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TIFF Cinematheque Presents - Stanley Kubrick
Recently passed on, and arguably one of the best and controversial directors of all time, Stanley Kubrick has made films on a wide range of topics including violence (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE), war (PATHS OF GLORY, FULL METAL JACKET), war satire (DR STRANGELOVE), horror (THE SHINING, EYES WIDE SHUT, period (BARRY LYNDON) and sci-fi (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY).
2001 will be introduced by its two stars Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea.
The exhaustive retrospective of his films include the seldom seen early works as well as his shorts. The film retro ties in with the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition running from the October 31st, 2014.
The 5 Kubrick Must-Sees:
For the complete listing of the program, ticket pricing and showtimes, check the TIFF Cinematheque website at:
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Beware! "Eyes Wide Shut" is a big budget porno film. With a reputation after making great films like "Dr Strangelove", "A Clockwork Orange" and "2001", Stanley Kubrick can get Hollywood's hottest stars not only to back him up, after his death, but to bare it all for the sake of art! "Eyes Wide Shut" is about 2 hour and a half long and moves at a snail's pace. The plot can be summarized in one sentence. "Baby, You have done a bad bad Thing", as the lyrics of the Chris Isaac song go, played 15 minutes into the film. But this does, not a bad film make. Cruise and Kidman play husband and wife, a nicely married couple with a daughter. They love each other tremendously. But they do bad bad things. The film is a cross of Kubrick's earlier works. It has the playfulness of "Dr Strangelove" (check the film's funniest scene where the gay hotel desk clerk flirts with Tom Cruise), the nastiness of "Lolita" (the teenage nympho daughter of the costume rental owner), the horror of "The Shining" (the mansion scene, reminiscent of Overlook Hotel), the vulgarity of "A Clockwork Orange" and the posh and pomp of "Barry Lyndon". Kubrick obssession for perfection and closed sets is evident in the film. The takes are often long and the lighting and scenes meticulously done. There is no doubt that much time and expense has been put towards the filming of each scene. For example, the entire film, though set in the US, was shot in the borough of Islington and Norfolk in the U.K. This film will most likely be hated by the average filmgoer - the one that is interested in watching Kidman and Cruise doing it onscreen or the one eagerly awaiting the orgy scene. The pleasure of the film comes from the acknowledging the way Kubrick has managed to make a really tight ambigous film, full of tension with lots of mind-playing and absurdities.
FULL METAL JACKET (USA 1987) ****Directed by Stanley Kubrick
This immensely absorbing war film is comprised of two parts. The first 45 minutes puts the audience in marine training boot camp under an austere drill instructor, Gunnert Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) and the second, a platoon fighting combat in Hue City, Vietnam. The link between the two is the character of Private Joker (Matthew Modine), promoted to Sergeant in the combat segment. The first segment is the better part of the film though there are questionable flaws. For one, the entire training is focused on just one instructor. What happened to the platoon section leaders or platoon and company commanders? Still Erney, himself an ex-marine steals the show. Kubrick demonstrates disciplined film making, as evident for example, in the platoon's singing while jogging in time. The second battle portion, with bits reminiscent of Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY is less disciplined with a story that goes all over the place. It does settle in the final scene in which Joker and Animal (Adam Baldwin) question a humanitarian decision of putting an enemy out of her misery. The full metal jacket of the title refers to the kind of bullet covered by metal. A man's war film in which the only women present are for the purpose of sex gratification.
As in the early Kubrick films like PATHS OF GLORY, THE KILLING is meticulously staged giving the film its edge that the film ends up absorbing from start to end. Noticeably, these two films are devoid of humour. It helps too that THE KILLING is a heist movie divided into two roughly equal parts - the detailed planning and precise execution. Of course, one cannot plan for fate with fate raising her mighty hand against the poor robbers. Sterling Hayden plays a hood just out of the slammer who masterminds a 2-million dollar robbery at a race track. He enlists a clerk (Elisha Cook) and several others that appear to be more trouble than help. THE KILLING is an excellent film staged as well as the heist and with almost perfect results.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Heroism and cowardice! Manipulation of the Courts! At the height of World War I, in
the midst of the grim trench warfare of World War I, battle-weary lawyer turned soldier Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) is ordered by his status-seeking superior General Mireau (George Macready) to launch an attack on a nearly impenetrable enemy position. Knowing full well the impossibility of his mission, Dax leads his men into No Man's Land, where they are met by a hail of death. Furious at the failure of the attack, Mireau orders that three soldiers be picked at random and court-martialled for cowardice, compelling the dutiful Dax to break ranks and defend his men against the general's kangaroo court. This is a film based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb that turned out to be one of the best anti-war films ever made. The film can be divided into three parts - the fight to capture Ant Hill, the military politics and the court-martial. Kubrick tells his absorbing tale in less than 90 minutes that encompasses the best and worst in human beings. The ending in which the men on furlough enjoy their last minutes before going back to the trenches is unforgettable.
THE SHINING (USA 1980) ****Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Based on the Stephen King horror novel with a few changes, THE SHINING is a pretty scary movie by horror movie standards. It deals with madness, isolation, ghosts and a haunted hotel. The Shining refers to a gift that Stephen King invented. it is the ability to communicate without talking. So, two human beings with this gift can communicate distances apart. Johnny's boy, Danny (Danny Lloyd) possess the gift and uses it to contact the hotel's chef (Scatman Crothers) when his dad goes mental. Despite the reported problems that the film underwent during filming such as constant change of the script by Kubrick and actress Shelly Duvall getting physically ill, Kubrck's film still ends up a very good chiller. The film also used the new (at the time) Steadicam technology for scenes such as the boy riding his tricycle at top speed through the corridors of the hotel The line "Here's Johnnie….." is classic and used one of the most quotable.
Big Films opening include FURY and THE BOOK OF LIFE. Other films opening include documentaries THE GREEN PRINCE and WATCHERS OF THE SKY.
2 series continue at Bell Lightbox. TIFF Cinematheque presents Godard Part 2 and Wes Craven.
THE BOOK OF LIFE (USA 2014) ***1/2Directed by Jorge Gutierrez
THE BOOK OF LIFE begins awkwardly enough like A DAY AT THE MUSEUM. A bunch of pesky kids - detention type arrive at the museum when a schoolteacher/guide (Christina Applegate) takes them on a tour. The story unfolds then into the one in the film. Why is this distraction needed? Well, the explanation comes as a nice surprise at the end.
The story is the journey of Manolo (Mexican actor Diego Luna from Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN) , a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. In love with the beautiful Maria (Zoe Saldana), yet having to battle with the affections of the charming Joaquin (who else but Channing Tatum?), to win her heart, the spirits La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba (Ron Perlman) bet on who will win Maria. Afraid to lose the bet after Maria falls for Manolo, Xibalba sends a snake to kill Manolo, hoping that will result in Joaquin becoming Maria's lover. In order to return to the human world and to Maria, Manolo embarks on an incredible journey that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears armed with only his wits, his guitar, and his two swords.
The tale has most of the elements of a good fairy tale - romance, magic, evil spirits and a journey to be travelled. The lack of a good evil villain is missing and noticeable.
Unlike recent animation features, THE BOOK OF LIFE contains quite the few songs. This is acceptable as the lead character is supposed to be a crooner with a guitar (Manolo). The songs and music, a good mix of old and new by Gustavo Santaolalla and Paul Williams are actually quite good, lifting the film up above the average. "Always sing for the heart", is an advice given in the dialogue and taken true in the songs.
The film also has that 'art of' look of the actual book. It was reported that Gutierrez insisted on this look, which resulted in a lot of hard work put in. But well worth it!
Gutierrez also opts more for goofy humour, which works well considering for example Maria's pet piggy, Manolo's side-kicks and the over confident Joaquin bragging his head off.
Gutierrez also made sure the film has a Mexican look and feel. A lot of humour is also put in with dialogue like: "Why is there so much death in Mexican stories", uttered by one school kid. The Mexican myth of spirits and dead especially of the well-celebrated holiday on November the 2nd is well emphasized.
THE BOOK OF LIFE is shot in 3D. Besides a few objects shot out of the screen, the film is charming enough and pleasant to survive with 2D animation.
THE BOOK OF LIFE comes at a time when there are countless animated features. The few things standing out include - the film is an original, not a sequel; there are no silly animals in it; it has a foreign spin which makes it educational and broader in scope and the animation is artfully colourful.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kCkVDma8Sg
FURY (USA 2014) ****Directed by David Ayers
The word FURY is painted on the gun of a Sherman M4A3E8 tank. The tank is the home of Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant in the 2nd Armoured Division.
FURY is David Ayers' (END OF WATCH, SABOTAGE) 2-hour very angry war epic with a minimal story line but more than made up by wrenching human drama. The film is set during the last month of World War II in April 1945. As the Allies make their final push into Nazi Germany, Wardaddy commands the tank and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
From the very first killing in which Wardaddy stabs the eye of a German soldier, the audience is immediately put into preparation of more horrors to come. But the violence is not so disturbing as the lost of innocence as experienced by a rookie drafted into fighting, Norman (Logan Lerman from the PERCY JACKSON films). He hesitates firing at a young German that causes the life of one of his own troops and refuses to kill a German as he cannot go against his conscience. This is contrasted by the other crew of the tank who almost rebels agains Wardaddy. But as Norman loses his innocence and finally accepts 'killing the Nazi bastards' , Ayers' message has come through.
Shia LaBeouf who plays Boyd 'Bible' Swan, the bad boy of movies, reportedly slashed his own face with a knife and had a dentist remove one lower tooth to look the part of his role. The performances are undoubtedly top-notch by LaBeouf, Pitt, John Bernthal, Michael Pena and notably Lerman.
The camera work is tricky, especially filming in the confined spaces of the tank. The action segments are as thrilling as any war film can get, and it is not long before the audience would be cheering to kill the Nazi bastards.
For a deadly mission like this one, one can expect a huge casualty rate. So, the more Germans that get killed the better. Ayers displays a whole lot of dead bodies surrounding the tank at the end of the film.
FURY is a character driven film. The incidents are there to illustrate the different behavourial traits of Wardaddy and his five-men crew. Ayers achieves his goal and FURY is likely his best film to date.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1xli7OTE_0
THE GREEN PRINCE (UK/Israel/Germany 2014) Top 10 *****
Directed by Nadva Schirman
The first thing that comes to mind regarding the subject of Palestinian/Israeli conflict in the West Bank is - not another film on the conflict! But if one keeps ones options open, and take a chance with Schirman's THE GREEN PRINCE, one will be more than pleasantly surprised, for this is one of the best docs and best films I have previewed this year.
Firstly, a bit of background is required for the film. But don't worry, a voiceover explains all at the start of the film. The Israelis are at war with the Palestinians. The Palestinians have a hard-core terrorist group called Hamas that among other activities, recruit suicide bombers to carry out their cowardly acts in the name of patriotism. The Israelis has a secret service called the Shin Bet that do questionable acts to keep the peace.
THE GREEN PRINCE is Hassan Yousef, the eldest son of one of the prime founders of Hamas. When his father was arrested and returned a year and a half later only to be arrested 6 hours later, Hassan purchases guns. When arrested and the guns found, he is recruited by the Shin Bet as a snitch (informant). Ben Yitzhak serves as his handler.
Schirman's film contains a fair amount of time on Hassan (the film is based on his best selling novel) and Yotzhak speaking to the camera. The interviews are intercut with their stories. When Hassan speaks of the imprisonment of his father for example, there are shots of prison as well as shots of his father in the shadows. It is all good editing in which a story can be made up based on voiceover, images and what the director thinks the audience will, putting the bits together.
The results are amazing. What Schirman has concocted is a Hollywood styled suspense thriller, told in chronological order in which the audience is always at the edge of their seats. At the same time, Schirman asks the audience to question their values, especially what is perceived as normal, as well as what is reality and what is a dream. He also questions in turn the myth of what the two groups are fighting for.
The film also addresses fear and hate. Fear is not knowing. When Hassan is first imprisoned and tortured, he does not know the time of day, what is going to happen with half his body numb and the other in pain. As for hate, "My father did not teach me to hate. But I was 17 and I did not know how not to feel that way," Hassan admits.
The film contains interviews, archival footage aided by enactments. The actor used for the role of Hassan looks quite different from him, so it is not difficult to tell the enactment portions (the parts where Hassan is in the U.S.)
Once in a long while comes a film that will move one so much that one will leave the theatre a different person looking at life in a whole new light. THE GREEN PRINCE is that rare film, a documentary demonstrating the trump of the human spirit that is a Must-See! The film won the Sundance award for Best World Documentary.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FclTE28oI3Y
THE GUEST (USA 2014) ***Directed by Alan Wingard
British actor Don Stevens (DOWNTON ABBEY) plays the handsome guest that appears from nowhere to change the lives of an entire family. The film reminds one of the 70's film SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, in which a handsome Michael York appears and changes the lives of the aristocratic family headed by Angela Lansbury.
Son dies in Iraq war; mother devastated; enter stranger who claims knows Caleb; befriends and helps each member of family; things go wrong; guest might not be who he seems; guest turn from saviour to devil; someone has to slay him to save the day. If all this sound predictable, it is and I could guess what happens right down to the detail of who puts out the final lights out for THE GUEST.
Still, this horror/action flick is entertaining enough, as director knows when to press the right buttons. The last segment in a Halloween maze is a nice touch.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-psayRM1XqU
Directed by Theodore Melfi
Preteen boy is babysat by grumpy old man who teaches the boy new tricks while he himself learns not to be so mean. Sounds awful? But the film is much better than the story sounds.
It does not a genius to guess the outcome of this predictable story. As 12-year old Oliver (Jaedan Liebrher) is given the assignment of talking about current saints by his teacher (Chris O'Dowd), he is going to pick his baby sitter, the grouchy old Vincent (Bill Murray). Hell, even the title ST. VINCENT gives the plot away.
The story involves Maggie (McCarthy), a single mother, who moves into a new home in Brooklyn with her 12-year old son, Oliver (Lieberher). Forced to work long hours, she has no choice but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbour, Vincent (Murray), a retired curmudgeon with a penchant for alcohol and gambling. An odd friendship soon blossoms between the improbable pair. Together with a pregnant stripper named Daka (Watts), Vincent brings Oliver along on all the stops that make up his daily routine.
How can Murray turn down a role of a grumpy old man who hires hookers and gambles and drinks half the time only to be hailed a saint? He did not and the result is his role of a lifetime. Murray, who is in almost every scene, steals the show from everyone else. Melissa McCarthy is also great as Oliver's mother, better when she delivers more controlled comedy. Melfi also draws a controlled performance for O'Dowd (he appeared with McCarthy in BRIDESMAIDS) who plays Father Geragthy, Oliver's teacher.
It helps too, that there is a laugh-out loud line in almost every scene. From the first sound of the boy's voice to which Vincent responds: "Really? Take me, God, don't play with me." to the emotional talk given by Oliver on what Vincent had done for him, these are all quite moving stuff.
The film is a story about losers. Vincent is dead broke, old, has a dying wife and only has Oliver and a cat as his only friends. Maggie has to work to keep Oliver whose father cheated on her. Oliver, is small built and bullied. Even Oliver's bully is tormented by racial slants. For that very reason alone, the well intentioned film which everyone can relate to, at some time or other, charms.
It is really amusing to see how often director Melfi milks the audience's emotions. If Oliver's talk on Vincent's sainthood does not do it, the death of Vincent's wife would make the eyes swell.
A problem of the film is the choice of songs that determine exactly how the audience should feel at various parts of the movie.
But flaws aside, ST.VINCENT both touches and makes the audience laugh - a rare thing these days at the movies.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyI3Kn7HyOk
THESE FINAL HOURS (Australia 2014) **
Directed by Zak Hilditch
Western Australia has been taken as the backdrop of THESE FINAL HOURS, a new apocalyptic end of the world dramatic thriller. Amidst all the mayhem, James (Nathan Phillips) is coming to terms with his crazy life and finds redemption by looking after a pre-adolescent girl, Rose (Angourie Rice).
But the trouble is that THESE FINAL HOURS treads on all too familiar territory in a well-worn genre. THESE FINALS HOURS suffers from too little data given on the current situation which makes the audience care less for the characters. No scientific explanation is given as to the reason of the world's end or why some people live and others die. There is little background given too of James' life, except that he has two girlfriends one crazy and the other left behind as she got pregnant. Needless to say, caring for Rose brings James closer to his responsibility of a father.
Fo a low budget film, the special effects are impressive, right down to the reddish explosion by the beach. As Western Australia is pretty sparse, it saves on location costs. The big end of the world party looks like something right out of a rave party, complete with original party mixes.
THESE FINAL HOURS can nowhere be compared to the best in the genre like Danny Boyle's 28 HOURS LATER. That one helped, for example, with spectacular deserted scenes of London as Don McKellar's LAST NIGHT has overturned streetcars in Toronto. THESE FINAL HOURS do not have these devastated sights. It trusts the audience to take what is happening as the Gospel truth and follow the hero James to his destiny. But it helps if writer/director Hildtich would help provide more credibility by giving more story and details. The film just ends up a journey that literally leads nowhere.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jozEpGIrzeU
TU DORS NICOLE (NICOLE IS SLEEPING) (Canada 2014) ****Directed by Stephane LaFleur
TU DORS NICOLE is a 35mm shot black and white small budget feature with no stars and in which nothing much happens. It also happens to be the most delightful experience and surprise of a Canadian feature this year.
To Quebec director LaFleur's (A FILM WITHOUT GUNS) credit, his characters are likeable which helps his film - unlike those of Xavier Dolan's (the recent MOMMY) but just as complicated in one way of another.
The central character is a 20-something Quebecoise, Nicole (Julianne Cote) who lives at her parents and has nothing much to do every day. By Choice. She never completes her parents' list of chores and works at a dead end job in a charity clothing shop. In the film, she is seen mostly hanging around with her best friend, Veronique (Catherine St-Laurent).
Other characters in the picture include Nicole's older brother, a quick-tempered rocker Remi (Marc-Andre Grondin) and band members JF (Francis La Haye) and Pat (Simon Larouche). At the parents' house, they record an album, ensuing events test Nicole and Veronique's longtime friendship.
There is much to enjoy in LaFelur's observation about nobodies in a small town. LAFleur fills his film with metaphors (Nicole's fence locked up on a fence with other bikes) which are nifty to pick up. His film is filled with small town nuances which are funny - deadpan Aki Kuarismaki style. Example: Nicole using a vacuum to suck up dog poo, as she is too flustered to use her hands. His film is also very well photographed and framed, just like the two paintings in the house where Nicole wakes up at the start of the film. And the back and white look of the widescreen shots is gorgeous.
TU DORS NICOLE is a wonderful film celebrating the simplicity of what life offers. Skip the Hollywood blockbusters and see this gem of a movie, which was a hit at Cannes this year.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w--5auC1yr8
Directed by Edet Belzberg
The chief Watcher of the Sky is Belrarus born Raphael Lemkin - the man who invented the term genocide in order to persecute anyone who used it.
The 2-hour documentary is taken from a reported 800 hours of original and archival footage. It not surprisingly won the editing award at Sundance.
Lawyer turned human-rights advocate Raphael Lemkin, spent most of his life trying to convince the international community to specially prosecute such crimes against humanity; his work is paralleled by that of four modern-day champions of justice in an era when such murderous "cleansings" seem increasingly frequent. In the first half of the film, the work is intercut with the atrocities - wholesale slaughter of Armenians (in 1915 Turkey) and Assyrians (in 1933 Iraq) - to underline the work's importance. The second brings in the other 4 workers, with them referencing Lemkin's work. Despite such then-recent events, systematic large-scale executions of specific minorities had been considered too much of an aberration to warrant sweeping legal classification.
The other 4 are: Emmanuel Uwurukundo who survived ethnic genocide in Rwanda and who now oversees massive border camps of refugees fleeing violence in Darfur; Luis Moreno-Ocampo who is chief prosecutor of the Intl. Criminal Court, which in theory (if not necessarily in authority) realizes many of Lemkin's hopes for a global justice system; Ben Ferencz who served the same role for the U.S. Army at Nuremberg and Samantha Power who began her career as a journalist covering civil war and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia. Her book "A Problem From Hell," about American foreign policies toward global genocides, was a partial inspiration for the film, and she narrates Lemkin's life story in voiceover.
The film title comes from the astronomist who asked to be given a telescope and laboratory. He was set up on an island and he spent countless hours, days and years recording the movement of the stars in 93 volumes. He could tell their movements in detail after years of work. When asked on the purpose of his work, he said that he looks to find the meaning of the universe. He said that if he did not find the answer, he would have saved the one who did 25 years of documentation. His work was eventually carried on board by the astronauts who first landed on the moon. And the heroes in this documentary are the WATCHERS OF THE SKY, starting the often thankless work that would begin the groundwork of others to finally put an end to genocide, if not at least be able to punish those responsible for it.
WATCHERS OF THE SKY is a well documented, educational and inspirational documentary that would force one to wonder at the extremes - why there are such bad people and good people on the planet. But it also demonstrates the number of others that just sit around and do nothing when something urgent needs be done. A film that should be seen by all!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25r0dWtWmg
BEST FILM TO SEE: The Green Prince
Best Suspense: Gone Girl
Foreign: The Notebook (Le Gran Cahier) (Hungary)
Action: Fury
Drama: Mommy
Animation: The Book of Life
Documentary: The Green Prince
Comedy: St. Vincent
Horror fans are in for their annual fright fest film festival that coincides with Halloween. Running from the 16th October, the fest features around 50 features and shorts.
A big contributor to the festival is Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada, set to Premiere 4 New Thrilling Genre Films at the 2014 Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
See the article below for capsule reviews of 3 of their films to be featured.
Toronto, ON - Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada is proud to announce that the company will unleash four new genre films from Canada and the Commonwealth at this year's Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Audiences are sure to respond to these premieres that feature a few flavours of thrills from horror comedy, to the hyper stylized, and plot lines that draw from urban legends & supernatural sieges. This year marks the 9th edition of this successful film festival and the details of the screenings are as follows:
Thursday, October 16 7:00PM
HOUSEBOUND (New Zealand, co-presented by Raven Banner Entertainment)
Toronto Premiere & Opening Gala Film - SOLD OUT!
Do not miss this wickedly fun, award-winning, haunted house horror thriller from New Zealand, that's full of crowd-pleasing twists and turns! The film follows a young woman forced to return home and endure a triple threat of being under house arrest, living with her eccentric old mother, and potential ghosts in the house. Full of suspense and frights, and laced with a good dose of dysfunctional family comedy that will allow anyone to relate to the main characters, HOUSEBOUND has become a smash hit on the festival circuit, winning numerous audience awards since its SXSW debut. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4i43AGlr-A&feature=youtu.be
Friday, October 17 7:00PM
HELLMOUTH (Canada 2014) ***Directed by John Geddes
From the twisted mind of writer Tony Burgess (PONTYPOOL) and director John Geddes (EXIT HUMANITY) comes a stunning, spectacular ode to classic horror and fantasy. HELLMOUTH looks great and the visuals are nothing less than stunning. The look is 300/SIN CITY comic book style, often black and white and red when blood occurs. The film tells the tale of gravekeeper Charlie Baker, (the ever busy Canadian Stephen McHattie) assigned to tend to a mysterious cemetery. Charlie's routine journey to his new place of employment turns out to be a dark and fantastic voyage through a Gothic landscape, filled with demonic forces, and a life-altering encounter with a beautiful woman he must try to rescue from the bowels of hell. But the problem with the film is that the sir is all over the place with lots of subplots (like the escaped convicts; the four previous gatekeepers) that make little sense but toppling the story. But see the film for the visuals!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsJfN0XLX1w&feature=youtu.be&list=PL6ECXh_5FO6F_7uN6bgZwCuf7DZHohxYx
Sunday, October 19 4:15PM
THE DROWNSMAN (Canada, co-presented by Black Fawn Features & Breakthrough Films)
Toronto Premiere
In the spirit of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET's Freddy, comes The Drownsman, a new unstoppable force of a killer, drawn from the darkest depths of one young woman's fear of drowning.
TADFF: With THE DROWNSMAN Chad Archibald (ANTISOCIAL) delivers a refreshingly new take on classic urban legend horror such as the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series. After a young woman narrowly survives a terrifying drowning experience in a lake, she finds herself stalked by an evil entity, The Drownsman, determined to drag her and her circle of close friends to a watery hell.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKgIYxZlkcA&feature=youtu.be
Friday, October 24 7:00 Pm
LET US PREY (UK/Ireland, co-presented by Raven Banner Entertainment)
In this tense, supernatural spin on John Carpenter's cult classic ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, a menacing stranger (GAME OF THONES' Liam Cunningham) turns up in the middle of the night at a police station in a remote Scottish town. After being placed in a holding cell, it's not long before the stranger initiates a terrifying chain reaction of madness and violence amongst the inmates and police officers. One of the few unaffected is a newly hired female officer (THE WOMAN'S Pollyanna McIntosh), and with her back to the wall, not knowing who she can trust, she finds herself fighting for her life. Red Band Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBDXIG5Pde4&feature=youtu.be
All screenings are at Scotiabank Theatre, 259 Richmond St. West, Toronto with tickets available online and selling fast at http://torontoafterdark.com/2014/
About Anchor Bay Canada:
Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada is the Toronto, ON-based branch of Anchor Bay Entertainment, a leading home entertainment company. Anchor Bay acquires and distributes feature films, original television programming including STARZ Original series, children's entertainment, anime (Manga Entertainment), fitness (Anchor Bay Fitness), sports, and other filmed entertainment on DVD and Blu-rayTM formats. The company has long term distribution agreements in place for select programming with AMC Networks, RADiUS, and The Weinstein Company. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Anchor Bay Entertainment has offices in Troy, MI, as well as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Anchor Bay Entertainment (www.anchorbayentertainment.com) is a Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) business, www.starz.com. For more information visit: http://www.anchorbayentertainment.ca
About Toronto After Dark Film Festival:
Toronto After Dark Film Festival is one of the world's leading showcases of new Horror, Sci-Fi, Action and Cult cinema. Each October, in the run-up to Halloween, the critically acclaimed event, screens about 50 new feature films and shorts over nine exciting nights in front of approximately 10,000 attendees, including over 100 members of Press and Industry in Canada's largest city. This year's 9th Annual festival runs Oct 16-24, 2014 at the Scotiabank Theatre at 259 Richmond Street West, in the heart of downtown Toronto. Beyond film screenings, attendees can also look forward to lively Q&A's with visiting filmmaker guests the ever-popular Zombie Appreciation Night where fans who dress up get a discount on tickets, and Pub After Dark, the festival's nightly after-screening social event where fans get to mingle with the filmmakers. For more information visit:
Big Films opening include DRACULA UNTOLD and ALEXANDER. Other films opening include THE JUDGE and KILL THE MESSENGER.
DIRTY WEEKEND (LE WEEKEND) (France 2013) ***
Directed by Christophe Granier-Deferre
DIRTY WEEKEND, originally titled LE WEEKEND sees some pretty nastiness covered up as mild comedy. If the script or direction took the material into farcical territory, the film could have worked better.
The dirty weekend takes a romantic couple to Normandy, north of France. But do not expect to see French Normandy as the action takes place at a cottage that could very well by anywhere in the U.K.
On a ferry boat bound for France, Trish (Kristy Oswald), a 17-year old school girl is on her way to spend a long planned weekend away with her lover and history teacher Mike Mallory (Jamie Parker of THE HISTORY BOYS and VALKYRIE), 34 years old, yet still boyishly handsome. This is underage pedophile territory, the subject often just dismissed as a laugh in the film. After a short drive, the couple arrive at a small idyllic country house. Taking a tour round the house, the romantic setting is suddenly shattered as the couple discover broken glass and muddy footprints. They search the house for the intruder and finally find Vincent (Pierre Perrier), inside the bathroom. He lies deathly still, eyes closed and has blood caked all over his forehead with an oversized duffle bag filled with cash by his side. Trish wants to do the right thing, but Mike convinces Trish they should stash the money and destroy the bag it came in. Meanwhile Vincent wakes up – not dead after all, but wishes he was, until he remembers the money.
The film appears to have a simple plot, but as the saying goes, the plot thickens. Trish is pregnant unknown to Mike. Mike had intended to murder her to save his reputation. Mike blackmails Vincent to do the deed as he is too chicken for murder. Gendarmes show up and in their own words, rather let them kill each off other than interfere.
The script does not bother to explain in detail where the gold coins came from or how this good-looking Vincent could be such a cold blooded killer. The script has to let the audience believe that any one of the three is capable of murder, given the right opportunity.
The film is not half bad but the laughs are few and far between. But there is one really funny line that Trish spurts out (will not be spoiled in the review) just before she hits Vincent with a shovel. The many plot developments distract from the film's lack of hilarity, so the film turns up quite watchable. the film is available on VOD and DVD from October 14th, if one wants to spend a nice evening with murder on the menu. The film is shot in English with a little French.
(No trailer found)
Directed by Gary Shore
DRACULA UNTOLD begins with a lengthy voiceover of the origin of the monster imprisoned in a cave, while the Turks invade a Kingdom to force all the boys to fight for them. Later, one of them, Vlad, the Prince returns to his Kingdom only to be invaded again by the Turks unless 100 more children are given to them for conquering new lands. So this Prince (Luke Evans) enlists Dracula's power to save his Kingdom. But in the process, puts himself in grave danger of becoming the monster forever, unless he refrains from drinking blood again for the next 3 days. The silly script just makes rules like these as the film trods along.
Running at around 95 minutes, the film feels like 3 hours. The IMAX gave me a big headache rather than spectacle.
The film also purports the origin of Dracula. But Dracula existed before this story, so the heading is a misnomer. But this is not the only thing terrible wrong with the film. There is one scene in which the enemy Turks are all blindfolded and matched to fight because as the voiceover says, "You cannot be afraid of what you cannot see…." Not only is this a load of illogical crap, but in the film's next segment, what has been said is entirely forgotten and the blindfolds on the men are totally gone. The film's original running time according to imdb is 2 hours, so something must have been cut along the way without any due consideration for continuity.
The film is deadly serious with the humour in unintentional lines like the one uttered by Vlad: "It's not a child's place to save a country. I'll find a way." Or the laughable message: "Those who love last forever!"
The film's main plus is the CGI special effects, which are abundant from start to finish. But if one man (Dracula) can wipe out an entire army with his bats, then the suspense is non-existent.
Worst still, the film plays with the vampire myth. Sunlight still burns Dracula's flesh, but not enough for him to die. He can still cover up to fight and win. Dracula is now with the werewolves able to be killed now by silver bullets. And if a vampire sucks the blood of another human being, the human being does not transform into a vampire but dies unless he or she drinks the blood of another vampire. And the vampire is a good guy. And what happened to his original title of Count? This want is a King. King Dracula!
Luke Evans probably got the job to play Dracula because of his past successes in FAST AND FURIOUS 6 as Toronto's own Sarah Gordon got to play the Queen because of her good looks. The usually good British actor Dominic Cooper (THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE, STARTER FOR 10 and MAMMA MIA!) cannot do much here to help but growl and look mean.
DRACULA UNTOLD is a tale should have been kept untold. Why play with a myth that has worked for ages? Especially when this film wants to fool round with it for no better reason than making a quick buck.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2aWqecTTuE
THE HUNDRED-YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED (Sweden 2013) ***
Directed by Felix Herngren
Likely the longest title of a film released this year, this Swede box-office success is every senior's wet dream of an adventure. Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson) escapes from a senior home only to embark on a series of outrageous adventures only outdone by his earlier adventures in real life when younger.
THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED is about Allan Karlsson. After a long and eventful life (told in flashbacks), Karlsson ends up in a nursing home after blowing up the fox that killed his cat, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he is still in good health, and that the days are getting tedious. When the celebration of his 100th birthday approaches, which Allan is uninterested in at all, he decides to escape his boring everyday life.
The film requires a bit of credibility on the audience's side. But since this is a fairy tale for the seniors, one can forgive the incredulous events. He climbs out of a window and a series of events embarks him on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving a gang of criminals, murderers, a suitcase stuffed with cash, an elephant and an incompetent policeman. His encounters, past and present include Allan's ride on a 40-year old elephant, killing a rude punk with a mallot, saving Franco's life, designing the atomic bomb and making away with 50 million cash. Besides meeting Franco, Allan also met President Harry Truman, Stalin and believe it or not, Albert Einstein's idiot brother, Herbert.
It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but to Allan it is just ordinary life.
The film contains lots of quotable lines like" "Never talk too much,", "Never plan anything," "I eat, sleep and blow things up," which are even funnier when heard in context of the film.
Director Hengren stays away from sentimentality and lets the tale, based on the bestselling book by Jonas Jonasson takes its course. It is a film that celebrates life with the message of not taking life too seriously. Those that plan in the film do not make it. The heroes are the ones like the guy that never finished his studies or the girl that stole the abused elephant from the circus as it was the right thing to do.
Many critics will likely dismiss the film as forgettable whimsical nonsense. But the film has already played 40 countries and grossed $50 million and a sequel is being considered. There are not many films made these days that celebrate seniors. This is one of them and should be enjoyed by everyone over the age of 60 or even earlier.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SEiaODjTZw
Directed by David Dobkin
The film starts off and spends quite a bit of time investing in the lead, Chicago defense attorney Hank Palmer's (Robert Downey Jr). He is shown at the court washroom pissing on the prosecutor's pants, smart talking, overconfident and always right. If one can tolerate that behaviour throughout the film as well as Downey's over confident performance, THE JUDGE might be a treat.
This is the story of the prodigal son who made good in law and came back home to defend his father Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) from a hit and run. The father and son relationship is as much the key issue as the trial. But the dysfunctional familial drama suffers from the usual stuff - over doting grandchildren, sour wife, current swing with old girlfriend (Vera Farminga) and so on. The silly sub plots of the challenged youngest brother with the camera and his sleeping with who cold be his possible daughter lengthens the film already too long 140 minutes running time.
Dobkin's (WEDDING CRASHERS) film is not short on subtlety. It cannot be more drilled into the audience of the two highly different paths the father and son have taken that a wide shot be taken of the two walking opposite directions after coming out of their car. Again in another highly charged argument scene, the judge and son walk out into gale winds, the ferocity of which reflects their anger. But it then turns funny, with the prosecutor's (Billy Bob Thornton) collapsable compact coffee mug, signifying that he can squash his opponent's defence away.
But worse is Downey's outburst in court when he finally breaks down. His character is allowed to go on rambling in court, a procedure no presiding judge would allow.
The big plus of the movie is Duvall's brave performance as the ageing judge trying to keep his honour and dignity something his son and the script will not allow him to keep. The bowel loosening segment also serves to remind everyone in the audience what each has to go through with his/her parent eventually. It is only when Duvall and Downey have it out that the film comes alive.
The courtroom scenes are shot (example: from low so as to see Downey's head and the ceiling fans of the court room) as if this film is going to be a courtroom classic like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The film plays overconfidently just like the Downey character. It turns out that THE JUDGE is just a poor man's courtroom drama mixed with too much melodrama.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qlSOBDWeO8
KILL THE MESSENGER (USA 2014) ***Directed by Michael Cuesta
KILL THE MESSENGER is an issue film directed by Michael Cuesta (L.I.E.) and based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, Gary Webb (two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner, THE HURT LOCKER and THE BOURNE LEGACY). Based on the book of the same name by Nick Schou as well as Webb's own book Dark Alliance, the film is pretty much a Renner vehicle, with him appearing in almost every scene, doing the acting honours as well as serving in the executive producer's chair. His clout likely helped the film attain an impressive all-star cast that includes Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen, Oliver Platt, Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta among others.
Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation's streets...and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. It is the conspiracy theory brought out into the open by a guy who needs to do what is right, despite all costs.
The film displays a lot of passion as evident in Renner's acting. But despite the controversial nature of the material, the film fails to make the lasting impression it so strives for. For one, the script by Peter Landesman has too many items on its plate. First of all, it deals with the crusader Webb fighting not only the CIA but all the top honcho journals like the Washington Post, LA Times who do not want to see his small news agency get the credit for the story. So, naturally when they use their powers to tear apart Webb's story (breaking his sources), Webb has to face his own editor, Anna (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her boss Jerry Ceppos f(Platt). Never mind, Webb has his family to deal with - his neglected wife, Susan (Rosemary DeWitt) and three sons. The film also goes into detail of how he got the information by flying to Nicaragua and finding all the sites for flying the drugs as all as the people involved with the trafficking. Webb also wins the Pulitzer Prize. His speech makes the film's climax.
In short, the film deals with the workings of the news agency, a man's fight for his conscience to do right, the CIA conspiracy, drug trafficking and family relationships (husband and wife/father and son).
Renner resolves to too many gestures in his acting to get his point across. For example in his Prize acceptance speech, he flicks on and of his glasses and even turns his back to his audience before facing them again. And the speech on what good reporting does has already been drummed into the audience. Director Cuesta also shoots the climatic speech scene like a sports game - editing the speech with shots of his boss's face, then his enemies, then his family's and back to him and the game.
But when the film's climax is overshadowed by the end credit shots of the real Gary Webb, one knows the film has not lived up to expectations. "Some stories are too true to tell", is the warning Webb gets at one point in the movie. But at least the story is told and despite the film's flaws, this story is one that deserves to be heard.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW4XO-52ubE
Action: The Equalizer
Family: The Boxtrolls
WES CRAVEN - Dreams, Screams and Nightmares
Wes Craven, Master of the Macabre and Father of Freddy (Nightmare on Elm Street films), receives a TIFF tribute with this series that includes the modern horror classics A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and Scream. Along with George A. Romero, Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter, Craven helped reshape the American horror film not only through the intensity of his imagery, but the intellectual depth he brought to a once disreputable genre.
Even though audiences flocked to Craven's films for the surface pleasures of gore, shocks and suspense — and make no mistake, he's a master of all these modes — it was the imaginative hold that the films exerted over their psyches that kept them coming back. Tapping into some of our most potent primordial fears — particularly, in his iconic dream-haunting ghoul Freddy Krueger, the childhood terror of falling asleep — Craven also explored numerous social, philosophical and intellectual themes in his work. Whether it be the suburban nightmare of child abuse in A Nightmare on Elm Street, the condemnation of nuclear testing in The Hills Have Eyes, the satire of Reagan-era rapaciousness in The People Under the Stairs or the playful and provocative deconstruction of the horror genre itself in Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Scream, in Craven's hands he horror film is far, far more than disposable entertainment.
Presented almost entirely in 35mm prints, this series brings the work of a true American master back to the big, bloody screen where it belongs.
(Above writeup taken from: tiff.net Programmer's Essay in the Wes Craven series.)
(Credit: Todd Brown)
Capsule Reviews of three films from the series:
Directed by Wes Craven
Remade in 2006 which spawned a sequel after, Wes Craven's 1977 original THE HILLS HAVE EYES is the cult cheap horror classic that delivers scares, violence and gore perfectly. the victims are the Carter family traveling on vacation, towing a travel trailer from Ohio to Los Angeles; parents Bob (Russ Grieve) and Ethel (Virginia Vincent) are driving, accompanied by their teenage children Bobby (Robert Houston) and Brenda (Susan Lanier), eldest daughter Lynne (Dee Wallace), Lynne's husband Doug (Martin Speer), their baby daughter Katie, and their dogs, Beauty and Beast. They stop at Fred's Oasis for fuel, and Fred urges them to stay on the main road. Later, they skid off a desert road and crash, due to what is later revealed to be a booby trap, and Bob walks back to Fred's Oasis to get help. The predators are an incest family that aim among other things, to have the baby for dinner. Craven utilizes the surroundings for maximum effect - Doug tossing rocks from the hill at his predator; a snake's bite used to save a victim and falling off the top. But still, this is a predictable slasher film with the slasher given many lives before being destroyed.
Surprisingly effective horror slasher film with sufficient camp humour to both entertain and scare. The only known name actor is Ving Rhames who is done with early in the film. The main hero is a black boy, the actor playing him likely costing peanuts. Poindexter Williams (Brandon Adams), known as "Fool", is a resident of a Los Angeles ghetto. He and his family are being evicted from their apartment by their landlords, the Robesons. Leroy (Rhames), a professional criminal, suggests to Fool that they rob the Robeson's residence for money. They break into the house and discover people under the stairs. It is an outrageous story involving incest, cannibalism and more. The Robesons believe in 'see, hear and do no evil'. So, they butcher their children's tongues and imprison them in the cellar. One got away and is hiding in the walls of the house. Only Alice (A.J. Langer) is allowed to roam the house as she says and hears nothing. Craven incorporates another incest crazed family similar to he one on THE HILLS HAVE EYES. Craven also brings in problems of the ghetto with a current film that climaxes with pyrotechnics and all the evil destroyed.
SWAMP THING is a homage to the dc comic books and the monster/mad scientist low budget B-horror films of the 50's. Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) is a government agent sent to replace a man who has disappeared while guarding a secret experimental lab in the middle of the Louisiana bayous. Comically and out of place dressed in heels and a skirt, Cable professes unease at her strange new surroundings, but she is soon wooed by Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise). Holland is working on a concoction that combines plant and animal cells. Arcane (Louis Jourdan) is the criminal mastermind who is trying to steal the secret recipe for the potion. Dr. Holland is killed and accidentally doused with his own formula and bursts into flames, then dives into the swamp, transforming into the SWAMP THING. The film is unintentionally hilarious. It is not easy to make a horror film with a man in a monster suit playing the monster and the villain (Jordan) speaking with a French accent. It does not help either that the monster is the good guy helping Alice against the bad guys. The monster is also invincible able to survive bullets and grenades. So-so entertainment but Craven has made better films.
Big Films opening include GONE GIRL and MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN. Other films opening include TUSK, MY OLD LADY and MOMMY.
2 series begin at Bell Lightbox. TIFF Cinematheque presents Godard Part 2 and Wes Craven.
GONE GIRL (USA 2014) ****Directed by David Fincher
This is a film eagerly awaited by the critics, as GONE GIRL is a mystery suspense thriller in the same vein as the director's best and most critically acclaimed movie SE7EN. GONE GIRL is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn who also wrote the screenplay.
The film is divided into days that make the event. The titles that appear on screen indicate that. The film can also be divided into 3 parts, the first when Amy goes missing, told primarily from Nick's point of view. Then the second, though there is an overlap in time from Amy's point of view, and the third when Amy and Nick are in the picture. The first part is titled as the dates, July 5, July 6th etc, the second as day gone 1 day gone 2 and the final as day back 1 etc. A nice trick here devised by the titling department should not go unnoticed just as the product placements (e.g. Netflix) subtly included in the film.
The trailer of GONE GIRL indicate only very little of the story. So, unless one has read the book, a lot of the film's enjoyment derives from not knowing the rest of the plot. (So spoiler alert: Spoiler is outlined in red in the next paragraph.) The brief first part of the story goes like this. Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returns home the late morning on July 5th, the day after his wedding anniversary after drinks at his bar that his sister (Carrie Coon) bartends only to find his living room ransacked and wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. As news spreads, things do not look good for Nick. He become suspect for the murder of his wife. Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickes) and Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) form a good pair of investigating detectives, a kind of good cop, bad cop variation. The plot thickens quite the bit. Director Fincher pulls a plot twist ever so often with the story heading towards a whole different direction.
