes), Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leads his team of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture), and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) to intercept an arms deal.  Barney […]

Magic in the Moonlight

In the latest film by Woody Allen, an illusionist sets off to the French Riviera to debunk a pretty young psychic medium.  Set in the 1920s, Stanley (Colin Firth) is a British man who performs on stage as the world famous Oriental illusionist Wei Ling Soo.  After a show, Stanley is greeted by fellow illusionist […]

Lucy

French auteur Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional) returns with the sci-fi/action film Lucy.  Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is a 25 year old American woman, who finds herself forced to deliver a case of an experimental drug called CPH4 to Taiwanese gangster Mr. Jang (Choi Min-sik).  Lucy finds herself captured and forced to smuggle the drug, which […]

Only Lovers Left Alive

From cult independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man, Broken Flowers) comes the brooding vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive.  Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a centuries-old vampire, who currently lives a reclusive and depressed life in Detroit as a rock musician, with his only contact with the outside world being a human named Ian (Anton Yelchin), […]

Watchers of the Sky

Inspired by the book A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power, Watchers of the Sky looks into the history of genocide. The term was coined by Raphael Lemkin, who was seeking to change the laws that allowed sovereign nations to commit “legalized murder.”  The film looks at examples of genocide through the ages, including Rwanda […]

The Special Need

Enea is a 29 year old Italian man with autism, who works in a textile factory.  He has never been in a sexual relationship and is often trying to pick up girls, though they more often than not ignore his advances.  Enea’s friends Alex and Carlo (the film’s director) decide to help Enea have his […]

Nymphomaniac

From director Lars von Trier (Melancholia) comes this epic two volume story about a woman with a lifelong sex addition.  Left beaten and bloodied in an alley, the titular nymphomaniac Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is taken in by the kind stranger Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård).  While she recovers in his home, Joe insists to Seligman that she […]

The Husband

The latest film from director Bruce McDonald focuses on Henry Andreas (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), a man who has to care for his infant son by himself, while his wife Alyssa (Sarah Allen) is in prison for sleeping with an underaged teenager named Colin Nesmith (Dylan Authors).  Being the husband of a convicted pedophile is a hard […]

3 Days to Kill

From producer and co-writer Luc Besson and director McG (Charlie’s Angels) comes 3 Days to Kill.  Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is a CIA agent, who finds himself diagnosed with terminal cancer and is given only months to live.  Forced into retirement, Ethan travels to Paris in the hopes to reconnect with his estranged daughter Zoey […]

Philomena

Finishing off my catching up of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture, I checked out this true story directed by Stephen Frears. When she was younger, Irish woman Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) was forced by nuns to give up her son, born out of wedlock, for adoption, with her also being forced into labour at […]

Gabrielle

Playing as part of the Canada’s Top Ten line-up, as well as opening this week for its regular release, Gabrielle is a coming-of-age story about a young woman’s desire to live a normal life, despite her mental disability.  Gabrielle (Gabrielle Marion-Rivard) is a young women with William’s Syndrome, who sings in a choir with other […]

Tom at the Farm

From director Xavier Dolan (Laurence Anyways), comes this darkly humorous psychological thriller.  After the death of his lover Guy, Tom (Dolan) travels from Montreal to the countryside and stays at the farm of Guy’s family, while attending the funeral.  Guy’s mother Agathe (Lise Roy) never knew that her son was a homosexual and his psychotic […]

Enemy

Jake Gyllenhaal faces off with himself in this new doppelganger thriller from director Denis Villeneuve (Incendies), which is an adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago’s novel The Double.  Adam Bell (Gyllenhaal) is a Toronto-based history professor, who lives a somewhat mundane and routine life with his girlfriend Mary (Mélanie Laurent). Based on the recommendation […]

Inside Llewyn Davis

From directors Joel and Ethan Coen comes this musical drama about a folk singer named Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), who struggles to find success in Greenwich Village scene of 1961.  Practically homeless, Llewyn resorts to crashing on his friend’s couches, while he watches the greater musical success of his friends Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean […]