Affleck delivers an impeccable performance - able to show how to pretend to act and to be actually not pretending as he goes on camera in the film. But it is Tyler Perry (the MADEA films) who steals the show as Nick's Defence Attorney, Tanner Bolt with his cynical and confident outlook of the case. It also helps that the script gives him the best lines. Rosamund Pike does not fare that well in a really difficult role. She has to pass off as a totally intelligent psychopath that can switch from a Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. She accounts for a few of the film's unintentional laughs. The script by Flynn also does not give her character consistency For someone who has so cleverly masterminded her own disappearance, she is not smart enough to prevent herself from the obvious - getting robbed in her motel room by her new white trash girlfriend (Lola Kirke) and her boyfriend (Boyd Holbrook). Even the audience could see that coming.
At one point in the film, a stranger points at Amy in disguise: "I think I know you." Fincher should not have to resort to cheap shots like false alarms to shock the audience. However, there is one scene in which the question is asked "Does Missouri have the death penalty?" The answer comes 30 minutes later into the film, which is quite clever.
Fincher also directed the hit films THE SOCIAL NETWORK, FIGHT CLUB and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Though GONE GIRL is not the perfect film with a few flaws, it still stands as one of the more memorable mystery suspense thrillers of 2014.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2583211289
Directed by Ralph Ziman
A live adaptation of the anime film which is based on the 10-year old anime of the same name by Yasuomi Umetsu, KITE plunges the audience in the over-used apocalyptic landscape in which post-finance, security and order have collapsed. The hero or heroine of the piece is Sawa (India Eisley), beautiful but emotionally detached, who lives a secret life as a covert assassin. The daughter of a police detective involved in the investigation of human trafficking, she was orphaned at the tender age of 12 when an unknown assailant targeted both of her parents. Now 18, Sawa is a human time-bomb undercover, intent upon eliminating members of the flesh-cartels whom she presumes murdered her family—men who exploit the defenceless children of a collapsed society for the pleasure of high-paying, foreign clients.
Though girl action heroines were rare only a few years back, they have recently saturated the big screen with films like LUCY and KICK-ASS which has a heroine closer in age to Sawa. In fact, Eisley bears quite the resemblance in looks and body to Chloe Grace Moretz. Female acton heroines have never been that popular, as is evident in flops like SUPERGIRL AND CATWOMAN. There needs another edge (LUCY has her increasing the capacity of the brain's utilization) to keep audience's interest.
But KITE offers nothing new. The surroundings and atmosphere are grey and bleak, looking like any apocalyptic horror film such as the RESIDENT EVIL films. The occasional set deign (at the film's start for example) impresses. Samuel L. Jackson, though always a welcome entry this time as Sawa's quirky boss offers nothing really new either. He is not as mean, edgy or violent as in his other roles, particularly UNTHINKABLE.
The result is a very average film in a well worn genre. But anime diehards might be pleased. The film is dedicated to David Ellis of SNAKES ON A PLANE the original director chosen for the film but died prior to the film's start.
The film has a limited run at the Royal Cinema in Little Italy, Toronto.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0l7uphJ-Wg
MOMMY (Canada 2014) ***1/2
Directed by Xavier Dolan
Xavier Dolan (J'AI TUE MY MERE, LAURENCE ANYWAYS, TOM A LA FERME) returns with another emotionally drama about a mother and son.
The niche in the film is that Dolan has shot the film in a 1:1 screen ratio, a narrow frame that intensifies any dramatic motion. Close-ups are aplenty and any emotional scene is heightened. Lots of shouting, letting loose and a bit of domestic violence like slitting of wrists re allowed. There are two occasions when Dolan widens the screen, when things appear king rosy for his characters. The best segment in MOMMY is the one in which MOMMY freaks out, just like the best one in LAURENCE ANYWAYS when the woman protagonist freaks out as well. Dolan does well in the film, as h has polished his material and his art.
Dolan does not star in this film. He gives the young acting honours to Antoine-Olivier Pilon who does a pretty good job as a emotionally challenged boy.
At times, the film feels like a personal battle between mother and son, sort of like WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, but Dolan style.
Steve (Pilon) is a troubled teenager. When his mother, Diane (Anne Dorval), picks him up from a government institution to care for him at home, it is an act of deep maternal commitment — and a huge risk. Although he can be sweet as an angel, Steve is volatile. As Diane tries to manage her son's mood swings at home, it's clear that she's not exactly serene either. A working-class Quebec woman with a messy personal life, she's barely keeping it together. So when their shy neighbour Kyla (Suzanne Clément) takes an interest in mother and son, a surprising trio develops.
All three actors deliver intense performances. Quebec star, Patrice Huard (STARBUCK) has the small role of Paul, a lawyer. The story leads to a dead end with little joy in between. So, don't expect a feel good Dolan film, though there exists moments of warmth. The same can be said of his other 4 features.
Dolan shared the Special Jury Prize at Cannes for MOMMY. Is MOMMY a masterpiece or classic? No, but his fifth film is still a pretty well made, intense film. Dolan has not really covered any new territory with the subject matter. In fact the film could also be called J'AI TUE MON FILS. Dolan is more controlled and the film contains no bouts of cinematic excesses. It is a character driven film, extremely well acted but not an easy watch.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7rtSqI0ZeA
MY OLD LADY (USA 2014) **Directed by Israel Horowitz
MY OLD LADY is 70's playwright Israel Horowitz's directorial debut. To get a perspective of his film effort, it would be good to bear in mind that the man has written seventy odd plays including the screenplays for the films AUTHOR! AUTHOR! and SUNSHINE.
It is understandable that his film often feels stage bound, There are two segments near the end where the actors go at each there. One can imagine a stage being in right in front in place of the screen. Horowitz does not modify this play much to take the action out to the open. All we seen are the surroundings outside the flat.
It all begins when New Yorker Mathias (Kevin Kline) journeys to Paris after learning that he has inherited a spacious apartment from his estranged father. Mathias hopes to liquidate his new property and return home, but his plan hits a snag when he discovers that the elderly Mathilde (Maggie Smith) and her daughter (Kristin Scott Thomas) are inhabiting the space and have no inclination to leave. The apartment, he learns, is what the French call a viager, which, in accordance with centuries-old tradition, will not revert to his possession until its present occupant passes away. But Mathilde is 90 and totally healthy. As he attempts to sell his contract — and even resorts to blackmail — to profit from a losing deal, Mathias comes to learn more about Mathilde, and his father, than he'd ever intended. Yes, Mathilde and Mathias, the closeness in names indicates she is his real mother. But things get worse. He sleeps with the daughter after being warned and then worries if there is a possibility of incest.
It does not help that this is a film based on quite the nasty play. The characters are not nice people at all. They go at each other's throats, sleep around, attempt suicide and do the worst in order to survive. The play has hardly a happy moment, so it is a not a pleasant sit-through for the tim either. Though advertised as a comedy drama. the comedy is caustic at most.
The one thing Horowitz gets right is the casting for the film. Kevin Kline (Oscar winner for A FISH CALLED WANDA), Maggie Smith (Oscar winner for THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) and Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (THE ENGLISH PATIENT) are all excellent. Kline does Jack Lemmon, only less annoying. In fact in certain segments, the similar looks to Lemmon are uncanny. Smith is just wonderful as usual, looking really frail playing a woman of 90 (10 years over her age), but she still gets ones blood flowing when she tells the Kline character off.
One wonders of Horowitz's purpose of writing a play such as this one that has no message and displays the worse in people. Fortunately, Thomas, Kline and Smith rise above their material but is is still not good enough a reason to sit through the film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qucX6pdg36Q
Directed by Kevin Smith
Popular podcast Wallace Tusk, note the name, (Justin Long) gets transformed into a walrus in this odd horror mix comedy from writer/director Kevin Smith (CLERKS, DOGMAN RED ALERT).
Wallace (Justin Long) co-hosts a popular podcast in the U.S. with his pal Teddy (Haley Joel Osment), focusing on cruel, mocking cringe humour as part of their mission to keep it "real and raunchy." Unfortunately their real and raunchy turns out to be silly and unfunny. After his trip to Winnipeg to interview the "Kill Bill Kid" — a teen whose unfortunate samurai-sword video has gone viral — comes up empty, Wallace decides to make the trip worth his while and find a good story north of the forty-ninth parallel. A handwritten flyer he finds in a pub bathroom leads him to a grizzled old swab (Michael Parks) full of tall tales to share from his life of adventure at sea .
This is where Smith's film turns into a horror movie as Wallace's voyage to the Great White North descends into straight-up madness.
Though Smith is no stranger to comedy. TUSK demonstrates how difficult it is to elicit laughs. The first 15 minutes generate not even a chuckle less a smile. Smith allows what is supposed to be a funny comedic duo, the podcasts to have their time, but - no funny! Even the viral Kill Bill Kid episode on the internet, supposed to be laugh out loud hilarious is pitiful.
Smith's idea of podcasters being allowed to say anything or show anything uncensored is not a new idea. The Trailer Park Boys' film SWEARNET dealt with the similar theme. But Smith's idea of infusing the horror theme and the Canadian Great White North running joke including a cameo from SCTV's Martin Short to provide other themes does not help the film either. His wry observations of Canadian culture have already been used in other films. But the convenience store segment where Canadian meets American is quite funny. But the film's laugh out loud parts can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The funniest bit in TUSK is the character of ex-cop Guy Lapointe (played with comedic gusto by Johnny Depp). A side joke is that Lapointe is also the name of hockey player defence man for the Montreal Canadiens. Depp, speaking in a Quebecios accent is given lengthy nonsensical monologues which allows him to demonstrate the phrase 'chewing up the scenery'.
The walrus make-up is intentionally funny but a little scary as well, Smith probably glad with the combination of the horror comedy concept.
Kevin Smith has made one of the funniest films ever DOGMA which is also his best film. The humour, jokes and intelligence of DOGMA is oddly completely missing in TUSK.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83rI4jPlsJ0
Best new Film Opening: Gone Girl
The massive second half of our Godard retrospective traces the French New Wave master's journey from the political turmoil of May '68 to this year's elegiac Adieu au language.
Warning: His second half is to so narrative based and might be a burden to comprehend, though many will argue that one needs to work ones pleasures. But the Master is working at his eccentric peak, so it will not be empty viewings.
PASSION (Switzerland/France 1980) ***
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
PASSION begins with a trail made in the sky by a plane followed by a woman in a factory pushing a cart on a trailer followed by a girl on a bicycle holding on a car door and trailing it. Godard plays parallel images while telling simultaneous stories, woman about to be laid of at work (Isabelle Huppert), unsympathetic boss (Michel Piccoli), tried relationships, filmmaker running into financial difficulties for directing a film on painting by Goya without a story and so on. Not all these make sense in the entire picture - but this is Godard, full of teasing and playfulness. PASSION contains the making of the film of the same name. The lighting is never ok; the budget is way over; the girl is too beautiful for the scene and the director, Jerzy (who looks like Godard with his glasses) who has lost focus in making his film says its hard making a film that shows nothing. Godard also provides his thoughts on dialogue which may be deemed a prologue to his latest film ADIEU AU LANGUAGE.
PRENON CARMEN (France/ 1983) ***
Directed b jean-Lu Godard
This is typical Godard. Multiple stories are loosely intercut into a single film with no clear narrative. Lots of Godard's musings are interspersed with the proceedings (sayings like: If money is worth shit, then the poor will have no assholes) with anything happening according to the world of Godard. This time around, the Godard like director (there is often one in a Godard film), Uncle Jeannot is played by Godard himself. He sleeps in a hospital hoping to keeping staying there free by having a temperature which he thinks he can get by putting his fingers up the nurses' ass. But the main protagonist is Carmen X (Maruschka Detmers), a female member of a terrorist gang. She asks her Uncle Jeannot, the washed-up film director if she can borrow his beachside house to make a film with some friends, but they are in fact planning to rob a bank. During the robbery she falls in love with a security guard, Joseph (Josep Bonaffe), begging a love/hate relationship. The film intercuts between Carmen's escape with the guard, her uncle's attempt to make a comeback film, and a string quartet attempting to perform Beethoven. All the nonsensical action culminate in a shoot out at a posh hotel. Very amusing or annoying, depending on whether one likes Godard or not, but the film did win the Golden Lion at the 1983 Venice Film Festival.
France/Germany/Austria/Switzerland 1979) *** Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Godard's first second film, as stated by the director himself, whatever that means. Godard is a complicated filmmaker and it is difficult attires to know what he is trying to say. It does not tell that he doesn't care what people think. The three lead characters are Isabelle, a prostitute (Isabelle Huppert), Denise (Nathalie Baye) and Paul Godard (Jacques Dutronic). The film charts the different combinations of the three. Co-written by Godard with the Paul character an extension of himself, it is a beautifully shot film though one should not expect a story in a Godard film. he one scene involving Isabelle working as a prostitute deserves mention. It works lie a option picture put together, analyzing each movement, then adding components, then sound and then putting it all together. Godard uses different filming techniques like slow motion, jump edits, freeze frames to accentuate different parts of the story. Baye is wonderful winning the Best Supporting Cesar for her role in this film.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (France 1968) **
The title of the film is also the piece the Rolling Stones are recording in a London sound studio. Godard travelled to London after May 1968's protests in Paris to film the Stones. So one an naturally expect the controversial vociferous director to put his mark on this then new film. He intercuts the film's recording of the Stones with a scene involving a camera crew following a woman about, played by Anne Wiazemsky in a yellow peasant dress, in an outdoor wildlife setting, and no matter what she's asked, always answers "yes" or "no". As can be seen from the chapter heading to the scene, she is supposed to be a personification of democracy, a woman named Eve Democracy. Interwoven through the movie too, are outdoor shots of Black Panthers milling about in a junkyard littered with the rusting cars heaped upon each other. They read from revolutionary texts (including Amiri Baraka) and toss their rifles to each other, from man to man, as if in an assembly line, or readying for an impending battle. A group of white women, apparently kidnapped and dressed in white, are brutalized and ultimately shot, off-camera; their bloody bodies are subsequently seen in various tableaus throughout the film. If all these sound confounding, they are. And it can be very infuriating. So be forewarned! Rubbish or acceptance of Godard's occasional incomprehensible musings - that is up to the viewer!
TOUT VA VIEN (France/Italy 1972) ***Directed by Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin
TOUT VA BIEN (Everything is Fine) is one of the more accessible of Godard's work in this series. It is also the most entertaining, funny and colourful. If you want to see a non confusing Godard film, this is it. The film centers on a strike at a meat factory which is witnessed by an American reporter (Jane Fonda) and her French husband (Yves Montand), who is a commercial director. There is always a film director in a Godard film, sort of representing the director himself. The film has a strong political message which outlines the logic of the class struggle in France in the wake of the May 1968 civil unrest. It also examines the social destruction caused by capitalism. The audience is always reminded that they are watching a movie. The performers like the director and the head of the workers union speak at length to the camera. The factory set consists of a cross-sectioned building (see film image above) and allows the camera to dolly back and forth from room to room, theoretically through the walls. Godard's message is for once, clearly audible and understood by the audience.
- Gilbert SEAH -
Films opening include THE BOXTROLLS, HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS and THE EQUALIZER.
Directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi
THE BOXTROLLS is the eagerly awaited animation 3D fantasy from Liaka (PARANORMAN, CORALINE) based on Alan Snow's novel "Here Be Monsters". From the first shot, the animation is top notch with the atmosphere and feel of a gothic British hamlet. All the accents are British, which might be a problem for young children to understand. But it works! (Who cares about the little brats, anyway?)
It seems that way in the film too. The baby boy, Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) is stolen by the Boxtrolles while the daughter, Winnie (Elle Fanning) of the town mayor and the leader of the white hats (Jared Harris) is constantly ignored by him.
The film tells the story of an orphaned boy named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) who was raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collecting trolls called the Boxtrolls. The Boxtrolls are targeted by an evil exterminator named Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) and Eggs has to save his family from Snatcher.
The script by Irena Brignull and Adam Pava stays away from any romance between Winnie and Eggs. They are just good friends. But clearly missing from the script is goofy humour which is the key feature often in the making or breaking of an animated feature. Don't get me wrong. There are funny comedic set-ups, many of which are slapstick and inventive. But the manic humour say in SHREK or ARTHUR CHRISTMAS is clearly missing.
The best thing about the film is the character of Archibald. He covets the white hat and eating fromage in the special 'tasting' room. Unknown to him and hidden from him by his henchmen, is the fact that he is extremely allergic to cheese, breaking out immediately into swelling and bumps as brilliantly animated in the film. It is ironic that he wants something so bad his body rejects it.
Ben Kingsley and Wright are excellent in their voice characterizations. Other well known names in the cast include Toni Collette, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Richard Ayoade (THE DOUBLE and SUBMARINE) though their voices are hardly recognizable.
The city that the animation takes place is given the name Cheesebridge, which looks very British. The name is also appropriate as cheese is loved there. But the atmosphere could be stolen from the film CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. When Archibald hunts the boxtrolls, it is very similar to the child catcher hunting down children in the country of Vulgaria in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG.
Stop motion animation is a very painstaking process compared to CGI animation. The directors ensure the audience is aware. During the closing credits, the voiceover announces it takes days to shoot the blinking of an eyelid. But it pays off. It is the stop motion animation and stunning visuals that make THE BOXTROLLS. By the way, there are boxtrolls in the real world. But they are given another name - raccoons.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9-Df4ITW7o
DAVID BOWIE IS HAPPENING NOW (UK 2013) ***Directed by Hamish Hamilton, Katy Mullan
DAVID BOWIE IS HAPPENING NOWis a documentary film of the groundbreaking 'David Bowie is' exhibition created by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V&A). This exhibition continued in Toronto and then goes off to Brazil and to the rest of the wold. The exhibition features a remarkable collection of photographs, stage costumes, and other rare possessions from the David Bowie Archive. Why the hype? besides the super star himself, the exhibition was the fastest selling in the V&A's history.
The film takes the audience on an extraordinary journey through the David Bowie is exhibition with special guests including legendary Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto, Pulp front-man Jarvis Cocker, and other collaborators, to explore the stories behind some of the key objects that document Bowie's artistic career. The exhibition curators, Victoria Broackes (with glittered dress and visage earrings and immaculately suited Geoffrey Marsh, provide fascinating insight into the most memorable music videos and original costumes, as well as more personal items such as never-before-seen handwritten lyrics, album cover artwork, set designs and diary entries, which reveal the creativity and evolution of Bowie's ideas.
Bowie only appears in one segment talking to the audience about his work.
As for performances, there are sufficient to satisfy his music fans including the one performed after the 9/11 bombing. For film fans, Bowi's most iconic film, Nicholas Roegs' THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is talked about and brought into perspective by a film historian. The only film clips are taken from Jim Henson's LABYRINTH in which Bowie plays the Goblin King.
True David Bowie fans would be ecstatic at the chance of watching this documentary on What David Bowie Is. One cannot complain about the doc as it achieves directors Hamilton and Mullan's aim at - which is to inform and exhilarate Bowie's fans. For all others, the 90-minutes make up just another information session.
The exhibit is presently at the MCA in Chicago until January 4 2015. Going to the actual exhibit would be a better but for the rest, the film is the alternative.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vItKeQzN0pk
THE EQUALIZER (USA 2014) ***Directed by Antoine Fuqua
THE EQUALIZER is so called because if someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them and if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall (Denzel Washington) will help. Therefore he is called The Equalizer. In other words, just as in the terminator films, he terminates. Denzel Washington inhabits the terminator role. Director Antoine Fuqua's (TRAINING DAY) film has hardly any narrative or story but plays like a terminator or action hero film. Those who like stylish action (like the John Woo films) will find THE EQUALIZER pleasing.
Not much background is given on the equalizer's (Washington) background. He is an ex-ops killing machine and has been left alone to lead a new life. After witnessing a sex worker, Alison (Chloe Grace Moretz) beaten up, he ties it to the the Russian mobsters and takes it to teach those responsible a lesson. But he has to deal with another killing sadistic machine, Teddy of the Russian Mafia (Marton Csokas). That is as much as the story goes.
As is typical in action pics the killings must be savage and stylish. Fuqua repeatedly does close up of McCall's eyes, then cuts to the tattoos and markings of the Mafia, then fast forwards to the killings. The climatic confrontation scene is done in a home improvement warehouse, complete with sprinklers spraying water after an explosion and the killings executed in slow motion.
But for all the well executed pumped up action scenes, Fuqua removes one from the movie. (Perhaps it will be available on DVD release in the deleted scenes section.) One shot has McCall removing a giant hammer from a rack and then replacing it later. It is assumed that he has entered the robber's house and retrieved the stolen goods from the robber after using the hammer. There is another odd segment that suffers from continuity. It has McCall in the bathroom heating up honey to tend his wounds. I have never heard of this one before. The scene before did not emphasize that McCall was hurt either. So, Fuqua's film is not without flaws, though one might argue that the high octane action scenes might make one forgive him for them.
Washington plays a general action hero role in the film. Moretz's role is really small in this film, despite her getting almost top billing. Csokas (New Zealand actor who was in the Lord of the Rigs films) is sufficiently menacing.
At least the audience is spared from listening to any song that singer/songwriter wannabe Alison has done. The first meeting between Alison and McCall involving Hemmingway's Old Man and the Sea metaphor is explained too much, as if audiences know nothing about literature.
Antoine Fuqua offers his audience nothing new in the genre except for his personal style, which is a combination of what other action directors have done. To his credit, he knows how to pump up the audience's emotions in the confrontational scenes, which are many. THE EQUALIZER was exciting for the first half or so before turning into predictable fare. The action segments are brutal and bloody enough to satisfy action fans. But there should be more to movies than recycled rubbish.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAI7rF0eQyQ
Directed by Michael Berry
Written and directed by Michael Berry, FRONTERA is a film that pits fate against the goodness of human nature. It seems that Murphy's Law rules Berry's script but the goodness of the heart of the protagonist saves the day.
The film is no LONE STAR, the excellent film by John Sayles on the similar theme of Mexican/American racial problems. But films on this topic are rare and make FRONTERA a welcome film.
Set in the tumultuous Border area of Arizona and Mexico, FRONTERA follows the events that take place after a former Arizona Sheriff's wife, Olivia (Amy Madigan) is killed while riding on their Ranch property. It would appear a Mexican man, Miguel (Michael Pena) crossing in to the US illegally is at fault. As former Sheriff Roy (Ed Harris) and current Sheriff, Randall Hunt (Aden Young) search for answers, Miguel is caught and jailed.
Complications arise. It is Randall's son who is involved in the accident of the killing. Miguel's pregnant wife, Paulina (Eva Longoria) leaves Mexico to help her husband but is kidnapped and violated by 'The Coyote'. Yes, a bit too much occurs in the short span time of the film's 105 running time. The film lacks any character development with the result of it feeling 'hollow' at times. But the script turns to the good and common sense of Roy who sets the record straight in the toast third of the film.
Ed Harris delivers the excellent performance needed to carry the film. His role is so opposite the racist one he had in Louis Malle's ALAMO BAY. His real wife Amy Madigan does an impressive job in the short span of time she is on screen.
The film cottons a few loose ends. Nothing is explained of what happened to 'The Coyote' or of Miguel's friend after being caught at the road block.
The film is a timely piece dealing with problematic unsolvable issues. The film shows that there are bad and good people on each side of the border. And it is a fine line of why will prevail - good or evil.
Berry cannot resist the segment of American Roy and Mexican Miguel shovelling shit out of the stable, the obvious metaphor for two races working together to clean out their troubles.
The film has a nice taut twist ending, which will not be revealed in this review. Though it is a bit far-fetched, the ending is still a good shocker.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fl6iBQPjqc
THE NOTEBOOK (LE GRAND CAHIER) (Hungary/Austria/Germany/France 2013) ****Directed by Janus Szasz
THE NOTEBOOK has nothing to do with the Ryan Gosling Rachel MacAdams romantic weepy, in fact it is quite the opposite. It is a feel-bad film that will make one squirm in ones seat. The French title LE GRAND CAHIER goes with it as the film is based on the novel by Hungarian novelist Agota Kristof who wrote it in French.
THE NOTEBOOK feels like the Grimm's fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. But with twins played by Laszlo and Andras Gyemant. They are sent by mother and father to their evil grandmother's (Piroska Molnar) farm at the endue of the Hungarian German border to survive World War II. No one in the story has a name. Mother is called mother or bitch, father called father, the granny called witch for she had poisoned her husband who she still curses and the children termed bastards. All this should be taken all in good fun, with a big lump of salt.
On day one at the farm, the twins are left outside the house, hungry and cold. Only when they make up their minds to chop wood does the witch allow them into the house for some food.
Following their father's instructions, the twins record everything that happens in a notebook, decorating it with line drawings and dead insects. They also institute a regimen of exercise and self-punishment, beating each other with sticks and belts and going for days without food.
One must hand it to director Szasz for keeping his film compelling. The story is not short of fascinating or horrible people. There is the gay Nazi Officer that is also a pedophile. He saves the boys' lives so he can't be all that bad. There is the neighbour's girl called harelip for obvious reasons who steal to support her blind and eat mother. Coming into the picture too, is a pro-Nazi girl who is horny as hell wishing the tins were older. All these incidents occur one after another, so that there is not a boring moment. If the film looks a bit like the other horror-kid's Michael Hanake film THE WHITE RIBBON, it is because the two films share the same cinematographer.
The film contains lots of irony and satire for those who like this sort of thing. The liberators are shown to be worse than the Nazi occupiers. The grandmother that is the most detested at the beginning is eventually taken care of by the twins. Even the audience would have a change of heart for her.
All the events, characters, atmosphere and setting make excellent cinematic fare. The film had been selected as HuIt might be deliberately too grim a movie but one can never tell.
Watch the awesome trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmAxu0kLRg8
PRIDE (UK 2014) ***Directed by Matthew Warchus
What happens when the group your group is raising money for does not want it or anything to do with your group?
The two groups under attack here are the striking Welsh miners and the gays and lesbians. The latter group decide to support the former to show what it is like to be under fire. But not all agree as miners have been known to beat up certain queers in the group.
The contrast between the two highly different groups - one solidly male machosistic and the other flamboyant makes the brunt of the film's jokes. The sudden break out into dance of one of the gay members, Jonathan is singled out to be a highlighting moment in the film.
It is 1984 Thatcher's Britain, a ragtag band of activists from London's queer community form an unlikely, anti-Thatcherite alliance with striking Welsh miners. As new wave music had taken over the clubs, Thatcher's government was battling mining unions, and London's queer communities were perfecting artful activism. Into that mix walks Mark (Ben Schnetzer). Out, proud, and always ready for a righteous battle, he can't accept that any one form of oppression should outrank another. The LGSM (Gay and Lesbians Support Miners) activists crash into small-town South Wales (Brechan Beacon) in their brightly painted communal bus. They meet a the hard-working Welsh woman whose support group holds the community (Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton) together, a forward-thinking union organizer (Paddy Considine),the local pub historian. (Bill Nighy) among others.
The mining village overcome their homophobia while the gay activists have to get over themselves.
The 80's when it was a tough time. Gays were looked upon as perverted and disgusting. It was also the era of the beginning of AIDs. The Pride Parade was less a parade than a march, many joining in the march to show that make a stand as a gay person. But as well-intentioned as Warchus's film is, it looks like he is aiming for the good feel of THE FULL MONTY or KINKY BOOTS. The result is a tivialization of the many issues of the day. It is puzzling how comedic set ups like the one with the old ladies laughing at porn and their discovery of a dildo in hotel room has to do with the film.
The 80's period atmosphere is effectively created without waste of money. Props like the look of the clothes, use of print photos and dialogue show that there is no need to have expensive 80's cars on the streets (in bigger budget movies) to evoke the 80's.
The script is also too eager to please. Most of the members of the LGSM group are given romances. Each is also given a happy ending.
There is one scene in a gay London drag club where the straight Welsh union organizer is about to be introduced. The drag queen gets up to the mike and screams: 'Shaddupp, you fuckers," before introducing him. This raw spontaneous humour is what is more needed in this film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rThtRkV2Pyc
Best Suspense: The Drop
Horror: The Notebook (Le Grand Cahier)
Foreign: Snowpiercer (South Korea)
Films opening this week are THE DROP, DOLPHIN TALE 2 and LITTLE TERRORS
A DOLPHIN TALE 2 (USA 2014) *** Directed by Charles Martin Smith
The sequel to A DOLPHIN TALE made in 2011 revolves around more true stories from Clearwater Marine Aquarium, including both Winter (from the first film) and the baby dolphin, Hope. Winter is still be the central dolphin character in the film, now fitted with the prosthetic tale that saved her. Her companion has passed on due to old age and Winter needs another female companion. Enter a rehabilitated dolphin Mandy but hopes are dashed at her being Winter's companion after Clearwater Marine Aquarium successfully releases her back into the wild. They find another damaged dolphin 'Hope' which is Winter's last chance or she would be deported. Like the first film, director Charles Martin Smith (NEVER CRY WOLF) based his script on real events that have occurred at the aquarium.
The human elements are the two returning lead characters, Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) and Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), who know what is like to lose a parent. The Aquarium/marine hospital is run by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) with his father (Kris Kristofferson). Sawyer is offered a scholarship which his mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd) wants him to accept. But Sawyer is more concerned about being there for Winter who has become more and more aggressive.
Like A DOLPHIN TALE, the sequel is well made animal (or mammal) family fare. Messages are there - like moving on after being too comfortable at one place, care for the injured (both dolphins and humans) and the importance of family values. The camera work and editing are well done so it is difficult to tell when a different dolphin is used to film certain scenes.
The two kid actors Zuehlsdorff and Gamble are truly believable as growing teens torn between their love for dolphins and their careers. The script moves away from any budding romance between the two One close kiss is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Dr. Haskett and another is prevented by the swimming dolphins.
The only flaw is the story's predictability which could be forgiven given the film's good intentions. The film deals with issues too mature for children under the age of 5 to understand, though the film tries its best at including very young children in it - like the very young girl who first notices the injured Hope at the start of the film. DOLPHIN TALE 2 should still be a hit at the box-office given its family target audience and it being wholesome entertainment for the family.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztM-ajPfcfs
THE DROP (USA 2014) **** Directed by Michaël R. Roskam
A random bar is picked at a random day for the purpose of what is termed THE DROP. Money from questionable sources are dropped several times at night and collected once done. All this is explained via voiceover by Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy). "All I do is tend bar and wait!" Bob remarks.
What happens during one of these days is that the bar gets robbed. Marv (James Gandolfini), the bar owner warns the robbers of what they are doing. What transpires is a slow but effective tension build up to the film's climax.
The film's climax does not deliver in terms of action sequences but does in terms of plot twist and shocks. But Roskam's build up of tension during the entire film is nothing short of amazing.
Director Roskam rose to fame years back with his Oscar nominated Belgian film BULLHEAD which had a similar dark thriller theme.
Tom Hardy looks perfectly like the corner neighbourhood bartender. His appearance and mood indicate pent up anger. For one, he attends mass religiously but never takes communion. His humanity is lightened when he starts taking care of a beaten up puppy who he affectionally names Rocco. Noomi Rapace plays Nadia, the slightly nuanced girlfriend while Gandolfini proves once agin he is always good in everything he is in. This is his last film with the film dedicated to him. Matthias Schoenaerts (BULLHEAD, RUST AND BONE) is also particularly menacing as a local hood.
The film is based on the book "Animal Shelter" and one can see the humour in this when one views the film.
One odd thing about the film is the disappearance of New Year's Eve. The film begins on the 27th of December and at another point in the film, Nadia wishes Bob a Happy New Year. NYE is a big celebration everywhere and did the two spend NYE alone?
Roskam's film has an underlying violence. Each character is well written from Bob to Marv to Nadia and each has some skeleton hidden in their closet. The local cop (John Ortiz) is much smarter than he lets up.
For film critics, we do very much the same job as Bob. We watch movies and wait. Fortunately for THE DROP, the waiting in this otherwise slow-paced movie pays off.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lCiDIcqMe0
LITTLE TERRORS (Canada/India 2012) **
Directed by Maninder Chana
The reason this 2012 film took two years to reach theatres could be the other Indian film THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST that dealt with a similar theme and more effectively released in 2012/2013.
The plot involves a 13-year-old American boy recruited by terrorists to bomb a U.S. embassy in Delhi. His brother had already killed himself as an unsuccessful suicide bomber. After being brainwashed he is sent to live with a Muslim family prior to the attack. The film's third act takes an odd turn with the man harbouring him convinces the boy not to go through with the bombing.
In LITTLE TERRORS, it is a terrorist who turns to the other side while in THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTAL , it is the other way around. Unfortunately, it is not less interesting to show a terrorist converted, and director does not do that good a job. Chana spends the first half of the movie with the boy trained to be a suicide bomber and the other half convincing the boy to do the opposite. Her film, naturally does not turn out convincing. The terrorist cell training looks like a poor man's Shao-Lin Kung fu training monastery from a bad Shaw Brothers movie. The film also ends with a hollywood style chase that runs in contradiction to the otherwise serious tone of the film.
Performances are passable at best. Veteran Om Puri lands a hand but has only a small role as leader Abdul Kamil.
LITTLE TERRORS turns out to be a false alarm.
Best Film Opening: The Drop
Comedy: 22 Jump Street
Action: Transformers: Age of Extinction
Doc: An Honest Lie
Romance: The One I Love
Beyond the LightsDir. Gina Prince-BythewoodA rising young musician (Gugu Mbatha-Raw,Belle) falls into a passionate love affair with the cop assigned to protect her (Nate Parker), in this moving and inspirational romance from writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball).Sat. Sept. 6 | Winter Garden Theatre | 6PMSun. Sept. 7 | Scotiabank 12 | 8:30PM GirlhoodDir. Céline SciammaeCéline Sciamma (Water Lilies, Tomboy) returns to the Festival with this raw, raucous but tender look at a group of black high school students living in the tough banlieues of Paris.Tue. Sept. 9 | Scotiabank 2 | 8:45PMThu. Sept. 11 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 | 9AMSun. Sept. 14 | Scotiabank 3 | 9:30PM Infinitely Polar BearDir. Maya ForbesA loving husband and father struggling with manic depression (Mark Ruffalo) is forced to raise his two young daughters on his own, in this moving and inspirational drama based on writer-director Maya Forbes' own childhood experiences.Wed. Sept. 10 | Roy Thomson Hall | 6:30 PMThu. Sept. 11 | Winter Garden Theatre | 12:30PMMay Allah Bless FranceDir. Abd Al MalikFrench rapper, author, and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik makes his directorial debut with this adaptation of his 2004 autobiography, chronicling his upbringing in the crime-and drug-ridden streets of Strasbourg and his life-changing encounters with hip hop and religion.Sat. Sept. 6 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 | 10:15PM Mon. Sept. 8 | Bloor Hot Docs Cinema | 4:15PMSat. Sept. 13 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 | 9:15PMMirageDir. Szabolcs HajduA mysterious wanderer (Isaach De Bankolé) settles into a strange homestead on the parched Hungarian plains populated by an odd assortment of outcasts, in this stunning, dreamlike reverie from ambitious director Szabolcs Hajdu.Fri. Sept. 5 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 | 6:45PM Sat. Sept. 6 | Isabel Bader Theatre | 1: 45PMWed. Sept. 10 | Scotiabank 8 | 9:15PMMurder in PacotDir. Raoul PeckIn the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, a middle-aged Port-au-Prince couple come face to face with the stark contradictions of Haitian society when they are forced to rent out their villa to a foreign aid worker and his enterprising local girlfriend.Fri. Sept. 5 | Isabel Bader Theatre | 6PM Sun. Sept. 7 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 | 10:45AMSun. Sept. 14 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 | 9:30AMNational DiplomaDir. Dieudo HamadiDirector Dieudo Hamadi follows a group of teenagers in his hometown of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose struggles to pass the state exam that is the key to their future are further complicated by their country's endemic culture of corruption.Thu. Sept. 11 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 | 8:30PMFri. Sept. 12 | AGO Jackman Hall | 9AMSun. Sept. 14 | Bloor Hot Docs Cinema | 3:15PMSecond ComingDir. Debbie Tucker GreenA married, middle-class London couple (Nadine Marshall and Idris Elba) are shocked when they seem to have been blessed — or cursed — with an immaculate conception, in the provocative second feature by award-winning British playwright Debbie Tucker Green.Sun. Sept. 7 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 | 9PM Tue. Sept. 9 | Scotiabank 3 | 9:45PMSun. Sept. 14 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 | 6:45PMTimbuktuDir. Abderrahmane SissakoFollowing the recent jihadist takeover of northern Mali, a proud cattle herder comes into fateful conflict with the fundamentalist rulers of the provincial capital, in this luminous, lyrical and poetic drama from the great African filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.Tue. Sept. 9 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 | 6:15PMFri. Sept. 12 | TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 | 2PMTop FiveDir. Chris RockWritten, directed by, and starring Chris Rock, Top Five tells the story of New York City comedian-turned-film star Andre Allen, whose unexpected encounter with a journalist forces him to confront both the career that made him famous and the life he left behind. Starring Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, J.B. Smoove, Gabrielle Union, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Jay Pharoah, Anders Holm and Michael Che. And featuring music by Questlove.Sat. Sept. 6 | Princess of Wales | 10PMSun. Sept. 7 | Princess of Wales | 12PMSat. Sept. 13 | Ryerson Theatre | 9PM
Films opening this week are THE CALLING, THE CONGRESS and LIFE OF CRIME.
TIFF Cinematheque is running a Robert Altman retrospective and a series on 'sequels'.
THE CALLING (Canada 2013) ***
Directed by Jason Stone
(In THE CALLING, Topher Grace plays a gay detective rookie in Hamilton, Ontario.)
Based on the novel by Inger Ash Wolfe, THE CALLING sees veteran female detective Hazel Micallef (Susan Sarandon) solving a series of murders in a small town.
The Coen Brothers' FARGO immediately comes to mind. But both are highly different films, the only common thread being the female detective in a small town.
The small town in question is Port Dundas (now incorporated into Hamilton) a few hours drive from Toronto. This is a Canadian made and Canadian set story, with murders taking place in all the different provinces of Canada. It appears that the killer is fulfilling a higher calling, and hence the film's title. The result is a mixed horror detective film.
The story is nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the script by Scott Abramovitch contains nothing that audiences have not seen elsewhere before. Detective Hazel is a hard-drinking detective with a large skeleton in the closet. She defies her superiors, disobeys orders and obviously does not go by the book in solving her case. She is aided by veteran Detective Ray Green (Gil Bellows) who goes by the book and an eager new recruit from Toronto, Ben Wingate (Topher Grace). A mother (Ellen Burstyn) daughter relationship is thrown in as a side plot.
But it is great to see Sarandon deliver an Oscar winning performance in a Canadian film. She also has the choice lines in the film including the words: "f*** you!" Donald Sutherland lands his hand as an elderly priest who helps in the case.
The timeline in Hazel's solution of the case is only indicated by the seasons. But we see only one winter scene - the murder and the dogs eating a victim's stomach on a frozen pond. So, it is assumed the story takes place within a year.
Director Stone does not shy away from violence. There s one scene that will a lost guarantee the audience turn away. (I did, and I can normally take a lot of on screen violence.)
It is surprising that director Stone executively produced the hit Seth Rogen comedy THIS IS THE END. THE CALLING is downright dead serious, like FARGO without the humour. But it is is not a bad movie and though a bit slow moving, THE CALLING is an absorbing watch from start to finish.
Trailer: (No trailer can be found)
THE CONGRESS (France/Lux/Israel/Germany/Belgium/Poland 2014) **Directed by Ari Folman
Directed by Ari Folman (the equally compacted and animated WALTZING WITH BASHIR), THE CONGRESS is a mixed live action and animation fantasy abut a utopian society acing conscience issues.
The star of this movie is Robin Wright who bravely carries the film against all odds. She delivers a performance in which she is unafraid of growing old (in one interview she confesses she never pumps Botox into her face) though she looks much older abated than in real life. Wright plays a version of herself with her real past as her roles in THE PRINCESS BRIDE bringing hr fame in this story.
It all begins with Robin Wright (Wright herself) decides to take her final job: preserving her digital likeness for a future Hollywood. Through a deal brokered by her loyal, longtime agent (he always excellent Harvey Keitel) and the head of Miramount (name is conned from Miramax and Paramount, obviously) Studios (Danny Huston), her alias will be controlled by the studio, and will star in any film they want with no restrictions. In return, she receives healthy compensation.
The film then shifts to 20 years later and into full animation. This is when director Folman goes crazy with his philosophy animation the film fails. Whatever intrigue was initially generated is dispersed as the audience realizes that whatever happened to Robin Wright has already occurred in animation and stop action animation. Only the public still wants the old actor in person. When Forman takes his film one step further with Wright being offered to become a product, one can only wonder what else Folman ma be thinking.
The romance and animated sex scene between Wright and Joe Hamm feels uncomfortable and unnecessary. Ad why is Wright he only actress targeted. There are man others more famous than her in the field. (Unless they all use Botox)
For those who love to recognize film references, there are many for example the coloured pills in THE MATRIX and the riding of the attic bomb in DR. STRANGELOVE. The Futurological Congress is also populated by the likes of an animated John Wayne, Tom Cruise, Conan O'Brien, Gandhi and even Hitler among others.
THE CONGRESS ultimately gets bogged down by Folman's over ambitious animation, messy story-telling and often incoherent ideas. Instead of his film heading towadsan exciting climx, its gets more boring towards the end.
Trailer: http://thecongress-movie.com/watch-the-trailer.htm?lng=en
Directed by David Schechter
The plot: the wife of a wealthy man is kidnapped but he does not want to pay the ransom. This is not the first film to be based on this premise. Bette Midler made her big comeback in RUTHLESS PEOPLE playing one such unfortunate wife who was left in the kidnapper's basement only to lose weight and get fitter with the exercise equipment there.
But LIFE OF CRIME, based on Elmore Leonard's book 'The Switch' is no comedy though dark elements of humour are present. The kidnapped is Mickey (Jennifer Aniston) who is just about to be served divorce papers by her husband, Frank (Tim Robbins reprising his obnoxious husband role from SHORT CUTS) when she is kidnapped. The unlucky kidnappers are Louis (John Hawkes) and Ordell (Mos Def) with a hired Nazi helper hand, Richard (Mark Boone Jr.).
The story works for Leonard's colourful characters. Director Schechter is bright enough to realize this. So he shifts focus from one (or one group) to another. The film begins centring on Louis and Ordell before shifting to the dysfunctional marriage of the Dawsons. Surprises are always on the horizon with the husband cheating with Melanie (Isla Fisher) who is clearly not just a supporting character as envisioned when she first appears. Mickey is no angelic wife either, cheating on the side. The all-star cast inhabiting these roles fare pretty well, delivering caustic yet sympathetic characterizations.
Double crossing, a key element in Elmore Leornard's books is also present here. But there is a lower body count though a little violence is still present that ups the angst in the film. The introduction of a crazed gun-totting peeping Tom (Richard) who has his eye eventually burnt by a cigarette is a nasty but welcome treat.
With a good solid story with plot twists, real life imperfect characters and a solid moody atmosphere, LIFE OF CRIME is a worthy Elmore Leonard adaptation.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnaI-w8h8Ls
SWEARNET: THE MOVIE (Canada 2014) ***Directed by Warren P. Sonoda
This is officially not THE TRAILER PARK BOYS sequel. This is the premise and the script is written by the infamous trio: Fed up with being censored in their post-Trailer Park Boys lives, the out of work stars/world-renowned 'swearists', Mike Smith, Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay decide to start their own uncensored network called 'swearnet' on the internet.