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The winner of the Palme D’Or at this years Cannes Film Festival tells the story of Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a high school senior, who finds herself infatuated with blue-haired art student Emma (Léa Seydoux).  The two strike up a friendship, which quickly turns into a passionate love affair.  However, as time goes by, the passion […]

Haunter

Director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) returns with a film that can be best described as a “reverse ghost story.”  Lisa (Abigail Breslin) is a teenaged girl, who begins to realize that she and her family are performing the exact same routines every day.  In addition, their house is surrounded by an endless fog and Lisa […]

Witching & Bitching

The 25th anniversary of Midnight Madness concluded with a bang with the crazy horror/comedy Witching & Bitching by Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia (The Last Circus). Jose (Hugo Silva) is a down-on-his-luck divorced man, who is forced to bring his son Sergio with him on a robbery of a cash-for-gold store.  During the getaway, […]

Only God Forgives

Ryan Gosling reunites with Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn for the Bangkok-set crime thriller Only God Forgives.  Julian Thompson (Gosling) is an American expat, who is running a Bangkok boxing club, which is a front for a drug-smuggling operation.  His older brother Billy (Tom Burke) brutally rapes and kills an underage prostitute and is in […]

The East

Writer/actress Brit Marling (Another Earth, Sound of My Voice) reteams with Sound of My Voice writer/director Zal Batmanglij for the thriller The East.  The film stars Marling as Sarah, who is an operative for an elite private intelligence firm.  Sarah is sent undercover to infiltrate an eco-terrorist organization named The East, who use an “eye […]

Trance

After playing the awards game with the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and Oscar-nominated 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle returns to dishing out his unique take on genre films.  In the case of Trance, what starts off as a fairly ordinary heist film, turns into psychological thriller in which the main protagonist begins to doubt the reality […]

Love, Marilyn

More than fifty years after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most infamous of Hollywood tragedies.  Even though she had a very high ambition to succeed as an actress, she fell victim to typecasting and substance abuse.  There have been countless biographies about Marilyn over the years, with the most recent example being […]

Spring Breakers

Through its depiction in movies and popular culture, the spring break holiday has gained mythological status as the time when horny college students get to live out their hedonistic fantasies.  How many times have we seen spring break depicted as the place where people can go crazy with sex, drugs, and drinking, without worrying about […]

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013

If there’s a category at the Oscars that is difficult to predict, it is often the short film categories.  The reasons they are so hard to predict is that, more often than not, people have not (or could not) see the shorts before the Oscars.  For every short cartoon that plays before a Disney film, […]

Amour

If you aren’t feeling completely depressed after seeing Michael Haneke’s new film Amour, you are one emotionless person.  The film is about a hard truth everyone has to experience, but don’t often think about; the slow deterioration of someone that you love.  Almost the entire plot of the film is solely made up of the […]

Life of Pi

Life of Pi is the new film by director Ang Lee and is about an Indian boy named Pi, who is stranded in a lifeboat after a ship sinks, with his only company being a Bengal tiger.  The film is a very spiritual and mystical film and religion plays a very big role in the […]

Holy Motors

Holy Motors is not an easy film for me to describe.  At first glance, the film seems to be a series of, seemingly unrelated, vignettes, all of which feature a mysterious character, by the name of Monsieur Oscar, playing a different persona.  The film doesn’t seem to have a traditional narrative, other than a framing […]

Taken 2

When it was released in 2008, Taken became a surprise hit and started Liam Neeson’s current career path as an action star.  That said, there wasn’t really any need for a sequel.  The film was seemed like a fairly stand-alone story, which saw Neeson’s ex-spy Bryan Mills tear through Paris looking for his kidnapped daughter.  […]

Blindspot: A Serious Man

For this month’s blindspot film, I am choosing a release that is only three years old.  I highly regretted missing out on the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man when it was released in 2009, especially after the film went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.  I suppose that I missed out on […]

Antiviral

I am quite a big fan of David Cronenberg, so I was definitely interested when it was announced that his son Brandon was going to screen this year at TIFF.  Based on what I’ve heard from the film’s debut at Cannes, the apple has not fallen far from the tree and the film hearkens back to David […]

On the Road

TIFF is now upon us and it is now time for my first review of the festival! On the Road is an adaptation of the classic novel by Jack Kerouac.  The film focuses on Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), who is an aspiring writer and the narrator of the film.  The narration of the film is in Kerouac’s […]

Cosmopolis

Outside of a New York City building (that looks remarkably like Toronto’s Union Station), 28-year-old billionaire Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) decides that he wants to get a haircut on the other side of town. His bodyguard Torval (Kevin Durand, doing his best Christopher Walken impression) advises against this, because the visiting U.S. President will make traffic […]

The Job

For my final film of Hot Docs, I saw this French documentary that filmed the recruitment process for an insurance company.  Ten job seekers come in for the job, not even being told what it is, and they go through a recruitment process that I can best describe as both shocking and enthralling. To call […]

Bully

“Sticks and Stones may Break My Bones, but Names Will Never Hurt Me” That’s a phrase that was taught to me when I was in elementary school as a response to bullying, even though the belief that names don’t hurt isn’t exactly accurate.  I was bullied all throughout elementary and high school and it was […]

The Raid: Redemption

It was a busy day of movie screenings last night.  First up was a screening of this Indonesian action film, which won the Midnight Madness People’s Choice award at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. It was definitely a high-octane film.  The film features many crazy martial arts movies, along with some extreme violence (with the […]

Silent House

Silent House is a horror film that is presented as one continuous shot.  I’ll say now that this was probably one of the most effective elements of the film.  The film flows seamlessly and you almost forget at times that it’s a non-stop shot (though I managed to spot a couple of the invisible cuts). […]

A Separation

It all begins with the desire of one Iranian woman to leave Iran for a better life.  Her husband does not want to leave and instead wants to stay and care for his father with Alzheimer’s.  The couple file for divorce and so begins a series of events that will tear their family further apart. […]

Café de Flore

Last night I saw a film at Canada’s Top Ten that I can probably say will end up being the best of the films that I have seen. Café de Flore tells two stories.  The first story, set in present day Montreal, is about a love triangle of sorts in which a DJ named Antoine (Kevin Parent) […]

Carnage

Roman Polanski’s latest film, based on the play God of Carnage, is a very simple and hilarious film about how a simple conversation can quickly blow out of proportion. The whole film is one giant coversation between two couples.  The son of Nancy and Alan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) hit the son of Penelope […]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I delayed my list of my favourite films of 2011 as I went out to see some last-minute possible contenders.  I saw War Horse on Sunday and I now I went to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy today. The film is an old school Cold War spy thriller in which a British spy named George Smiley (Gary […]

The Artist

I suppose this is the week I see films that celebrate the classic days of cinema.  Two days after seeing the cinematic history lesson Hugo, I see The Artist – an ambitious silent film about the end of silent cinema. Making classic-style silent film – complete with intertitles for dialogue – more than 80 years after the end […]

Melancholia

Melancholia was without a doubt one of the most bleak and depressing films I have ever seen.  I guess that’s not too much of a surprise, considering the fact that the film was directed by Lars Von Trier, who isn’t really known for making happy-go-lucky films. The story is split into two parts, with each part […]

The Three Musketeers (2011)

The classic novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is probably one of the most adapted stories of all time and this is about the third high profile adaption that was made in my lifetime.  When comparing this film to the others, I probably like it better than 2001’s The Musketeer, but this film doesn’t really hold […]

Drive

Drive is an action/crime/drama that seems to be hearkening back to crime thrillers of the 1980s, with a little of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver thrown in for good measure. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a nameless stunt driver/mechanic, who moonlights as a getaway driver for robberies.  He takes one such job to help out the husband of his […]

Attack the Block

Attack the Block is a British sci-fi/horror/comedy that has been getting a lot of buzz for the past few month and it finally received a limited North American release. The film has simple enough plot – a group of alien creatures attack a group of hoodlums within a south-London apartment block.  However, there is something with […]

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen’s latest film Midnight in Paris has been out for nearly two months now, however my interest was peaked a few days when it was reported that the film has become the highest grossing film of Allen’s career (thankfully, the film was still playing in Toronto). You can definitely tell that this is a Woody […]

The Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog is definitely one of the most unique directors around today.  In a career spanning nearly 40 years, he successfully managed to split between doing fictional films and documentaries. This film features the exploration of a cave, which was discovered in France in 1994, that featured the oldest cave paintings ever discovered, dating back […]

Source Code

Duncan Jone may be David Bowie’s son, but he is also starting to make a name for himself as very compelling science fiction.  After his excellent debut film Moon, which I still consider one of the best science fiction films I’ve seen, Jones returns for somewhat more mainstream, but still interesting, follow-up. The plot for […]

Unknown

I have been hearing a lot of comparisons between this film and Liam Neeson’s surprise 2008 hit Taken.  However, while they are both films that feature Neeson in a genre he is not usually known for, they are two different types of film. While the term is probably overused, the best description of Unknown would be […]

Incendies

Incendies is generally considered to be the best Canadian film from 2010 and it is currently on the shortlist of films being considered for a Best Foreign Film nomination at the Oscars. The film centres around two siblings, who receive the unusual request in their mother’s will to location the father and brother that they […]

127 Hours

The problem with films based on a true story is that there is a chance that you already know how the story end.  In the case of this film it’s been well advertised that the film is about a mountain climber (played in the film by James Franco), who gets his arm trapped under a […]

Devil

After the combination the Toronto Film Festival and my trip to Calgary, I had a bit of a backlog of movies I wanted to see.  As such, this week I decided to see the three-week old Devil, instead of one of the newer releases. For this film M Night Shyamalan moves into the producer’s seat, […]

Piranha 3D

It’s been ages since there was a truly gimmicky 3D film was released.  Piranha 3D may not have perfect 3D effects, but it was 1000x better than the post-converted afterthoughts studios have been releasing since Avatar hit it big. The film is pretty much what you except it to be: a fairly campy, really gory […]

Despicable Me

It may not be Pixar, but I thought that Despicable Me was a very decent animated film.  It’s also the first of two animated films this year to feature a villain in the lead role (the other being Megamind). The villainous aspect is part of what makes this film fun to watch, since the character of […]

Shrek Forever After

I have to say that this film is a pretty good example of a studio making one too many films in a series.  The first film was pretty good and it was followed by an excellent sequel.  By the third film it was becoming obvious that the studio was running short on ideas and this […]

Splice

Well, I am back in Canada and for my first film back I decided to see what can already be considered a Canadian success story (by the fact that it is a rare example of a Canadian film with an American distributor). Splice is a film by Vincenzo Natali, who is probably best known for […]

Robin Hood

Ridley Scott’s new film version of Robin Hood received fairly poor reviews from most critics.  However, I feel that it might have fared better if it didn’t have the stigma of being attached to the classic story. Let it be said that this is not the traditional Robin Hood story that has been told in […]

The Losers

You can probably admit that The Losers is not the most well known comic series to adapt into the film (I sure didn’t know about it).  In addition, this is probably not the most star-studded film (the highest profile actor probably being Zoe Saldana, who came off a stellar year last year). That said, I […]

The White Ribbon

When this film, which won the Palme D’or at Cannes, won Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes, I was embarrassed to say that I never previously heard of the film.  I made sure to remedy that by seeing the film as soon as possible. The film takes place in a small German town during […]

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

This film was an origin story in every sense of the word. It was not a bad film, though it was obvious that, even as stated in the title, there wouldn’t be any true Joe vs. Cobra action until the sequel (if they make one). It was an entertaining film, but the fact that it […]

State of Play

I almost thought I wasn’t going to write this tonight. I went to see the film and due to a blackout, the film cut out with 45 minutes left to screen. I waited at the theatre for over an hour, but it never reopened and I thought the day was lost. I then made the […]

Che

Today I sat through the gruelling experience of watching the entire four hour and seventeen minutes of Steven Soderbergh’s two-part biopic about Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Each part of the film tells different stories. The first part deals with the Cuban revolution, while the second part deals with Che’s futile coupe in Bolivia. I have to […]

The International

It’s almost worse to see a movie that you thought was so-so than a movie you didn’t like. If you do not like a movie, there would be no positive aspects to look at. For a film like this one, there were moments when it looked like the film would be better than it was. […]