It is a simple story that sounds pretty awful on paper for a full length feature. But one can never know what to expect from these overgrown kids.
SWEARNET has the most swearing f**K words recoded in a movie according to the Guinness Book of Records. (The previous holder was the film WOLF OF WALL STREET.) The film is outrageously adult in frontal nudity, high jinx and of course swearing. There is one 'swearoake' segment in a bar in which Swearman (Patrick Roach, who plays the dandy, Randy in the TRAILER PARK BOYS) which is just a blast. The climax of the film is a race in which they boys have to win the prize money in order to pay their loan sharks. Never mind, the sponsored car has been recalled and the drivers are high on acid.
SWEARNET should have enough fans locally and even abroad (heard the boys have a following in Ireland and in the U.K.) for it to do well. Cameos by Canadians Tom Green and Scott Thompson (as Carrot Top) help in the madcap craziness.
The laugh out loud segments (the swearoake, post Acid race, roasting Swearman on the spit, Swearman at the hockey game) are plenty enough and definitely memorable.
SWEARNET is actually really funny. If foul language does to bother you, the film provides quite the different night out at the movies.
Trailer: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/swearnet-movie-trailer-698155
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2014 Toronto International Film Festival Capsule Film Reviews - Gilbert Seah
(First posted Aug 12, last update 12th Sep)
Updated daily during the festival, so keep logged to this site.
New to this year is that trailer links will be added (if available) at the end of each capsule review.
Capsule Reviews:-
LE BEAU MONDE (HIGH SOCIETY)(France 2014) ****
Directed by Julie Lopes Curval
Director Curval's very assured piece stars mesmerizing Ana Giradot (daughter of Hippolyte Giradot) as 20-year old Alice who finds a way into a fashion prestigious School in Paris with the help of a rich Parisian lady, Agnes (Aurelia Petit). Alice leaves current simple boyfriend Kevin (Baptiste Laplain), a car mechanic behind for Agnes' son Antoine (Bastien Bouillon), attracted obviously for his passion and expression for art. They fall passionately in love. He loves her for the bourgeois life she lacks and she for the high society he inherits. Curvals' film is fresh on emotions, traditional in ideals, dramatic on life and totally relevant in the feel of today's youth. Performances are rich and the film works wonders. Though the seaside scenes and film's extended dialogue often reminds one of Eric Rhomer's films (SUMMER, LE RAYON VERT), this is pretty much a woman's (particularly Curval's) film. The scenery and cinematography are stunning, an additional bonus to the film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4tKdiJwojU
BIG MUDDY (Canada 2014) **Directed by Jefferson Moneo
Elmore Leonard goes to Saskatchewan. Moeno's missed opportunity results in a mixed bag of tricks in the family tale of Martha Barlow (Nadia Litz), her son and her father. Martha has a dark bad history in which all the skeletons start coming out of the closet just when she wants to protect her son, Andy (Justin Kelly). His father has just escaped from prison, her boyfriend (Rossif Sutherland) just got shot and a crazed horse owner and his sidekick are after Martha and Andy now holed out at Martha's father's (Stephen McHattie) farm. It is a question of too much happening at one time and too many killings occurring too soon, so that all the drama turns unintentionally laughable. In the hands of a more experienced director, this murder ballad could have turned out to be a solid western classic instead of a western classic wannabe. The whole film falls into the hand of main actress Litz who tries very hard, but is unfortunately no prairie beauty queen.
BLACK SOULS (ANIME NERE) (Italy 2014) ***
Directed by Francesco Munzi
After Francis Ford Coppola's GODFATHER films, it is hard to top a Mafia movie about the family business. So, one must give credit to director Munzi for trying with a smaller budget and more modest story. Again, it is the familiar theme of getting out of the business but the business never lets that happen. The setting shifts from Amsterdam to Milan, a change from Puzo's NYC. A former narcotics trafficker now living peaceably, raising goats in the Calabrian hills is drawn back into his family's drug. The problem is that Luciano's son, the bored and restless Leo, idolizes his charismatic uncle Luigi, who is still deeply involved in the narcotics trade with his middle brother, the bespectacled mastermind of the family business. Munzi's film gets away from the graphic violence and concentrates on the drama without the cheap theatrics. The result is a focused and quite authentic film aided by the simpler story.
CART (South Korea 2014) **
Directed by Boo-Ji-Young
In the spirit of NORMA RAE and MADE IN DAGENHAM, CART, set in a discount retail store, CART is a social critique of the injustice done by huge companies on workers without a union. The film starts off with the striking workers before settling down to concentrate on a few subjects, like a single mother, an an older custodian and another with two young children, one of which is a rebellious son. All these are well intentioned but do not really work as the film is messy and all over the place. An ensemble of incidents is the term best used to describe this film, but director Boo should have done more in the editing room to make more head and tail of the film so that it has a strong narrative with a greater effect. The film just ends at another losing battle with the police in riot gear brutalizing the striking women. Boo also turns up the melodrama that makes the film seem more hokey.Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5_u7piDYw
THE CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (France/USA 2013) ***Directed by Olivier Assayas
A smart script written about women on the dual theme of aging vs. youth and life imitating art written by director Olivier Assayas deserves better but unfortunately fails to attain the height it seeks to achieve. Part of this is due to the complexity of the plot but also due to main lead actress Juliette Binoche's annoying character. For a character that sophisticated and learned in life's lessons, she comes across as crass (laughing too loudly and expressing outwardly too many times her emotions) and common. The audience is supposed to side and feel sympathetic for this character, but Binoche's performance does not allow it. Kristen Stewart steals the show as her super-efficient and patient personal assistant. There are parts of the script that are just plain brilliant. The sudden disappearance of the personal assistant in the mountains with no explanation give, obviously a reflection of life imitating art as the actress's young lover in the play had the same fate occur. The spilling of the cloud of Sils Maria into the valley signalling a final escape is not only gorgeously shot bit instrumental in Assayas' metaphor on his characters.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fkRzbL_Qwc
COMING HOME (China 2014) ****Directed by Zhang Yimou
COMING HOME is a welcome return for director Zhang and his actress Gong Li who have not made a movie this good since RAISE THE RED LANTERN and THE ROAD HOME. The film begins with the setting of the cultural revolution when imprisoned Lu (Chen Daoming) escapes to see his wife Feng (Gong Li). Their teenage daughter Dandan (Zhan Huiwen) reports him and during his recapture at the station, Feng suffers a head jury causing her amnesia. The larger part of the film now takes place 3 years later when the revolution is over. Lu is released to go home to his wife. Feng does not remember him at all. The film goes into full melodrama mode with Lu trying to cure his wife so that she can recognize him again. This is all heart breaking stuff made more desperate with issues like politics, family values, redemption and love at play. Director Zhang's backdrop is the poor housing area where the family dwells. The piano music by Lang Lang aids the atmosphere of desperation and hope. And as in the best of Zhang's films, Gong Li shines once again - the Chinese beauty ageing to an old age in the film while never losing her love for her husband.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GsKijZmtlM
CONFESSION (South Korea 2014) ***Directed by Lee Do-yun
Similar to PARTNERS IN CRIME from Taiwan, CONFESSION deals with the similar theme of school buddies running into trouble. The film starts by introducing the 3 high school graduating students, Hyun-tae (Ji Sung), In-chul (Ju Ji-hoon) and Min-soo (Lee Kwang-soo) euphoric on the day of their graduation. But instead of taking part in the ceremony, they sneak off to hike up a local mountain where Min-soo suffers a fall. Flashforward to the present when the 3 are now grownups but eating into more hot soup. Hyun-tae's mother approaches the men for help in a clearly shady job, their friendship is tested. She wants him to stage a robbery of her gambling arcade as a way to cash in on an insurance policy. The botched robbery tests their friendship. The film and the 3 actors are more animated than PARTNERS IN CRIME that does not help its credibility.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpRDHVlG2zk
A DREAM OF IRON (USA/South Korea 2014) ***Directed by Kelvin Kyung Kun Park
Media artist filmmaker Kelvin Park's A DREAM OF IRON reminds one instantly of Jennifer Baichwal's MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES as both films give cinematic form to industrial and manufacturing landscapes. Park's film, set in the South Korean port of Ulsan focuses primarily on the shipping industry the start and end of his film framed with overhead shots. But Park brings in more meaning that Baichwal, with a voiceover that puts a story to the images. The score is classical mixed with sounds like whale noises and industrial drones. Still, this is a artistic piece that often moves at a snail's place. The film is stunning to look at and put into perspective with ancestral tales of early man and whales, but the long takes can be quite testing. The best segment has the engineers of the shipyard discussing, at ease, the massive details of the ship drawings that makes no sense to the ordinary viewer.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDBTfCjPh-c
FORCE MAJEURE (Swe/Den/Nor/Fra 2014) ***Directed by Ruben Oslund
A hit at Cannes, Östlund's FORCE MAJEURE is a moral tale examines the breaking down of a family due to unexpected behaviour resulting from some impending catastrophe.
It begins with a family's skiing vacation in the French Alps. The scenery is breathtakingly captured on film. Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) are enjoying lunch with their two children when their meal is suddenly interrupted by thunderous booms emanating from the mountain above them. The complacent Tomas initially dismisses the possibility of danger — but when it appears that there may be an avalanche, he grabs his cellphone and bolts, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves. He denies running away and called the bluff by his wife. The fallout is both scary and occasionally funny. Oslund pulls a good one at the end with fate turning the tide on the wife. The film is necessary slow paced but it pays off.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm7Ux_SkG78
THE FORGER (USA 2014) ***Directed by Philip Martin
Philip Martin's directorial debut is a competent piece that combines the elements of family drama and heist suspense. The film is held together primarily by John Travolta, who has shaped up lean and mean for the role and who appears in almost every scene. He plays forger, Ray Cutter who gets out of jail in order to be with his dying son Will (Tye Sheridan), a brave role that is surely most difficult to play, given what has happened to him in real life. His get out of jail card has to be paid by pulling off a heist as payment. The job involves snatching Claude Monet's Woman with Parasol from the museum and replacing it with a replica so perfect that no one will notice. The suspense scenes are handled efficiently enough and so are the dramatic and few action scenes. Solid supporting performances by Christopher Plummer as Ray's onerous dad and Abigail Spencer as an undercover cop deserve mention.
FOXCATCHER (USA 2014) ***Directed by Bennett Miller
FOXCATCHER, based on a true story tells of two brothers, both former Olympic wrestling champions Mark and Dave (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo respectively) and their encounter with a neurotic millionaire (Steve Carell). Bennett Miller who won the Best Director prize for this film at Cannes, directs this sports psychological drama darker and moodier than his other two films, CAPOTE and MONEYBALL. Mark is summoned by John du Pont (Steve Carrell) to join the US team preparing for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. John also wants Dave who initially refuses to uproot his family for the sake of glories already achieved. Tatum, Ruffalo and Carrell deliver performances against their usual type. Director Miller likely forced them to tone down they acting several notches down as what we get her are really subdued though effective performances. FOXCATCHER is also the name of the estate and du Pont's Wrestling team. It is clear that the fox (as in the hunting game) is a more elusive prey than imagined and perhaps the perfect American dream can never be attained. Nor the perfect film to relay this message.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xYav--slEg
LE GRAND HOMME (THE GREAT MAN) (France 2014) **Directed by Sarah Leonor
Hamilton (Jeremie Renier) and Markhov (Surho Sugaipov) are scouts in the Foreign Legionnaire. Though they begin at loggerheads, they become like brothers after being forced to work together. In Afghanistan, Markhov saves Hamilton's life. Markhov has a son Khadji (Ramzan Idiev). Due to a car accident Markhov is killed and his family, illegal aliens are taken away by French Authorities. Hamilton is now served by conscience to look after the kid of the man who saved his life. Director Leonor tells her tale in three parts - firstly, the brotherhood of the two men, then Markhov's reunion with son and family and thirdly with Hamilton coming to save the son. For a film title like LE GRAND HOMME with such an important theme, Leonor's film is bland with just the necessary dramatization. Perhaps she wishes her audience to think for themselves and not be too influenced by cheap theatrics. But the result is a slow moving mediocre piece.
Trailer: http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_gen_cmedia=19546345&cfilm=224586.html
GOOD KILL (USA 2014) **Directed by Andrew Niccol
Director Andrew Niccol and Ethan Hawke re-unite since their hit GATTACA years back, once again targeting the topic of the toll of battle technology on the human soul. The timely plot involves drones. Major Tommy Egan (Hawke) is in charge of directing drone strikes in Pakistan while working in an air-conditioned shipping container somewhere in the Nevada desert. But the best line, "I blew up six Taliban in Pakistan today," Major Egan tells a convenience store clerk. "Now I'm going home to barbecue." is soon lost in a tale that never has anything new to offer but repetition. Most of what is expected in a film about troubled soldiers is here - the fits of rage; the bouts of drinking; the distancing from the family and so on. The film offers no real insight into the problem though it is still troubling to see how easy to blow up human beings with the pressing of a button. Hawke is also all buffed up for his role.
British actor Don Stevens (DOWNTON ABBEY) plays the handsome guest that appears from nowhere to change the lives of an entire family. The film reminds one of the 70's film SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, in which a handsome Michael York appears and changes the lives of the aristocratic family headed by Angela Lansbury. Son dies in Iraq war; mother devastated; enter stranger who claims knows Caleb; befriends and helps each member of family; things go wrong; guest might not be who he seems; guest turn from saviour to devil; someone has to slay him to save the day. If all this sound predictable, it is and I could guess what happens right down to the detail of who puts out the final lights out for THE GUEST. Still, this horror/action flick is entertaining enough, as director knows when to press the right buttons. The last segment in a Halloween maze is a nice touch.
A HARD DAY (South Korea 2014) ***
Directed by Kim Seong-bun
It is an extremely hard day for Detective Ko. Everything has gone wrong on the day of his mother's funeral. He hits and runs, get caught in his corruption scams and misses the funeral rites. A further string of events that pushes him deeper and deeper into a swamp of criminal activity. Kim's movie moves as fast as the speeding car with an unexpected turn around every corner. Both noir-ish and hilarious, this commercial fare is both entertaining and exciting.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r1lJuk4EjA
HEARTBEAT (Canada 2014) **
Directed by Andrea Dorfman
Justine (Tanya Davis) is stuck in a rut with her mind-numbing job as a data management copywriter and a relationship that is going nowhere. The aim of the film appears to be her adult coming-of-age. Her encounter with her supervisor are the brightest parts of the film. She lives in her grandma's old house, and wears questionable fashioned clothing. There are no real reasons offered in the script that substantiates Justine's self discovery. She is encouraged by Ruby to perform, bonds with an older guitar store owner and quits her job. The only slight hints are the effects of her friend's new baby and Ben leaving town. Dorfman's film just plod along, aimless just as her Justine. Actress Tanya Davis wrote and performs her own songs in the film. But her songs are far from spectacular or even memorable. Dorfman's film occasionally has the odd animated objects moving around the screen. Again, there is really nor purpose for this and the animation serves more as a distraction, like a kid drawing on the wall for nothing else better to do. HEARTBEAT as a film moves along, but only too slowly as if there is no life in it, though the heart is still beating!
HILL OF FREEDOM (South Korea 2014) ****Directd by Hong Sang-soo
There is much to enjoy in Hong's observational tale of a lovesick Japanese man, Mori (Kase Ryo) who comes to Korea to meet his loved one, Kwon (Seo Young-hwa). She is not there. While waiting for her at the HILL Of FREEDOM cafe, he meets other interesting folk including his guesthouse owner's niece who he sleeps with. Hong's film jumps in time and from one scene to the next an from narrative to the next, like a fantasy of Mori's imagination. Korean vs. Japanese culture, male vs. female ideology and behavioural traits are also brought into the picture, often with hilarious results. The pick up scene that turns foul is priceless. All this is eluded to the book that Mori is carrying around and reading called Time. Hong's characters philosophize but in broken English. HILL OF FREEDOM is totally unexpected fun!
I AM NOT LORENA (NO SOY LORENA)(Chile/Argentina 2014) **Directed by Isidora Marras
As the title of the film implies, this is a story of identity theft. Actress Oliva (Loreto Aravena) gets calls from an unknown person Lorena asking for her bills to be paid. A series of incidents, not to her favour such as losing her i.d.'s in a club do not help either. She also has other problems like an ailing mother, her acting job and her previous boyfriend. Director Parras weaves all these elements into her story while displaying a rather bleak outlook of Chilean society. Her film, though slow, is quite intense. But she cannot decide whether her film is supposed to be a thriller, suspense mystery, parody of society or personal self-discovery. As a result, the film has a bit of everything, a kind of Jack of all trades but unfortunately, master of none, the film ending up not accomplishing too much.
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/104762440
THE IMITATION GAME (UK/USA 2014) ****Directed by Morten Tyldum
Everyone loves a good secret. Britain apparently kept the secret of the Enigma and the code breaking team for 50 years. There are countless quotable lines in the script. A code is not a secret as it is in the open only that no one can understand its meaning. A secret of why people love violence is revealed. Graham Moore's brilliant script that is surely deserved of an Oscar nomination. THE IMITATION GAME is the story of the mathematics genius Cambridge Professor, Alan Turing (the excellent Benedict Cumberbatch) who spearheaded the code breaking machine during World War II. The film also time shifts, intercutting the war effort with the 1951 year when pan was persecuted for his homosexuality. He was also accused of being a Soviet spy, though this was the least of his worries. Kiera Knightley has the role of his girl, Joan Clarke who almost marries him and Matthew Goode as Hugh, the hot headed member of the team. But it is Cumberbatch who delivers an impeccable performance of the man and machine who is a genius and a monster. The film is also about the beginning of computer, as observed by the first huge monster of mechanical rotors and number of cables which make up Turing's Enigma Breaking machine.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayErt0N2L3A
IN HER PLACE (South Korea/Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Albert Shin
The film begins with the shot of the back of a Mercedes driving to the farmhouse. The camera shifts to show the front of the car approaching, then a woman exiting to knock on the door. The impression here is a slow moving pensive film in which the director allows the incidents to unfold while allowing the audience to digest the emotional consequences. Yoon Da Kyung plays an urban woman fleeing her own life of omission. Trying to avoid telling her friends and family the truth of a miscarriage, she moves in with an impoverished farm-working mother (Kil Hae Yeon), and her lonely teenage daughter (Ahn Ji Hye), who are key in maintaining her lie. The woman is intending to adopt the illegitimate baby of the expecting teen. As expected in a moral fable about lies, turmoil and tragedy are the expected results. Shin's film is shocking at times with violence and raw emotions on display, but Shin has a soft spot which shows at the film's end. An unforgettable well made moral tale dramatically told to great effect!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tinR_7nQV88
THE INTRUDER (Netherlands 2014) ***Directed by Shariff Korver
A crime thriller with an identity issue, THE INTRUDER concerns a Moroccan, Sam (or Said) Almaleh (Nasrdin Dchar) in the Amsterdam police force ordered to go undercover and infiltrate a Moroccan drug family. He discovers the feeling of brotherhood and sees the ways in which these criminals can be honourable and the authorities corrupt. Director Korver, himself from Venezuela and living in both Venezuela and Holland brings his real life experiences and emotions in this related drama. He plays his film more a a thriller than a morality tale of loyalties, which makes sense. He takes the film to a satisfying and logical ending in which Sam's choice does not come into the ending, but his course of actions pays him back, metaphorically speaking, by biting him in the ass.
IT FOLLOWS (USA 2014) ***Directed by Robert David Mitchell
David Robert Mitchell's (THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER) second feature has a simple premise. A person is stalked by another for the purpose of murder. No one can see the stalker except the stalked unless this curse is passed on to someone else through sexual intercourse. The latest victim is nineteen-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe) stuck with the sexually transmitted serial haunting. In the light of day, she is stalked, followed, and attacked by terrifying, half-naked figures that none of her friends can see. Jay eventually passes it to someone else who is willing to take the risk for her (or rather have sex with her for the price of death). Monroe is quite drop dead gorgeous. Though a bit slow paced for a horror film, director Mitchell keeps the scares coming steadily. IT FOLLOWS is basically a cheap rip-off of the zombie movie. It is cheaper in IT FOLLOWS as there in only one zombie needed and with minimal make-up. And the person playing it changes, so that if there is a sequel, another low paid newcomer can be hired.
This is the story of the prodigal son, Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr) who made good in law and came back home to defend his father Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) from a hit and run. The father and son relationship is as much the key issue as the trial. But the dysfunctional familial drama suffers from the usual stuff - over doting grandchildren, sour wife, current swing with old girlfriend (Vera Farminga) and so on. The silly sub plots of the challenged youngest brother with the camera and his sleeping with who cold be his possible daughter lengthens the film already too long 140 minutes running time. The big plus of the movie is Duvall's brave performance as the ageing judge trying to keep his honour and dignity something his son and the script will not allow him to keep. The bowel loosening segment also serves to remind everyone in the audience what each has to go through with his/her parent eventually. It is only when Duvall and Downey have it out that the film comes alive. It turns out that THE JUDGE is just a poor man's courtroom drama mixed with too much melodrama.
LABYRINTH OF LIES (West Germany 2014) ***1/2
Directed by Giulio Ricciarelli
The film is set in Frankfurt, of 1958. Johann Radmann (Alexander Fehling of Inglourious Basterds and Young Goethe in Love) is the young prosecutor trying to climb the ladder in a major law firm. When he learns of hidden criminals in prominent institutions and branches of government entangled in a conspiracy to cover up the crimes of Nazis during World War II, Johann works obsessively alongside journalist Thomas Gnielka (André Szymanski) and Jewish concentration camp survivor Simon Kirsch (Johannes Krisch) to uncover the evidence. And to hunt and prosecute them. But director Ricciarelli shows more of the resistance and obstacles in the task. But what is most moving abut the film that plays like a thriller, is that it is based on true events, and it is the first time Germany is taking responsibility in prosecuting her own Nazi criminals. But what is most striking is the fact that a large number of young Germans have never heard of the Holocaust. One of the best lines in the film is that the that the purpose of the trials is not to punish but to educate.
LEARNING TO DRIVE (USA 2014) ****Directed by Isabel Coixet
This sweet comedy about two lonely people a Sinkh cab driver, Darwan (Ben Kingsley) and a recently separated woman, Wendy (Patricia Clarkson). The best thing about this smartly written script by Sarah Kernochan, based on, believe it or not, an article by Katha Pollitt is that it is that rare film about a relationship between two people that is not a romance nor about family members. Wendy takes driving lessons from Darwan. The driving lesson is obviously a metaphor for life lessons. The two characters are highly different, and play very well against each other. The film is also tolerant of race, age another prejudices. It also contains the best joke in a film I have heard so far during TIFF regarding the reason why that sexual act is called a blow-job. A small movie that turned out to be a big surprise!
LEVIATHAN (Russia 2014) ***** Top 10Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Winner of the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes in Un Certain Regard, LEVIATHAN is yet another tale, loosely based on the Book of Job but set in the coastal town of the Barrents Sea in Russia. Weather-beaten patriarch Kolya (Alexey Serebryakov) lives with his teenage son Roma (Sergey Pokhadaev) and second wife Lilya (Elena Lyadova). Their idyllic homestead harbours deep-rooted familial resentments that are aggravated by the aggressions of the local mayor Vadim (Roman Madyanov), a drunken, corrupt bureaucrat set on grabbing their land for himself. Kolya calls in his lawyer friend Dmitri (Vladimir Vdovitchenkov) from Moscow, but this defensive tactic triggers a series of dramatic events. Unlike the other recent film on Job, A SERIOUS MAN by the Cohen Brothers, Andrey Zvyagintsev's (THE RETURN) tale is drop dead serious but rich occasionally in dark black humour. The best scene has Kolya and son Roma kidding at why lawyer Dmitri took so long to arrive. "Did you lay a cable or find a good book to read?" They joke unaware that he reason Dmitri is late is that Dmitri was screwing Kolya's wife. The other best scene has the drunk major show up at Kolya's house only to find an equally drunk Kolya before they start an argument. But it is also the stunning cinematography by Mikhail Krichman which gives a pensive and lyrical atmosphere to the story. Though the film lasts around 2 and a half hours, the film hardly feels it as the events flow so smoothly proving Andrey Zvyagintsev not only a master storyteller but master filmmaker.
LIFE IN A FISHBOWL (Iceland/Sweden/Finland/ Czech 2014) ***
Directed by Baldvin Z.
Three intertwined stories in this film set in the capital of Iceland is Baldvin Z.'s plot line. Eik is a single mother struggling to make ends meet by any means possible. Sölvi is a former athlete who's now trying to climb the corporate ladder and deal with a dictatorial boss whose ethics leave more than a little to be desired. Mori is a once-well-respected author who now appears to be a full-time drunk. Eik is the link She is ires as a prostitute at one of Solvi's company parties award a yacht wile getting Mori to look after her kid. LIFE IN A FISHBOWL offers a good look at Icelandic life and it did well at the local box office. Apparently the film depicts actual such swindles in Iceland and the commentary on artists runs quite true as a whole. The whole exercise feels like a smaller 23-story version of Robert Altman's SHORT CUTS which I was bot particularly impressed with either.
LI'L QUINQUIN (France 2014) ***** Top 10Directed by Bruno Dumont
Dumont's (L"HUMANITE) latest feature is once again set out in the moonies, the Boulonnais region around Calais where a series of murders have taken place. A county sheriff Van der Weyden (Bernard Pruvost) and his assistant, Carpentier (Philippe Jore) are assigned the case. The sheriff is a bungling proud man, unable to control his facial features (always twitching and blinking) as well as the locals who make fun of him. Most of his theories are stolen from his assistant. But the murders are puzzling. Body parts are found in a cow in a bunker that has an entrance too small for the cow to enter. The solution is proved to the Police Captain by LI'L QUIN QUIN who is a brat that goes around betting up blacks and getting in trouble. This is Dumont's first comes and a very funny and observational one. Running at 3 hours, the film is quite unlike his early art films but nevertheless just as eventful and entertaining.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grkfB4t2sPQ
THE LOOK OF SILENCE (Denmark/Indonesia/Finland/Norway/UK 2014) **|
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
A sort of guilty sequel to his overrated 2012 documentary THE ART OF KILLING that are many critics best10 of the year, not because the doc was any good but for its subject matter. THE ART OF KILLING had interviews of killers of communists brag about their deed. The film glorified violence without any hint of repercussions with director Oppenheimer benefiting from it. In THE LOOK OF SILENCE, there is more conscience. He follows a family who, after viewing the previous film, discovered and confronted the former right-wing militiamen who murdered their son during Indonesia's anti-communist purges of the mid-1960s. The film's key figure is Adi, whose older brother was murdered five decades ago during the bloodletting. A village optometrist, Adi travels the back roads with his vision-testing refractor instrument. While conducting eye exams, he quizzes his patients about their memories of the violent era that most would prefer to forget. Then, through Oppenheimer's work with perpetrators, Adi discovers how his brother was murdered, and decides to confront each of his brother's killer. That is pretty much Oppenheimer's film. There is not much research, head or tail or climax to this film, which will likely be just as popular as ACT OF KILLING, again for its subject matter When will this all end?
MAGICAL GIRL (Spain 2014) ***
Directed by Carlos Vermut
MAGICAL GIRL begins with a girl in school, Barbara caught by her teacher and forced to read her note out loud to the class. The note magically disappears, a trick that is used at the end of the film to bring the story to closure. This is a neat trick as there are so many loose ends in the film that closure makes no sense. But the loose ends in this case are not a deterrent but work well into the film. It shows that not every mystery needs to be explained for a film to maintain its hold on the audience. Luis (Luis Bermejo) is desperate to fulfill his terminally ill daughter's last wish. Luis turns to extortion when he crosses paths with the beautiful, mentally disturbed Bárbara (Bárbara Lennie). Seeking revenge on Luis, she turns for help to the only person who truly knows how damaged she is: retired math teacher Damián (José Sacristán). MAGICAL GIRL an arguably be awarded the creepiest film at TIFF. Scenes like the forbidden room that has a lizard as a clock and the unmentionable sexual act that pays more the longer one stays are examples. Goodness does not necessarily pay off. The film is disturbing for the very fact that the film contains no message, need for redemption and badness pays off.
MAY ALLAH BLESS FRANCE (France 2014) **
Directed by And El Malik
This is French rapper, author, and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik's directorial debut with this adaptation of his 2004 autobiography. He has no qualms on displaying that he is the best thing on the planet, which is the main downfall of this awfully made egoistic film. He stars, writes and directs. Malik shows himself in the film as talented, educated, smart, romantic and handsome. Whatever wrong he does is forgivable, such as the brutal beating up of his friend, his drug dealing and his pickpocketing of seniors. His music is not all hat impressive either. Enough is enough!
MEN WHO SAVE THE WORLD (Malaysia/Neth/Fra 2014) **Directed by Lieu Seng Tat
A dilapidated house is the star of this boisterous observational comedy. The owner Pak Awang (Wan Hanafi Su) has big restoration plans, aiming to make the house a wedding present to his only daughter. The village men engage in the comical task of moving the house to its new location. The house attracts an unexpected guest, Solomon (Khalid Mboyelwa Hussein), a Nigerian immigrant fleeing the mean streets of Kuala Lumpur who adopts Pak's house as a hideout. Liew's film is not as funny as it appears on paper. The two narratives do not really gel well and the comedy seems forced. The overacting and introduction of incidents like the village's camel, its slaughter cross dressing and a visit by a government official do not help either.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DoUf5jSq_s
MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (USA 2014) ***Directed by Robert Kenner
Documentarian Robert Kenner (FOOD, INC) takes on in his latest feature the MERCHANTS OF DOUBT, professional skeptics, whose services are bought and paid for by corporations, think tanks and other special interests to cast doubt and delay public and governmental action on climate change. The main targets in Kenner's film are the tobacco companies and oil companies. The battleground is to have the public doubt global warming and the dangers of smoking. The delays in the public learning the truth is enough for these companies to generate profit during the interim. Kenner has assembled quite the impressive interviewee list but he concentrates on three. One is the enemy Marc Morano. "I'm not a scientist, but I play one on TV," says Marc Morano, a man frequently cited as a specialist on climate change who goes down so dirty that he writes death email threats to the scientists claiming climatic controls. On there other side, he lets Dr, James Hansen speak on how frustrating it is to have he public believe that the truth has been hidden from then. The third is Congressman Bon Inglis who has crossed the political divide once he learns the truth. It is a film that will make you both angry and surprised at the state of deception carried on by big corporations.
NATIONAL GALLERY (UK/France 2014) ***** Top 10
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman (La Danse, Crazy Horse, At Berkeley) takes his audience in his latest film inside the inner workings of London's National Gallery. Shot in over 12 weeks in 2012, director Frederick Wiseman takes in visitor tours, staff meetings, restorations, classes, and protests. The result is often extensively lengthy segments, but the result pays off. In one informative segment, Wiseman takes the time to include a budget proposal during a committee meeting. The various art experts/guides who offer their ideas are what makes this film soar. For those in the know, there are sufficient paintings on display together with informed narratives. Wiseman concentrates mostly on Old Masters, and his visit coincides with major exhibitions at the National Gallery of Titian, Leonardo Da Vinci, and J.M.W. Turner.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoE1NA_zi1M
NED RIFLE (USA 2014) ***1/2Directed by Hal Hartley
NED RIFLE is the third of writer/director Hal Hartley's trilogy that began with HENRY FOOL and FAY GRIM. The film includes those characters Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan) and Fay (Parker Posey), but they are secondary characters in what turns out to be a film about their short of f***ed up son, Ned Rifle (Liam Aiken). Ned is now eighteen and recently released from a witness protection program. Despite the Christian upbringing he received from his foster parent, a church minister (Martin Donovan), Ned sets out to kill his father. This is the typical Hartley film with Hartley type dialogue of smart, hilarious and irrelevant lines, quirky characters in quirky situations in which anything can happen, as in the in the climax. One can complain that no one speaks the Hartley way, but it is this specific point that makes this film so entertaining.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTGs1V-KzK0
UNE NOUVELLE AMIE (A NEW GIRLFRIEND) (France 2014) ****
Directed by François Ozon
Ozon (8 FEMMES, SITCOM, THE CRIMINAL LOVERS, JEUNE & JOLIE) does Ozon and much more. The film adapted and directed from a novel by Ozon centres on Claire (Anais Demoustier) and her late best friend's husband, David (Romain Duris) who cross dresses. Claire develops a relationship (girly-wise) with David where they go shopping and he dresses up sexily as Virginia. They go dancing and even take off secretly on the weekends. Ozon takes his film up several levels because he is not afraid to take his material seriously but still with a pinch of very salty humour. There is sex and nudity to amuse his fans, male and female, female and female, male and male and even more…… The film gets a bit too serious towards the end with a car accident and David (or Virginia) going comatose. But like any Ozon film, a happy ending is around the corner as is a very satisfying and saucy film.
1001 GRAMS (Norway/Germany/France 2014) ***Directed by Bent Hamer
Bent Hamer makes quirky little comedies like EGGS, KITCHEN STORIES and O'HORTEN. 1001 GRAMS (Norway's entry to the Oscars in 2015 for Best Foreign Film) is no different. Norwegian scientist, Marie attends a seminar in Paris (the film is shot in both French and Norwegian) on the standard of the exact weight (mass actually) of a kilogram and brings it back in an encased bell jar. Unfortunately, she has a car accident and the package is damaged. She finds herself coming to terms with what is truly important (i.e. what weighs) in her life.. She falls in love. Hamer's humour here is derived mainly from observing the meticulousness of scientists in their pursuit of what is deemed the most important. Those who have seen Hamer's previous films know 'exactly' the kind of film to expect here.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVIAtIHcehM
OVER HER DEAD BODY (Japan 2014) ***
Directed by Takashi Miike
Director Takashi Miike who rose to fame with the unforgettable gory AUDITION returns to the horror genre in a story that blurs reality and horror. Here, life imitates art and horror imitates life following. It all starts when a star, Miyuki Goto (Ko Shibasaki) plays Oiwa, the protagonist in a new play based on the ghost story Yotsuya Kaidan (audiences will be familiar with the Japanese horror classic KAIDAN) pulls some strings to get her lover, Kosuke Hasegawa (Ebizo Ichikawa) cast in the play, even though he's a relatively unknown actor. Other performers Rio Asahina (Miho Nakanishi) and Jun Suzuki (Hideaki Ito) lust after Miyuki. Off stage the cast's possessive love and obsessions exist as reality. Trapped between the play and reality, the cast's feelings for each other are amplified. Miike spends more time building up the suspense than in his other films. The first gore only appears after half the film has transpired, but then it never stops. From beheadings to gouged out eyes to self induced abortions, the faint hearted should beware! The art and set direction which is stunning deserves mention.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljT3sxER6fA
PARTNERS IN CRIME (Taiwan 2014) ****Directed by Chang Jung-chi
Three schoolboys spot a dead schoolgirl in an alley. One discovers a note and forms a theory on why she might have been murdered. They decide to punish the one responsible and tis become PARTNERS IN CRIME. Unfortunately, one drowns as a result, a case of curiosity killing the cat. Chang's film is a mystery in which the plot thickens and never relents. He weaves his tale with expert editing and intercutting like creating the pieces of a very big jigsaw puzzle. A good look at Taiwanese school and life style is also on display here. The film is also very dark with current issues like death (when you are dead, there is nothing), bullying (even the most ordinary people are capable of bullying) and use of Facebook and cellulars in the story. A nice unexpected surprise from Taiwan and a relatively new director (TOUCH OF LIGHT).
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cecCpLP75-s
PAS MON GENRE (NOT MY TYPE) (Belgium/France 2014) *
Directed by Lucas Belvaux
The film begins with young Parisian philosophy professor Clément (Loïc Corbery) transferred to the northern French town of Arras. His bourgeois educational world is turned upside down. In this small working-class community far from the wonders of Paris, he meets Jennifer (Émilie Dequenne), the simple, charming and brassy blond coiffeuse from the local hair salon. The romantic comedy has the audience believe that the two have nothing in common and that their differences will break down to show that there is something deeper between them. This is worse than any Hollywood shtick. For one, the two leads have no chemistry. The pretentious philosophy stints of Clement teaching his Arras class and quoting Kants are not fooling anyone. The dance segments with the two, especially with Jennifer flaunting her stuff is nothing more than annoying. This is below par commercial romantic fluff - et pas mon genre de film!
PRICE WE PAY (Canada 2014) ***Directed by Harold Crooks
The subject on display here is tax evasion. Director Harold Crooks (SURVIVING PROGRESS, THE CORPORATION) tackles the dirty world of corporate malfeasance with this incendiary documentary about the dark history and dire present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harbouring profits in offshore havens. Very well organized with a slew of informed international experts Crooks takes his audience on an informative journey as he analyzes the origins, damaging repercussions, and complex moral issues arising from corporate tax dodging. Tracing the increase in off-shoring of corporate assets to the City of London in the sixties, and charting its dramatic rise in the eighties during the Thatcher and Reagan administrations, Crooks follows the thread through to the present day, where tax avoidance has directly contributed to the dominance of the "one percent" and further deepened income disparity and wealth inequality. If the purpose of Crooks is to rile up the audience to action, he succeeds. The protestors on screen serve to promote his message.
Trailer : http://vimeo.com/103132639
THE REAPER (CROATIA/SLOVENIA 2014) ***Directed by Zvonimir Juric
Many films have been made in which a murder is unsolved but served to demonstrate the way of life of a people - Nilge Ceylon's ONCE UPONG A TIME IN ANATOLA and this year's Bruno Dumont's LI'L QUINQUIN and now Juric's THE REAPER. All three films are very slow paced but each have much to show. In THE REAPER, the murderer is an ex-rapist in prison for 20 years. He is Ivo (Ivo Gregurevic), a quiet labourer in the employ of an agro-industrial conglomerate, coming to the aid of a woman whose car has run out of petrol on a dark, deserted road. Though he first appears in the guise of a saviour, the truth is that Ivo is anything but a hero. Two other characters are cleverly woven into the plot - one a policeman and the other a gas station attendant. The film shows the history of the town, the way of life, the behaviour, culture and history of non-acceptance emerging. Ivo ends up dead but no one is sure that he killed himself.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGoza029rdk
RED AMNESIA (China 2014) ****Directed by Wang Xiaoshai
Deng (Lu Zhong), a retired widow has her daily routine derailed when she starts receiving mysterious, anonymous phone calls. But these are just the tip of the iceberg of her problems. She is struggling with the loss of her husband, her two sons, a young stranger who keeps following her and a past skeleton in the closet. Director Wang (BEIJING BICYCLE) plays his drama as a chilling contemporary thriller with Chinese politics thrown in. A lot of the movie's weight lies on the actress Lu Zhong who appears in every scene, delivering an impeccable and unforced performance. But the smart narrative all falls into place at the very end. A bit low moving but the patience more than pays off.
RED ARMY (USA/Russia 2014) ***1/2Directed by Gabe Polski
No need to be a hockey fan or need to know anything about the sport to enjoy this immensely engaging documentary RED ARMY. Director Gabe Polksi (born of Soviet parents) delves inside the Soviet Union team that dominated the sport at the height of the Cold War. Like Communism, emphasis was not on individuals but on the team, which moved like the Bolshoi Ballet. Polski interviews a wide spectrum of experts, the most time given to the team's charismatic captain Slava Fetisov – one of the best hockey players of all time, with two Olympic golds, seven world championships and eventually three Stanley Cups. Fetisov appears proud, and without the patience to take nonsensical questions. But when his story unfolds, one understands the reason. This man has demonstrated patriotism, familial values, and even torture and beatings. Others interviewed include an ex-KGB officer, sports journalists and Slava's wife. But the footage of the Soviet team playing in top form is well worth the price of the admission ticket. The bonus of the film is the Russian 5, the unstoppable team of five formed of which Slava is the head.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZxiPwGjqAE
THE RIOT CLUB (UK 2014) ****Directed by Lone Sherfig
It has been a while since any film dissected the class and eduction system since Lindsay Anderson's IF. Danish director Sherfig's (ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS, AN EDUCATION) THE RIOT CLUB (based on the play by Laura Wade) is a secret prestigious Oxford University club of 10 in which they carry on their awful tradition of indulgence and debauchery to excess. The club is introduced to the audience with the induction of two new members, Miles (Max Irons) and Alistair. Miles is plain curious but has a conscience. Things go out of hand at one of their dinners at a Welsh pub with the owner almost beaten to the point of death. No stranger to drama and conflict, Sherfig's satire works well with a simple plot, allowing him to make the most of the crucial dinner that is central to the story. The violence particularly the beating up of the pub owner is not easy to watch, but that is exactly the aim of Sherfig. The slight twist at the end is predictable for the satire to be effective. The only complaint is that the film feels like a play.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfYsW7wIlRQ
RUN (France/Ivory Coast 2014) ***Directed by Philippe Lacote
RUN is rare film to come out of the Ivory Coast and is about the last two decades of the country's blood-drenched history through the experiences of a young man drawn into the spiral of political violence. Born into a country mired in wars and corruption, the film's protagonist has been on the run all his life — hence his name, Run (Abdoul Karim Konaté). When the film begins, Run enters a church and assassinates the Prime Minister. The rest of the film, told in flashback, follows Run's twenty-year trajectory from country boy to political militant to assassin. Isaach De Bankole (the gay maid in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, the recent CALVARY) has the role of Run's mentor. The film explores how violence's twisted logic takes hold of a society, but the whole tale looks a bit simplistic despite Lacote's effort to make his film more epic. The violence is balanced by some humour in the segment in which Run encounters sex in the form of a fat woman called Greedy Gladys.
SAMBA (France 2014) ***Directed by Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
From the directors of LES INTOUCHABLES, SAMBA the film has the subject matter again similar to their smash hit. The person needing care of this time around is a black illegal worker called SAMBA (Omar Sy also from INTOUCHABLES) and the one looking after him is white and female (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Samba has just been arrested without papers and his immigrant lawyer rookie has to learn the ropes. Romance is in the air. If all this sounds awful, it is not that bad as it sounds in the hands of our fearsome directors. Quite a bit of insight is provided in terms of the justice system and the workings of illegals. The numerous bouts of humour helps too. The proceedings are livened up by Rahar Tahim (UN PROPHET) who plays a fellow illegal alien.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tqzwbjy0WQ
A SECOND CHANCE (EN CHANCE TIL) (Denmark 2014) ***1/2
Directed by Susanne Bier
Veteran police officer Andreas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is happily married to the beautiful Anne (Maria Bonnevie). They have a baby that dies from what he thinks is baby sleep syndrome. He steals the abused child from an abusive junkie named Tristan (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), and girlfriend Sanne (Lykke May Andersen) to pass as theirs. This infant son is neglected, often lying in its own filth for hours. This is their SECOND CHANCE. The audience knows that the act is wrong, and something will go wrong. Bier ups the angst from there and the suspense is mind boggling. Director of films like BROTHERS, AFTER THE WEDDNG and the Oscar Winning IN A BETTER WORLD, A SECOND CHANCE is the most commercial of her work. Which does not mean that she has compromised her films nor that his one is less important. The film does touch sensitive issues (like police abuse) and the drama fits into the suspense and bit of action that occurs. It is good to see Bier flexible and still making a compelling film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDQ7mX3SA80
SENZA NESSUNA PIETA (Italy 2014) ***Directed by Michele Alhique
An Italian mafia version of The Beauty of The Beast is what SENZA is all about. A great bear of a man, Mimmo (Pier Francesco Favino), the beast is a mob enforcer, the guy the boss sends out on dirty jobs when the money needs to be collected. He's a loyal soldier to his uncle but he boss's son, Manuel, a serial womanizer, growing too big for his boots. When things turn ugly during Manuel's "date" with an escort Mimmo was sent to pick up, Mimmo snaps and almost kills Manuel. The Beauty is the woman (Greta Scarano) he doesn't even know but protecting. This is not a Hollywood film, so no happy ending should be expected. The film takes its obvious course leading to its obvious ending. There is no redemption for the Beast for almost killing Manuel, but he tries his hardess. Alhique should have provided more history and details on his two main characters, that will make the film more effective.
Trailer: http://www.huffingtonpost.it/2014/07/31/senza-nessuna-pieta-trailer-pierfrancesco-favino_n_5637302.html
SHELTER (USA 2014) **Directed by Paul Bettany
SHELTER is actor Paul Bettany's (GANGSTER NO. 1, A BEAUTIFUL MIND) directorial debut about two homeless people in New York in winter. The end credits claim that the film is dedicated to the couple outside Bettany's building. Whether the story is true does not really matter, as it is a simple one that could be the lives of any two homeless people. Bettany does not provide much detail into the background of either Hannah (Bettany's wife Jennifer Connelly) or Tahir (Anthony Mackie), except that she is an addict trying to quit. The two meet by accident when Hannah has Tahir's jacket and this develops into an unconvincing love story. For one, the romance is inter-racial which makes credibility more difficult. For a film on this subject, the film naturally rests a large part on the performance of its two leads. Mackie fares better while Connolly hams it up way too much, especially in the segment with the helium balloon and the (we get the point already) sex scenes. The film offers no real insight on the homeless that audiences are not already aware of, and the film is not a pleasant watch either.
THE SHREW'S NEST (MUSARANAS) (Spain 2014) ***
Directed by Juanfer Andrés, Esteban Roel
Many will see this film for the fact that it is produced by Alex de la Iglesia, director of previous TIFF hits like PERFECT CRIME, WITCHES AND BITCHES, THE LAST CIRCUS and PERDITO DURANGO. But THE SHREW'S NEST is deadly serious horror, with hardly any humour, the key trait in his films. The story concerns two sisters, one pretty and one crazy (Macarena Gómez and Nadia de Santiago)with agoraphobia. When the handsome upstairs neighbour (Hugo Silva) falls down the stairs in their apartment building, the crazy one keeps him imprisoned in the bedroom with his very bad leg. This all looks familiar, as it is MISERY territory with a twist. Trouble is that I guessed the twist at the very end of the film. Still, the film is very violent and nasty stuff, if one can bear it.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSCO95qb4Ss
TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER (USA 2014) ****Directed by Nick Broomfield
The grim sleeper is the serial killer in South Central Los Angeles so-called because everyone thought he took a sabbatical in his killings. But he did not. The police failed to inform that the killings never stopped. Documentarian Nick Broomfield (Aileen Wuornos: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Biggie and Tupac) digs into the case of this notorious serial killer, Lonnie Franklin Jr. while uncovering other major issues such as class inequalities, race, police incompetence and the justice system while at it. Broomfield demonstrates an easy-going way of shooting, often carrying his equipment in his car with his interviewees. He even films himself getting a traffic ticket for not wearing a seat belt, while asking the officer afterwards whether he knows anything of the killer. Broomfield asks questions to anyone he can get into contact with, fearless a man that he is. The result is overwhelming with a lot of material on display. The audience gets a full feel of what filming a doc is like and it is eye-opening and funny. Broomfield does not takes sides or judge, asking questions in an unbiased way thus obtaining amazing results in this otherwise awesome documentary.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MspO5rC6Vps
LE TEMPS DES AVEUX (THE GATE) (France/Belg/Cambodia 2014) ****
Directed by Regis Wargnier
Regis Wargnier's (EST-OUEST, Oscar Best Foreign Film Winner INDOCINE) latest film is a no nonsense account of the true story of French ethnologist, Bizot (Raphael Personnaz) set in the brutal era when the Khmer Rouge was gaining power in Kampuchea. The film is split into 3 parts. The first concerns Bizot's ordeal after being captured and falsely accused of being a foreign spy. He meets and is ultimately saved by Duch (Phoeung Kompheak), a young K.R. zealot who believes his innocence. The second, worthy of any Hollywood thriller, is his escape back to France with his daughter and wife's friend. Duch rises to power in the ranks and becomes involved with the torture and execution of hundreds of innocent lives. When The K.R. fell from power, Duch is imprisoned and faces sentence. The last part of the film - the shortest but most harrowing - deals with the meeting, again of the two men. Shot in actual locations in Cambodia and using many non-professional actors, Wargnier's film is chillingly effective (and not overly dramatized) in its portrayal of the folly of war. This is as good as INDOCINE, if not better. For a film about the killing of thousands, not on killing is shown on screen.
THEEB (Jordan/Qatar/UK 2014) ***
Directed by Naji Abu Nowar
This rare film set in the Hejaz Province of the Ottoman Empire centres on a young Bedouin by the name of Theeb (Jacir Eid) which means wolf. It is coming-of-age, self discovery story but also one in which survival (i.e. his life) is at stake. He has to make life decisions on who or whom not to trust. His teacher is elder brother Hussein (Hussein Salameh) who ends up dead while doing what is right helping a British soldier (Jack Fox). The First World War is also raging in Europe while the Ottoman Empire is coming undone and the Great Arab Revolt brewing. The film is beautifully shot on location against the ravishing desert landscape of Wadi Rum and Wadi Araba. The film just won Nowar the Best Director Award at the Venice film festival.
Directed by JP Valkeapää
They Have Escaped opens with youth Joni (Teppo Manner), whose stutter forced him to flee military service, being given his orders working at a halfway house for troubled youth by a no-nonsense sadistic supervisor. Joni is under the threat of a prison sentence if he runs away again. He soon befriends bleached-blond punk Raisa (Roosa Söderholm) and the pair escape after he witnesses the brutality enforced on the inmates. This is a sort of road movie - Finnish style, which means than weirder things can happen compared to American films. Their journey takes them from a drug-fuelled island idyll to a brief sojourn in Helsinki, to an encounter with a hippie trinket salesman, and eventually a trip to Raisa's childhood home. Valkeapää's film, that plays like a nightmarish Grimm's fairytale illustrates the joy and desperation of youth set in both an urban and country landscape. But the violent ending is puzzling when the two are subject to torture when caught trespassing.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdUa4Haw04k
TIGERS (India/UK/France 2014) ***** Top 10
Directed by Danis Tanovic
Director Danis Tanovic (NO MAN'S LAND) has hit the jackpot again with a controversial - see it and it will change your life - film. The story tells of Ayan (Emran Hasmi), hired by Lasta Foods (fictitious name) as a representative in north east Pakistan to sell infant formulas substituting for breast milk. But the poor dilute the formula with contaminated water resulted in hundred of deaths of babies. Ayan learns the truth, quits the job and whistle blows. His story is about to be made into a film to expose the companies but the film faces legal consequences of being made. Tanovic's film is layered showing both how hard it is to fight a system and of getting a controversial film made. Tanovic directs his film as a thriller. The film zig zags between the two issues and the audience is constantly placed at the edge of the seat as to what will happen next. It helps too that Ayan's character is shown with all the faults of a human being, being tempted to take the company's bribe.
TOUR DE FORCE (Germany 2014) **Directed by Christian Zubert
TOUR DE FORCE is a film about a group of friends that do a last bicycle ride with their friend, Hannes who is about to end his life through assisted suicide as he has deteriorating ALS. Zubert's film is pretty standard, the parts introducing each friend including Hannes, then the ride and finally the final step. The ride is across the Belgium countryside, because Belgium has legalized attempted suicide. But Zubet's film is neither insightful nor inventive, relying on melodrama and cheap jokes (like each friend having to do a 'task' on the way). Sad to say, all this is a boring exercise and one cannot wait for it all to end.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjtGjCad0PQ
THE TRIBE (Ukraine 2014) ****Directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
THE TRIBE, which garnered three Critics' Week awards, including the Grand Prix — is an unforgettably original drama set entirely in the world of the deaf. The film begins with the warning that there is no subtitles or voice over. The result is a film that often is difficult to understand, less put together unless one understands sign language. The protagonist is teenage Sergey (Grigoriy Fesenko), arriving at a boarding school for the deaf and mute, and greeted by more than the usual challenges of integration. He is put through the requisite initiation rites, he proves himself worthy and is brought under the protective wing of the school's gang leader. But he falls in love, setting up major problems. The main gist of the story can easily be understood. Trying to understand exactly what is happening, might not really be necessary, (another example being last year's STARRED UP), but THE TRBE is definitely a compelling watch from start to finish.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpLj9WYBK_c
TRICK OR TREATY? (Canada 2014) ***Directed by Alanis Obomsawin
The treaty in question is the 1905 James Bay Treaty #9 signed over 100 years ago that is called into question today to set the record straight in terms of fairness and respect. Directed by First Nations Activist Alanis Obomsawin, the documentary is moving and dramatic stuff and like a protest, the purpose is to create awareness, peacefully. She also generates anger through the introduction of the government's two omnibus bills. The film records in detail two movements, the Idle No More Move by Cree Chief Theresa Spence and a 1,600 kilometre walk on foot by 16-year old David Kawapit from a Cree village in Quebec to Ottawa. One wishes more information came about or if any meeting occurred after the walk. But TRICK OR TREATY? is not only educational but essential viewing for every Canadian who now live on First Nation's land.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lst4meSmVck
UNLUCKY PLAZA (Singapore 2014) ****Directed by Ken Quek
Singapore seems to be consistently delivering above average films (SAND CASTLES, ILO, ILO) to TIFF considering that the island republic never had a film industry when I left in 1984. UNLUCKY PLAZA, the title is so called as a lot of the action in the film originates from that Singapore shopping centre called Lucky Plaza. For one the main protagonist has a food store there. The film begins with an interview of three, involved in a hostage taking scheme gone wrong. The Filipino is the hostage taker, the woman the wife of the owner of the apartment who is having an affair with her pastor. and the third, her husband. The film is very convincing, incorporating the different languages (Filipino, Mandarin, pigeon English and Malay) together with the accents used. The camera work is impressive and Kwek's film has a good balance of suspense, satire (film may be banned), humour and suspense. The film deals with the touchy topics of the Chinese mafia, rioting (racial) and other topics that do not make Singapore look good. Director Quek's last short was banned by the Singapore Government. Kwek relents a bit in his view when in the film the Filipino is asked if the Singapore Government failed him, and he said, "no". But I doubt that this will be a good enough reason for UNLUCKY PLAZA not to be banned, given its sensitive subject matter.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29BU1cGnpr8
WET BUM (Canada 2014) ***Directed by Lindsay MacKay
WET BUM is a rare piece of work that deals on a pre-teen's (she is 14) relationship with two aged seniors. Writer/director Lindsay MacKay has developed a thoughtful, slow moving but compelling piece that is full of heart and emotional drama. Sam (2014 TIFF Rising Star Julia Sarah Stone) has two things on her plate. She is working for her mother (Leah Pinsent) while taking swimming classes to improve herself. At work, she develops a relationship with two residents, the silent Judith (Diana Leblanc) and the boisterous Ed (Kenneth Welsh). Ed rants non-stop. Meanwhile, her swimming instructor is hitting on her, good for her as her classmates are bullying her. The atmosphere of an Ontario small town is well captured in both the story and looks. Once Sam is in a car and drives off, she is out of the town in the country. Though MacKay's film moves slowly, she tells a clear story with a clear goal in mind. The result is a film with a strong narrative with no loose ends.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Rq78ZJfMo
WHOAMI (West Germany 2014) ****
Directed by Baran bi Odar
From the director of THE SILENCE comes a current computer hacker thriller, as fast moving as the time it takes to compute logic. Benjamin (Tom Schilling) is the prototypical twenty-five-year-old computer geek: no fashion sense, no friends, and definitely no girlfriend. But he is like super hacker and the best in his 'work'. With charismatic Max (Elyas M'Barek), a would-be revolutionary who yearns to "hack the world," but needs Benjamin's prodigious skills and with fellow wunderkinds Stephan (Wotan Wilke Möhring) and Paul (Antoine Monot, Jr.), they form the hacker collective called CLAY (Clowns Laughing @ You). But they run into trouble with the German Secret Service, Europol when a sinister rival hacker adopts Benjamin's identity and sells hacked information to Soviet cyberspace. As in the film where Benjamin uses the adage, "Everyone is gullible and avoid conflict" to get into any place, director Odar follows the same idea with a clever script that does not confront any controversy to entertain. One does not need to be a computer geek to enjoy this film!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MPFY6quEdM
WILD TALES (RELATOS SALVEJES) (Argentina/Spain 2014) ***** Top 10Directed by Damian Szifron
The film's title tells it as it is. This is a film consisting of 6 WILD TALES. The common theme is revenge. They are inherently wild and the humour can get really dark. The first story is "Pasternak" which completes just before the opening credits roll. This tale is arguably the funniest, shortest and the freshest. The second is my favourite entitled "The Rats". A waitress (Julieta Zylberberg) in a diner discovers her only and extremely rude customer (Cesar Bordon) is the loan shark who drove her father to kill himself. The third "Road to Hell," has Diego (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a hotshot businessman in an Audi, insult a redneck Peugeot driver (Walter Donado). The fourth is "Bombita". Simon (Ricardo Darin), a demolition engineer has his car impounded and goes through "I'm as mad as hell" routine. The most serious "The Bill" is also the most unexpected and I cannot complain about this one. Mauricio (Oscar Martinez) is a wealthy man which his lawyer (Osmar Nunez) milks to get his son, Santiago off a hit and run accident. The last and my least favourite "Till Death Do Us Part," set at a Jewish wedding reception sees bride Romina (Erica Rivas) discovering her groom Ariel (Diego Gentile) sleeping around with a guest. This is a rare case of watching a film that you want never to end, though WILD TALES runs more than 2 hours. Besides saying this is the most fun I had in a movie this year!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BxE9osMt5U
THE WORLD OF KANAKO (Japan 2014) **Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
Fukamachi's novel Hateshinaki Kawaki big-screen adaptation is director Tetsuya Nakashima new violent movie. Kôji Yakusho (The Eel, Cure, Babel) gives a ferocious performance as Akikazu Fujishima, a hot-tempered ex-police force officer who got thrown off the force after assaulting his wife's lover. It gets worse. Years later, his downward spiral is interrupted when seventeen-year-old daughter Kanako (Nana Komatsu) goes missing. Kanako's world is worse that an father can even imagine. There needs to be some order in a film about chaos so that there is some perspective or standard. Unfortunately, there is none here, and the result is film filled with nonsensical violence with non head or tail. The film is so over the top that no one can gets killed, hero or villain either.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJoHWFXpp4c
Directed by Morgan Matthews
A socially awkward teenage math prodigy, Nathan (Asa Butterfield from HUGO), lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad. The film is divided into three parts, besides having lots of mathematic riddles for those interested in the subject. The first deals with the boy's background (father's death; behaviour in school) before going to Taiwan for selection into the squad, the second part. The final is the Olympiad in Cambridge where he learns a more important lesson in mathematics. The film is a feel good weepie and director Matthews does well in the film's buildup considering that there is no climax of a final contest in which the audience is cheering the contestants winning. The film benefits greatly from two of the best actors in Britain, united together again since Mike Leigh's HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. Sallly Hawkins plays the boy's thankless mother and Eddie Marson the mathematics squad leader. The film celebrates differences in people.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWAS-q2PpnA
CHOP MY MONEY (Congo 2014) ***
Directed by Theo Anthony
Lively, musical, lyrical yet disturbing doc/drama following three street kid who don't give a damn about anything in east Congo. They think it cool to fight, drink and smoke weed. Patient, Guillain and David share their dreams and philosophies to the rhythm of Montreal-based musician Dirty Beaches.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avez_pDvSk0
THE GOAT (South Africa 2014) ***Directed by John Tengove
After being subjected to a ritual circumcision intended to usher him into manhood and purge him of any homosexual desires, a young Xhosa teenager is painted white as a goat and isolated in a remote mountain hut, where his desperate desire to escape grows as his pain and panic mount. Tengove contrasts the darkness of the hut to the bright sunshine outside where it is too bright to see. It is clear that Tegove intends to illustrate the folly of he manhood ritual which he does well, with an ambiguous endng that is up to the viewer to interpret.
UNE INDEE DE GRANDEUR (Canada 2014) **
Directed by Vincent Biron
The 14-minute short shows middle geared Louis Belisle, defeated in his re-election campaign for town mayor. Louis tries to find some way to escape the bitter taste of failure, but nothing too interesting happens on screen. It is all a too dead-pan affair and the disappointment Louis feels rubs off on the viewer as well.
INDIGO (Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Amanda Strong
No narrative - nothing really needed to be followed n terms of story. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the hand-crafted, stop-motion figures come to life in this dreamlike tale inspired by Native mythology. A confined woman is liberated by a grandmother spider while opaque memories are projected in an effort to restore her spirit as life nears its end.
INTRUDERS (Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Santiago Menghini
3 short shorts in this short about mysterious forces at work in the dark of night or early dawn. Menghini's camera movement and motion of objects that include swinging doors indicate that he could be a new director to watch for chilling horror films.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXZn2xl56c
MYNARSKI DEATH PLUMMET (Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Matthew Rankin
The 8-minute short is about the death plummet with a parachute unopened of Winnipeg's doomed Second World War hero, Andrew Mynarski (1916-1944). The descent is with classical and avant-garde animation techniques (including stop-motion, silhouettes, bleaching, scratching, hand-painting and rubbing letratone patterns directly on the celluloid). There is no narrative or nothing to be understood, but to enjoy the colour and black and white. The film also looks often like a Guy Madden film.
PLAGE DE SABLES (THE SANDS) (Canada 2014)**
Directed by Marie-Ève Juste
A group of friends retreat to a cottage for a weekend in the wood by THE SANDS, and tensions rise when the presence of a newcomer — the black, much younger boyfriend of one of the group. The black is belittled (asked to get the bottle of Pinot Noir and then made fun of) and doted upon by an older blonde Things turn to a head during the night. But it is unclear what director Juste is trying to say or what actually is happening. I take it that the boy stood up for what he believed in at the end. But her shots of the night and the beach are gorgeous.
SALE GUEULE (BROKEN FACE) (Canada 2014) ****
Directed by Alain Fournier
Brilliantly done striking animation in which old man Morlaix lives as a mad recluse in a remote lighthouse. When a disfigured sailor (the Sale Gueule of the title) is sent to join him, a lifetime's worth of pain and fear resurfaces as a storm brews over the sea. The film is told from the point of view of Broken face who despises the old man, but when death comes face to face with both men, he takes the side of the living. Eerie, captivating and excellent story and animation of two men and the sea.
Trailer:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzy38sJFSK0
SLEEPING GIANT (GEANT ENDORMI) (Canada 2014) ****
Directed by Andrew Cividino
Impressive 16-minute short on the theme of boys will be boys. While spending a boring summer on Lake Superior, Adam falls in with two local boys and begins to fill his days attempting ever more hazardous stunts. The stunt of jumping off the higher cliff into the lake forms the climax after a girl, Taylor enters the picture. Stunning photography of the dives, the underwater shots and the realistic wrestling put this film one up above the other short films.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQQLy0o2Ias&feature=youtu.be
SUR LE CIMENT (ON CEMENT) (Canada 2014) **Directed Robin Aubert
The film begins with an elderly lady staring at graffiti on cement, and hence the film ON CEMENT. This is a daring lady who when witnessing another elderly French kissing a youth in a restaurant decides to go for one last sexual encounter. Aubert's short shifts between the two and the highlight seems to be the sex scene. One wonders the point he is trying to make in this exercise.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSe061YnHzw
"Music plays a big part in the world," says Kenya-born Toronto musician Adam Solomon. From the sound of birds singing outside to a TV ad, music manifests itself in many different ways to speak to our souls. Solomon was raised in a musical family in Mombasa, Kenya. He recalls how his father played guitar as a regular hobby until the day he stored the instrument away, leaving it to collect dust. One day a cousin retrieved it, cleaned it, and started teaching Adam how to play. "We played together in a family band. I later progressed and left the family band to develop on my own and with other collaborators," as he recounts. He also played kivoti (flute) and kayaamba (shaker) at village celebrations and festivals.
His musical journey took him eventually to Canada, where he landed and making it his home, in 1992. His musical style, blending blues with traditional African sounds, allowed him to get good recognition both as a soloist and with his bands. Soon after arriving in Canada, he founded a pan-African band, the Afronubians, with whom he toured Western Canada in 1993. Over the years, he continued to collaborate with various musicians such as Madagascar Slim, Donne Roberts, Pa Joe, Alpha Yaya Diallo and The Mighty Popo. These musical alliances culminated in the publication of a CD, in 2004, called "African Guitar Summit," which went on to win a Juno for Best World Music Album of the Year in 2005.
The Business of Music
"Music is my full-time career," he proudly says. When asked to explain the secrets of his success, Solomon compares himself to any other type of businessman. "Music is a business. Putting aside the spirituality aspect, music is a business like any other business. If somebody sells vegetables, and has five tomatoes of different sizes, they will sell them according to their weight and their size."
While Adam Solomon has made a name for himself with his distinctive brand of African renaissance blues, he's also adept in a variety of styles including jazz, Latin, African, Caribbean, R'nB and funk.
As he cautions, "if you're not successful, you need to learn more. It's just like anything, it's all depends on you." So he's become a constant student of his craft and market.
He also enjoys meeting many people and fans of his music through his busking sessions in the TTC's subway platforms. "I get to meet interesting people there. Passengers sometimes buy my CDs, ask for my business card, and invite me to go play at their events, parties and even festivals," he says.
Music for a Good Cause
His music has taken him to many places across North America. While he hasn't been back to his home country of Kenya to perform his music yet, he has gone back to visit family and hopes to soon reconnect musically with his homeland. In the meantime, his music career in Canada continues to give him opportunities to discover new horizons, people, and ways to share his artistic gift.
The many years he as spent busking in the subway, for instance, has helped him to forge a network of musicians. "Between us musicians who play in the subway, we have our own mailing list. We do contact each other," as he explained. It's through those TTC channels that he came to know more about Scotiabank BuskerFest -- North America's largest street performers festival, and the world's largest epilepsy event – and the opportunity to get involved. So this year her decided to take part.
Running throughout this weekend, from August 21-24, along Yonge Street from Queen Street to College Street and surrounding areas, Scotiabank BuskerFest, is attended annually by around 1.5 million people. The international audience is treated to enthralling performances from world-class street artists from around the globe – including from Canada and the U.S., and as far away as Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Adam Solomon had originally heard about BuskerFest, North America's biggest street performer's festival and the largest Epilepsy awareness-raising event in the world, particularly through his African blues trio drummer who also works for the cause of epilepsy awareness in Toronto.
Performing as a solo artist today and tomorrow at the festival, Solomon said "this issue of epilepsy is a cause that why I believe in getting involved with. What they're doing it they're bringing awareness of epilepsy and also supporting services for those who are living with epilepsy."
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WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL and SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR are two blockbusters opening this week.
Are You Here (USA 2014) **
Directed by Matthew Weiner
Writer/director Matthew Weiner's (TV's MAD MEN) feature debut is a mixed bag of ticks. Looking like a comedy perhaps like THE HANGOVER, it also treads serious dramatic water. Weiner's film is actually mostly about pretty serious stuff, and deals with a lot of key issues like the environment, family dysfunction, bromance and romance, some done well and others not.
The film starts off as a buddy movie with Steve Dallas (Owen Wilson) and Ben Baker (Zach Galifianakis). The two are complete opposites, Steve holding a TV local weatherman job and bedding the girls while Ben is jobless, clueless and womanless. But Ben has a thing about helping the environment though has not clyde how to go about it. Then Ben inherits his estranged father's fortune. but has to battle the legal challenge brought by his formidable sister (Amy Poehler), who claims him mentally unfit.
There are a few weird things that run throughout the film. Steve and Ben always end smoking up, thought there is really any need to show this. Te running appearance of Amish folk, often giving solid advice, however, is hilarious though it does not enhance plot credibility.
But Weiner basically cannot decide how t play his film. As stated, this film can hardlybe called a comedy or a serious drama. The mood swings. When Ben finally shaves off his bear near the last third of the film (the first time audiences see Galifianakis clean shaven), the character and actor both undergo welcome change. To this critic. jack Black and Galifianakis are the two most irritating actors on the planet. The often scream out their lines, try their best to look cool when they are not and just create unfunny jokes half the time. But when Ben is clean shaven, he actually stops shouting his lines (ok - he does just once) and creates a changed character. But it is Amy Poehler that steals the show as the hateful sister who eventually turns over a new leaf.
Weiner's introduction of the romance between Steve and Ben's stepmother (Laura Ramsey) is awkward and does not match the proceedings. Worst is the fact that Ben has slept with her too. And even worst is the corny scene of kissing in the rain.
WERE YOU HERE? also contains a boing middle before getting moving along. But Weiner's film contains nothing sensational or different that has not seen seen in buddy or dysfunctional family film before.
The film opens simultaneously in theatres and on VOD (video on demand) on the 22nd.
Trailer: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/are-you-here-exclusive-trailer-zach-galifianakis-87904092037.html
Directed by Charlie McDowell
There has been many films about doppelgangers (last year had THE DOUBLE and PRISONER) but never one with double dopplegangers.
A rare experience an an excellent movie going one, McDowell's meticulously plotted film written by Justin Laser works so well that it was a surprise that he revealed that a lot of the lines were improvised by the actors.
Though light and humorous, the film is more a drama with lots of anticipation, much, much more than found in a whodunit. For those who like a good suspense thriller THE ONE I LOVE is it, and though the last twist in the plot is predictable, the film still satisfies.
The film starts off with a couple, Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) having a session with their therapist (Ted Danson). Having insurmountable relationship problems the therapist suggests they spend some quality time at a retreat. At this time, the film feels like a romantic drama. But at the retreat home, Ethan engages in wonderful sex with Sophie the first night after smoking some pot. The next morning, Sophie denies that they had sex. Later, she has a nice encounter with Ethan that Ethan denies ever happened. It becomes apparent to Ethan (who hilariously describes it both as Twilight Zone shit and a cosmic aberration) what is going on and he confronts Sophie that there exists doubles of themselves. They play the game to their advantage but things get messy.
This is not the first time fantasy has been used to solve relationship problems in a film. Woody Allen used the premise in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. In fact, THE ONE I LOVE has the same feel as those Allen moves till the last third when things get really weird and the film heads into Lynchian territory. But unlike MULHOLLAND DRIVE where David Lynch drives his film to an illogical end, everything is mostly explained here. The best thing about McDowell's film is that it feels wholly original.
To help the audience tell one character from another, the real Ethan goes around wearing glasses while his doppelganger goes without. Moss and Duplass make an excellent befuddled couple who radiate that their love for each other is not lost despite the current state of affairs.
But the film is so well constructed that it is hard to pinpoint any flaw in the logic of events. McDowell also takes his film to a perfect ending to the Mamas and Papas familiar song 'Dedicated to the One I Love'.
This Film can also be labelled a romantic comedy or dramedy of sorts and one wishes romantic comedies had more ingenuity like his one.
Highly recommended!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCOvhojlZzQ
SENORITAS (Colombia/Canada 2014) **
Directed by Lina Rodriguez
SENORITAS is the feature film debut of TIFF publicist Lina Rodriguez Colombian descent living in Toronto.
Her minimalist film follows a girl, Alejandra (Maria Serrano) in her late 20's or perhaps early 30's hanging around a bunch of friends. She lives with her mother (played by Rodriguez's real mother) who is a tad too nosy on her whereabouts and friends.
In one interview with Lina Rodriguez, she mentioned the 8-minute take of her protagonist walking home in the night. She mentioned that the intention is to show her loneliness while also indicating a fear factor as anything could happen to her. (But it is to be noted that a song with the lyrics and title of 'Loneliness' has just blared on the screen, so the first part of the intention is already realized.) For a 90-minute movie, this is a tenth of the film's running time, not to mention that there are 3 segments with the camera behind Senorita's back neck with nothing much going on. Is the Rodrigues doing the Dardennes Brothers and Bela Tarr (apparently Rodriguez's influence).
Nothing much happens in SENORITAS. The film can best be described as an observational film. If one wants to read more into the movie, one can, especially in the climatic swimming pool scene, but the discovery can be personal and inconsequential. But the film, while moving at a snail's pace, teases more than reveals - and this can be quite the annoyance to the typical commercial moviegoer.
Rodriguez's camerawork is basically similar from start to finish. Her camera is stationary and her actors act within the frame. The only time a mild difference occurs is towards the end of the film when the camera moves left to right and then right to let to capture the actor's dialogue. One can imagine the frustration of the actors working within the frame and likely having to do multiple takes. One immediately is aware to that there are no drops of water on the camera lens in the swimming pool scene to Rodriguez's credit. One wishes that she would pull her camera back more often instead of having her actors in the audience's face most of the time.
Rodriguez said during that interview that she had problems with funding as the short features she had to show were basically experimental works (rhythm and shadow) with no narrative. So it is not surprising that SENORITAS turns out to be a non commercial film with no strong narrative.Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C0jDXQJmPQ
SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (USA 2014) ***Directed by Robertson Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Frank Miller's (writer and co-directer) graphic novel adaptation into comic book style the graphic movie would be more appropriately called SIN CITY: A DAME TO DIE FOR as more guys end up dead rather than alive for their one sin - love for the voluptuous dames.
This R-rating film has lots of gory and violence to satisfy adults - especially those that might be disappointed with THE EXPENDABLES 3's downgraded R-Rating. This film will have the audience cringing at the fingers broken by pliers, eyes gouged out from the head and multiple dismemberments during the many gory segments. But all this should be taken in good stride as it is all good old dirty fun, if audiences just remember that this is only a movie.
The plot is made up of 4 independent stories but linked with one or more common characters. The film begins with 'Just Another Saturday Night' with John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) reuniting with stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba) as witnessed by Marv (Mickey Rourke) as he awakes after being beaten up. The story shifts to "The Long Bad Night" with young Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) beating Senator Roark (Powers Boothe) at poker only to end up physically beaten up. Then the shift is to "A Dame to Kill For" in which Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin) struggles with his inner demons and tries to maintain control until his former lover, Ava Lord (Eva Green). she returns, wanting his help to escape her abusive husband, billionaire Damien Lord (Arton Csokas) and his massive bodyguard Manute. The last story is 'Nancy's Last Dance' in which Nancy of the first story hunts down the Senator.
The graphics and visuals of the film (as in the first SIN CITY and 300 films) are stunning. At times, the film appears like a moving comic book. The dames are usually coloured while the rest of the frame remains black and white. The blood is usually red but not all the time. The portrayal of SIN CITY as a downtrodden sin-filled dump is done ever so well.
But as amazing as the film looks, the novelty still wears down. Just like the 3D effects, where audiences normally get used and not feel the 3D after a while, audiences want more from the film than looks. The multiple stories tied loosely together mainly with the Mickey Rourke character works but the intercutting among the different tales loosens the momentum and buildup of each one.
It seems that the criteria to get hired in this film is to be extremely sexy if you are a lady or extremely ugly (Joseph Gordon-Levitt has undergo ugliness touch-ups) if you are a guy.
Directors Rodriguez and Miller do know how to build up the tension in a scene - the poker game segments are the best. And they keep the action segments slick, gory and violent.
Not for everyone, but for those able to handle the sex, action and violence, IN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR has lots to offer.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqRRF5y94uE
Directed by Thomas Carter
There words 'inspired by a true story' flashes on the screen at the start of the football movie WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL. One can take it that the events occurred, i.e. the winning and losing games on display but that the filmmakers have taken certain liberties in dramatizing the characterizations.
The selling point of the film is the remarkable feat of legendary football coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel), who took the De La Salle High School Spartans (California) from obscurity to a 151-game winning streak that shattered all records for any American sport. It is surprising that a documentary has not been made of this journey.
But the film begins with the 151st game. So the audience knows that the game is a winner but the one following is a downer with the streak lost. This is the story the filmmakers wish to tell. Coach Lad must teach his players - and the entire town - that the streak is not the game, a point drummed into the audience time again and one last time at the end of the film.
The film leads to a final climatic match in which the Spartans has to win the game or lose everything they have worked for. The usual editing is there, typical in a sports match - the intercutting among the players, the ball, the spectators, the coaches on both sides, the injuries etc. The dialogue contains the usual pick up speeches. The script also contains the lives of the poverty stricken players and goes so far as to emphasize the accidental death of one. But despite all those distractions, the film is supposed to be about Coach Ladouceur. But when the film dwells back on him, as in the end game or during a funeral, the flow is erratic.
At its worst, the film dips into melodrama. This happens when Coach lad invites the team to say whatever they want to say during a training session. What follows are sob stories and pseudo inspirations relayed by the players. One goes on to say that his grandfather ridden with cancer waits for him to cmd home to tell how the team played.
For a dramatic film about Coach Lad, actor Jim Caviezel delivers a very subdued performance. Even his speeches to the team are delivered soft like advice given by a father to a son (example: the perfect effort not the perfect play is what counts) than revving up spirits. Laura Dern makes the most of the minor written part of Lad's wife. The performances of the actors playing the high school kids are however, fresh and winning.
Director Thomas Carter (the forgettable SWING KIDS in 1993) has made an exciting enough sports saga but formulaic so that the winning point is the underlying story and not an major surprises. As expected, the closing credits come with shots of the real Bob Ladoceur and a few of the footballers. Sports fans and commercial audiences should be pleased with this film, but don't expect anything else.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT0aE4iAnJo
THE EXPENDABLES 3 and THE GIVER are two blockbusters opening this week.
Smaller films include YVES SAINT LAURENT and FRANK.
Romance: Magic in the Moonlight
THE EXPENDABLES 3 (USA 2014) ***Directed by Patrick Hughes
The 3rd foray into THE EXPENDABLES franchise is less serious than the original and less funny than the second. Falling in between the two, the film recognizes its limitations of older actors and have included a younger cast of 20-somethings to join in the ranks. Patrick Hughes (RED HILL) lands a hand at the director's wheel this time around.
The film has Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) and the rest of the team come face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill... or so he thought. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and hires with his recruiter (Kelsey Grammer) to help him.
The film is not short of action. From the opening prison break sequence on a travelling train, the action quickly moves to the operation the prisoner (Wesley Snipes) was sprung for. One cannot say that the film is boring though may be far from perfect.
There is always lots to complain about a blockbuster action film. But for the plusses, it is good to see an action film done with minimal CGI, where real stunt work has to take place, with real explosions and crashing of vehicles, and where the actors have to sweat and run about.
The visuals range from ugly (lot of mechanical and dilapidated warehouses) to stunning (scaling of a high rise building with reflecting panels). The old fashioned special effects make a welcome change.
The film contains lots of humour that can be read between the lines. After Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes) is rescued from prison, his answer to what he was there for is: 'tax evasion'. Jokes abound too of the young vs. the old. The best joke has the young recruits termed 'the deletables' for their tech know-how. Gibson's character also has his say as to how he is treated that is reflected in Gibson's real life. But Stallone is clearly on an ego trip with this film, though credit has to be given tom him for the difficult job of putting everything together.
Of all the stars, Mel Gibson does the best as the villain and saves the film. The best of the others include Antonio Banderas and Harrison Ford.
Background information for the film? A near perfect DVD copy has been available on the net and has been downloaded as many as 300,000 times when this review was written. The film has also been downgraded from an R-rating which means adults can expect less violence and blood and language while the younger can watch action figures their father's age do their thing. Bet is that EXPENDABLES 3 will only do so-so at the box-office.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xD0junWlFc
FRANK (UK/Ireland 2013) **1/2
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson
The FRANK of the film title is the eccentric titular character and leader of the band called Soronprfbs (yes, the name is unpronounceable) who wears a large papier-mâché head throughout the film. He finally has to take it off at the end of the film revealing a Michael Fassbender, who is supposed to have played the character throughout the film with that head on.
But the lead character of the film is not Frank but Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), a younger musician wannabe. When he witnesses a man's attempted suicide, he is offered the man's job as guitarist in the band for the night's concert. After the disastrous performance, Jon is then whisked to joining the band and be put up at a rental cottage in Ireland to record the band album. Jon begins posting videos on the internet of the band's rehearsal sessions as they aim to appear at the South by Southwest festival. Fame makes strange bedfellows.
If his sounds a bit weird, the film is weirder. Frank, the band leader never takes the head off. Jon wonders how Frank brushes his teeth but told not to ask any questions. There is Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is clearly in love with Frank and willing to stab Jon if he gets in the way. The other band members are just as crazy.
The film knows its music and the audience is given a good lesson on song writing - the problems, inspirations as well as the mechanics of it (i.e. the chords, scales etc.).
Domhnall Gleeson is winsome as the naive Jon, growing a full beard at one point in the film, only to have it shaven off again. But it could be anyone inside Frank's head for that matter. When Frank takes his clothes off, the body bearing the head did not look like Fassbender's body, but a much smaller one. (But I could be wrong.)
The film works well as a life lesson rather than a lesson on what has to go through to attain fame as a musician. Jon sacrifices his inherited nest egg to the band he believes in - only to have the money squandered away. Still, he remains loyal to the very end. But besides being a mean film most of the time, Abrahamson's film occasionally takes a flight into fantasy. The most uplifting segment has Frank show an European tourist the enlightenment in life.
Abrahamson's film is weird and different that puts it one step up the pedestal compared to other films. But it suffers in that the climax and lack of a happy ending fails to satisfy audiences expecting a big punch given all the film's build up.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk-hWzq67w4
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Films on teens in a futuristic, dystopian society appear to be the big moneymaker in Hollywood these days. THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT series have proven that. But THE GIVER which is set in a supposedly planned perfect world where there is no conflict, envy, hatred or sickness, is different in that it is not an action movie. The novel uses the term 'sameness society'.
In DIVERGENT, society is separated into classes. Similarly in THE GIVER, every member of society has a specific role. 16-year old Jonas (Brendan Thwaites) is selected to be the Receiver of Memory. As Jonas uncovers the truth behind his world's past, he discovers that many years earlier, his forefathers gave up humanity in order to have a stable society. The Giver (Jeff Bridges) is training Jonas under the suspicious eye of the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep).
The film plays like the the old sci-fi ZERO POPULATION GROWTH, where the main characters are running away from the government. But director Noyce seems to be at a loss on how to play his film. There is not enough thrills or excitement nor is there a strong enough romantic element. The trouble is that the film is predictable and the audience knows from the start, that the boy is going to rebel, be hunted down by the authorities and eventually escape.
The novel has Jonas at the age of 12 (as the the book on which the film is based is a children's novel) but the film matures the main character to the age of 16. It makes the story more believable as one can hardly expect a 12-year old to be in love or matured enough to carry on his intuitive feelings
Brenton Thwaites is credible as the boy in turmoil. But Noyce is unable to illicit memorable performances form the more well-known actors like Alexander Skarsgard or Katie Holmes whom play Jonas' father and mother. Holmes and Skarsgard just stand around like models, obey or look bewildered. The chief elder is one of Meryl Streep's) silliest roles, one that would normally be played by Tilda Swinton (as in SNOWPIERCER and THE BEACH).
The film is shot largely in muted colours, the screen turning into full brightness during the segments where memories are recalled
It is surprising that Australian director Noyce who has directed on of the best Aussie films NEWSFRONT and the exciting DEAD CALM has directed such a bland film about human nature's most essential traits - love. When Jonas discovers the re-birth of love, one would have expected a solid power punch emotional ride. All the audience got is the fizzle of a kiss.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNNugNe0Wo
HARD DRIVE (Canada 2014) **
Directed by William D. MacGillivray
Canadian director William MacGillivray's (LIFE LESSONS) latest feature is another Life lesson in a sort of way. Based on the novel Ditch by Hal Niedviecki, the story centres on two teens that find love amidst a world that does not dish them life on silver platters. In Nova Scotia, Ditch (Douglas Smith) is a slacker still living with his mother. His mother nags him to go to Community College as he is good with his hands. But he meets instead and falls in love, much to the mother's chagrin, with runaway teen named Debs (Laura Slade Wiggins). Director MacGillivray shows that she is not good for him. But he still drives her back to her father in the U.S. The film is filled with a different indie music track that suits the theme of runawaysvin a road movie. But the movie just struggles along and the script or story does not offer the two a decent way out of the rut. It does not help that Debs is portrayed as a complete crazed floozy. She drinks most of the time despite Ditch's objections. She screams at him for looking at her computer (claiming privacy and liking it to reading her brains) and is completely ungrateful for what he is doing for her. The film offers no reason for Ditch to be in love with her. So the idea of the two lovers running away together is not very believable. The contemporary love story also contain quite a bit of nastiness that includes a segment of ironing out an old tattoo. The other secret is in the hard drive of Debs' computer. The film might be an ok watch for those not too fussy about their entertainment, but otherwise there are no real life lessons learnt here. (No trailer found)
L'ECUME DES JOURS (MOOD INDIGO) (France/Belgium 2013) ***
Directed by Michel Gondry
Based on the 1947 book 'Froth of the Daydream', Michel Gondry's (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) whimsical romantic fantasy draws its inspiration from the gadgets and the then futuristic look of the past. That is where the strength of the film as well as its failures lie.
The story is centred on Colin (Romain Duris). Colin has a very pleasant life: he is rich, he loves the food his cook, Nicolas (Omar Sy) makes. Colin loves his pianocktail (contraction of piano and cocktail, a word invented by Vian) and his friend Chick (Gad Elmaleh). One day while having lunch with Chick, Chick tells him that he met a girl named Alise (Aissa Majga) with whom he has a common passion: the writer Jean-Sol Partre (a spoonerism of Jean-Paul Sartre who was Boris Vian's friend). Colin meets Chloe (Audrey Tautou from AMELIE) at a party Chick invited him to. They fall in love, marry, but Chloe becomes ill during their honeymoon. As time passes, Chloe's condition deteriorates while the relationship between Chick and Alise turns sour.
The setting is the future as observed in the past ie. the 40's. What this means is that automation is shown with conveyor belts of old fashioned typewriters, electronics displayed as solid state and cathode ray tubes and the future is seen as in the old 60's and 70's films.
The best thing about the film is the Duke Ellington music numbers that add a fresh turn to the proceedings.
Nothing is bothered to be explained. How did Colin come about his independent wealth and then run out of money? Why the interest in all the odd inventions? Who is this mouse and where did he come from?
It does t help that the film heads towards an unhappy instead of a happy ending. The film also turns black and white. The romances also turn bad.
Charlotte Le Bon who was practical unheard of this year, has the small role of Isis in this film. She has major roles in two other films this year, YVES SAINT LAURENT, which also the same day as this film and THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNY that opened last week.