Coraline

After directing two feature-length stop-motion films under the production of Tim Burton (those being The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach), Henry Selick branches out on his own for Coraline. Of course, even though Burton is not involved with the film, you can feel a Burtonesque influence throughout. I thought the film […]

Taken

Apparently the North American release of this film was delayed so long that it was released is pretty much every other country, but here. I also found out that this version of Taken is an edited PG-13 version, instead of the more violent version that was released overseas. That said, I still found the film […]

The Class

You can almost call The Class a fictional documentary. With the exception of characters created specifically for the dramatic arc of the story, everyone in this film about life in a Paris classroom are real kids. Even the teacher is essentially playing himself. I found this film, which for the most part consists of classroom […]

Frost/Nixon

This was the final film that I wanted to see before compiling my top ten lists next week, and I am glad that I saw it. This film, which is based on a play, looks back to the famous series of interviews between Richard Nixon and the British journalist David Frost. The chemistry between Frank […]

Valkyrie

It is a shame that there is poor public opinion on Tom Cruise, since I thought Valkyrie was quite a good movie. It would be stretching it to say that it is a film that would receive Oscar recognition, but I thought that the film was a great return to thrillers for director Bryan Singer, […]

JCVD

Jean-Claude Van Damme. He will probably always be remembered as the “other guy” behind the killer action trio of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis. He made an impact in Hollywood during the 80s and 90s before seemingly vanishing after 1999’s Universal Soldier: The Return. This film sees Van Damme playing himself as he […]

Slumdog Millionaire

While it may sound cheesy using Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? as the basis for a story about finding a lost love in India, but it actually works out. The story takes place mainly in flashbacks. as the main character, who is being interrogated by police on suspicion of cheating on the game show, […]

W.

Oliver Stone did an interesting thing with this biopic of president George W. Bush. While he could have have took the opportunity to trash than man for his many bad decisions in the White House, the film instead takes a sympathetic view at Bush’s life. The main plot involves the actions leading into and directly […]

RocknRolla

Since, the release of Snatch in 2000, Guy Ritchie found difficulty in moving away from the formula the made him famous. 2002 saw the Madonna-staring Swept Away, which loathed by pretty much everyone. Then came Revolver 2005, which took the crime films Ritchie was associated with, removed the comedy, and added a cerebral element that […]

Burn After Reading

A year after taking a break from the genre with No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers return to comedy with Burn After Reading. I have to say that this is probably the Coen Brothers funniest film since 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou, though some people might even look at far back to […]

Funny Games

Funny Games is not an entertaining film. I thought that I will make that clear. However, I will also say that I thought it was a very good film. It’s a horror film and it’s a shot-for-shot remake of an Austrian film of the same name by the same director. It’s a highly disturbing film. […]

Be Kind Rewind

I first heard of this film in May 2006 and I thought it’s premise of making homemade remakes to popular films sounded good on paper. Also, it was directed by Michel Gondry, who always brings a unique vision to his films and music videos (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind being one of my favourites). […]

The Golden Compass

6 years ago saw the successful releases (only one month apart) of the big screen adaptations of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Since then, it seems that every fantasy novel is being adapted. Of these adaptations, I believe The Golden Compass is the highest profile release since The Lion, The Witch, and The […]

2 Days in Paris

A couple months ago I saw romantic films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. In these films Hawke and Delpy had a seeming perfect connection with each other, with very little conflict. 2 Days in Paris, which was directed by Delpy, seems to be the complete opposite of that. In […]

The Bourne Ultimatum

This film is the latest in the “summer of threequels.” However, unlike the other “threequels” I never really saw the previous two films in theatres (I only saw them of video and/or TV in the last year — I now regret not seeing them in theatres). However, I do say that seeing the previous films […]

Hot Fuzz

Two years ago saw the release of the very funny horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead. Now the same team is back for Hot Fuzz, which is a satire on police films. I should say first that I loved Shaun of the Dead. In fact, I consider it one of my favourite films. However, I have […]

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Since it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m partly of Irish heritage, I thought I would check out this film about the Irish war of independence and the start of the Irish civil war. At the focus of the film is the Irish Republican Army. At first thought, I thought this was the same IRA that […]