The film should be seen for the ingenious props that include everything from the door alarm running around like a roach to a workplace filled with typewriters set up like convey manufacturing. The colourful visuals that include wardrobe and set decoration are out of this world. Unfortunately, these dwarf the main plot which ultimately turn out too whimsical at the end.
Faults aside, one has to credit the filmmakers for trying extremely hard to make a different kind of movie. This they succeed but whether it is a satisfactory and entertaining one is up to the audience's individual taste.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38ugyccL5zU
THE TRIP TO ITALY (UK 2014) ***Directed by Michael Winterbottom
THE TRIP TO ITALY follows the camaraderie and misadventures of two British friends hired by The Guardian paper to do a culinary article based on gourmet restaurants in several cities in Italy.
Director Michael Winterbottom's (24-HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, JUDE) second edited film from the hit TV series on culinary critics Rob (Rob Brydon) and Steve (Steve Coogan) has one of the shortest introductions. Within 2 minutes or so, Rob and Steve are whisked off to Italy doing much of the same shenanigans as in their first film THE TRIP.
At the film's start, Steve tell Rob that sequels are rarely ever as good as the original, referring to their second excursion. He also tells Rob, 'No more impersonations' during the trip, an instruction that is quickly forgotten. One of the best things about THE TRIP was to watch the two at it competing who can do the best impersonations of selected celebrities. This time around they do Al Pacino and Michael Caine again, the various actors that have played James Bond, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, just to name a few.
One can find it hard to complain about a film that has to amusing actors at the helm, beautiful scenery (of Italy) and mouth-watering gourmet dishes on display. Winterbottom does away with the wives as if it is ok to indulge in infidelity on holiday. The film also displays what it is to enjoy the good life - when one has fame, money and rich connections.
But Winterbottom's film runs out of material in the last third. So, he brings in a meeting with Coogan's son visiting. The last scene with the two (father and son) swimming in the sunset appears clear that there is nothing more to be said.
Trailer: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/ifcfilms/thetriptoitaly/
YVES SAINT LAURENT (France 2013) ***
Directed by Jalil Lespert
The film opens in 1957 with the camera on the back of a young Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Niney of the Comédie-Française) as he sits at a desk working gazing out of the window. But the man is sketching dresses rather than writing and his elegant attire coupled with the antique furniture prepares the audience to an immaculately art and wardrobed designed biopic.
Lespert's stylish film traces the start of YSL's career just as Christian Dior passes on and wills him the prestigious spot of the one taking over the Dior house. His mental instability erupts but the film does wise not to dwell too much on this dark side of the designer genius. Laurent's drug use is also just shown in passing of him doing a line of cocaine. The film concentrates on the human aspects, particularly his relationship with his business partner, Pierre Berge (Guillaume Gallienne, also of the Comédie-Française). The love/hate relationship portrayed is typical not only of gay designers but of many gay couples - so nothing too much shocking here. Laurent is displayed occasionally as a spoilt child, but not without some good sayings: "Without inspiration, there is no life!" But the man's occasional foray into the dangerous zone is still scary. Lespert does well to end the film on a high note.
As expected, the film is not always easy to watch. But the designer gowns are gorgeous and the various shows are themselves worth the ticket admission price.
Young Pierre Niney is really good (and sexy, especially in the scene in his swimming trunks) as Saint Laurent and manages to carry the film's heavy tone from start to finish. Charlotte Le Bon (THE HUNDRERD-FOOT JOURNEY) has the role of Victoire, Laurent's model and muse.
There are no French films that made a commercial release this year except this one. Hopefully its deserved success will spurn more interest in French fare.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQoO9r_CuY
TIFF Cinematheque Presents - Sequels
The title of this program, SECOND COMINGS consists of the finest follow-ups (sequels) paired with the originals. Cinema's Greatest Sequels runs from August 8th to the 31st, starting with THE GODFATHER PART II, in 4K digital restoration, opening on August the 7th.
For complete program listing, ticket pricing and venue, please check the TIFF Cinematheque website at
Capsule Reviews for selected films follow:
BATMAN (USA 1989) ***Directed by Tim Burton
Michael Keaton plays Batman and millionaire Bruce Wayne in this Tim Burton version that arrives hot on the heels of their success. But Jack Nicholson as the Joker gets top billing and almost equal screen time as Batman. The femme fatale is Kim Basinger who is torn between her loyalty to Wayne and Batman. The film follows true to the roots of the d.c. comic books unlike the Christopher Nolan DARK KNIGHT films (that have become too serious for their own good with Christian Bale training in Tibet and have taken too many liberties with the stories like Batman getting married and Alfred dying). Burton's BATMAN is creepy and dark but the film still manages to be fun (courtesy of Nicholson hamming it up) even if it is a tad too long. All the special effects are there from the batmohile and batplane and Burton's surrealism is also ever present as seen in the petrified forest around Gotham City. Prince lends his hand at the songs and music during the 200th year celebration of Gotham City.
Directed by Sam Raimi
THE EVIL DEAD is the first of three and a reboot of EVIL DEAD films that spun a cult following. This one is more horror and less comedy compared to the sequel, and really nasty in terms of scares, blood and gore. Five college students vacation in an isolated cabin. They find an audiotape and book that releases a legion of demons and spirits that begin possessing the members of the group. Unlike most horror films, the men are the survivors with Ash (Bruce Campbell) being the last one surviving (or not) into the sequel. Though this film contains potential for humour, Raimi only taps it in the sequel. This is the perfect film to bring up to the cottage to watch in the night.
This is a weird sequel. It starts off where the original left off with Ash (Bruce Campbell) being the last survivor than being possessed by the evil dead. The tim then goes on to retell the story, an alternate version. Ash and his girlfriend Linda are now in a remote cabin in the woods. There he discovers a tape recorder that a professor had used to record incantations from the Necronomicon XMortis - the Book of the Dead. When he turns it on, the recording releases a dark, sinister force from the woods. It turns Linda into a zombie, her soul possessed by some hideous demon, and then tries to do the same to Ash. The sequel is more comedy horror then horror and so it would be more fun to watch this in a theatre full of enthusiastic horror fans. The segment with the spirit chasing Ash all around inside the cabin is particularly hilarious as the one with him trying to get rid of his possessed hand.
FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (Spain/Italy/W Germany 1962) ***Directed by Sergio Leone
This is the film that started the popularity of the spaghetti western. Different from American westerns, the spaghetti western was always shot in sparse barren landscapes in Spain that doubled for the west in America. Mexico was always in the foreground with bounty hunters looking to make a small fortune hunting down bandits. There are no ranches, or wagons or calvary in these films. In FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, the first of its kind, the man with no name (Clint Eastwood) enters a remote town and sells his services to two waring factions. If the plot sound familiar, it is a copy of Akira Kurosawa's classic YOJIMBO. The film resulted in legal problems that delayed its release in the U.S. for about 3 years. Still, the resetting from japan to the west is a well done if not a more serious version of YOJIMBO.
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (Italy/Spain/W Germany 1965) ****Directed by Sergio Leone
"Where life is cheap, death comes with a price." The humorous titles state in the beginning of the film, which is the justification for bounty hunters. Two of them, the man with no name (Clint Eastwood) and the Colonel (Lee Van Cleef) are bound to join forces to take on the biggest prize (Gian Maria Volente) who is planning a big bank robbery complete with a full gang of misfits. The film has plenty of action and shoot-outs amidst the dry bare landscape that is typical of spaghetti westerns. Leone's brand of humour is just too funny - from the buck-teethed busty woman at the hotel trying to pick up the man with no name to the little kid that asks for money any time he divulges information to the man with name. The Ennio Morricone score makes this the perfect Sergio Leone western.
Directed by James Whale
The most iconic horror film of all time based on the play and novel of the same name, FRANKENSTEIN has all the elements of a classic horror movie - a scary enough looking monster, a madman, storms always lurking in the background, a huge castle (lighthouse, actually) and a damsel in distress. It is 1894 in Nyon, Switzerland and Henry Frankenstein, a young scientist, and his assistant Fritz, a hunchback, piece together a human body, the parts of which have been collected from various sources. Frankenstein desires to create human life through electrical devices which he has perfected. The black and white visuals are stunning as anything seen lately in CGI current horror flicks. Boris Karloff with make up by Jack Pierce makes the excellent monster while Colin Clive overacts to perfection as Dr. Henry Frankenstein. Mae Clarke is suitably distressed and puzzled as Elizabeth over her fiance's obsession to create life while Dwight Frye plays hunchback Fritz with a good balance of humour and creepiness.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN8K-4osNb0
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (USA 1935) ****Directed by James Whale
The much critically acclaimed sequel to FRANKENSTEIN follows on immediately from the events of the earlier film. A chastened Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) abandons his plans to create life, only to be tempted and finally coerced by the Monster, encouraged by Henry's old mentor Dr. Pretorius, (Ernest Thesiger) into constructing a mate for him. Elsa Lanchester plays both Mary Shelley who appears in the film as the author of the novel, who tells the continuation of the story and the monster's mate. A lot happens in the last climatic 5 minutes of the film, that includes the monster's mate's creation, the mate's reaction and what happens to Henry and Elizabeth. The burning windmill at the climax of FRANKENSTEIN is matched by the burning and blowing up of a castle in the sequel.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9t6NHlPJHA
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
The original Best Picture Oscar winner that spurned two critically acclaimed and box-office successful sequels Parts I and II still stands at the best of the three. Based on the novel and co-written by Mario Puzo, this is the epic story of the Corleone Mafia clan, its troubles and how it finally manages to stay on top by extremely violent means. The film opens with the wedding of the Godfather's (Marlon Brando) daughter's (Talia Shire) wedding. As the Don is being greeted by various 'guests' requesting favours (See Image), Coppola's film cuts to the celebrations in which many things are going on in between the lines or images. The sons are introduced from hot-tempered Sonny (James Caan), adopted Tom Hagan (Robert Duvall) to eldest Alfredo (John Cazale) to the favourite youngest Michael (Al Pacino) who will eventually inherit the position of Godfather. The film is scattered with violent killings from strangulation, knifing, gunning to the beheading of a horse. The ending is a brilliant intercutting of the assassination of the 5 other family heads amidst the christening of Michael's Christening of his Godson in which he denounces Satan and his deeds. Everything else about the film is near perfect including Nino Rota's riveting score and Brando's performance that won him the Oscar for Best Actor.
THE GODFATHER PART II (USA 1974) ***** Top 10
(sequel to THE GODFATHER)
Co-written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, PART II is both the prequel and sequel to THE GODFATHER that went on to win 6 Oscars including Best Picture. An epic film running at 200 minutes, the film tells the dual stories of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) , the new Don of the family and his 'business ventures' after an attempt was made on the life of his family and the other of Vito Don Corleone (Robert De Niro) of his escape from Sicily in 1901 to the rise in his empire in New York City. Both stories are absorbing and aptly executed. De Niro and Pacino are both excellent with the former winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and the latter nominated for Best Actor. Coppola intercuts both stories with grace and expertise, often switching the stories at their highlights - example at the crucial family fight between Michael and his wife, Kay (Diane Keaton). The mood and atmosphere of PART II are maintained, with the music of Nino Rota and the cinematography of Gordon Willis. Though not as violent but just as disturbing in its portrayal of organized crime, THE GODFATHER II was released in 1974 to great acclaim and deservedly so. Arguably the best sequel (and prequel) ever made!
SANJURO (Japan 1963) ****
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Director Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune unite in the sequel to YOJIMBO. Mifune reprises his role as a clever and expert masterless Ronin for hire who help a clan rid itself of the vermin. The superintendent of the clan is the traitor aiming to blame the Chamberlain for corruption and hence take over the clan. The Ronin aids the clueless good guys. The best line in the film, as uttered by the Ronin: "It's a stupid plan, but the excitement will keep me awake!". SANJURO is more entertaining and more fun than YOJIMBO and not as confusing in terms of plot. The villains are also, in the words of the Ronin, quite clever and often comes one up on top in ideas before the good guys. Kurosawa's humour is ever present in the form of the Ronin's behaviour.
YOJIMBO (Japan 1961) ****Directed by Akira Kurosawa
The year is 186o in feudal Japan. A ronin (masterless samurai) (Toshiro Mifune) wanders into a small village and hires himself between the two warring gangs, Seibei and Ushitora. The ronin stays with the old man, Gonji at the inn who feeds him and grumbles half the time about him and the town. At the same time, he feeds the Ronin information. The film contains lots of comical characters from Gonji, to the major to the henchmen on both sides. But Kurosawa does not shy against violence and brutality. There are lots of beatings and dismemberments with blood spurting out everywhere. But Kurosawa has a soft side shown when the Ronin rescues a mother and child and when he offers his enemy some sympathy. A rare chance to see two Japanese greats together - director Kurosawa and actor Mifune.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and INTO THE STORM two blockbusters open this week.
Smaller films include CALVARY and THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY.
Directed by Jesse Zwick
One might have expected director Jesse Zwick to have picked something more original than this well worn used story for his debut feature. Not only is this a take off of THE BIG CHILL, but the story is an almost complete ripoff of the 2009 Iranian film by Asghar Farhadi entitled ABOUT ELLY.
This is a film about really annoying characters who sleep with each other, taunt the hell out of each other, argue and fight and then somehow get their act together by the end of the last reel and take a lovely group photo. It all begins with Alex's (Jason Ritter, son of John Ritter) attempted suicide. So his circle of 20-something college buddies reunite for a weekend to cheer him up and yes, irritate the hell out of each other (and the audience) in the mean time. Despite the group's best efforts to keep it light and enjoy themselves, a tinderbox of old jealousies, unrequited love, and widening political differences leads to an explosion that, coupled with the flammable combination of drugs (- but not to worry, only pot here), wine, and risotto, cannot be contained. (See image of asshole and prude.)
The most interesting character is Josh (Max Greenfield), the biggest asshole of the group. It is interesting to see how Zwick has written the worst lines for him and then turns him into a likeable guy at the end, for no reason at all. For a film of this genre, all the predictable elements are present. The group break out into impromptu dance; they cook fantastic meals in the kitchen and some talk about the old days with shots of the characters younger. But Zwick's film should contain more humour than at present. THE BIG CHILL was funnier and though the gathering of a dysfunctional college group is the least of my favourite film genres, humour would have elevated the film's bogged down artificial drama.
When the film finally comes to a close, it will turn out that the film's most likeable character is the black dog. And not because the dog is so cute, but that it has the least dialogue to say.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGraucjOUGI
CALVARY (UK/Ireland 2013) ****Directed by John Michael McDonagh
John Michael McDonagh's (THE GUARD) critically acclaimed Irish-set film opens with Father James (Brendan Gleeson) listening to a confession. His unseen parishioner explains that he had tasted semen when he was only seven, and had been abused orally and anally since then. When Father James asks if he should file a complaint, the reply is that the guilty priest is already dead and he want to kill up righteous priest Father James as revenge and retaliation as that would make the difference. Father James is given the following Sunday to put his affairs in order and to meet his death on the beach.
That is quite the beginning. McDonagh's film works then on several levels - a whodunit, an examination and criticism of the Roman Catholic priesthood and on the cinematic level, a black comedy and drama.
CALVARY is a brilliant little film in many ways. It teases and wallows in the mud to reveal the light. The film is so dark at times, it will disturb and yet the dark humour is hilarious. It also works as a whodunit with the many suspects thrown out to the audience that the guilty one is hard to predict. The best thing is what the script delivers as obvious turns out to be a decoy at the end.
McDonagh is brave enough to cast many comedians in serious roles. Chris O'Dowd from BRIDESMAIDS plays the smart husband who figures out his wife and himself are better off with her being infidel while FATHER TED's Ardal O'Hanlon plays the insecure sex addict. But it is Gleeson that carries the film off, delivering a sensitive, intelligent yet fierce performance, dwarfing all the other actors, but in a good way.
The film is set in Sligo County where the nearby beach is comprised of black rocks washed by high waves. The beautiful Irish landscapes is the film's added bonus.
CALVARY finally triumphs, just as it is the good will of man that eventually triumphs over evil. But it is a wicked journey to the road to CALVARY. But it is a well rewarding journey though a difficult one to make. In the film, a character tells Father James: "This is what like about you. You are too sharp for this parish." CALVARY is one of the most intelligent films I have seen this year. Hopefully the film will not be too sharp for audiences to appreciate.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM5rq_vX4U
AN HONEST LIAR (USA/Spain.Italy/Canada 2014) ***Directed by Tyler Measom, Justin Weinstein
In the film, an honest liar is one that lies to reveal as opposed to one that lies to deceive. The subject of this documentary of one such honest liar is the world-famous magician, escape artist, and world-renowned enemy of deception, James 'The Amazing' Randi.
The film brings to life Randi's intricate investigations that publicly exposed psychics, faith healers, and con-artists with quasi-religious fervour. The film follows Randi around on his exploits while he speaks directly to the camera on his philosophy on life. He basically wants to save those fooled by psychics and healers who dupe the public out of their money. A nice turn near the end of the film has thee people turn on him. These people are shown as 'idiots' who want to be duped for being afraid of the truth while all Randi can do is glare in disbelief.
The audience is most riled up during the segments when Randi uses his expertise to reveal the dishonest liars. The top two on his list are the metal bender and Reverend Popov (who Randi admits is the bottom of the sum) what Randi finally exposes. Directors Measom and Weinstein allow these two to defend themselves, but it is clear that they haunting much to say after the embarrassment.
Directors Measom and Wesinstein play their film well. The film won the Best Documentary award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. They chose a fairly intriguing subject, an honest man who has made his life long goal a worthwhile one. Randy is a great man in his own way, but he is shown to he human with problems of his own, and also a sad man despite all the jokes he constantly cracks around people. The film reveals more towards the end with a neat twist when Randi himself is forced to come out of the closet (at the age of 81) and stop living that lie.
The film turns dramatic when Randi's created fictional characters, fake psychics, and even turned his partner of 25 years, the artist Jose Alvarez, into a sham guru named Carlos. At one point, he is angry at the filmmakers for revealing too much about his personal life.
The audience grows to respect the bearded man known as Randi James by the end of the last reel, the same person that appears annoying at the film start, a Houdini wannabe. A nice feat from directors Measom and Weinstein who unfortunately claim at the end of this entertaining documentary that they are still in debt and asking the audience for donations.
Randi himself will be present on the Friday Aug 8th 6.30pm showing for an Q&A after the screening. That should be a blast!
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/91847894
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom
Swede director Lasse Hallstrom (MY LIFE AS A DOG, CHOCOLAT, WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?) is well known for his sentimental melodramas that often delight audiences so much so that critics will forgive him for his excesses. In his latest THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY, he goes overboard with the culinary nonsense of blending Indian and French cuisine (with maybe fusion); an awkward inter-racial romance and the old bullshit that the patriarch of the family is always right.
The story, based on a novel by Richard C. Morais and adapted by Stephen Knight (LOCKE) follows an upcoming Indian chef, Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) who has moved with his family from Mumbai due to political unrest. After trying London, Papa (Om Puri) settles instead for a small cozy town in France after the car breaks down there. The silly reasoning of the brakes breaking down for a reason is given.
Ones tolerance for Hallstrom takes its limits in the scene in which one of Madame Mallory's chefs, Jean-Pierre is fired for burning down the Indian restaurant. Madame makes him read out in both French and English the French National Anthem and then goes on about Liberty, Fraternity and Equality before telling him to pack his knives and get out. This is cheap theatrics in the highest order aimed to manipulate audiences to believe in the the colours of the French flag.
The romance between the two budding chefs, Hassan and Madame Mallory's sous-chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) looks and feels awkward. Thank God they left the probable romance between Madame Mallory and Papa alone. The other part with Chef Hassan attaining fame in Paris and finally getting his Michelin third star is pushing the limit. Not only that, but the film starts to really lag in interest.
One bright surprise comes a cameo by Michel Blanc (MONSIEUR HIRE) playing the bewildered but always well fed town major forced to listen to the squabbles of the two restauranteurs. Helen Mirren is excellent in the role of the pompous Madame Mallory and the fact that she had a role in THE QUEEN is briefly made mentioned in the script's dialogue. But she is British and one would have hoped to see one of France's prominent actresses in the role of Madame instead - say Catherine Frot.
Besides the culinary scenes where one can drool over both the Indian and French cuisine, the tired tale of the coming together of two cultures is drab and dull for the most part. The lack of humour in what is expected to be a comedy/drama is glaringly obvious. Even the Queen cannot save the day!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEO1TWeM5JU
Directed by Steven Quale
INTO THE STORM is one film that audiences will see for their insatiable curiosity for tornadoes. The film satisfies visually in terms of special effects courtesy of CGI, but the other aspect i.e. the education is sadly missing.
INTO THE STORM is not the first film made on storms. THE PERFECT STORM and TWISTER are two films that immediately come to mind, and many still have the latter film with the flying cows still fresh in the mind. In INTO THE STORM, as in TWISTER, the core group on screen is a group of tornado chasers, this one led by Pete (Matt Walsh). At the start of the film, it appears that a random group of characters are dumped into the script (as disaster films often do) but these characters are linked together quite soon, thankfully. Some human element, no matter how silly has to be included into action blockbusters or else the film feels empty. Like in TRANSFORMERS 4, it is the father children relationship (replacing the romantic element) that is put into the picture. The Vice President of a high school (the role of the President is reserved for the Obama actor look-alike), Gary Morris (Richard Armitage) is having relationship problems with the elder son, Jacob (Jeremy Sumpter), who takes off during the graduation ceremonies to be at a chemical site with his girl friend, Kaitlyn (Alycia Debnam-Carey). Lo and behold, the twister strikes both places, the high school ceremony and the site and a major part of the film has him looking for his son. Another subplot (hum drum duplication here) has a member of the twister case team, Allison Stone (Sarah Wayne Callies) needing to spend more time with her 5-year old daughter. So-so comical relief is provided by the two drunk slackers who want to capture the action to upload on YouTube.
No one really cares for these human stories. Director Quale takes a full 40 minutes of screen time before the first storm appears. But the wait is worthwhile and the audience is wowed as the sky turns dark and the twisters form on screen. Quale also ups the angst by putting the audience in the eye of the tornado. The film's best segment has the tank is taken up for a twirl right up into the sky.
The 'found footage' approach helps distracts the audience a bit from the hollowness of the plot. The 25-year time capsule video project attempted by the Morris sons is more laughable than believable.
But one would imagine the audience would just be as interested in the theory of the twisters - how they are formed, how long they last and what paths they take. The script only offers a few teasing solutions like giving the speed of the winds. Apparently, one character in the film, Stone has a degree on the subject of storms so more theory should have been included in the script.
The climax is neatly put together with the biggest tornado hitting the characters all holed up in a hint manhole. But the casualties in the film are too predictable (not mentioned in the review). No cows are killed in the film a well, only large numbers of tractors, planes, buses, trucks and cars.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnTnbdd859A
LAND HO! (USA/Iceland 2014) **
Directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz
A pair of ex-brothers-in-law (the reason for 'ex' is explained early on in the film) set off to Iceland in an attempt to reclaim their youth through Reykjavik nightclubs, trendy spas, and rugged campsites.
Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson) is the one paying for the trip and the wild one. Paul (Paul Eenhoorn) is the tamer but he is still game for a good time. This bawdy adventure is a throwback to 1980s road trip comedies with lots of movie references thrown in along the way. The film touches practically the issues aging, loneliness, and friendship without being preachy.
But one wishes that directors Katz and Stephens did not go for the cheap laughs. The smoking of joints, flirtation with younger women and smart talk are supposed to let the audience believe that Mitch and Paul are pretty cool guys and not dirty old men.
Nothing much happens in this film. And that is the trouble with LAND HO! Nothing much happens. But the Icelandic landscape from the unfrozen ponds, to the geysers and hot springs to the volcanic soil is stunning.
It is difficult to crucify a film like LAND HO! which is simple, good hearted and well-intentioned. But it is like watching a teen comedy, only at the other end of the spectrum. Fart jokes are also present. The jokes may be more meaningful and funnier if one is around the age of 60, if not LAND HO! is quite the boring affair. The film does provide a good travelogue guide and an incentive to visit Iceland.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOrALE_pBxU&feature=kp
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is a reboot of the original 1990 film adaptation of the Peter Laird comic book TV series that also spurned two sequels and one other TNMT.
The film opens with darkness settling over New York City as Shredder and the Foot Clan hold politicians in their power. Crime is out of hand. Meanwhile the TMNT are still being trained beneath the sewers and not allowed to appear in public till ready. All this is told via voiceover before the film settles on the film's protagonist, which happens to be human being, a fearless news reporter, April O'Neil (Megan Fox) who would do anything to get a story.
The dark atmosphere of the comic book is kept in the film while keeping the action and dialogue tongue-in-cheek. The story is pretty much unchanged except for a few changes. Whoopi Goldberg has a welcome part as Bernadette Thompson, April's supervisor who finally fires her. April's romantic interest (Will Arnett) is also present, but not enough to distract the audience too much from the action.
As the original audience of the series are presently in their 30's the humour is catered towards the more mature. For example, there is a sexual innuendo joke about the 'froth' on coffee. There are also plenty of product placements (Pizza Hit, Victoria Secret) to annoy critics. But they are done so blatantly unlike with humour as in Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS 4.
The final climatic fight sequences are exciting enough (too much CGI and 3D) but nothing than has not been seen in recent action films like TRANSFORMERS 4 and DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
Director Liebesman (BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, WRATH OF THE TITANS) does an ok job but there is no ingenuity or innovation on display here.
The first TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES film cost $13.5 million to make and made over $200 million box-office. This new reboot cost $125 million with super special effects and the Michael Bay touch. It would be interesting to see how much it will make.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwXFsrp6WBs
Best Film Opening: Calvary
TIFF Cinematheque Presents – Robert Altman
As TIFF Bell Lightbox presents the Canadian premiere of Ron Mann's new documentary Altman on August 1, TIFF Cinematheque presents some of the greatest films from the iconoclastic director's long, rich, and remarkably eclectic career. Films include Altman's breakthrough success M*A*S*H (1970), which firmly established his directorial signatures (long takes, restless zooms, overlapping dialogue, a fondness for improvisation, and a unique degree of collaboration with his cast and crew); his brilliant excursions into genre revisionism McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973) and Thieves Like Us (1974); the wacky comedy-spoof-fable Brewster McCloud (1970); the panoramic, multi-character masterpieces Nashville (1975), Short Cuts (1993) and Gosford Park (2001); the acclaimed theatrical adaptations Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) and Secret Honor ( 1984); and his swan song A Prairie Home Companion (2006).Company Man: The Best of Robert Altman screens from August 7 to 31 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Special guests include Ron Mann and Robert Altman's widow, Kathryn Altman, to introduce a one-night only premiere screening of Mann's new documentary Altman, on Friday, August 1 at 7 p.m.; and on Friday, August 8 at 6:15 p.m., Academy Award-winning Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond will introduce Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, a hauntingly gorgeous revisionist western that is rightly regarded as Robert Altman's masterpiece.
Directed by Robert Altman
Altman alternates between big budget all start cast productions like GOSFORD PARK, THE PLAYER, SHORT CUTS and small budget indies like THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK and this film IMAGES. Ironically, his small films are harder to watch than his biggies. IMAGES follows the emotional downward spiral of a children's book writer of unicorns, Cathryn (Susannah York) as she juggles three lovers while trying to remain faithful to one awkward husband , Hugh (Rene Auberjonois). The husband and wife retreat to their secluded cottage out in the beautiful and stunning countryside. What turns up instead is blood in the hall, unexpected guests and images of past lovers. It is hard to make sense of all this except to dismiss the unexplained to the girl's mental state. The scariest segment has a ghost giving the girl a rifle and asking her to shoot him. This is when it dawns on her that she has to kill all her ghost lovers in order for them not to appear again. But can she distinguish reality from images?The film is still a disturbing tale beautifully shot. This is rare Altman rarely seen and my first viewing of this film.
THE LONG GOODBYE (USA 1973) ****Directed by Robert Altman
Marlowe has only two friends. One is his cat and the other is a murderer. If you enjoyed the smart talking Trapper character in M*A*S*H*, THE LONG GOODBYE contains a full film full of smart-ass dialogue mouthed by Private Investigator Philip Marlowe (also played with relish by Elliot Gould). Marlowe is paid a visit in the dead of night by a friend who he drives to Tijuana. He is arrested the following morning on the account of harbouring a criminal. It turns out according to the newspapers that his friend has beaten up his wife and the committed suicide, a situation that Marlowe does not believe. He takes a case of finding a missing writer who is blackmailed into paying a large sum for this therapy. It turns out that there is a connection. There is much to be enjoyed in this film, besides the wry dialogue. Marlowe's sexy neighbours are always dancing in the nude; there is a twist in the plot that occurs ever so often and the performances are great. Be cautious of the spouts of unexpected violence (the smashing of a bottle on a girl's face, for example), but that should keep the audience on their toes. Film noir – Altman style, and never has it been this effective or distinctive!
The film that spurned the famous TV series of the same name, M*A*SH* the film is a black satire rather than the harmless sitcom that most people are familiar with. The Mobile Army Surgical Hospital Unit is assigned two replacements 'Hawkeye' (Donald Sutherland) and 'Duke' Forrest (Tom Skerritt) who arrive in a stolen jeep. They are later joined by Trapper (Elliot Gould). The trio take the unit apart by their womanizing, insubordination, drinking and wild parties. But there are very good at their work as surgeons – so no one can complain. The main victims are religious surgeon Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and the new head nurse, "Hot Lips' Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). There is much to offend in the movie, politically and religiously especially the staging of a 'last supper' for a suicidal dentist. The climax of the film is the unit winning a football match, by no fair means. M*A*SH* shot Altman (and its three actors) to fame and won the film an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and nominations for Best Picture and Director as well. The film is absorbing from the opening song "Suicide Is Painless by Johnny Mandel with lyrics by Altman's son to the very end. M**S*H* is my best Altman film which I have now viewed 4 times.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3013083417/
Deemed by many critics as Altman's Masterpiece, this near perfect anti-western tells the unlikely romance between McCabe (Warren Beatty) and Mrs Miller (Julie Christie). McCabe arrives at a mining town to set up a gambling and whore house. But with the arrival of Mrs. Miller, the two start a strange partnership that brings in more money for McCabe while providing more class to his business. The mining company offers to buy McCabe out, but when he refuses, three bounty hunters are dispatched to kill him. There is much to admire in this western including Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography (the man will be present to introduce the screening) and Leonard Cohen's music. But it is the climax of the movie that mass the film what it is – a showdown in which McCabe defends himself against the three killers amidst the town putting out a fire in the church.
NASHVILLE (USA 1975) ****Directed by Robert Altman
NASHVILLE is the ambitious almost 3-hour Altman film made for a paltry $2 million that ended up winning numerous awards. The film takes a snapshot of people during 5 days in Nashville culminating at the outdoor concert at Parthenon. The ensemble cast includes Altman regulars Keith Carradine singing the Oscar winning song "I'm Easy", Shelley Duvall, Elliot Gould (playing himself), and others like Lily Tomlin, Geraldine Chaplin, Karen Black, Julie Christie, Ned Beatty and Ronee Blakley. They play hilarious characters that pop up like running gags in the film. There is the husband that is forever looking for his runaway wife (Barbara Harris) looking for her big break, a girl that cannot sing, an army guy that keeps popping up, a Gospel singer with two deaf children, and a country singer who sleeps around as if it was his last day on the planet. Altman's film contains plenty to laugh at, while remaining true to the spirit of country and Gospel music. The film contains a whole lot of original songs, the majority written and sung by the actors themselves. The film is a good solid look of reality and life, cruelty and hilarity and an altogether unforgettable experience.
Based on 9 short stories and a poem by Raymond Craver, and re-set in L.A., SHORT CUTS opens as a fleet of helicopters sprays for medflies, revealing all the characters along the path of their flight. These are the numerous characters in the 3-hour film. Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and his wife, Marian (Julianne Moore), meet another couple, Stuart (Fred Ward) and Claire Kane, (Anne Archer) at Zoe Trainer's (Lori Singer) cello concert and make a spontaneous Sunday dinner date. Marian's sister Sherri (Madeleine Stowe) is married to philandering cop Gene (Tim Robbins), who makes up unbelievable but humorous stories to hide his affair with Betty Weathers (Frances MacDormand). Betty is in the process of divorcing one of the helicopter pilots, Stormy (Peter Gallagher). Waitress Doreen Piggot (Lily Tomlin) is married to an alcoholic limo driver named Earl (Tom Waits). TV commentator Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison) lives with his wife Anne (Andie MacDowell) and their young family next door to Zoe and her mother (Annie Ross), cabaret singer Tess Trainer. Their pool cleaner is Jerry Kaiser (Chris Penn), whose wife, Lois (Jennifer Jason- Leigh), works from home as a phone sex operator, tending to the children while she talks off strange men. Jerry and Lois are friends with Doreen's daughter, Honey (Lili Taylor) and her husband Bill (Robert Downey, Jr.), who works as a makeup artist. If all these characters are too many to keep track off, Altman's film is not, with the audience able to to identify with each. Altman divvies almost equal time to each culminating with an earthquake that rocks L.A. that forms the climax of the film. SHORT CUTS is long but watchable but nothing like his other longer classics.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQZD0vKvSJY
Based on the book by Edward Anderson, the three thieves of the film title in question are
Bowie (Keith Carradine), a youthful convicted murderer, and bank robbers Chicamaw (John Schuck) and T-Dub (Bert Remsen). They escape from a Mississippi chain gang in the depression 1930s. They continue robbing banks and show no sign of remorse. When Bowie is injured in an auto accident, he takes refuge with the daughter of the gas station attendant, Keechie (Shelley Duvall) and a love relationship, the key to the film develops. It is hard to feel sympathetic for hard criminals who have no qualms about putting a bullet into their fellow man, but there is something about young lovers that keeps the audience on their side. Altman's film is moody, stylish and realistic and he gets his tale told effectively in what might be described as a disturbing film to watch.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and GET ON UP, two blockbusters open this week.
Director Stone does not shy away from violence. There is one scene that will almost guarantee the audience turn away. (I did, and I can normally take a lot of on screen violence.)
Directed by Tate Taylor
GET ON UP is the biopic of Godfather of Soul, James Brown (a riveting performance by Chadwick Boseman of the film 42) by the director of THE HELP, Tate Taylor.
GET ON UP bursts into life whenever James Brown performs - whether in the studio or on stage. The choreography, songs, screaming and excitement are what made him famous and the film tick.
On the editing side, the film is a complete mess, all over the place. But director Tate probably wanted a non-chronological narrative. So, the film begins with a shotgun wielding James Brown at a auto seminar immediately following him transported on a plane to perform for the Vietnam soldiers. Then in one scene, there is the car broken down, then another at a diner where a label scout is hunting down Brown and then a segment with Brown's private plane on the tarmac. His love life is shown sporadically on screen and one is never sure who his real woman is. It is not surprising then that his mother (Viola Davis) shows up out of the blue, only to disappear again without a trace. One is never too, know how one scene is going to lead. When you think the band is going to be right telling Brown off, the scene turns out the opposite way around. One realizes then, after seeing GET ON UP, how undisciplined THE HELP was, due to its long running length.
The biopic, like most, shows Brown's ups and especially downs. His wife beating, bad business sense (he never pays his band or keep finances) and vulgar outbursts are emphasized.
Boseman would likely earn himself an Oscar nomination for Best Actor given James Foxx's success with Ray Charles biopic RAY. Viola Davis does her dramatic best as Browns' mother but Octavia Spencer has only two scenes in the film as the surrogate mother. One scene has her telling the boy has the spirit - a key scene in the movie. But the other one has her dancing with the spectators during a performance.
The film is supposedly told non-chronologically as in the titles that list the year and the songs or Brown's nicknames as the film progresses. Still, the continuity is in question as the film is not hard to understand but hard to follow.
The film also concentrates on key segments on Brown's career such as the relationship between him and his promoter (Dan Akryod) which suddenly ends in a funeral scene followed by him (the promoter) collapsing from a heart attack during a gold game. But Taylor does not attempt to link the relationship to any other part of the narrative., except to emphasize it as a highlight in Brown's life. As such the many highlights are displayed with no connectivity except it being the timeline in Brown's life. At least the film ends with his Brown's death on Christmas Day.
Running at 133 minutes, the biopic runs too long and bores after it fails to engage this viewer. Boseman's performance and the the energetic songs are not enough to lift the film to the heights of Brown's achievements.
Trailer: http://www.getonupmovie.com/post/79573996508/teaser-trailer
Directed by James Gunn
The third action blockbuster screening 3 days in a row, after LUCY and HERCULES can be a bit much even for the avid film critic. And that is after TRANSFORMERS and SNOWPIERCER the last 2 weeks. Again this is not the first Marvel comic book adaptation on screen this year, so watching GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY can prove quite tiring.
It does not help that the story or premise provide nothing new to the genre. Like a cartoon version of THE DIRTY DOZEN or THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, a band of prisoners are picked up to save the galaxy. An orb of some sort is supposed to be the prize catch and there is an assortment of villains wearing masks and speaking with coarse voices that makes the whole enterprise look like STAR WARS. But do not be mistaken, this is formulaic, copied in everyday, with supposedly smart talk from each of the troop of heroes, complete with what is supposedly catchy tunes from the past.
The band of heroes is led by Star-Lord or Peter Qui (Chris Pratt). The band includes ext Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and two animated characters Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket, a genetically engineered racoon (Bradley Cooper). Everyone appears to want to put their two cents worth of smart talk and one liners into the film, from start to finish. This gets pretty tiring, not to mention that the one-liners are not that hilarious.
Gunn directed SUPER and SLITHER and appears unable to surprise audiences in any manner. Worst of all, language, nudity and violence have been toned down for this film which is obviously catered towards a family friendly audience.
The 3D and special effects are all right and up to par for an action pic like this blockbuster production. But the audience should be able to expect more than banter from a racoon voiced by Bradley Cooper and repeated dialogue like "I am Groot" from Vin Diesel.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B16Bo47KS2g
Directed by Woody Allen
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT opens impressively with a Chinese magic theatrical show in Berlin 1928. The theatre is packed full with an audience all impeccably dressed and there is a live elephant on stage. Woody Allen's film never matches this feat, but as in every Allen film, there are enough neat touches, sly humour and references from his previous films to satisfy his fans.
The Chinese conjuror is Wei Ling Soo (Colin Firth) the most celebrated magician of his age. In real life, he is Stanley Crawford, a grouchy and arrogant Englishman with a sky-high opinion of himself and an aversion to phoney spiritualists' claims that they can perform real magic. Persuaded by his life-long friend, Howard Burkan (Simon McBurney), Stanley goes on a mission to the Côte d'Azur mansion of the Catledge family: mother Grace (Jacki Weaver), son Brice (Hamish Linklater), and daughter Caroline. He presents himself as a businessman named Stanley Taplinger in order to debunk the alluring young clairvoyant Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) who is staying there with her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). But it is romance in the air in this Allen movie, with Stanley falling for Sophie.
The MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT refers to the midnight drive of the couple, when the car breaks down and they take refuge from the rain in a planetarium. This is the part when the two fall in love. But the segment is highly reminiscent of the run for cover from the rain with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in ANNIE HALL.
But despite the film's flaws, Allen's film is gorgeous to look at. He always utilizes the services of the best cinematographers, in this case the French Iranian Darius Khondji (EVITA, DELICATESSEN) who has worked with Allen twice before. The film is set in the 30's but there are no Cole Porter music here though the selection of tunes is impressive.
The romantic chemistry between Firth and Stone does not really work, as the 30-year difference between the two is clearly visible. But this is an Allen film and age difference seldom make a difference, as in MANHATTAN and Allen's real life. The segment in which Stanley, Sophie and her mother go swimming is indicative of that. Firth does not show his body only his arms resting on a rock. In a previous shot, the age difference of the couple is emphasized with Sophie's fiancé (Hamish Linklater) looking very comfortable in sexy bathing trunks in comparison.
The segment in which Stanley believes that Sophie is for real occurs too suddenly - especially when this event is followed by a press conference. The same flaw occurs when Stanley suddenly realizes the futility of prayer when he regains his senses. But Allen treats his film like a whodunit saving the revelation of the mystery's solution at the very end.
At one point in the film, Stanley Crawford verbally despises the spiritualists that prey on the gullible but then goes on to say that the gullible are so stupid they deserve it. In a weird referenced way, Allen is insulting his audience for believing everything he (the director who weaves his magic) puts on screen. But Allen uses cheap tricks like the re-entry of Sophie Baker back into Stanley's life.
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT is average Allen, using reused tricks with little surprises with some lazy writing. The only turns in the film is a bit more philosophy on life thrown in at the film's end. The film comes across more like used tricks rather than real magic in he moonlight.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAwbwKURvm0
THE ZERO THEOREM (UK/France/Romania 2013) ***Directed by Terry Gilliam
THE ZERO THEOREM, the latest film from Monty Python's Terry Gilliam (BRAZIL, TWELVE MONKEYS) is as eccentric a film its main character, Qohen Leth (Christoph Waltz), a programmer that has the job 'crunching entities' for the company Mancom. The theme of meaning of life appears in the film as a major concern for Qohen. He is supposed to get an important phone call for the answer which he eagerly awaits.
He gets in trouble with management (Matt Damon) and assigned Dr Shrink-Rom (Tilda Swinton) while his supervisor Joby (David Thewlis) toys around with him. Qohen has a fling with Bainsley (Melanie Thierry) on a beach,which is the highlight of his existence.
The dystopian future depicted here is absurdist as in Kafka-ish logic. Human beings form an insignificant part of the big machine that ultimately does nothing. The actual Zero Theorem described in the film is absurdly comical too.
The script is by Pat Rushin who was inspired by the Book of Ecclesiastes. It was reported that after writing a 145-page draft, he admitted he had no idea what he was doing. It shows in the film though this is not necessarily a bad thing. The film flows without a strong narrative, but this gives director Gilliam more play with his material. He milks it with all that is imaginative worth with the result of a Monty Pythonish logic type film except without the humour.
The film's highlight are the amazing visuals. Like THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, the inventive innovation found in the exterior shots are mind blowing from talking lips advertising billboards to the surreal beach swim segment. The interiors with massive computers and peripheral machinery would delight BRAZIL fans. The streets and buildings are instantly recognizable instantly as the Soho London area with the Zip cars whizzing past. The CGI special effects are mostly used in Qohen's dreams and computer.
Director Gilliam called this film the final of his dystopian satire trilogy after BRAZIL and TWELVE MONKEYS. But the film is nowhere as good as those two classics. It has, however, the same feel in look and atmosphere with his last film THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS and hopefully would not be as forgettable.
The film has a limited run in Toronto and also available on VOD. The colourful and visual ecstatic film is best seen on the big screen.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhatScsOQhc
Doc: Life Itself
Romance: They Came Together
HERCULES and LUCY, two action packed blockbusters open this week.
Directed by Rob Reiner
AND SO IT GOES is billed as a romantic comedy drama. Directed by Rob Reiner (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, STAND BY ME and Meathead in ALL IN THE FAMILY), one can expect the film to waver closer to emotional tear-jerker territory than laugh out loud humour. One wishes Rob had more of his father's (Carl Reiner) sense of humour. The father directed really funny comedies like OH, GOD!, THE JERK and a lot of other Steve Martin comedies.
No luck here, the humour is only slight and Rob Reiner's film leans safely on what works in the past. The script is also careful not to offend anyone. If a black couple is singled out as not good real-estate subjects, the fault is corrected with an intelligent black couple who have all the bright dialogue following. Diane Keaton, who has been starring these days in too many elderly romantic films, does a variation of her ANNIE HALL 'lah-dee-dah' routine that worked for her in the Woody Allen days.
As in Carl Reiner films, Carl always gives himself a small role in his films. Rob follows his dad's footsteps, playing the bumbling not-too-observant pianist for singer Leah (Keaton).
The story concerns an egoistic realtor, Oren (Michael Douglas) who has lost all compassion since his wife passed away from cancer. A twist of fate forces him to look after his granddaughter, Sarah (Sterling Jerins) who takes after Oren's neighbour Leah (Keaton). But this is a romance of when Oren met Leah with slight variations thrown in.
Reiner throws in lots of sentimental songs from "Both Sides Now" to "Shadow of Your Smile". He also required Keaton to cry on cue, which she seems to have no problem doing. JERSEY BOYS fans will like the cameo from Frankie Valli.
As the title of the film goes, AND SO IT GOES. This is not an exceptional film but an ok one, and so it goes!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rNfgLbwJIA
Directed by Brett Ratner
The second HERCULES film after the dismal failure earlier this year of Lionsgate's THE LEGEND OF HERCULES is expected to be a hit as Ratner's (X-MEN, RUSH HOUR) film is as formulaic as it gets. The only thing left out is a romantic slant, that no one would want anyway in a film about a macho-man with huge muscles set in Ancient Greece.
Having endured his legendary twelve labours according to legend, Hercules (Dwayne Johnson, looking really ugly unshaven but extremely buffed), the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace (John Hurt) and his daughter (Rebecca Ferguson) seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord. But this is based on the Radical Comics' Hercules by Steve Moore, so this ensemble-action film takes a revisionist take on the classic myth. Whether Hercules here is a God or human is up to the audience to decide, but the formulaic message of being one own hero is a well-worn one.
Hercules appears here with a band of fighters. But they don't seem to do that much and are not that distinguishable one from another, except for Atalanta (Ingrid Bolso Berdal), the only female warrior in the group and the young storyteller, Iolaus (Reece Ritchie).
The film can be seen in 3D as well as in IMAX. Most of the battle scenes are exciting enough and I have never seen that many arrows coming out of the screen as in this film. But once the CGI comes to play, with the thousands of characters seen in battle on screen, the film starts looking ridiculous like a video game.
Ratner plays his film for a bit of fun, so one can hardly tell if he taking the Hercules myth seriously or not. He keeps the film as an action pic, but one remembers that he is a director too, of comedies like the RUSH HOUR movies and the upcoming BEVERLY HILLS COP 4. The script contains a few unexpected plot twists towards the end that keeps the film interesting. But it is basically the same old story, and with an action blockbuster appearing every week, one would expect something fresher than another son of Zeus pic set in ancient time.
HERCULES is a Ratner film. So expect a fast paced action film with humour be it a forgettable one.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi459057689/
Directed by Mike Cahill
Originally screened at Sundance, I ORIGINS, the second sci-fi romance from Mike Cahill writer/director of ANOTHER EARTH, I ORIGINS is also a sci-fi romance but tamed down a notch, thankfully from ANOTHER EARTH. I ORIGINS is more credible and the romance more believable while toned down as well.
It all starts at a Halloween party and a sex fling with PHD student Ian Grey (Michael Pitt). The two eventually wed and have a blissful marriage. As he is a doctorate in molecular biology or something, specializing in the 'iris', he photographs her eye. He attains fame while doing research with Karen (Brit Marling), who Sophie (Astrid Bergés-Frisbey), the new wife gets intensely jealous with. The tables are turned when Sophie dies of a freak accident. He marries Karen and they have a child. He finds Sofie's iris in a database with an identical one from girl in India. He travels there to make a remarkable discovery.
The remarkable discovery is revealed (not to be spoiled here) and the film fizzles to the end. Despite the rather ingenuous plot, Cahill's film is extremely slow and 'moody' as its main lead actor Michael Pitt. Pitt loves to brood and brood.
Despite story's inclination to the iris, no reference has been made to the naturopathic subject of Iridology which is the study of a patient's past medical history as captured by a shot of the human iris. Here, the novelty is that no two humans can have the same eye. But hey! No two humans can have the same fingerprint. So a film could have more easily been made about two humans with the same thumbprint.
Another flaw of the story is the sudden shift of focus from the son Tobias's autism tests to the discovery of the Indian girl's identical eye. It seems that Cahill has lost focus of his story which results in the film losing whatever message he wants to deliver.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPuoWzLjhFo&feature=kp
LUCY (France 2014) **
Directed by Luc Besson
Excellent premise and trailer that sadly does not transform into the exciting film that is expected of French Master Luc Besson. LUCY combines the femme fatale of NIKITA and LE CINQUIEME ELEMENT with the innocent Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) forced to transport a satchel of drugs sewn into her body. When her body absorbs some of the chemicals, her brains begin operating at higher capacity from over 10 % to 100% by the film's climax.
To tie in credibility to the plot, the script by Besson incorporates a character who is a professor and expert of brain neurology, Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman). As he lectures his students, the audience is fed cinematic sci-fi bullshit that somehow sounds credible to action movie fans. The audience is delighted then when Lucy uses her super powers to turn the tables on her enemies that include drug dealers, Korean thugs or anyone who stands in her way.
Besson is known for his cinematic excesses. One can become immune to them quite soon. After all the shootings, bloodshed and violence, the segment in which Lucy puts her hand into a carrier's body to retrieve another satchel of CPH4 hardly seems shocking any more. The film works better in the first third where there are lots of action with Lucy thrashing all her Korean captors. Once the film settles into its sci-fi component, the momentum slows down and interest wanes. It is worse when Besson begins displaying his style of philosophy on life, knowledge and the future. The last part of the film, a high adrenaline paced 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY segment looks silly and does not really come off as believable or innovative. There are points that could have turned the film around. The sweet kiss Lucy plants on her French detective, Pierre Del Rio (Amr Waked) is not developed into any romance. Nothing is known too, about Lucy's family except for a brief call she makes to her mother. The reason she is abroad studying is just left hanging. (All is said in the film is that she has to study for examinations.)
Besson builds up the film's pace with Lucy's brain raging from 20% to 99% to final 100% utilization. But what occurs on screen, action-wise does not match the brain build-up.
Still it is entertaining fun to see an attractive lady (like Anne Parrillaud in NIKITA) kick butt. All else, like the rest of the film looks pale in comparison.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnKVv8Lp_xU
A MOST WANTED MAN (USA 2014) ****Directed by Anton Corbijn
The film begins with a brutally tortured half-Chechen, half-Russian Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) turning up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill-gotten fortune. Both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - innocent oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist.
It should be clear to anyone contemplating watching this film that this is a John Le Carre spy adaptation. So, don't expect any James Bond type action fare with pyrotechnics and car chases. In fact the only car chase lasts maybe 20 seconds at the climax of the film. But this is a spy film, in which the pleasure derives from having to decipher a story that is here, compelling to an attentive audience. Still, the film is not as difficult to follow compared to the last Le Carre film SOLDIER, TAILOR, TINKER, SPY.
The script is by Andrew Bovell, responsible for the excellent Aussie flick, LANTANA, a sort of detective whodunit years back. Corbijn's best film is CONTROL which displayed Joy Divison's lead singer's downward spiral from fame. There is much to be praised in the film. One is its meticulously calculated humour. The element of Good Spy, Bad Spy is incorporated in the interrogation of Issa's lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams). This, combined with the debate on "Why are we doing all this?" make both good subtle and out-front humour.
The story is centred on Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an out of luck spy in charge of a small, low-profile intelligence, invisible unit dedicated to tracking Hamburg's large Muslim community, in which the terrorists's U.S. attack was plotted. He tracks Issa's arrival. But the other groups are also after Issa, wanting to take him out before more can be used out of the situation. Issa works through a human rights lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams) while laying a claim to the contents of his late father's account in a private German bank headed by Thomas Brue (Willem Dafoe).
Hoffman, once again proves himself almost perfect in the role of the tortured hero trying to do his best with limited resources working under extreme pressure and against time. Though his last role is in the upcoming final HUNGER GAMES series, this is his last big leading role. His performance is worth the price of admission, if not for anything else. The supporting cast, both young and older is just as perfect. And the city of Hamburg, with its dull and muted colours add to the perfect picture.
The film's best 2 segments deserve mention. One is the chase on foot between Issa and Annabel and Gunther's men. Both are good sides and the audience is at this point torn to whether they want the two to escape or not to escape. It is an emotion never or very rarely felt in a chase film before. The other is set in a bar where Gunther angrily punches up a another customer abusing his girl, which convinces Gunter's American date/observer to give him more time. in the assignment.
The best thing about this film's is its effectiveness as a thriller despite the lack of a villain. The only evil forces on display are the human elements of pride and impatience which clearly make their point in the film's climax.
A MOST WANTED MAN is a most satisfying spy film that still manages to surprise with a twist ending. As a bonus, a discreet message, not a positively one like the unhappy ending is presented but it is swell observed intelligent one - like Corbijn's film itself. A highly recommended film for the thinking man!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYORzJ3e-Og&feature=kp
The Disney animated PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE opens with SEX TAPE, a naughty romantic comedy. Other openings include Canada's CINEMANOVELS, SNOWPIERCER, BOYHOOD and WISH I WAS HERE.
Directed by Richard Linklater
BOYHOOD is the intriguing notion of a movie 12 years in the making. A short film is shot every year for 12 years so that the primary character, a boy is seen actually growing and maturing from boyhood to the time he goes to college.
The film's most absorbing segment involves the one with the boy's step father, a college professor who marries the mother, only to turn out to be an abusive alcoholic. The film bares a tense similarity to Ingmar Bergman's FANNY AND ALEXANDER regarding child abuse. And the film is extremely tense and frightening, something rare in a Linklater movie. Unfortunately, the film never reaches this height again.
BOYHOOD suffers from the same flaws as Linklater's BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE MIDNIGHT improvisation drama films. Some parts are manipulative and the same feel occurs in BOYHOOD. The segment in which Ethan Hawke teaches his daughter and son about safe sex comes off as too smug. The film takes off though when the country style music sets in. This is when the film glides on naturally and has an easy flow.
Patricia Arquette delivers an Oscar winning performance as the single mother of two kids that goes through more marriages in order to stabilize her family life. Arquette shows both vulnerability and strength, sexiness as well as a fading beauty that has now become a mother. Hawke, the perpetual smooth talker talks himself out of most of his difficulties in the film. But the two kid actors are superb. One wonders the reason Linklater picked the boy instead of the girl (his real daughter) as the protagonist in the film. He could go either way.
BOYHOOD is more interesting as a project than what has turned out. Unfortunately, in the 12 years, something got lost in the way. Linklater's film runs way too long at 160 minutes with a cop-out ending. But the most important question is whether anyone cares for the kid? The audience did at the start but the filming got lost in the way with the character developing into a slacker from a victim.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-mbHXyWX4&feature=kp
CINEMANOVELS (Canada 2013) **
Directed by Terry Miles
The Canadian film CINEMAVOVELS, shot in Vancouver tells the story of a young woman, Grace (Lauren Lee Smith) prepares a memorial film retrospective for her late estranged father, his work begins to influence her life in strange and significant ways.
Miles has worked before with bother Jennifer Beals and Smith. Their last film A NIGHT FOR FLYING TIGERS also observed destructive relationships.
Director Miles does not create a very likeable heroine. It is often that a viewer connects with the lead and liking the film often follows liking the lead. Grace here, cheats on her husband, rampages into her father's mistress' house, makes no effort to plan the retrospective for her father and tells off her confidante (Jennifer Beals).
There is a scene in which Grace appears upset with Ben for falling asleep when they both watch one of her father's past films. This is counteract to her ignoring all other father's films before his death, so who is she to suddenly judge?
Ben Cotton is the ideal actor to portray Ben, the sleazy, weirdly off husband, Ben He comes right across from the start as a bit of a weirdo, which director Miles uses t maximum effect especially in the sex scene,
The idea of showing clips of the father's successful art films imply that director Miles is capable for doing the same. But what appears on screen is far from similar. Making up unconnected segments with artsy looks and odds dialogue like: "Don't wear underwear," comes across as unintentionally funny. Miles' intentionally funny parts, however, like the sexual innuendo segment are nut funny at all. The central ideal of the film of art imitating life an vice versa is also a well worn up hem especially in the Woody Allen films.
Though there is nothing major wrong with CINEMANOVELS, the film just plods along. One wishes for something more drastic or exciting to happen in Mile's effort. The film feels like Woody Allen film with much less humour and fewer characters.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yal5FzNXe4k
Directed by Roberts Gannaway
PLANES: RESCUE & FIRE or simply PLANES 2 is the third of the Disney toy vehicle animated features after CARS and PLANES. PLANES was original made intended straight for video, so like that one, not that much money had been invested into production of this latest feature. It shows though the film will undoubtedly be a big money maker (with the toys tie-in) for Disney Studios.
PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE inherits all the same problems with the initial two of the series. It is difficult to identify vehicles to human beings. The vehicles have no arms or legs, just painted eyes and a smiling mouth. It is also difficult to identify one vehicle from the other, though director Gannaway (director of other Disney videos - this is his first feature) has gone through great lengths to make them distinguishable from one another, such as voice, size and colour of the planes.
The central character is once again Dusty (Voiced by Dane Cook) who now is unable to race due to faulty engine parts which cannot be replaced due to absolution of Dusty's damaged parts. Dusty opts to join the firefighters under Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) and applies to get certification. In the process, he proves his bravery and of course, saves the day with the possibility of another film in the making.
One must admire the filmmakers for trying very hard to humanize the story and to provide a fresh look to the story-line. But it is still a monumental task and the film fails to engage from start to finish. The film plays it safe and formulaic, a fixed trait in Disney films that have proven time and again to bring in money for their films. But critically-wise, there is little that have not been seen here before.
It does not help that the film lacks a true evil villain. The park superintendent with his eye for money appears to be the best the story can come up with. But the fire fighting scenes (the film is shot for 3-D and real 3-D and all that) are stunning to look at and aids distracting of the film's lack of a strong narrative.
The jokes are plentiful but not that funny. Rudy Rotter is a character and the big party is held at the 'fusilage'. The music is mostly country western to tie in with audiences that favour working with vehicles in their spare time.
The film contains a few eye-opening information bits like the red spray used by the fire fighting planes to control the forest fires. The film is dedicated (as indicated in the opening credits) to firefighters who have risk their lives to saver others. That is as inspirational as the film gets.!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzWygkJlGcQ
Directed by Jake Kasdan
A simple bawdy premise of a married couple, Annie (Cameron Diaz) and Jay (Jason Segel) filming their own sex tape that is accidentally uploaded on the internet turns out to be a tired one-joke unfunny comedy.
Besides the main plot, the subplots involve the couple trying to steal an iPad from her new prospective boss, Hank (Rob Lowe) with their friends, Robby (Rob Corddry) and Tess (Ellie Kemper); then breaking into a YouPorn facility to retrieve their tape and a few other unfunny unimaginative ones. The result is a total bore lasting a full 90 minutes.
Segel has lost a whole lot of weight since his FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and actually looks slim and sexy enough for this sex video comedy that has to include 'mild' sex scenes. He and Diaz both bare skin. But like their marriage that has lost the spark, Diaz and Segel lack the chemistry that makes a good romantic screen couple. Their kissing less sex scenes make the audience feel terribly uncomfortable.
Kasdan's film has no flow or pacing and the script primarily written by Kate Angelo is short on laughs and uninspired comedic set-ups. A typical unfunny segment involves 5 minutes of Jay getting off Annie's roller blades before having sex.
The only pleasant surprise is a cameo appearance by Jack Black as the head of a YouPorn facility turning in the most non-irritating performance of his career.
There is nothing much else to say about this bad film except for the fact that I laughed only once. This has to do with the repeated joke of eccentric Hank hanging portraits of his face in weird film scenes around his mansion.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UONPSa1VgWw
SNOWPIERCER (USA/South Korea 2013) ****
Directed by Bong Joon-Ho
SNOWPIERCER is nasty piece of work. The film is disturbing in the sense that it highlights the evil in man from start to finish and seen in both the hero and various villains. At one point, the film got so intense I was almost unable to bear watching what is occurring on screen. But don't get me wrong. Bong's (MOTHER, THE HOST, MEMORIES OF MURDER - all excellent films) is literally a hell of a ride from start to finish filled sight spectacular special effects with hardly a dull moment.
SNOWPIERCER is based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceniege by Jacques Lob. It was reported that Bong was so enthralled by the novel that he read it from start to end at the book shelf. A labour of love, the film cost $40 million to make and has already grossed double that in South Korea. Surprising that The Weisntein Company is playing down this rather awesome film.
In 2014, an experiment to counteract global warming causes an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth. The only survivors are the inhabitants of SNOWPIERCER, a massive train, powered by a perpetual-motion engine, that travels on a globe-spanning track. A class system is installed, with the elites inhabiting the front of the train and poor inhabiting the tail. The train circles the earth once every year.
The film takes place in 2031. There is a slight flaw here in that the Jamie Bell character, Edgar was a baby when the train began and 2031 makes him the age of a mere 17. Bell looks young but 17 is pushing it. The hero of the piece is Curtis (Chris Evans) leading the tail inhabitants in revolt, forcing their way through several train cars to the prison section. There, they release prisoner Namgoong Minsu (Song Kang-ho), the man who built the doors dividing each car, and his daughter Yona (Go Ah-sung). They offer him Kronol, an addictive drug, as payment for unlocking the remaining doors. The film is highlighted by several villains, the best of which is Mason (Tilda Swinton), ready to betray anyone for her own purpose.
The film is shot in various languages, English, Korean and a little French included and includes an international cast. But the logistics of the train is what steals the show. The train's interior is frighteningly claustrophobic while the exterior is a frozen ice age. The battle scenes are inventive (in the dark when the train enters a tunnel) and a kaleidoscope of colours and riches as Curtis and his men advance towards the front of the train. The climax includes a good plot twist, indicating that story is of prime importance in any film including an action blockbuster.
But the film is not without humour. The kids classroom segment in which the children are brainwashed by 'teacher' (Alison Pill) is both laugh-out loud hilarious and satirical.
SNOWPIERCER will inevitably be compared to the Hollywood blockbuster TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION due to the proximity of their releases. It is wishful thinking that SNOWPIERCER will get the credit it deserves, if not make a portion of the money it deserves at the box-office.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6UmqNuMdY4&feature=kp
WISH I WAS HERE (USA 2014) ***Directed by Zac Braff
From the writer/actor/director of the cult Sundance hit GARDEN STATE, WISH I WERE HERE again playing an actor dealing with his father Saul's (Mandy Patinkin) upcoming death due to cancer. In GARDEN STATE, it was the mother's death.
As Braff is Jewish, his film is naturally Jewish as well. Aidan Bloom (Braff) sends his children to a private Jewish school. The script contains lots of Hebrew words and the film is filled with Jewish jokes, which are actually quite funny.
WISH I WAS HERE is a comedy drama dealing with death and relationships. The family is stressed as the number one importance. ("If you don't believe in God, believe in family!" - is a line in the movie. Aidan is always keeping the kids and his wife (Kate Hudson). As the 'death' topic is rather heavy, Braff fills his film with lots of jokes. "What are you growing?" Saul asks at one point, "Typhoid of Hepatitis B?" referring to his son's empty pool. The jokes elevate the movie over dreariness for sure.
Braff, quite a good-looker judging from all the magazine shoots he has been in, mopes around the film, unshaven and with hair dishevelled most of the time. Braff is generous to give his co-star Kate Hudson the best looks as well as the script's best lines, as in the daughter-in-law/father death bed scene.
WISH I WERE HERE is as good as GARDEN STATE though less inventive, and is the typical indie film that emerges from Sundance.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCponfeWNOI&feature=kp
Directed by Sara Driver
TIFF Cinematheque presents indie filmmaker Sara Driver. She will introduce her 58-minute feature, a low budget but mesmerizing work elegantly shot by Jim Jarmusch.
Directed by Driver and written by Jarmusch, YOU ARE NOT I follows a woman that walks as if unseen and not much unlike the undead. The narrative voice over informs the audience on what is going on, so that the audience is not in the dark like the protagonist. Slow moving but never dull, the film has been appropriately described as a dreamlike psychodrama reminiscent of David Lynch's ERASERHEAD.
YOU ARE NOT I will be preceded by the 10-minute short entitled THE BOWERY - SPRING 1994, a deftly edited but exhaustive portrait of the infamous Lower East Side neighbourhood, tracing its history from one-time prominence to the prototypical Skid Row.
Trailer: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlc0ld_you-are-not-i-trailer_shortfilms
(Special Screening is on July 24th at 630pm at Bell Lightbox)
Doc: Whitey: United States V. James J. Bulger
The Ape movie DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES breaks into theatres this weekend. Other openings include the documentaries LIFE AGAIN and DOC OF THE DEAD.
BEGIN AGAIN (USA 2014) **Directed by John Carney
Writer/director John Carney is the wonder behind the small budget hit Irish movie ONCE that went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song "Falling Slowly" that also spawned a Tony Award wining musical and a documentary about the film. ONCE celebrated the romance between two musicians united by their love of music. the actors were new, they wrote the hit song and their performances demonstrated sincerity and honesty.
BEGIN AGAIN follows in the footsteps of ONCE and might be appropriately be entitled TWICE. Again, the two leads are musicians both caught this time with bad relationships. They find each other with romance slowly blooming, and again the relationship united by the love of music. But this time, the story is set in NYC instead of Dublin and the film features big names stars Kiera Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in the leading roles instead of unknown songwriters. They do a good job though they lack the sincerity of the unknowns in ONCE.
BEGIN AGAIN, as the title implies tells of the story of starting over again. The film devotes equal time to the two leads Gretta (Knightley) ,a Brit songwriter/singer in NYC after a breakup with Dave (Adam Levine). While performing a song at a pub, she meets Dan (Ruffalo), an out of luck music label executive separated from his wife (Catherine Keener). It does not help yo include an estranged relationship between Dan and his daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) into the already cliched plot.
Besides telling an already familiar tale, BEGIN AGAIN offers none of the freshness of ONCE. The songs Knightley croons are also nothing memorable or catchy. The result is a a boring romantic drama about a couple no one really cares about.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTRCxOE7Xzc
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (USA 2014) **Directed by Matt Reeves
The third in the reboot of the PLANET OF THE APES films, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES exist in the series quite different from the original series. (The third one was ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES). DAWN takes place 10 years after the last RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, where the human race was threatened at the end of the film by a deadly virus while the apes escaped to the Muir Woods in northern San Francisco.
Everything in the RISE movie is gone in DAWN, except for a found video of the human character (that does not look like James Franco) nursing a baby Caesar. DAWN begins with a rather clumsy assembled footage explaining the current apocalyptic state of the human race. The human race disappears like the lights of a training aid going out. The footage is mixed fake and genuine CNN News type that even includes a speech by President Obama. Then the silliness continues with the ape colony and a hunting sequence in which the son of Caesar is taught n important lesson, almost being killed by a bear. "Think Before You Act!"
The next 15 minutes have the apes communicate in a mixed grunt sign language with the apes slowly graduating into the English language, with no real reason given. The human race is supposedly extinct until humans suddenly appear who suddenly need power within the next 2 weeks to survive.
As if the plot does not get sillier but the human are able to re-generate power from the dam, never mind the fact that relays are broken down and wires worn out.
The film takes a whole two thirds of its running time before any action starts. Director Reeves takes his movie too seriously. The film take turns with ape vs.ape, human vs. human and ape vs. human in repeated boring sequences before one can say enough is enough.
Actor Andy Serkis has been praised for his great acting in motion capture, but it this really acting or ape imitation? Jason Clarke and Keri Russell deliver unmemorable lead performances. The usually good Gary Oldman cannot do much with his cliched role as Dreyfus, a human leader.
The sight of apes swinging in the Muir Woods hanging from branches in 3D is impressive enough to draw audiences to pay money to watch this film. The special effects and spectacle are the film's the saving points.
The scariest thing about DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is that the sequel is already in the making with the same director Reeves at the helm. The storyline has run out, DAWN had ended just the same way it began with the humans and apes at a stand-off. This film might be proof that human beings are not the smartest race.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sHMCRaS3ao&feature=kp
Directed by Alexandre Philippe
Everything you always wanted to know about zombies but never knew what to ask! DOC OF THE DEAD is the definitive documentary about zombies from its origin (the first movie was WHITE ZOMBIE) to its roots in black slavery to its re-invention through George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD movies.
There are lots of interviews taken from venues from Comicon and zombie conventions that include zombie celebrities like Romero himself, Sid Haig, director Alex Cox, Simon Clegg (director of SHAUN OF THE DEAD) and other notables. The film also records various zombie walks around the world and talks to organization selling zombie survival kits. This is not that far-fetched an idea after diseases like mad-cow and mad-human disease have become widespread. Philippe's film is quite exhaustive in dealing with its topic. One cannot complain. But the film is truly dedicated to zombie fans all round the world. If you are not one of them, you would find the entire exercise very strange though still fascinating. I could do with a lot more footage of zombie films though.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHLS2PwMKs
Directed by Steve James
Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, STEVIE) directs the documentary of America's most definitive main stream film critic Roger Ebert that recounts the inspiring and entertaining life of world-renowned film critic and social commentator.
The film begins with Ebert's rise to fame, his winning of the Pulitzer Prize, then settling a great deal of its middle section to the relationship with Gene Siskel with their hit show Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. The film ends on a more sombre note with his fight with cancer. Running close to 2 hours, director James has lots to reveal about the man. But the problem is that as an interviewee says on the film, Ebert is a nice man but not that nice. So, to be an entertaining doc, James also shows the proud, egoistical and stubborn side of the man. But eventually, Ebert is humbled by his cancer (though I do not wish this on anybody), forced only to be jovial at a very unpleasant situation.
Also deserving mention is the much unknown family life of Ebert. He married a black woman, Chaz and had children. They were a loving couple. Chaz remained true to Ebert right to the very end - something that is beautiful in real life and also beautiful to be seen on screen.
As Ebert put it very well at the film's start, what his life and indeed everyone else's is too. A big movie in which we are the film's players. Steve James has made an exhaustive documentary of Roger Ebert.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4SgwBRq-fU
Foreign: Like Father Like Son
In Conversation With... Mamoru Oshii
The visionary director of the fantastically influential anime hit Ghost in the Shell joins TIFF Cinemtheque for this rare onstage interview to discuss his long and multifaceted career in animation, live action, television, film, radio and manga.
Date: Saturday July 12, 2014 (at 18h30)
A series of films by Oshii is also programmed. Capsule reviews for 2 of the films follow the article below.
Director Oshii will also be present to introduce the screenings of GHOST IN THE SHELL on July 12 and THE SKY CRAWLERS on July 13.
For complete program listing, venue and ticket pricing, please check the TIFF Cinematheque website at:
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE (Japa 2014) **
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE is the sequel and very elaborate and ambitious sequel to Number 1 and the first manga film screened at Cannes. Set in 2032 in Public Security Section 9, whatever that means, the story follows operative cyborg Batou teamed with the more human Togusa investigating a series of deaths reaped to gynoids, doll-like sex robots. The gynoid company Locus Solus turns out to be tied to the Yakuza and the plot thickens and confuses. Into all this, director Oshii infuses his philosophy an thoughts with references to fantasy, Zen, philosophy and sci-fi. The references are too many to list and the quotations too abstract at times to make any sense. Despite the attention to detail of the anime and the great deal of work involved, GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 remains too confusing to follow and impossible to comprehend.
THE SKY CRAWLERS (Japan 2008) ***Directed by Mamoru Oshii
Feeling like last year's Hayao Miyazaki's THE WIND RISES, Oshii's film is similar to WWII fighter pilots stuck in the task of battle in the skies. This manga anime difference is that the pilots are half humans, Kildren that do not grow old, created for the sole purpose of fighting companies so that the world can live in peace. Human nature still craves the clash of battle, however, so private companies now stage "war as entertainment," creating fictional wars for ordinary people to read about in the paper. The film centres on a young man named Yuichi - has been newly assigned to a base in the fictional war, but with no memory of his past and a mysterious woman named Suito watching his every move. Yuichi is about to find that this made-up war isn't as harmless as it seems. Oshii's animation is a marvel with many animated segments looking like the real thing. His story is less confusing than GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 and this film is more watchable and entertaining.
Early Wednesday openings for DELIVER US FROM EVIL and TAMMY. Other openings include the documentary WHITEY UNITED STATES V. JAMES J. BULGER and the romance BEGIN AGAIN.
Directed By Scott Derrickson
From the hands of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, one can expect DELIVER IS FROM EVIL to get over-the-top in its execution and this it does in a formulaic way, again not uncommon in a Bruckheimer film. The film stresses from start to end that the story is based on actual accounts of a NYPD sergeant, and in the end credits actually gives credit to this sergeant's book "Beware the Night'. But judging from the film that includes an extended exorcism sequence, the writers, including Derrickson (as co-writer) have taken quite the few liberties.
DELIVER US FOM EVIL tells the story of Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), a New York cop who meets a Castilian/Hungarian renegade priest, Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), when he is pulled into a case -- a case which the priest convinces him, against the officer's religious beliefs, is demonically related. Together, they work to solve the case and combat the paranormal forces working against them.
The buddy cop movie begins with Ralph and his partner, Butler (Joel McHale) entering the cop cruiser. There is silence before they immediately start on a rant on the Red Sox, tossing insults and smart remarks, so much that it is obviously fixed to settle the two as good buddies who have worked with each other a long time. Director Derrickson (THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, SINISTER) gets the audience into the horrors pretty quickly with a beaten wife, a mother throwing her baby into a ditch and corpse eroding with flies emerging from the rot.
Everything that is predictable in a cop or horror movie is here. Ralph does not spend enough time with his wife and daughter. He spends too much time devoted to police work. He has to come to terms with his own sins before dealing with the demon. The Exorcist falls once again into the trap of the demon, distracted by his past deeds as in THE EXORCIST.
Derrickson is good with his scary parts and suspense (the lion and corpse segments deserve mention), but they do not all work. He seems at times, too serious with his material that they turn up funny - unless intentional, which seems unlikely.)
The film is a bit on the violent side and the story includes a bashing to the death of a child molester/killer. So, one might want to leave the kids at home for this film.
The scary scenes include a laughable one in which Ralph's daughter winds up her Jack-in-the-Box before going to sleep. The eerie nursery rhyme heard as the key unwinds together with the sound of her rolling stuff owl's head going 'Ha-ha-Hoo! Ha-ha-Hoo!" is a bit much! This shows to show that there is such a fine line between scary and downright silly.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL delivers an action horror flick that is occasionally a riot. Ha-Ha-Hoo! Ha-Ha-Hoo! as the owl rolls.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TgHldrvLrA
WHITEY: UNITED STATES V. JAMES J. BULGER (USA 2014) ***Directed by Joe Berlinger
James J. Bulger is U.S. most notorious Public Enemy righter after Bin Ladin. He terrorized Boston as a Mafia boss and has murdered close to a dozen victims including his girlfriend.
Documentarist Joe Berlinger is no stranger to court films. His LOST PARADISE of the West Memphis 3 convictions depicted the weaknesses of the U.S. judicial system and his latest doc about the persecution of notorious Mafia gangster James Bulger treads similar territory. The only difference is that Mr. Bulger is guilty as depicted from the film's first reel. Berlinger makes no excuse to like the guy and Bulger is shown as public enemy number one, a bully, a gangster, a liar and total no-gooder from the start to finish reel.
Berlinger's film often gets lost in the court's technical details. The case contains so many corrupt individuals from the gang to the FBI that it is difficult to keep track of who did what and who shot whom. The film gets more personal and more audience friendly when innocent victims are involved. One is the casual driver of a shooting victim who happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time. His son and wife are still grieving and give their effective say on how disappointed their are with the government.
Occasionally insightful and revealing (the forging of the informant files; Bulger's personal code of ethics) but also sprawling all over the place (the number of involved associates) at more than 2 hours, Berlinger's film is a mixed bag of tricks.
The final sentence of Bulger life sentences and 5 years for a man who has terrorizes and affected hundreds in his crime life style. It is a pity this unrepentant man will be long dead (but not forgotten) before his life sentence is up.
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/87605552
TIFF Cinematheque presents - Satyajit Ray
TIFF Cinematheque presents a landmark retrospective entitled The Sun and The Moon: The Films of Satyajit Ray, presenting one of the most important and influential bodies of work in international cinema with over 30 rare and restored features and shorts.
Running from July 3 to August 17, and curated by James Quandt, this major TIFF Cinematheque retrospective includes three of Ray's monumental trilogies: The Apu Trilogy, which established the lyrical visual and narrative style with which Ray became identified; the Calcutta Trilogy, comprised of three of Ray's skeptical, satirical, and politically engaged films; and The Final Trilogy, Ray's final three films.
Also included are the superb chamber drama Days and Nights in the Forest (1969); Devi (1960), an intoxicating story about the conflict of old and new India as it is waged over the body and soul of a shy young bride; Charulata (1964), a moving examination of women's status in the colonial world of Victorian-era Bengal; and The Music Room (1958), one of Ray's most magnificently visual films.
Accompanying the Ray retrospective is Passages to India: India Seen by Outsiders, running from July 5 to 27, a provocative sidebar surveying the work of eight European and American filmmakers whose outsiders' visions of India range from meditative documentary to delirious Orientalist artifice.
Full programme details at
Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkHR8rOg18Y
Capsule Review of selected films including the Apu Trilogy follows:
APARAJITO (India 1956) ****
Directed by Satyajit Ray
The opening credits state 1920 Benares. This is the second of Ray's Apu trilogy and sees the boy in the coming-of-age. Apu must choose between his love for studies and his filial duty towards his ill mother. Everyone in Ray's films are always ill, and this looks the case from the poverty and hygiene depicted in the eye-opening scenes. After living awhile in Benares, 10 year old Apu and his mother move in with her uncle in a small Bengali village. Apu enters a local school, where he does well. By the time he graduates, he has a scholarship to study at a college in Calcutta. So off he goes. Set in the 60's, it is a bit dated though interesting to note that new technology is depicted by the burst of a flame in oxygen, an oscilloscope and other elemental scientific facts now taken for granted. Apu's mother is torn by his leaving, and by his growing independence. This is a very powerful story of a hard life, how to cope the best one can and the tragedies that befall the poor.
CHARULATA (India 1965) ***
Satyajit Ray's most melodramatic movie about an unhappy wife of a successful publisher who falls in love with his brother, an academic devil-may-care lout who eventually leaves her for lack of commitment. All the usual details and Indian culture is present, as in Ray's other movies. But the incident on hand is the love drama between the two lovers, which are distracted by several other subplots, like the re-education of the literary side of the wife. the political climate then (though this actually takes off the monotony of the noncommittal relationship) and the card-playing and the Indian parties. The tile that appears at the screen at the end of the film "The Broken Nest" seems like a cop-out ending. As much as I admire Ray's films CHARULATA just does not do it for me, though it is beautifully shot.
DEVI (India 1960) ***Directed by Satyajit Ray
Ray's DEVI plays like a Shakespearean tragedy. It is 19th century rural Bengal, and Dayamoyee (Sharmila Tagore) and her husband Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) live with Umaprasad's family. The father, Kalikinkar Choudhuri, is a devoted follower of the goddess Kali. As Umaprasad is abroad at school, hell breaks loose when Dayamoyee takes care of her father-in-law. He believes her to be DEVI, an incarnation of the goddess. Ray's film is rich in stunning cinematography of the countryside while providing a real scary look on religion. The images of the goddesses' three eyes are the opening films' credits are indeed scary. This is slow moving film that eats one emotions. DEVI is not an easy film to watch but it is nonetheless quite beguiling.
THE MUSIC ROOM (India 1958) ****
The fiLm questions art above life. Is one is down on the last penny or gold coin in this instant, is it still worth to give a final concert in THE MUSIC ROOM? Ex-landowner Huzur Biswambhar Roy lives in a crumbling palace on the banks of a wide river, in the midst of an empty plain. His money is running out. For years he has had little to do, and only one passion, listening to concerts in his music room. His closest neighbour is despised moneylender Mahim Ganguly, a low-caste and vulgar, but hardworking and ambitious. Ray's film tells of the rift between the two as highlighted in the climax of he third of the music performances in the music room. The film moves at a leisurely pace, as in all of ray's films, and there is much to be observed in every detailed scene. The second music performance is hilariously funny while the third is mesmerizing. Ray also displays an Indian culture seldom seen on we tern screens. THE MUSIC ROOM is pure delight!
PATHER PANCHALI (India 1954) ***** Top 10
Ray's first film and my personal best of Ray's Apu Trilogy. PATHER sees Apu as he is born and raised as a kid while his older sister steals guavas from the neighbourhood orchard much to the chagrin of their mother who is unable to control her. Their father is away on business trying to send home money to clear debts and repair their old house. Again, Ray's film is a tragedy much inspiring in the way he evokes the human condition. He shows the good and bad of each of his characters, especially the mother. One scene has her beating up her daughter before throwing her out of the house and another at the end of the film hugging her crying when ill. But this is the first story of the hard life of Apu, how early childhood affects his adulthood in the later two films. Stunningly shot in black and white, PATHER is clearly one of the most moving and unforgettable films of all time.
THE WORLD OF APU (India 1959) ****
The third and final of the Apu Trilogy is the most gut wrenching and emotional. Ray provides unforgettable scene such as the son throwing a stone at his father, Apu's beautiful bride descending the stairs and Apu stretching out in the monsoon rains. Apu is grown up, and get hitched into a marriage that eventually works out for him. Apu and his bride develop the love of their lives. But as in Ray's films, tragedy strikes. She dies giving birth to their son. Apu blames his son for her death and the rest of the film is his coming to term with the truth. Ray's film is not easy to watch, like his others and this one even more so. But Ray offers his audience a slice of life rarely seen - in busy Calcutta and rural India. THE WORLD OF APU is a beautiful and stunning movie, no doubt and puts Ray up there as one of the greatest directors ever lived.
TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION is the big Michael Bay blockbuster that should wipe out all other competitors at the box-office.
THE PIN (Canada 2012) **1/2
Directed by Naomi Jaye
THE PIN is a minimalist romance set during World War II. As much of the action (or non-action) takes place between a young Jewish girl (Milda Gecaite) and a boy (Grisha Pasternak) in a barn for the entire film's running time, production costs are low. This might be the first film set in WWWII about the Nazis with no Nazis on screen.
The girl is in hiding in the barn, her only memories being of her family taken away. The boy, has escaped, after being buried alive in a shallow grave full of corpses. and also at the barn. The two have sex, artistically done by Jaye using lots of silouhettes.
The pin of the title refers to the prop the girl wants to be pricked so that she knows she is not dead. She has nightmares of not being able to move, being buried alive. THE PIN is a haunting tale, moving precariously slow, though nothing much is happening. There is a segment in which the boy tells the girl a fairy tale followed by her retelling of the tale. Segment lasts a full 5 minutes. THE PIN is a story of redemption as well, as realized by the end of the film.
The film is shot, literally dark, so dark that many images cannot be deciphered, as this reviewer had to watch an online screener on the computer. The first 3 minutes appear totally black. Hopefully, this problem does not arise on the big screen.
The only break comes in the form of an intruder, a boy near the end of the film. What happens at least lifts the film from snooze mode. But the emotions or events that occur after goes against the flow of the film.
On the plus side, the film has been getting generally positive reviews. It is easy not to find anything wrong with a minimalist film with little happening on screen at any one time.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuCZPAHOSKY
Directed by Michael Wain
THEY CAME TOGETHER begins with two couples at dinner with the main one, Molly (Amy Poehler from SNL) and Joel (Paul Rudd) telling their love story to the other (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper). It is the typical love story, they relate with NYC as the third character, much to the befuddled not-too-bright yet amusing other couple.
The camera then swoons to an overhead shot of NYC, as expected, when the opening credits roll. Writer/director Michael Wain (TV's Children's Hospital) goes for the cuteness factor from the very first start. Molly is klutzy and Joel 'slightly' Jewish without being too threatening, in the script's own words. Molly and Joel meet and it is hate at first sight. They go to a halloween costume party both dressed as Benjamin Franklin but have a bad run in on the street before the party. And so the story goes, one step at a time, complete with shit jokes (Joel's boss having to do it badly while in his action hero one piece costume) and cuteness all the way till they woo and live happily ever after.
One can hardly go wrong with cute but cute for an entire movie can be a bit much even for a mere 83 minutes. The audience is not spared from lip-synch songs performed by the two leads either. Wain offers a breather with a few uncomfortable weird bits such as the meeting of Molly's white supremacy parents. The cute bits extend even to the end when Molly and Joel's reunion is broken up by several characters including his ex-con husband (a neat cameo by Michael Shannon).
The other weird bit is the of the film when it is revealed that Molly and Joel are currently divorced. This means that they will give the relationship another shot which means a film sequel if THEY CAME TOGETHER does well at the box-office. How cute can you get?
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPzHRXUcUWU&feature=kp
Directed by Michael Bay
Nobody does cheesy commercial flicks better than Michael Bay. And nobody could even be remotely considered even able to direct a Transformer movie but Michael Bay. Bay outdoes himself in an acton packed summer spectacular extravaganza that should not disappoint his fans. Enough superlatives already - his film delivers.
The 4th of the Transformer series, reading the synopsis on Wikipedia might prove confusing. But Bay is all a good story teller and one able to manipulate audiences, so that his film turns out easy to follow, entertaining though manipulative and a helluva fun of a time.
AGE OF EXTINCTION, which could refer to the extinction of the dinosaurs, autobot transformers or the human race is the sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the film taking place four years after the invasion of Chicago. Like its predecessors, the film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger, who served as screenwriter since Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Four years have passed since the final battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons left Chicago in ruins and claimed the lives of over a thousand civilians. The U.S. government has severed its ties with the Autobots and branded them as fugitives. An elite CIA division called "Cemetery Wind" is formed by Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) with the intent of hunting down and exterminating the surviving Autobots. Meanwhile, using data obtained from destroyed Transformers, business tycoon Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) and his technology firm Kinetic Sciences Institute (KSI) have discovered "Transformium", the molecularly unstable metal that is the lifeblood of Transformers. Joshua's prized creation is Galvatron, a Transformer created from the data inside Megatron's severed head.
And where are the Michael Bay heroes at this time? Having family fights - the Bay way as in the Transformers 1 and 3 films. Father Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), an inventor is having issues with his daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz) growing up - never mind the sexy way she dresses or hiding her new boyfriend, Shane (Jack Reynor) from him. It is the typical action packed film family, in which the father finally approves the boyfriend and the girl in the film saves the day unlike old heroines of past films who do nothing but scream and get killed or rescued. While the family squabbles are going on, Bay weaves in the story of the underdog inventor aiding the damaged Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen's voice), the leader of the Autobots. The Autobots fought against the aliens but are now being replaced by new Transformer manufactured by KSI. The story gets a bit more involved but not confusing and there is a big climatic slowdown that includes a giant magnet dropping people and trains from the sky, a magnificent car chase and a drop from the roof of a very high-rise building (I actually ducked from the 3D effect in this segment, which I have never done before) that includes a shoot-out. This does not even mention the transforming from robot to car to dragon special effects.
For Transformer fans, the regular Autobots are present from Bumblebee, Hound, Drift and Crosshairs . The entire new cast sans Shia Labeouf is good especially Stanley Tucci s a love-lorn over confident inventor who finally realizes the error of his ways.
One can always complain about product placement in a movie. There are quite the few in this film, but at least Bay infuses humour (Victoria Secret and Bud Light) into the segments.
It is a smart move to have a good chunk of the film shot in China. China has the largest population in the world and the tactic guarantees a large box-office share from the Chinese market. The film ends with a promise of another sequel. I have no complaints for another one, except that Michael Bay be at the helm directing it.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubGpDoyJvmI
JERSEY BOYS and THINK LIKE A MAN 2 are the big ones opening this week.
The Canadian Inuit film UVANGA also makes its debut.
JERSEY BOYS (USA 2014) ***Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and directed by 84-year old Clint Eastwood, JERSEY BOYS the film, based on the 2005 Tony Award Winning musical is pretty much an Eastwood film. It runs just over 2 hours, the running time of the typical Eastwood film is high on human drama never mind it being musical based. Those who have seen the musical may be disappointed but his film, to Eastwood's credit strives to tell the real drama behind Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young reprising his stage role) and The Four Seasons story.The film begins in 1951 with pals Tommy De Vito (Vincent Piazza) and Frankie robbing local stores in the night to grab some cash for their own use. Because Tommy is street-smart and looks after Frankie, the two form an inseparable bond which director Eastwood reminds his audience throughout his film that this is the Jersey mentality. They form the Four Seasons and hit it big performance and record-wise till fame gets the better of each member. Frankie gets married with kids but disaster strikes with his daughter, Francine committing suicide, for the reason that her father was never around the family.There is too much material to be covered and the script tries to include as much as possible instead of concentrating on fewer issues. The film also takes a while to get on its feet. Ironically, this musical drama first starts flying during the performance of their first song "Big Girls Don't Cry", which thankfully, Eastwood allows the full performance on stage. Their second song: Walk Like a Man is done amidst intercutting of the group's parties and Frankie's family gathering during Christmas.Those expecting a full scale musical will be disappointed. The film is interspersed with songs and ends with their biggest hit "Can't Take My Eyes Off You." But to Eastwood's credit, the best segment is the dramatic showdown, especially the part when fellow member Nick (Michael Nomenda) tells Tommy off, the first time in 10 years.
But Eastwood has clumsy bits of the group members talking to the audience and an odd flashback of two years occurring mid-film when the group runs into financial difficulties.The one scene where Frankie advises Francine on her singing can be imagined as one Eastwood might heave and advising his own son Kyle regarding the music business. (Eastwood has directed HONKYTONK MAN starring him and his son, Kyle and also the music biopic BIRD). There is also a scene from the TV with a 30 year-old Eastwood from Rawhide.A lot of effort is put into the creation of the 50's especially in the scenes in which vintage cars fill the road from the huge American clunkers to the old Volkswagon vans.But the results should have matched the efforts put in. JERSEY BOYS contains enough songs to convert anyone to be a Four Season fan but it will not satisfy the true JERSEY BOYS die-hards. There is enough drama in the film but too much story tackled that clearly shows that there is much more left out.Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEGPOa9gAzw
Directed by Mathew Wilson Pond and Kirk Marcolina
Doris Payne is arguably the most famous diamond thief of all time.
THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DORIS PAYNE documents how a poor, single, African-American mother from segregated 1930s America winds up as one of the world's most notorious and successful jewel thieves. A glamorous 83-year-old, Doris Payne is as unapologetic today about the $2 million in jewels she's stolen over a 60-year career as she was the day she stole her first carat. The film centres of Doris' trial for the theft of a department store diamond ring. At the same time, the film probes beneath her consummate smile to uncover the secrets of her trade and what drove her to a life of crime. Stylized recreations, an extensive archive and candid interviews reveal how Payne managed to jet-set her way into any Cartier or Tiffany's from Monte Carlo to Japan and walk out with small fortunes. This sensational portrait exposes a rebel who defies society's prejudices and pinches her own version of the American Dream while she steals your heart. The reference to Hitchcock's TO CATCH A THIEF set in Monte Carlo with Cary Grant as a suave suspected jewellery thief is a winning touch.
It is not surprising that the audience would take the side of Payne. The same charms that fooled the jewellery store salespeople are enough to win most audiences to her side. When the verdict is about to be announced at the end of the film, it is not surprising that most would hope she gets off without going to prison. The fact that this incorrigible their would commit the same theft again, as shown at the end of the film just serves to indicate how foolish and sympathetic us human beings are. This is the film's best point.
The problem with this documentary is that there is insufficient material for a 74-minute film. But that does not mean that the film is a below average one. Given the story limitations, directors Pond and Marcolina has still created a comprehensive enough portrait of THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DORIS PAYNE.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ5Cwax-aik&feature=kp
Directed by Gillian Robespierre
It is a bad habit of poor English when the word 'like' is used in a conversation. Example: Like I am writing this film review, like of a movie of a comedienne, which should like, be really cool. In the film's opening 5 minutes, the protagonist, a stand-up comic, Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) does just that with the word 'like', in her stand-up performance just before going on to a more structured dialogue. The audience then knows exactly when she is winging a dialogue or doing writer/director's Robespierre's script. This happens again in the middle of the film.
OBVIOUS CHILD tells the story of Donna Stern, who gets dumped by her boyfriend, evicted from her apartment, then gets pregnant followed by an abortion on Valentine's Day shortly after. The audience is supposed to root for this character. Whether this happens, of course, depends on how Robespierre treats his heroine. Unfortunately, she gives Donna a bad start. In her beginning comedy routine, she talks about being f***ed up the ass, and then talks about letting go gas walking up the stairs, something not very becoming of someone an audience is to have respect for.
For a film that is supposed to be raunchy, one would expect some nudity in the sex scenes. It feels awkward that Stern makes love with her bra on and her boyfriend with his short pants on.
The film also has a cop-out ending in which Donna's tale receives a happy ending. (No spoiler here on what exactly happens.)
But actress Jenny Slate does a good job as Stern nevertheless. To Robespierre's credit, she achieves a few nice touches involving winning cameos. Richard Kind and Polly Draper are marvellous as Donna's parents as is David Cross (recognizable as the villain Ian in the CHIPMUNK films) as a livable asshole.
The segment in which Stern performs a totally unfunny routine about her failures is painful to watch but it is an honest moment of truth. And a part of the movie that is essential.
The film will appeal to the female target audience whois always happy to see a downed female protagonist get on her feet. The film is not as funny as I expected it to me. I found the standup routines humorous but not laugh-out loud funny.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2GN3wdfqbA&feature=kp
UVANGA (Canada 2012) ***
Directed by Marie-Helene Couineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
There have not been many films set in the Arctic North, so any film set there makes a welcome change. UVANGA is a fiction film about a Montreal teacher Anna (Marrianne Farley) and her teen son, Tomas (Lukasi Forrest). She brings Tomas to Igloolik, Nunavit to learn of his aboriginal heritage as his father is Inuit who has just passed away. Tomas meets his half brother Travis (Travis Kunnuk). The two form a brotherly bond.
The audience learns about the Inuit community - hunting of seals; fishing etc. through the eyes of Tomas. The cinematography is beautiful but simple, as the bare landscape of the North is nothing short of stunning. There a few things about audiences have never seen before such as green quicksand or eating blubber.
The film has a story of family conflict. Anna has to come to terms with her son whether he likes it here or not and also with Travis' mother Sheba (Carol Kunnuk) who was spurned by her husband with Anna's affair. Anna claims she never knew Tomas' dad was married to Sheba. The story is ok and a bit contrived and it gets in the way of the the beauty of the Arctic community.
At its worst, the dialogue goes as Anna says to Tomas: "You and I have both have a lesson to be learnt from this!", as if the audience needs to be refreshed on where the film is leading. A twist revelation at the end of the real reason Anna wanted both their visit here is also unnecessary.
UVANGA can nowhere be compared to Zacharias Kunuk's also gorgeous 2001 Inuit film, ATARNAJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER voted one of the top 10 Canadian films of all time. Still films like UVANGA are a rare gem.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqy-GbXDd5Y&feature=kp
Action: Edge of Tomorrow
Animation: The Lego Movie
The 3rd ICFF (Italian Contemporary Film Festival) runs from June 12th to the 20th of June with films screened at the luxurious TIFF Bell Lightbox. The timing coincides with the Italian Heritage Week.
Torontonians and visitors get a chance to experience the best of Italian cinema with films mostly in Italian and with English subtitles.
For the complete schedule of films and description, please check the ICFF website at:
Capsule reviews are provided for the majority of films below:
THE BEST OFFER (LA MIGIORE OFFERTA)(ITALY 2013) ***Directed by Guiseppe Tornatore
Master director Giuseppe Tornatore (EVERYBODY'S FINE, CINEMA PARADISO) tackles art, romance and theft in this artsy film with mixed results. The story centres on Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush) a solitary, cultured man whose reluctance to engage with others, especially women, is matched only by the dogged obsessiveness with which he practices his profession of antiques dealer. He meets his match and falls in love with a recluse (Sylvia Hoeks). His young friend Robert (Jim Sturgess) teaches him to win her heart but there is more to the story. He finds himself losing everything in the mystery tale. The musical score by Ennio Moricone is superb matched by both excellent art direction and the artwork on display. But the main flaw of the film is its plausibility. There are too many twists, turns and coincidences with the story. But if one would ignore that, Tornatore's film is quite the feast for the eyes.
THE FIRST SNOWFALL (LA PRIME NEGE) (Italy 2011) ***Directed by Andrea Segre
THE FIRST SNOWFALL is a ponderous yet pensive drama with 2 protagonists worlds apart. One is a young 10-year old boy, Michele who longs for his dead father. He is looked after by his mother and grandfather who works the hives for honey. One of his workers is Dani, a refugee from Libya who befriends the boy. Both are angry souls. Dani has a baby daughter but the mother died giving birth. Dani is not a good father but learns to become one through the angry boy. Dani has never seen snow and hence the title of the film THE FIRST SNOWFALL, the time when, metaphorically, the white will wipe away the troubles. Dani must decide whether to stay in the Godforsaken little Italian mountain village or move out without his baby daughter, Fatou. When the film starts, the titles indicate the number of refugees in Italy and how they are often (like Dani) relocated to very remote villages like this one. The film's main pluses are the stunning cinematography of the remote Italian woods and mountains in the Tretino region, where logging serves also as a source of income. The segment of the felling of a gigantic tree is awesome!
LIKE THE WIND (COMME IL VENT ) (Italy/France 2013) **Directed by Marco Simon Puccioni
The film begins with a car shooting of a man who turns out to be the lover of Armida Miserer (Valeria Golino). The film goes on with the relationship (a miscarriage, the living-together, their work in corrections) before director Puccioni's returns to the same scene. It turns out that three years have passed, and the film carries on from there where Armida, as the head prison warden is sent to various other postings before giving up totally, even though she somehow (not very convincingly told in the film) managed to confront the killers. Puccioni's film plods on very slowly with Armida mopping around most of the time, chain-smoking and having the odd affair. The film is shot is dull colours similar to the colour of the steel bars in a prison. It is a long, sordid affair in which the ending is even more depressing. The non chronological sequencing is even more confusing, but there are also a lot of subplots that lead nowhere. One moment Armida is fighting for better conditions of the prisoners (and staff) and the next she is giving them a hard time.
THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN THE SUMMER (Italy 2013) ****
Directed by Pierfrancesco Dilberto
Someone is killing all the government officials and rival mobsters in Palermo. The citizens claim that the killings are related to women. They do not believe that it is the local Mafia responsible. Seen from the eyes of a young schoolboy, Arturo (Alex Bisconti and portrayed later as an adult by the director) who is totally in love with his classmate, Flora (Cristiana Capotondi) and also totally fascinated by the premier, Guilio Andreotti, the film is thus able to get away with a romanticized look at the Mafia. There is no blood or violence on screen and though the film can hardly be labelled as laugh-out hilarious, the film is entertaining enough. Most of the killings are shown in the aftermath, such as the debris after a bomb and explosions. Director occasionally seems to eager to please, as in the opening scenes in which he describes how the boy is conceived by the lone sperm (using a combination of live action and animation) amidst a Mafia hit. The film ties in with troubled events of true Mafia assassinations of Boris Giuliano and Gen. Dalla Chiesa and others. Dilberyo has accomplished an admiral effort with this tale of the Mafia's domination in Sicily.
MONA LISA IS MISSING (USA 2013) ****Directed by Joe Medeiros
The documentary tracing the truth about the theft of the famous Leonardo Da Binci painting the Mona Lisa is a labour of love for director Joe Medeiros. Medeiros was always obsessed with the theft and even wrote a book about it with the inanition of getting rich. Not really rich, but enough to pay for his house and have a little money travelling. As such the goal of the director and the their a simple minded Vincenzo Peruggia are similar, there is a bond between the two men and a respect that the director would otherwise not have for a common thief. Mederiros' documentary is exhaustive as he interviews Peruggia's late daughter (which the film is dedicated to), promising her to find out the truth, good or bad. Medeiros goes through archives of newspaper articles, letters and recounts the footsteps and places that Pwruggia took during the theft and return of the Mona Lisa. The result is a very clear and comprehensive documentary that illustrates the emotions and minds of human beings while also revealing the truth of the theft and return of the Mona Lisa.
IL MONDO DI MAD (MAD: THE WORLD OF FASHION) (Italy 2013) ***Directed by Anna Di Francesca
This is a documentary on MAD short for Maddalena Sisto of the fashion world. MAD's sketches for Armani, Fiorucci and :Ferré recount 30 years of Italian fashion. Her drawings reflect the influence that fashion had on women and how it was then reinterpreted. Using MAD's work as a visual reference, the famous fashion designers in Milano are interviewed to tell the story of Italian fashion in the golden years of the 70's, 80's and 90's. MAD left 12000 drawings which are animated specifically for the film! Francesca's doc is less a film about the woman but about fashion with the drawings placed intermittently on the screen sidebar often during the clothes on display by the models. Nothing too much to be learnt about the fashion industry here, but a light overlook. If the film is entertaining enough, who is to complain?
UNDER A LUCKY STAR (SOTTO UNA BUONA STELLA) (Italy 2014) ****Directed by Carlo Verdone
Carlo Verdone, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ICFF this year, is directing and starring in a romantic comedy called UNDER A LUCKY STAR. Verdone is in his fifties and an unlikely candidate for the male romantic lead, but what he lacks in male hunkiness, he more than makes it up with his Italian charm. At the film's start, his character Federico Picchioni loses his high end job in a scandal involving his chief. As a result his son and daughter and her daughter move in with him and his bitchy new wife as he is unable to afford the rent of their apartments. But his new neighbour (Paolo Cortellesi) gradually warms up to Federico's charms. Verdone's film is funny and full of heart, charm and family values. Also the fact, that it is a romantic comedy about an over aged man coming-to-terms with life and learning about his children in the process makes it such a winning film.
22 JUMP STREET and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 are the big ones opening this week.
The Italian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF) opens 12th of June. See separate posted article for capsule reviews and more information on the festival.
Directed by Richard Ayoade
The second and much anticipated film from the director Richard Ayoade who made the excellent SUBMARINE sees the director in a total different mode. Ayoade co-wrote and adapted the famous Dostoevsky novella THE DOUBLE with Jesse Eisenberg in the title role of Simon who meets his doppelganger David. Simon gets to work he finds that this double has usurped his tenuous position in the company. Routinely humiliated by his boss (Wallace Shawn), the neurotic Simon now has to deal with a doppelgänger that is everything he isn't: confident, charming, successful, superficial. Ayoade directs with absolute confidence using a techno metallic soundtrack to heighten the tension of various segments. He also creates an East European atmosphere Kafka-ish feel with huge mechanical computers accomplishing little tasks. One wonders however, why he spoils it with the use of many Japanese songs on the soundtrack. But he has undoubtedly created a tense and occasionally sly and funny film with a razzled protagonist from start to finish.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have hit it big in Hollywood with box-office successes that are loved by audiences and critics alike. Their best film was THE LEGO MOVIE early this year that was preceded by CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS and the first 21 JUMP STREET. 22 JUMP STREET follows the hectic pace of their former films with lots of comedy, action and high jinx.
Once again, Schmidt (twice Oscar nominee Jonah Hill) and Jenko (hunk Channing Tatum) are back on the streets chasing narcotics. In the opening scene, they fail in a hilarious over-the-top pursuit of a group of drug dealers led by Ghost (Peter Stormare). They are again put to work undercover under Captain Dickson (Ice Cube again in top comedic form) - now located across the street at 22 Jump Street. Their assignment is to go undercover as college students and locate the supplier of a new drug known as "WHYPHY" (WiFi) that killed a student photographed buying it on campus.
The loosely plotted script allows the duo to provide laughs. Hill and Tatum are good on screen playing against each others' weaknesses. They also play against type (narcotics officers) and also with gay relationships. They gay jokes are funny enough without being offensive, especially the segment in which Dave Franco plays Mr. Walters'(Rob Riggle) bitch in jail.
The $70 million dollar spent in production is not put to waste. The chase scenes that include a helicopter explosion and a beach full of circuit partiers dancing to the vibes of a DJ in Puerto Rico are nothing short of spectacular.
The subplots work, like the one for the search of the dealer with the 'boom' tattoo. Hill's comedic stand-up poetry is quite funny. The script is also clever enough to let Hill get the girl instead of the hunk Tatum. The other really hilarious bits involve Hill having a fist fight with his girlfriend Maya's (Amber Stevens) roommate Mercedes (Jillian Bell).
The film ends with the duo in mock sequels and vignettes of 23 JUMP STREET up to the thirties JUMP STREET with them in other schools like culinary, scuba, dance, animation. Seth Rogen has a cameo here taking Hill's place in a few of these sequels.
22 JUMP STREET takes a while to gets on its feet, but once the laughs start coming, they never stop.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbN--8ja1L4&feature=kp
EDGE OF TOMORROW is the big one opening this weekend. Other small movies opening include THE ANIMAL PROJECT, BURT'S BUZZ and others.
THE ANIMAL PROJECT (Canada 2013) **
Directed by Ingrid Veninger
In Jane Campion's HOLY SMOKE, there is a scene with Harvey Keitel wearing a bright red dress wandering aimlessly in an Australian desert. Campion's intriguing film tells of how this cult deprogrammer got to this awkward state of affairs.
One wonders if this serves as the inspiration for Indie Queen Ingrid Verninger's latest project. There is an end segment in which her characters are dressed in costumed animal suits and running around in the snow. Unfortunately, the incidents leading to this state are not that intriguing.
A father (Aaron Poole) and teacher of an acting class devices what he deems THE ANIMAL PROJECT. While working on it, the students adopt several characters and learn more of themselves and the rest of the team. If all this sounds interesting, it is not and the idea is marred by some very annoying characters, the most annoying of which is the main lead in the film. If the viewer cannot stand his presence whenever he appears on screen (neither can his screen son, by the way), director Verninger should have noticed this and done something.
THE ANIMAL PROJECT eventually moves towards the final climax of the actors all dressed in animal suits running amok in the snow? Indie film or not, the entire venture is a waste of time on characters Verninger does not bother for the audience to care about. Her other films I AM NOT A BAD PERSON/I AM A BAD PERSON..., ONLY are much better. And the audience cared for the characters in those films.Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i421IV8JkGU&noredirect=1
Directed by Jon Favreau
CHEF is a delightful family comedy about a good hearted chef by the name of Carl Casper (Jon Favreau). This is the story of how he comes to terms with his talent for cooking and his young son, who he has ignored for the longest of times.
Casper just lost his job from a restauranteur (Dustin Hoffman) at a posh L.A. restaurant. Withe the help of his good buddy (John Leguizamo) he buys a food truck and takes to the road, gathering quite the following with his gourmet on wheels.
Being a respective actor and director (MADE, IRON MAN) for some time now, Favreau obviously had no problems assembling a good cast of cameos that include Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Oliver Platt who plays the food critic that got him fired and the set up again.
CHEF is a good-hearted movie, so good-hearted that even Casper's ex-wife (Sofie Vergara) gives in to him. The food on display looks devilishly delicious, the jokes are hilarious and the emotion evoked throughout the film heart-warming.
Trailer: https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=chef%20trailer
EDGE OF TOMORROW(USA/Australia 2014) ****
Directed by Doug Liman
Based on a story from the graphic comic by Hiroshi Sakurayaka, EDGE OF TOMORROW has an excellent premise for a summer blockbuster movie. Aliens are fighting humans for control of Earth. The Mimics are able to travel back throughout time to refight and thus not make the same mistakes. Officer Cage (Tom Cruise) kills one mimic (an alpha) and has blood splattered all over him and inherits that ability. Every time he dies, he wakes up at the same point in time and relives life from there till he dies again. Thus he is able to possibly win the crucial fight against the Mimics.
The film is a mix between GROUNDHOG DAY and any alien film. Cage can die as many times as possible and indeed he does to his utter irritation. No one believes him till he encounter Rita (Emily Blunt) who apparently possessed the same power of reliving till she lost that power. Together, they join forces to win the battle, with a love interest thrown in.
Christopher McQuarrie's (THE USUAL SUSPECTS, JACK REACHER) script is clever enough and Doug Liman's (MR.AND MRS. SMITH, THE BOURNE IDENTITY) direction is nothing short of brilliant. The film moves really fast and the action scenes are spectacular (best to see the film in IMAX 3D). The script necessarily contains too many coincidences. Of the millions of humans living on the planet, Cage has to meet Rita who tells him what to do. But these coincidences and other flaws are likely overlooked by viewers owing to the fast action packed scenes.
Cruise is Cruise and does what is expected for an action star. Cruise is also especially hilarious in the film's initial scenes when he cowardly attempts to wriggle out of combat from General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson). Blunt is also good as a tough yet vulnerable heroine who eventually succumbs to Cage's charms. The film is an Australian co-production, perhaps only noticeable from Australian actor Noah Taylor portrayal as Dr. Carter, the scientist that invents the ultimate weapon to combat the Mimics.
Warning: this film contains frightening scenes that will be too intense for younger audiences. The fact that one has to be killed and the prospect of reliving ones life are disturbing ideas for the young mind. It is a scary Twilight Zone concept even for myself.
Running at 113 minutes, the film more than satisfies the summer moviegoers and critics alike. There is hardly one dull moment in the film. Action combined with lots of suspense and a totally credible romance and human characters make for the best action flick on screen at present.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw61gCe2oqI&feature=kp
Directed by Ti West
The scariest horror films are those that based on incidents close to real events. THE SACRAMENT from Ti West, no stranger to horror flicks such as THE INNKEEPERS and THE HOUSE AND THE DEVIL uses the 1978 mass cult suicide news of the Jonestown Massacre as his 'inspiration'.
The film begins touting a magazine called Vice which supposedly reports news of events not usually covered by commercial media. The audience is put right away in the seat of the found footage, documentary film. But still, it does not take a genius to know instantly that everything is an enactment. But to West's credit, the method works really well. The film establishes Sam (AJ Bowen) as the lead character.
Patrick (Kentucker Audley) is a fashion photographer traveling to meet his sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz) at Eden Parish, the commune she's been living at since she left her drug rehabilitation program. Despite some misgivings over his sister's vagueness over the commune's location, Patrick travels to the commune with his friends and co-workers Sam and Jake (Joe Swanberg), who suspect that they might get a story out of the travels. Once there, Patrick is met by his sister, who is happier and healthier than she has been in a while. His friends begin to film interviews with Eden Parish's inhabitants, all of which speak of the commune in glowing terms. However they soon discover that there is a sinister edge to the commune that belies the seemingly peaceful setting.
West knows how to build up the suspense, which reaches its peak with the appearance of Eden Parish's leader known to the commune as 'father' (Gene Jones). The best scene has a mute little girl hand Sam a written note saying: "Please Help Us." Jones looks his role, but one wishes he would ham it up a bit more and chew his lines with more relish.
One complaint is the film's slow pace for what normally is unheard of in a horror film, especially one presented by Eli Roth of the HOSTEL films. But this allows credibility of the story. When finally Father induces the entire commune to drink the death portion, one can believe the events that could lead up to this catastrophe.
THE SACRAMENT is a low budget effective little feature supposedly set in Africa. Of course, any government park could pass off for a place in Africa. The no-name cast also keeps costs low but they do perform convincingly enough.
THE SACRAMENT has got mostly positive reviews from other critics, me included and is a recommended evening out if one wants a few scares. Best not to see tho in the early day!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP2rtrudKro&feature=kp
Comedy: The Grand Budapest Hotel
MALEFICENT and A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST are the big ones opening this week.
Directed by Jon S. Baird
Based on the book of the same title by Irvine, FILTH is the story of the fall and final redemption of Edinburgh detective Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy). He is assigned the case of the murder of a Japanese student. He hopes to get the promotion of Detective Inspector and goes all out of the way to make sure his colleagues are fouled up.
James McAvoy is hardly recognizable with his facial hair as Bruce Robertson. Is this a great performance? One can hardly tell as McAvoy is loud and screaming half the time. The whole film is generally loud. When a character turns into a monster head, the volume of the soundtrack is turned up several notches, as if the audience did not already get the point.
The film boasts an impressive cast that includes Jamie Bell and Eddie Marsan (HAPPY-GO-LUCKY) as Bruce's unfortunate colleagues and Oscar Winner Jim Broadbent as the weird psychiatrist.
FILTH is generally a very nasty film about nattiness. The main character is nasty (framing his colleagues, bullying, beating women etc.), and indulges in nasty acts in a nasty job in which he craves a promotion. It is difficult to feel sympathetic towards such a character who is also a druggie and alcoholic, and it is a mistake that director Baird thinks the audience would root for him.
A big problem with the script is Bruce's cop-out redemption. Bruce turns from filth over a new leaf and there is no real reason shown in the film for him to do so. The 'hanging' ending may appear to some as a smart move, but again does nothing to improve the story's credibility.
Don't get me wrong but this reviewer loves a bit of filth in his films. But unfortunately, this film does not do it.
Trailer: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x129kju_filth-trailer-3_shortfilms
Directed by Robert Stromberg
Enough of stars like Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron and now Angelina Jolie playing wicked witches. The novelty has already worn off in a tired genre of altered fairy tales.
This time around, it is the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the classic "Sleeping Beauty" and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent (Joli) places an irrevocable curse upon the human king's newborn infant Aurora (Elle Fanning). As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever.
Jolie is good as the wicked witch but overshadowed by British Imelda Staunton as fairy Knotgrass. But there is no variation in Jolie's performance. At least Theron overdoes her role in SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN.
Special effects are what make films like this fly. No complaint here about these. The sets, art direction and costumes are the best things about the film. But Stromberg's direction is lazy and the film drags quite a bit, livened up by only a few occasions. The three fairies who look after young Aurora as funny but there is no variation in the humour.
MALEFICENT would likely do better with the original SLEEPING BEAUTY story. This tall tale with its 'twist' ending is a predictable letdown and the fact that this evil witch turned good is hardly believable.
Is this an adult or children's film? Jolie's MALEFICENT is more a fashion statement to both adults and children alike. But the film will do well at the box-office with a female protagonist attracting females (and Jolie attracting the males) with the large family target market.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XO4XiRop0&feature=kp
Action: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Biggest film opening is X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST which should GODZILLA and SPIDEY 2 down the box-office ladder. See review posted. The Inside Out LGBT film festival opens. Watch for EASTERN BOYS in the festival.
Directed by John Turturro
Set in Brooklyn, FADING GIGOLO is the writing/directorial debut of actor John Turturro. A sweet little film about loneliness, the two central characters are older than middle-aged men, a welcome change that we do not see often in films these days.
Times are hard. With his bookshop closing, cash strapped Murray (Woody Allen) convinces his employee, Fioravante (John Turturro) to become a gigolo with them splitting the profits. The venture turns out better than they expected but there are also unexpected results, good and bad. This is a sweet story , funny and sad and occasionally moving.
As Woody Allen has a major role, one expects the typical humor expected from the comedian filmmaker genius. Turturro is generous enough to grant his co-star the limelight, himself taking the role of a shyer character. A gigolo with a difference (not a pretty boy but down-to-earth dirty but in a nice way as the film puts it), Tuturro is credible as a rather sexy whore. Sexy and deadly Sharon Stone as Murray's doctor is their first customer.
Turturro's film celebrates Jewish culture, a rare and welcome change. The lest Jewish character is Turturro's who replies that he is not sure he is Jewish at one point.
But the film's premise runs out of steam quickly. When it gets trapped into predictability mode, the film gets boring with nothing but mild jokes and contrived sex scenes going for it.
One can see Turturro's influences. Turturro draws his inspiration from Woody Allen's films like PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM with a jazzy score and sets like Murray's apartment that looks like something out of any Allen film. Turturro is also fond of playing with odd camera angles (overhead shots; distorted shot), that reminds one of the films of the Coen Brothers. The overall result is a far from perfect film that that tries very hard.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2epX4tXfic
112 WEDDINGS (USA 2014) **Directed by Doug Block
Director Doug Block shoots wedding videos. He has accumulated a total of 112 of couples that he has shot before deciding to make a film about what has happened to the couples over the years.
Not an original premise as Michael Apted has treaded familiar territory with individuals in 7 Up, 14 Up and 28 UP. In 112 WEDDINGS, the results are less interesting. For one, the film contains no surprises. As expected, couples could stay happily married, solving problems as they come on the way, get separated or continue their struggle. Children come into the picture as do mental problems and infidelity. And there are only a handful (thank God not all 112 wedding couples) that are on display here.
The documentary is a slice of real life, but real life can be pretty boring, especially when one has to sit down and listen or watch some others' go on and on about their live stories. The same can be said for this documentary. There are no surprises, nothing new to be learnt, no profound messages, just a dull documentary that is not helped by the director's own uninspired narration. More interesting tales can be heard from the inebriated at the local pub.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4A07vLA-dI
Directed by Bryan Singer
Sequel to X: MEN:THE LAST STAND (2006) and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and the third X-MEN film directed by Bryan Singer, this action packed film has lots of plot, action and suspense with a solid story involving time travel.
When the film opens in the year 2023, Logan (Hugh Jackman) is to be transported to the past (hence the film's title) to save the world. It is always the world at stake in action hero films. It is a complicated scenario involving sentinel robots that are designed to wipe out the mutants. But the premise is for the mutant and human to live in harmony. But a few mutants do not agree such as Magneto (Michael Fsssbender) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence in HUNGER GAMES mode) and they opt to assassinate Trask (Peter Dinklage) the scientist behind the design of the Sentinels. Logan/Wolverine and the younger Professor X (James McAvoy) (the older played by Patrick Stewart) join forces to stop them and save the world, thus changing history by altering the events in time.
It is a clever script by Simon Kinberg that piques interest in time travel and Quantum Physics. Changing the world is likened to a stone thrown in a river which can only make a ripple. But the X-Men aims to change a difference, with the element of hope, which is a hidden message in this action film.
The film is filled with many more mutants with super powers such as Storm (Halle Berry), Shadowcat (Ellen Page), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Beast (Nicholas Roult) and especially Quicksilver (Evan Peters) who steals the show.
The 3-D effects are effectively utilized with the X-Men leaping out at the out at the audience or explosions spewing objects out of the screen. The 70's period atmosphere are nostalgically created with songs like the Oscar winning "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" from PLAY MISTY FOR ME and the dozen of Citroen cars in the Paris segment.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE past is the best action flick so far – forget the ridiculous GODZILLA and the over flight AMAZING SPIER-MAN 2. Good story, great action and compelling suspense! What more can one ask in a summer action movie?
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6acRHWnfZAE
Best Bets of the Week:
Best film opening: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best Action: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best Doc: Teenage
Best Foreign: Like Father, Like Son
Best Animation: The Lego Movie
Best Comedy: Neighbors
The festival of video and film begins May 22nd just after the May 24 long weekend and has a bay of films to enthral all. Below are capsule reviews of selected films.
For complete film programming, check the Inside Out website at:
Capsule reviews will be added daily as this reviewer sees more films.
THE CIRCLE (DER KREIS) (Switzerland 2014) ****
Directed by Stefa Haupt
THE CIRCLE is a social network that revolved around a gay publication of the same name in the 40's and 50's just after the Hitler years. Though homosexuality was not banned in Switzerland, it was in Germany with the result that many flocked to the Swiss haven for rent boys and other naughty things. Prejudice was the order of the day and many did not come out and still led closeted family lives. Those were the bad old days but those days still ring in a lot of nostalgia. The film interviews Ernst Ostertag and Robi Rapp, a teacher and drag queen who were largely involved in the group. The couple is portrayed by actors Mathias Hungerbuler and Sven Schelker who act out the scripted depiction of the story. Haupt's film is rich in period atmosphere and the film paints a vivid and unforgettable picture of love in forbidden times. The film just won the Teddy Award for Best documentary at the Berlin Film Festival , though it may be argued if the film is really a documentary except for the interviews.
CUPCAKES (Israel 2013) **
Directed by Eytan Fox
Gay Israeli director Eyta Fox in light mood here in a film about a song contest called Unisong in which a group of 6 have to overcome personal difficulties to enter. The lead is the much older Anat whose marriage is n the rocks. The others are females with one flaming male. This is kitch at its height and straight audiences might not be ble to tolerate it. The film attempts to celebrate joy and life but it comes off too flighty and slight. The songs on display are also too familiar played out ones that one has heard already too often.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ta4KhyMwmE
EASTERN BOYS (France 2012) ***** Top 10
Directed by Robin Campillo
A totally fresh thriller that transcends several genres while breaking several filmmaking rules in the process, EASTERN BOYS is an astonishing debut from Robin Capillo about a group of illegal boys from Eastern Europe who live in a one-room hotel in the suburbs of Paris. In the film , they prey on timid businessman Daniel (Olivier Ravourdin) who falls in love with one of them, Marek (Kirill Emelyanov) and eventually helps him escape from the psychotic boss of the gang (Daniil Vorobyev). The film starts cinema verite (camera following the boys speaking their own language with no subtitles), then home invasion, then love story and finally escape thriller, Hitchcock style. Midway through the film, the camera follows a black lady for no apparent reason. It turns out that she is the security of the hotel the boys are at, and she plays a big part in the plot. I love it too the way the film avoids a direct confrontation between the hero (Daniel) and the villain (the boss of the gang) that is expected in every Hollywood action film. This is an exceptionally compelling and fresh film from start to finish and demands to be seen to be believed! Excellent performances, too, all around especially from Vorobyev as boss.
Trailer: http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_gen_cmedia=19543219&cfilm=213991.html
(Venezuela 2012) ***
Directed by Miguel Ferrari
MY STRAIGHT SON, as the title implies is about a gay father's gay son. The son is forced to live with his birth father who has not seen him as the mother is off for studies in London. While trying to win over the son's love, Diego (Guillermo Garcia) is faced with a bigger challenge. His lover and partner, Fabrizio (Socrates Serrano) is gay bashed and in serious condition in hospital. Gay films that initially had tons of new ideas to address like coming out; cruising; A.I.D.s; relationship appear now to be short of fresh mat4rial. MY STRAIGHT SON covers the issue of coming out, but with the twos of a father coming out to his son. Both male partners suffer prejudice from their families and the issue of gay marriage is central the film's theme. Initially very funny, the film gets very weepy towards the middle and then quite serious towards the end. Apart from the over preachy ending, MY STRAIGHT SON is still entertaining fare dealing with key issues but over-brimming with good intentions.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBiVWESrGRU
EL TERCERO ((THE THIRD ONE) (Argentina 2012) ***Directed by Rodrigo Guerrero
A low budget art porn film of shorts done in real time. Two gay guys chat on line with a webcam. They tease each other. After 10 minutes of real time, they shut off the chat, and the film takes the audience to a dinner the two and the partner of one who has cooked the meal. Thought the chat during the meal is kind of boring and inconsequential, the anticipation is high for what is to follow. The three engage in a hot threesome sex session with lots of kissing and f***ing. The moaning and grunting adds to the eroticism. If what described sounds like your cup of tea, you would not be disappointed. Or perhaps one can the same turn on renting a video from you favourite porn store. THE HRD ONE refers to the kid that enters the relationship of the couple for threesome sex.
Biggest film opening has GODZILLA saving the world instead of terrorizing it. See review posted. Lots of other films like MILLION DOLLAR ARM, JEUNE & JOLIE and SHEKINAH make their debut.
AI WEIWEI: THE FAKE CASE (Denmark 2013) **
Directed by Andreas Johnsen
This is the sequel to the documentary AI WEIWEI that opened the HOT DOCs festival a few years back. It begins where the last one ends when the Chinese artist is kidnapped by the Government and released after 81 days for the made-up accusation of tax evasion.
Johnsen's tracks Weiwei's life that follows his release that includes his art and his followers that support him all the way. The government monitors his every move and confiscates his passport but he refuses to be intimidated or portrayed in any way except by his own hand and voice. He firmly believes that "to show you're alive, you have to speak out" and slowly regains his confidence by finding novel ways to irritate the authorities despite the restrictions of his parole. He assembles a sculpture based on his imprisonment and smuggles it out of the country.
There is nothing depicted in this film the world does not really know of the Chinese government. The film runs out of material very fast. Though the audience will clearly sympathize with Weise's plight, all can be said in about 30 minutes of film.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0sSwTw2-bs
Directed by Charlie Paul
FOR NO GOOD REASON is a documentary about British cartoonist/artist Ralph Steadman and his work in the U.S. featuring him at work and in interviews as well as featuring Johnny Depp who puts in his two cents worth for credibility. At the end of the film Depp remarks to the camera that Steadman has inspired him FOR NO GOOD REASON. But director Paul's film proves otherwise.
Steadman's opening statement says that if he could learn to paint, he would change the world. In the middle of the film, he also states that America nurtures everything that as gone badly in the world. He has particular disdain for ex-President Richard Nixon. One of his works has Kissinger as the head of a spider spinning a web. Whether Steadman achieves his purpose in life is up to the audience to determine. But director Paul is smart to include the artist at work – which is nothing short of amazing.
The film's best scene shows how a splash of paint evolves into the creation of 'an unwanted pet'. Of course, the film also contains lots of complaints on the world by Steadman.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjgFgD0Q3hQ
FOXFIRE: CONFESSIONS OF A GIRL GANG (France/Canada 2012) ****
Directed by Laurent Cantet
Laurent Cantet's features TIME OUT and the Cannes winner ENTRE LES MURS (THE CLASS) are top notch films that examine human emotions of a group be it a family faced with the breadwinners hidden loss of a job or a class of pre-teens. Similar territory is treaded here. This group in concern, is a girl gang, one initially out to take revenge only those who wronged them before things go out of control in the form of a botched hostage taking.
Cantet's film is smart enough to win the audience on to the side of the girls. Their initial preys are the worst scum of human life – child molesters (Maddy's uncle) and boy rapists. Noted too, is how innocent they can them - both initially agreeing to help Maddy - before showing off their true colours.
Set in 1950's America, it is odd that the production is Canada/France. The props (vintage cars, dresses) and especially the music (a mix of rock and roll, jazz and nostalgia) aid create both the mood and atmosphere. It is clear that the events that occur in the film cannot happen at present as we do not see girls renting their own place or buying a car in the way they do in the film.
Running art over 2 hours, the pacing is excellent running from humorous and fun to serious. The characters also grow in maturity from innocence to reality.
The story is told from the point of view of Maddy (Rita O'Hagan), who writes her book from what she can remember. In an interview with director Cantet, he tells of removing the vagueness of the book in the book, which makes complete sense as it would only serve to blur the authenticity of the events and characters.
The performances from the cast of nonprofessional actors are impressive particular as the gang leader Legs (Raven Adamson).
Note that there is another version of the film just called FOXFIRE based on the Joyce Carol Oates directed by Annette Haywood-Carter.
Cantet once again proves his mettle as a director of high human drama.
Audiences might want to check out his other two films (HEADING SOUTH and HUMAN RESOURCES) that did not get commercial distribution in North America.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rad6l9iyMRc
Directed by Gareth Edwards
Most action movies like the James Bond flicks begin with a full action sequence before the starting credits roll. GODZILLA begins with an anticipatory segment in which the action will take place 15 years later. In it, a wife (Juliette Binoche) dies, while the husband (Bryan Cranston) and boy survives only to see the monster scare the world.
The premise given is the seismic tremors that are not natural but come from some other source, implying the monsters. As the plot develops, there are two spawning monsters (looking very mechanical – transformer-like) that eventually have to fight with Godzilla. If Godzilla wins, Japan and the world will be saved.
There are too many loose ends in this film which leads to gigantic Godzilla stupidity. For one, the tremors leading to the spawning monsters make no sense at all. And where did these monsters originate in the first place or come to rest on our planet? Our hero, Ford Brody (Aaron Johnson-Taylor) and his father (Cranston) appears to know everything and what is going on and what will happen next. There is also an old Japanese scientist (Ken Watanabe) and his assistant (what is British actress Sally Hawkins doing here?) that could disappear from the story with no consequence. In the climatic fight, Godzilla suddenly out of nowhere begins breathing out fire. Where did all this come from? Had Godzilla been eating monster chilies?
The special effects are all right and it is all fine to watch Godzilla in IMAX. But there is hardly any suspense generated. All the anticipation created all leads to naught. The audience have enough repeated scenes of actors looking in aghast at the huge monsters.
The best Godzilla film I have seen is the Japanese 1962 one entitled KING KONG VS. GODZILLA in which the climax had King Kong kill Godzilla. That film had genuine scary scenes like a train travelling at night through the mountains while electricity goes out and darkness engulfs the train. King Kong appears as can be seen through the control room. There is also a train segment in GODZILLA which is probably the film's most chilling scene.
The result is a terribly silly and boring film that is 2 hours too long. At the film's end, the people applaud Godzilla that had apparently saved them while the monster moves out to disappear in the sea. Never mind the fact that it has likely trampled lots of vehicles on the way and killed at least a dozen more people.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjKO10hKtYw
JEUNE & JOLIE (YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL) (France 2013) ***
Directed by Francois Ozon
It would appear that Francois Ozon, the director of original naughty comedies like SITCOM, LES AMANTS CRIMINELS is treading used waters with his tale of a young story of a prostitute by night, student otherwise after films like BELLE DU JOUR and LOVELACE.
But Ozon takes his film further with the story set in a strong familial setting (many of Ozon's films derive their strength from this familiar setting) with more subplots than can be expected. The film starts with the young and beautiful Isabelle (Marine Vecht) lying topless on a towel by the beach. She is observed by binoculars (as if the audience were voyeurs themselves) by who turns out to her brother. Her antics take to have a sexual encounter with a young German, Felix (Lucas Prisor) and later selling services to older clients. When one dies of a heart attack when she rides him, her secret is blown. Mother (Geraldine Pailhas) finds out and Isabelle has to accept the consequences including meeting the dead's client's wife (Ozon's regular Charlotte Rampling).
Ozon's tale of desire is interesting from start to finish with a few subplots left hanging, for example if Isabelle's little brother is gay.
Trailer: Trailer: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16hzcm_young-and-beautiful-movie-uk-trailer-2013_shortfilms
Directed by Craig Gillespie
MILLION DOLLAR RM is a biographical sports drama that the filmmakers re proud to tout as a true story as it us one in which dreams come true – Disney Fantasyland style. So, Disney Studios notable for making formulaic films have come up with perhaps the most formulaic film of the year. But this is not a bad thing as the film gets all the points done right, except there is nothing left that is surprising in the film.
The film tells the story of sport agent J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm) who travels to India to discover new talent in the form of baseball pitchers. It is a case of JERRY MAGUIRE meets SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE in which a large part of the film is shot in Mumbai where Indian boys Rinku Singh (Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh Patel (Madhur Mittal) are discovered and brought to L.A.
The film works best when set in Mumbai as the audience at least get to view things foreign to North America and the west. He music by A. R. Rahman, a blend of rap and Bollywood helps create the mood.
A little romance in the form of lodger, Brenda (Lake Bell) is added in with the expected eccentric talent scout (Alan Arkin) and skeptical coach (Bill Paxton) in the story. The usual culture jokes abound with the Indian kids seeing the excesses of Americans (elevators, big house, huge television, media) for the first time. One wishes the script might include some sarcasm of the American way of life but the script appears to eager to please.
The result is satisfactory family entertainment for the not too discernable viewer. And this is not a bad thing considering how easy it is for movies even following a formula to go wrong.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4QeQzIkOM
SHEKINAH: THE INTIMATE LIFE OF HASIDIC WOMEN (Canada 2013) ***
Directed by Abbey Jack Neidik
SHEKINAH which is the English translation of the word God with a feminine connotation is documentary that takes the audience into the world of Chabad Lubavitch, a sect of orthodox Hasidim, one of the more conservative Judaism branches existing today. The setting is the Quebec town of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts where the school exists to teach Hasidic girls the ways of their religion and living.
This is a world that most North Americans or the world are unfamiliar with. It is a educational experience and one worth diving into, so that one can respect other human beings for what they believe and so that the world can live in harmony without prejudice. This appears to be the aim of director Neidik, who in the voiceover claims to be a non-practicing Jew.
The first part of the film introduces the audience to the young women in the school, with interviews of both the teachers, students (the one from England being most prominent) and outsiders. The perspectives of these young women are studied from school age through courtship and marriage. Their views on courtship and their relationships with men are based on the Kabbalah, the mystical aspect of Judaism. They see God as both masculine and feminine, and marriage as pre-ordained in heaven.
The second part aims to convert the audience to appreciate these women and their beliefs. Nedidik does a good tactic by highlighting an incident of a swastika painted on the window of the school one night. This intolerance definitely angers anyone decent and puts the audience on the side of the Hasidic women.
The third deals with the girls in the world itself, their sexuality and interaction for example with girls in another school. One disturbing matter that is brought up is their non-acceptance of homosexuality. But too bad, this important subject is just brushed away.
SHEKINAH, shot in Hebrew, French and English is both educational and eye opening, and entertaining in a way of how these women's lives are dramatic, romantic, musical and relevant at times.
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/65188601
Best Family: Bears
JE T'AIME, JE T'AIME (France 1968) ****Directed by Alain Resnais
JE T'AIME, JE T'AIME is the first French film this reviewer had seen way back while in Singapore and brings back fond memories. Singapore is not known to be the place to watch noncommercial films; so needless to say, Resnais' film on time travel with no commercial narrative blew me away.
After released from hospital on a suicide attempt, Claude Ridder (Claude Rich) is chosen as the perfect specimen for time travel. But one minute into the past is only permitted due to equipment restrictions. Still things go wrong and Claude is stuck in events in the past that are out of chronological sequence. He also meets Catrine (Olga Georges-Picot).
The plot gives Resnais, known for his mesmerizing, dreamlike and surrealistic films like LAST NIGHT AT MARIENBAD, SMOKING/NO SMOKING familiar material to play with. And this he does to great effect. Resnais treats his film with a start and finish, setting the stage up for the experiment, and the experiment itself before fate intervenes. Resnais plays with futuristic sets, repeated sequences and dreamlike surroundings.
At third viewing, Resnais' JE T'AIME, JE T'AIME remains one of my favourite films of all time.
Note that the film is a brand new 35mm print. Director Resnais passed away March 2nd at the age of 91.
Original French Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HElwY3rt8t0
Screening at Bell Lightbox 18h30 Thursday 15th.
The Je T'aime Je Y'aime screening is part of TIFF Cinematheque Special Screenings (April 8-May 20), a selection of 16 cinema classics featuring many recent restorations and newly struck prints. Below is the list of the screenings remaining in the series.
NEW 35mm PRINT!
Je t'aime, je t'aime
dir. Alain Resnais | France | 1968 | 91min. | PG
Thursday, May 15, 6:30pm
dir. Michelangelo Antonioni | Italy | 1960 | 143 min. | 14A
Thursday, May 15, 8:45pm
Tuesday, May, 20, 6:30pm
Voyage in Italy
dir. Roberto Rossellini | Italy | 1953 | 85 min. | 14A
Saturday, May 17, 4:30pm
dir. Nagisa Oshima | Japan | 1969 | 97 min. | 14A
Sunday, May 18, 4:00 pm
Close to 10 new films (NEIGHBORS, BELLE, UNDER THE SKIN, FED UP, TEENAGE) opening this week including a retrospective on Orson Welles and a screening of lost and found silent film TOO MUCH JOHNSON.
Directed by Amma Asante
Based on a true story BELLE tells of Dido Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy officer (Matthew Goode), brought to England by her father and left in the care of his uncle, Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson), the Lord Chief Justice, at his estate of Kenwood House. Though the social mores of the time make her an outsider, Dido is raised by Mansfield as an aristocrat alongside her cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon). Dido's burgeoning relationship with a young lawyer, John Davinier (Sam Reid), meets with the disapproval of Mansfield who considers the match beneath her. At the same time Mansfield is deliberating a slavery case that might turn the turns of the history of slavery in the British colonies.
Misan Sagay's script tells Dido's story in chronological order without the subtlety that is normally expected from films in this period genre. Nothing needs to be deduced by the viewer and everything is spelt out in dialogue, often to full confrontational effect.
But it is a good story, nevertheless with a credible romance, key issues on hand and principles on trial. One cannot go wrong with a film in which right prevails, though nothing else is left for the audience to be surprised.
BELLE benefits from an apt cast that puts all the relish into their roles from Miranda Richardson as the racist Lady Ashford to the over-loving father Captain Sir John Lindsay. The characters spew out Jane Austin like dialogue such as "I have been promised the company of my aunt," instead of simply saying "I cannot stay for dinner." While enjoyable to a fault, BELLE is no Merchant Ivory classic and can nowhere be compared to films like ROOM WITH A VIEW and HOWARD'S END. Still, this is English Masterpiece theatre and there are not enough films like BELLE to go around.
An ambitious film with key issues such as racial prejudice and the abolition of slavery, BELLE has much more to offer than recent films such as THE HELP and 12 YEARS A SLAVE. But the fact that BELLE is British and a period piece not dealing with current issues, one can only hope that Asante's film can only do so well.
Directed by Stephanie Soechtig
FED UP is a documentary that aims at angering audiences to the point to take up the fight against companies responsible for American obesity. The film trailer says vehemently: The film the food industry does not want you to see!
Director Soechtig's ambitious film has quite a lot to say, so that if it does not appear preachy at times, it seems to be drumming some point into our heads. In general, the film follows a few obese children through a couple of years as they fight to lose weight. One undergoes risky surgery, one swims and exercises to no avail and yet another tries to go on a processed less food diet.
But the message here is that it is not the children's fault (the eat less, exercise more maxim does not work) but that of companies that overuse sugar in its products – like pop companies, pizza companies and other processed food industries. Sugar causes as much damage as fat in foods especially in soda drinks. The film explains that one calorie in pop is different from one calorie in fruit which has fibre to break it down instead of it being converted into fat.
The film contains interviews by celebrities like ex-President Bill Clinton and ex-FDA Communications Chairman. The First Lady, Michelle Obama is also featured in her program on "Move IT", but she has refused to be interviewed.
The one good point director Soechtig emphasizes is the similarity between pop and tobacco companies in their poisons – one being tobacco causing cancer and the other sugar causing death through obesity. The examples that could be implemented include labels on all sugar-based products, including the percentage daily requirement consumed as well a ban on children targeted advertising. Here, it seems that the filmmakers good intentions are not that faraway, if everyone in the audience does his or her duty.
Trailer: http://www.traileraddict.com/fed-up/trailer:
THE GERMAN DOCTOR (WAKOLDA) (Argentina/Fr/Sp/Nor 2013) **
Directed by Lucia Puenzo
WALKOLDA is Argentina's entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar last year though it did not make it to the nominations But one has to hand it to writer/director Lucia Puenzo for a most intriguing premise for a film.
A doctor (Alex Brendemuhl) from Germany arrives in Patagonia, befriending a family that is about to open a family hotel. He befriends the family, aiding the short daughter grow taller through injections and saving the young born twins. It turns out that the good doctor is not that good after all, as he is a Nazi criminal who had performed human experiments in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The film is based on Puenzo's novel Wakolda, and the scariest bit is that it is all supposed to be true. But it is revealed at the end credits that the doctor is none other than the infamous Josef Mengele, but the doctor takes another name of Helmut.
The film is not really a thriller or horror film. The director reveals at the start of the film, through the daughter's diary who the doctor is (a war criminal) but it is clear midway through the film that the doctor 's only flaw is his desire to learn more about human medicine. He means good most times, though his methods are questionable. So, the audience is bewildered whether to feel sorry or to despise the character.
The film moves towards its inevitable conclusion where the doctor's identity is revealed to the family. Still the family (and the audience as well) is just as confused what to think of him.
The film ins interesting in the way one cannot figure what kind of film Puenzo wants her film to be, but the film is still far less satisfying than its premise.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csvp5SjTniE
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiI8PNdvkhY
NEIGHBORS (USA 2014) ***1/2Directed by Nicholas Stoller
NEIGHBORS (not to be confused or has it anything to do with the 80's John Landis comedy with John Belushi and Dan Akroyd) has an oversimplified plot. A newly married couple (Seth Rogen and Roe Byrne) realize that the new neighbors are a university fraternity. Needless to say, they are a noisy bunch, partying into the early hours of the morning. The couple go all out to get the frat removed as neighbors using any way thinkable. The solid unit is the family and the relationship between the two is always of prime importance throughout the film.
On the other hand, the frat boys and girls are just rubbish and do not stand for much. Their dean, played with controlled hilarity by the excellent Lisa Kudrow is treated very much the same way.
The film takes a while to stand on its feet. But the film settles down just as the fraternity settles down to their partying.
Though Seth Rogen is the main lead and most often than not have first crack at the film's best lines, Zac Efron surprisingly steals the show from under his nose. One of the film's most effective moments involve him suddenly realizing the truth about himself. He realizes he is not as smart as his best friend Pete (Dave Franco) and that he will succeed in the real world. The script offers him a way out in the end with night courses. It is an awkward moment of truth and Efron carries it well in his expression. When the two (him and Rogen) are together in one scene, as in the dance-off segment, the result is magic. The baby used in the film is also he cutest little toddler seen in films in a long while. Rose Byrne can only do so much playing second fiddle to Rogen.
As in all Rogen's films, there are unforgettable gross segments. In THIS IS THE END , it is the masturbation argument on the toilet magazines. In NEIGHBORS, the script has a quite hilarious milking the wife segment. But the most comically inspired segment has Dave Franco and Zac Efron doing De Niro from TAXI DRIVER outside Rogen's window (See Image).
Produced by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen who both directed last year's THIS IS THE END, NEIGHBORS tries very hard at beating that movie. Though unsuccessful, NEIGHBORS is still very funny as guarantees a laugh-out loud good time.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGin3oLH5vo&feature=youtu.be
Directed by Jerome Sable
STAGE FRIGHT has been described as an original musical horror film. But it is only the songs that are original (music and lyrics here by director Sable and Eli Batalion) but not the concept of a musical horror that many critics are raving about. THE PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE written by Paul Williams was the true original that popped up even before Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End musical. That film was hilarious, scary with show stopping numbers and nowhere can it be compared to the trashy STAGE FRIGHT.
When STAGE FRIGHT opens, the audience gets their first loud laugh with the words "Based on True Events" flashed on the screen. What follows is a totally overdone killing scene, which if based on true events, is highly questionable. A Broadway diva (nice cameo from Minnie Driver) is slaughtered by a phantom and the film goes into the present with her daughter, now grown up, wishing to follow in her mother's footsteps. "Life is a song to sing, so sing with all your heart", are the words passed down from mother to daughter.
As expected, the phantom shows up again.
Camilla Swanson (Allie MacDonald) wants to also become a Broadway diva, but she's stuck working in the kitchen of a snobby performing arts camp. The best part of the film lies in the initial 30 minutes before it falls into the typical horror slashed movie mode. The best parts include a campy (pardon the pun) song and dance number "I am gay" as the performance arts camp is introduced to the audience.
But after that Camilla falls into the typical romance of a boy who truly loves her, but she spurns, sort of, for her fame, till she realizes her mistake. Meanwhile, the phantom begins his killing spree, Friday the 13th style. There are a few funny lines in the film as someone screams out: "How can you continue in the play if someone just got killed!" But these are, unfortunately few and far between,
There are not that many PHANTOM OF THE PARADISES, so this film STAGE FRIGHT makes a welcome entrance. Too bad, it did not turn out to be as inventive and original as it leads audiences to believe.
Trailer: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1est13_stage-fright-hd-trailer-2014-official-all-videos-trailer_shortfilms
Directed by Matt Wolf
TEENAGE is a fascinating and most entertaining entry on teenagers based on the book "Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture 1875-1945" written by Jon Savage who also wrote the script for the film. Wolf's (I REMEMBER and WILD COMBINATION) film is made up of a collage of archive footage, newsreel, old diaries, vintage TV shows and a few period enactments enhanced by an original musical score by Bradford Cox. In black and white, TEENAGE appeals to all as everyone (except kids) has gone through the teen days a teen right now.
The filmmakers aim more at the rebellious, be them the German youth that defied Hitler or Brenda who succumbed to drugs in the U.S. Of course, they make more interesting material. The screen time is divided quite equally towards male and female. As usual, the older adults are to bale for forcing child labour, the youth to fight in their wars and by plainly not giving them a chance. TEENAGE celebrate teenage youth and does it very well.
The film has no main plot but moves freely across time with youth at its centre. From the Nazi Youth to the Nazi rebels, from the hooligans to the Scouts and from girls to boys to women to men, TEENAGE is pure bliss to watch and never dull. It is nostalgia (and film editing) at its very best and has to be seen to be believed. "Woe to those that oppress the young and the young at heart!" appears to be the message Wolf and Savage want to get across and this they too exceptionally well.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8bNqD9YhkM
UNDER THE SKIN (UK/USA 2013) ****Directed by Jonathan Glazer
The opening sequence which shows the creation of a synthetic eye with a soundtrack voiceover of a voice pronouncing phonetics in order to master the human language is both creepily disturbing and visually arresting. At the same time, the audience is challenged to decipher the images to form the narrative of a film that moves as slow as it is hard to put together. The music and sounds by Mica Levi enhances the mysteriousness.
The plot based on the novel by Michel Faber, Dutch born, Australian raised and immigrated to Scotland, tells of an alien, given no name, (Scarlett Johansson) travelling in a van in Scotland, picking up various men on the pretext of sex and devouring them. Hot on her heels is another alien in the form of a male motorcyclist. In the process of meeting different men, she beings to sympathize with her victims, eventually letting one or two of them escape. She tries, at one point to try human food (a cake) as a substitute only to get sick in the process.
Director Jonathan Glazer (BIRTH) apparently shot a portion of his film with hidden cameras (like in a mall) and using non-actors that the alien picked up. Johansson is hardly recognizable in her black wig, which likely fooled the non-actors.
Glazer is a scary, creepy and intense film. The creepiest involves the alien picking up a 26-year old with a disfigured face. She knows that he is different and asks more general questions such as whether he has had a girlfriend, commenting then that he has nice hands. The actor who plays this man is Adam Pearson who suffers from the condition called neurofibromatosis. The entire segment is uncomfortable not only for the alien and the man but for the audience as well. She eventually lets him go, only to have him killed by the motorcyclist alien.
This is the turning point of the film when the alien begins sympathizing with her human prey. Which eventually turns to her downfall. One might reflect the novel's author's sympathy for Iraq and Afghanistan as he turned down British citizenship as a protest of the U.K. joining forces with the U.S. in the war against the two said countries.
Aliens have been depicted in different forms by different directors from the commercial E.T. by Steven Spielberg to the faceless THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH by Nicholas Roeg. But this one will be remembered for its dare to be different and effecting a most intriguing film as a result.
Trailer: http://www.contactmusic.com/video/under-the-skin-teaser-trailer
Orson Welles: Lost & Found – This weekend only!
TIFF Cinematheque is thrilled to present one of the essential cinematic events of the year with the extra-special screening of Orson Welles' recently rediscovered silent film TOO MUCH JOHNSON (with live commentary and musical accompaniment!), headlining a mini-retrospective of Welles classics.
A new 35mm restoration of Too Much Johnson will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Saturday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m., and will be presented with live piano accompaniment by William O'Meara and live commentary by Caroline Yeager, Assistant Curator at George Eastman House. This essential cinematic event anchors Orson Welles: Lost and Found, a mini-retrospective of Welles' career as both a director and actor, including Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Othello (1952), and Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949), to take place from May 9 to May 13.
Video: Eastman House restores lost Welles film
See below for complete schedule for TIFF Cinematheque's retrospective, Orson Welles: Lost and Found.
The Third Man
dir. Carol Reed | UK | 1949 | 104 min. | PG | 35mm
Archival Print!
Orson Welles gives perhaps his best-known screen performance apart from Citizen Kane in Carol Reed's classic thriller, set amongst the Expressionist shadows of a divided postwar Vienna.
Friday, May 9 at 9:15 p.m.
Sunday, May 11 at 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 13 at 9:15 p.m.
Citizen Kane
dir. Orson Welles | USA | 1941 | 119 min. | G | 35mm
The most famous debut in film history and long regarded as the greatest film ever made, Orson Welles' legendary chronicle of the rise and fall of a Hearst-like newspaper magnate retains its power to enthrall, confound and overwhelm.
Saturday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Home Movie: Orson Welles Directing Too Much Johnson
3 min. | G | Digital
Donated by the family of Myron S. Falk, one of the early investors in the Mercury Theatre, this behind-the-scenes document filmed during the making of Too Much Johnson offers a glimpse of a playful Welles on the film's fake Cuban location with actors Joseph Cotten and Ruth Ford.
Courtesy of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Preceded by
Too Much Johnson
dir. Orson Welles | USA | 1938 | 66 min. | USA | G | 35mm
Canadian Premiere! New 35mm Restoration!
Long thought lost in a house fire, Orson Welles' ultra-rare, pre-Kane silent comedy makes its Canadian premiere in this essential TIFF Cinematheque special presentation. The screening will have a live commentary by Caroline Yeager, Assistant Curator for Administration and Special Projects at George Eastman House, and piano accompaniment by William O'Meara.
Restored by the George Eastman House at the Cinema Arts, Inc. laboratories (Pennsylvania, US), through a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Additional preservation from Haghefilm Digitaal, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with funding provided by La Cineteca del Friuli.
Saturday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m.
The Magnificent Ambersons
dir. Orson Welles | USA | 1942 | 88 min. | USA | G | 35mm
Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane — an elegiac, sometimes emotionally harrowing adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel about the downfall of an aristocratic Midwestern American family — is regarded by many as the pinnacle of Welles' cinematic oeuvre.
Sunday, May 11, 2:45 p.m.
dir. Orson Welles | USA | 1952 | 90 min. | USA | PG | Digital
New Digital Restoration!
Welles himself plays the Moor of Venice in his visually opulent rendering of Shakespeare's tragedy, returning in a new digital restoration.
Sunday, May 11 at 12:30 p.m.
Capsule Reviews:
CITIZEN KANE (USA 1941) ***** Top 10
Directed by Orson Welles
While THE THIRD MAN (reviewed below) is considered one of the greatest films of all time, CITIZEN KANE is considered by many as THE greatest film of all time. Co-written, produced, directed and starring Welles in this first feature (nominated for 9 Academy Awards), this is a story of power and the American dream gone sour. Welles plays Charles Foster Kane an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher. When the film opens, he has been living alone in Florida on his vast palatial estate, called Xanadu for the last years of his life, with a "no trespassing" sign on the gate. On his deathbed, he holds a snow globe and utters the single word, "Rosebud", before passing away and letting the globe slip from his hand, smashing on the floor. As a reporter traces the man's life and the mystery of rosebud, Kane's life is revealed through flashbacks from his rise to politics and through two marriages. The film's main strength lies in its great script which won the Oscar for best original screenplay and it has all the elements of a good classic – love, ambition, power, loss of innocence and redemption. A marvelous film, no one can argue about that and a film that demands repeated viewings turning up more pleasures each time.
THE THIRD MAN (UK 1949) ***** Top 10
Directed by Carol Reed
Carol Reed's Kafka-ish film shot with tilted camera and distorted images (the unforgettable chase through the steps and alleyways) has been praised by critics worldwide as one of the greatest films of all times and it is easy to see why. A classic suspense film noir with an ill-fated romance, shot in stunning black and white cinematography by Robert Krasker and perfectly scripted by Graham Greene (who later wrote a novella based on the script) and directed by Reed. When the film starts, the haunting music by Anton Karas is immediately recognizable as the zither music hit the international charts after the film opened. The story concerns American pulp western writer Holly Martins Joseph Cotten) arriving in Allied-occupied Vienna in seeking his childhood friend, Harry Lime who has offered him a job, to be told that Lime was killed by a car while crossing the street just days before. He starts his own investigation only to learn that Lime (Orson Welles) is still alive and indulging in nasty activities. Excellent performances all round only to be topped by Welles as Lime. The key confrontation scene between Cotton and Welles only serves to prove once again Welles as one of he greatest actors ever lived. THE THIRD MAN should be seen again and again and on the big screen in all its grandeur.
Harbourfront Centre's World Stage presents, starting this week, South African-born and Montreal-based playwright Yaël Farber's adaptation of August Strindberg's classic play, Mies Julie. Running from May 6-10 at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre, Mies Julie is an adaptation of the original play exploring the explosive mixture of class, power, love, lust and sex. Adding the potent elements of race and land rights, Farber transports the scene from Strindberg's 19th century Sweden to post-Apartheid Karoo in South Africa's Eastern Cape.
The story takes place 18 years after the end of Apartheid, on the midsummer's eve of the election of Nelson Mandela's National Freedom Day. On the backdrop of a desolated farmstead's tension-filled kitchen, Julie (played by Hilda Cronje), the daughter of a White Afrikaner landowner, John (played by Bongile Mantsai), the Black Xhosa son of her father's servant, and Christine, Julie's former nanny and John's mother, all interact in thought-provoking ways.
As World Stage artistic director Tina Rasmussen, who first saw the play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2012, recently told AfroToronto.com: "When there's a large socio-political shift, such as Perestroika or the like, the rest of the global world sort of moves on; but there remains concrete tensions and hangovers. The affected societies grapple with having to reconcile, in this case with the legacy of Apartheid from within in a post-Apartheid state some 20 years later. There are undoubtedly wounds and scars. How does the society come to terms with that?"
It is of particular significance that the farm where the action is set is built on an ancient burial ground. As Rasmussen further expounds, "the idea of legacy around ancestral burial rights informs a broader global debate about the rights of first nations people -- be in is South Africa, Australia or Canada." During the play John and Julie confront each other on that thorny topic. They argue about the land's proprietorship given the fact that both of their Boer and Xhosa ancestors are buried there.
In addition, much like the sexual dynamics underlying the class, power, and gender relationships in the original Strindberg version, Yaël Farber's Mies Julie tackles the interracial underpinnings in Julie and John's tempestuous relationship. How does John come to terms with confronting the generations of attacks against his blackness and manhood? How does he react to Julie and what she represents? How do they each fit both individually and in relation to each other in a post-Apartheid world?
In order to further explore those themes, the Harbourfront Center will hold pre and post-show talks featuring the playwright, artists as well as academics from the University of Toronto (Denise Cruz and Alan Ackerman) and York University (Marcia Blumberg). The guests will offer their perspectives on Strindberg's message, the ideology behind the play, the current relevant context, and examine South African theater in general. The post-performance talkshow will take place on Wednesday, May 7th and the pre-show event is scheduled for Thursday, May 8 (admission is free with the purchase of a ticket to Mies Julie).
Earning rave reviews, the play has been touring in over 100 venues around the world. As part of the work's first Canadian representations, it arrives in Toronto following shows in both Vancouver and Montreal.
Tickets for Mies Julie and other World Stage 2014 productions are available via Harbourfront Centre's Box Office. Patrons can call 416-973-4000, visit 235 Queens Quay West and/or go online for all ticket inquiries.
Big film opening Easter is SPIDERMAN 2.
Two festivals are also underway in Toronto – The Toronto Jewish Film Festival and Hot Docs.
Directed by Marc Webb
Reboot of SPIDEY number two looks like it needs a reboot. Not that audiences need another one, but this one is bad and falls into the same trap of action hero films sinking into over seriousness.
It is odd that SPIDER-MAN 2 is all over the place. It is directed by the director Marc Webb of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, both excellent films and written by the writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci of the TRANSFORMER films – though they cannot resist putting a stunted transformer villain at the film's end.
The film begins with Peter Parker's father, Richard Parker (Campbell Scott) and mother (Embeth Davidtz) leaving the boy while taking a plane to their new life. This turns out to be an action packed sequence which includes a plane crash in mid-air only to be followed by Spidey (Andrew Garfield) saving a hijacked truck carrying plutonium and catching hundreds of vials before they hit the ground and exploding. Why plutonium? It has actually nothing to do with the story and caching the hundreds of vials only makes Spidey look silly and too invulnerable. Then the film moves into mushy sentimental mode. Spidey's girl, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) giving a Valedictorian speech (yes, about life and how human beings should be)before he rejects her due to a previous promise he made to her dad. I cannot break that promise, he tells her. Yes, he does before the middle of the film.
British actor Andrew Garfield makes a good younger Spider-Man, likely to attract younger audiences. Sally Field, as Aunt May looks as if she is begging for another Oscar. Thee is one scene in the film when the power of the hospital comes back on, when she tells everyone to go back to work (obviously a parody of NORMA RAE where she gives instruction to her factory workers to stop working.)
This film is allover the place, switches modes and cannot decide to settle on an single one. There are too many villains, the main ones being Green Goblin (Max DeHaan) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) and at 140 minutes running time, it does not know when to end. It eventually ends with Spidey's return thanks to a little boy donning a Spider-man costume (hive me a break!) before the screen goes black, only to indicate that ideas have run out. While the first reboot, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN can be divided into three parts – Parker getting his spider powers; learning to harness them; falling into romance and getting the villain, this sequel cannot be categorized into any definable parts. Part of the story form the first film (loss of the father and uncle) even spills into this film.
As far as special effects go, Spidey flies around too much and appears more super than Superman. The most exciting special effects sequence comes at the film's start and the film never tops that. Director Webb also seems to be contently reminding the audience that the film is in 3D as objects are continually flung out of the screen from start to finish.
THE AMAZNG SPIDER-MAN 3 is already into production and one knows that at least hat cannot be as disappointing as this one.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbp3Ra3Yp74
CINCO DE MAYO: THE BATTLE (Mexico 2013) **
Directed by Rafa Lara
Cinco de Mayo of the film title means the 5th of May, the fateful date of
Mexico's Battle of Puebla, the most important battle in Mexico's history. When the French army invades Mexico to set up a monarchy, General Ignacio Zaragoza played by Kuno Becker (Goal!, From Prada to Nada), must defend the city of Puebla, commanding a poorly armed and outnumbered troop of men. Meanwhile, two young Mexican lovers manage to find love amidst the chaos of war.
As the film is a Mexican production of a historical battle Mexico is proud of, director Rafa Lara goes all overboard with praising the Mexicans in their fighting efforts. General Ignacio is depicted as a selfless hero who goes immediately into battle despite his wife's recent death of pneumonia. Every person from army officer to doctor to peasant goes their all out for their country. The French invaders are meanwhile shown as ruthless dogs.
The film has been touted as Mexico's largest production. From the logistics - battles, uniforms, props etc. – it is obviously so, but the battle scenes are all over the place. It is difficult to see which side is winning (except by looking at the uniforms) and whatever strategy each side takes is lost in screen translation. What finally emerges on screen, is noise, noise and more noise.
To make matters worse, the film narrows down on the romance of an army deserter (who finally comes to his senses) and a village girl. This subplot looks totally silly and out of context in the wide scheme of this war film.
Running at 2 hours, CINCO DE MAYO is a pitiful waste of good money. Loyal Mexicans might enjoy it for all that it's worth.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI5H6oNDG8Q
American Hustle
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Like Father, Like Son
Best Doc: The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
Openings include THE QUIET ONES, THE OTHER WOMAN and BRICK MANSIONS, a horror, actioner and comedy for all tastes.
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Director Saulnier returns to the director's chair after the unheard of horror comedy MURDER PARTY with an impressive grisly violent survival slasher BLUE RUIN, the title derived from the rusty old blue car the protagonist, a vagrant lives in at the start of the film.
Dwight (Macon Blair) is forced to protect himself and his sister after a double murderer involved with killing his parents is released from prison. He cleans up his act as well as his physical appearance and the killings begin.
What distinguishes BLUE RUIN from the run of the mill slasher film is director Saulnier's use of a strong narrative to drive his film. Saulnier reveals only enough of the plot to keep the audience in the know, while always piquing the audience's interest. This is aided by a nuanced performance by Blair who develops a strong characterization for Dwight. Suspense and drama are well blended in this otherwise satisfying horror thriller (the audience feels for the poor protagonist) that should keep fans at the end of their seats.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8MHgTAJQCI
BRICK MANSIONS (France/Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Camille Delaware
A remake of the French film DISTRICT 13, Luc Bison's print is all over this actioner that he also co-wrote. Stylized action set in a futuristic (in this case dystopian) environment; BRICK MANSIONS is fights from start to finish.
The film is reset in Detroit, where abandoned brick mansions left from better times now house only the most dangerous criminals. Unable to control the crime, the police have now constructed a colossal containment wall around this area to protect the rest of the city (the BANLIEU 13 in the original film.) For undercover cop Damien Collier (the late Paul Walker) every day is a battle against corruption. For Lino (David Belle), every day is a fight to live an honest life. Their paths cross for the first time when drug kingpin, Tremaine (RZA) kidnaps Lino's girlfriend, Damien reluctantly accepts the help of the fearless ex-convict, and together they must stop a sinister plot to devastate the entire city.
The film features the physical training discipline called Parkour of which actor David Belle is a co-founder. As expected, the action segments are crisp and excitingly shot.
It helps too that there is no black and white in the bad and good guys, except perhaps for the major of Detroit. Tremaine and Lino have a good side while the stubborn side of Damien is also illustrated at the end of the film.
Except for the ridiculous looking rocket, the look and atmosphere of the dystopian future appear realistic enough.
This guilty entertainment piece serves as a good enough tribute for the late Paul Walker (THE FAST AND FURIOUS movies) who died last November in a car crash.
Trailer: http://radioalice.cbslocal.com/2014/04/24/watch-the-trailer-for-brick-mansions/
A FIGHTING MAN (Canada 2013) **Directed by Damian Lee
This apparent fight pic begins with an initial round of a match in which the two fighters have already beaten each other to a bloody pulp. Writer/director Damian Lee then takes his audience into a full ten rounds intercutting with flashbacks telling the story behind the two fighters.
The older fighter is Sailor (Dominic Purcell) fighting for his demons that include his mother (Sheila McCarthy) dying of cancer and a family tragedy involving his wife (Famke Janssen). The younger, King Solomon (Izaac Smith) needs the winning cash for his upcoming baby with his girl (Jenessa Grant). So, it is redemption vs. hope in the bout. Who will win? The answer is given away early in the film when the money Sailor is offered for losing is sufficient to take his dying mother to Ireland for the last time.
So, the result of fight match, though executed with all its bloodiness turns out not to be that important. Lee emphasizes all the drama of the two stories to great unbelievability. As if the odds against Sailor are not enough, the script puts in a nasty promoter (Adam Beach) and a priest (Kim Coates) as well. And King has a crack head mother and a past that made him give up fighting before (not given much more detail in the film.)
A FIGHTING MAN is more a drama than a boxing film, so action fans beware. But the drama is too far-fetched and clichéd for any effect. But one has to hand it for the actors that try very hard to overcome the shortcomings of the script.
Trailer: http://themoviebox.net/4613
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (USA/UK 2013) ***Directed by Jim Jarmusch
In Jarmusch's vampire saga, the audience s led to believe that blood comes from supplies that can be bought. So, there is no need for the vampire lovers, Adam and Eve (Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston) to go hunting down victims to suck blood of. Or so, the audience is led to believe.
There is not much story in Jarmusch's film. When the film opens Eve is in Tangiers and Adam is in Detroit. Each doing their own thing. Adam is a reclusive and disrunted musician of some fame who has taken a human, Ian (Anton Yelchin) under his wing. Eve's younger sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska), arrives from L.A. and shatters the couple's idyllic seclusion. After a night out at a local club, Ava kills Ian, draining him of blood.
The script offers no explanation of how these vampires come about or how he two lovers have survived the present time. Jarmusch's film also moves at a snail's pace, until her cousin appears when things begin to pick up.
Jarmusch's film is very visual (as stated by Swinton in one comical segment) and that is the one saving grace of the film. Tangiers never looked so stunning at night. Otherwise, the audience is groping in the dark as much as the vampires are looking for the good stuff to drink of.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jNkNOlHiCE
Directed by Nick Cassevetes
THE OTHER WOMAN plays like the typical chick flick movie in which females get heir own back on the evil male that has wronged them. The film bears a lot of resemblance to NONE TO FIVE where Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin tie up and beat up their boss Dabney Coleman.
The three actresses on display here are Cameron Diaz, model Kate Upton and Leslie Mann, the first two playing the latter husband's mistresses, Carly and Amber respectively. Each of the three could be termed THE OTHER WOMAN while the cheating husband, mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Danish hunk from OBLIVION) gets what he deserves. The trouble is that actor Nicolaj is so good-looking and charming, he also casts a spell on the female audience, which makes it quite hard to take seeing him punished.
The film could be roughly be divided into three parts. The first and most effectively funny involves the bonding of Mann, the wife, Kate and Diaz, the first mistress. It takes quite a bit of work to have the audience believe that two women vying for the same man would bond and work together. The third comes in smoothly enough in a beach scene which is the film's funniest moment.
The soundtrack is made up of top 40 tunes also include Lalo Schifrin's MISSION IMPOSSIBLE theme, which unfortunately highlights the difficulty of making a good original comedy o a well worn theme.
The wide screen works well at times, as in the beach segment where the two meet their new other woman. But in the confrontation scene in which the husband enters the boardroom to find himself face to face with his three women, the scene would be better done in a more claustrophobic tone.
The script's (by Melissa Stack) revenge plot is not convincing. The way the three women steal all the money leaving him penniless is quite implausible. That could be the reason that it opted for a tasteless 'poop in the pants' revenge plot earlier on in the film.
As can be expected in all chick flicks, the males all exist as chauvinist, brainless or mere sex objects. Mark's character is a womanizing user with no redeeming qualities except for his sexual prowess. The role of Kate's brother Phil (Taylor Kinney) is n better written. He is another sex object that exist only to provide certain pleasures for the ladies such as designing the perfect beach room for Carly.
As far as acting goes, Leslie Mann steals every scene from Diaz who manages to stand on her own feet only during the second half of the film. Upton only needs to look great and the script, at least that plays that best to her advantage.
For a comedy, THE OTHER WOMAN contains enough laugh-out loud moments but there are still too many scenes dragged out.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUCj9ULig0
THE RAILWAY MAN (UK/Austraila 2013) ****Directed by Jonathan Tepitsky
Love and redemption and the Bridge on The River Kwai! Not the David lean epic but no less quite the dramatic piece in comparison.
THE RAILWAY MAN is Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), an engineer captured during WWII Surrender of Singapore to the Japanese. Eric and other English prisoners-of-war s were forced labour in the construction of the railway. When Lomax was discovered by the Japs making a radio, he was tortured almost to the point of death. While recovering and living in England, he is forced to face the demons and hunt down the war criminal that brought him harm.
THE RAILWAY MAN is a beautifully constructed both narrative wise and in camerawork. Though obviously not shot in Singapore, the detail in the colour and outline of the terrain looks as if shot there. The torture contraptions constructed in the film look just alike the ones seen in books on the Japanese Occupation in Singapore during WWII. Firth is again as marvelous as the troubled soldier and lover. A film that delves into the aftermath of war effectively!
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbS_dYEwf2M
HOT DOCS 2014 – Toronto
The 2014 Hot Docs Festival, April 24 to May 4, will feature 197 official selections from 43 countries, and will open with the international premiere of Brian Knappenberger's The Internet's Own Boy: The Story Of Aaron Swartz.
Find films online, or download a printable version of this year's screening schedule.
Hot Docs tickets, packages, passes, can be purchased online, by phone at 416.637.5150, or in person at the Hot Docs documentary Box Office, newly located at 2 Bloor Street West (Cumberland Terrace – Lower Level).
For more information on this year's Festival, visit www.hotdocs.ca.
Mr. Busy managed to catch only 4 documentaries, as just returned from vacation. Capsule Reviews follow, hope these will help your picks.
This is the sequel to the documentary AI WEIWEI hat opened the HOT DOCs festival a few years back. It begins where the last one ends when the Chinese artist is kidnapped by the Government and released after 81 days for the made-up accusation of tax evasion. Johnsen's tracks Weiwei's life that follows his release that includes his art and his followers that support him all the way. The government monitors his every move and confiscates his passport but he refuses to be intimidated or portrayed in any way except by his own hand and voice. He firmly believes that "to show you're alive, you have to speak out" and slowly regains his confidence by finding novel ways to irritate the authorities despite the restrictions of his parole. He assembles a sculpture based on his imprisonment and smuggles it out of the country. There is nothing depicted in this film the world does not really know of the Chinese government. The film runs out of material very fast. Though the audience will clearly sympathize with Weise's plight, all can be said in about 30 minutes if film.
Directed by Kris Kaczar
DIVIDE IN CONCORD documents champion 80 over year old Jean Hill trying to pass the city of Concord's new bill of banning bottled water. She is deeply concerned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—the world's largest landfill. She spends her golden years attending city council meetings and cold-calling residents. She has failed in 2010 and 2011. But she never gives up. Her fiercest challenge comes from Adriana Cohen, mother, model and celebrity publicist-turned-pundit, who insists the bill, is an attack on freedom. The film also highlights the same town that incited the American Revolution and inspired Thoreau's environmental movement, can one little old lady make history? Kaczar's film is, a expected, on Jean's side as can be observed in the film's manipulation of events. Jean always has the last say and the arguments to her favor are shown at the end. Adriana is depicted as a rich, conglomerate manipulated individual who has no concern about the planet. Three is an excellent climax at the film's end where the end vote to the bill is counted. A feel good, well-intentioned and well made film in which the good prevail.
Everything you always wanted to know about zombies but never knew what to ask! DOC OF THE DEAD is the definitive documentary about zombies from its origin (the first movie was WHITE ZOMBIE) to its roots in black slavery to its re-invention through George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD movies. There are lots of interviews taken from venues from comicon and zombie conventions that include zombie celebrities like Romero himself, Sid Haig, director Alex Cox, Simon Clegg (director of SHAUN OF THE DEAD) and other notables. The film also records various zombie walks around the world and talks to organization selling zombie survival kits. This is not that far-fetched an idea after diseases like mad-cow and mad-human disease have become widespread. Philippe's film is quite exhaustive in dealing with its topic. One cannot complain. But the film is truly dedicated to zombie fans all round the world. If you are not one of them, you would find the entire exercise very strange though still fascinating. I could do with a lot more footage of zombie films though.
Directed by Igal Hecht
There have been documentaries made of powerful and famous men. But director Igan Hecht's subject is a common brawny not too bright wrestler known as the Iron Sheik. The film traces his rise to fall to rise to fame in a film that sees a man put through the test of the temptations resulting from fame and fortune. Iran's Khosrow Vaziri became the World Wrestling Federation's Iron Sheik and "camel-clutched" his way to fame in the 1980's, he achieved the American Dream by personifying a foreign villain. Losing his world championship belt to Hulk Hogan became a defining moment in professional wrestling. The death of one of his daughters drove him to a spiral of self destruction. But with the help of Toronto's Magen brothers, the Sheik begins a road to redemption and renewed status as a public figure. Hecht creates a character on film that is larger and more important than in real life. Finally the audience is given an important lesson on life in the guise of a story of a famous wrestler.
UKRAINE IS NOT A BROTHEL (Ukraine/Australia 2013) **
Directed by Kitty Green
Australian Kitty Green's documentary initially appears to be an exploration of Ukraine's nouveau-feminist group Femen. Ukraine is, in fact, the world's brothel and serves as the center of sex tourism and supplies a steady stream of women to the international sex trade. All that put's Femen's rather attention grabbing, topless protests into some context. Sensational as the visuals may be, Femen has a point. But as the film progresses, it is revealed that a couple of the girls are strippers and that the group is masterminded by a man named Victor, the self proclaimed "patriarch of the new feminism." Then he admits that he maybe came up with the idea of Femen to get laid. The girls turn out on camera to be not too bright so that the entire exercise seems fruitless. If this is director Green's purpose, it is not obvious to her audience. The film comes across as disorganized and purposeless as the Femen group.
Big film opening Easter is SPIDERMAN 2. That is if you live in London. North Americans have till wait till May 8th.
Easter openings here include Disneynature's BEARS and the thriller TRANSCENDENCE.
Directed by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey
BEARS is one of the better Disneynature features compared to EARTH, AFRICAN CATS and CHIMPANZEE. BEARS contains a stronger narrative and engages its audience to the difficult plight of a mother bear with the survival burden of caring or her two less than one-year old cubs.
To engage the audience further, the narrator (who else would do a better job tan the bearish John C. Reilly?) gives the bear names. Mother is called Sky and her cubs are Scout and Amber. They are seen from birth breast-feeding till they are able to walk. The film begins after the winter hibernation when the bears are forced to leave their den to look for food. The mother, in particular has to both feed herself so that she has enough milk for the next winter to feed her cubs as well a protect them from predators that include other bears and wolves.
The film takes the audience one full seasonal circle from one winter to the next. The narration informs that only half of bear cubs survive but one knows that both Scout and Amber will, though there will be lots of danger with thrills and suspense provided in this otherwise harsh nature family entertainment.
For a nature film, one always cringes during the killing scenes when animals take they prey. Fortunately, there are none in this film. The only scary scene is Sky fighting off another stronger bear to protect her cubs. The only victims here are the poor salmon who swim large distances upstream to spawn only to find the bears waiting at the golden pond to eat them up. Such is the harshness of nature.
One must give credit to the tireless cameramen (shown during the end credits) who film the animals and put the story together. It is all nice and easy for filmmakers to make the kind of films they want like adult dramas and horror flicks. But it takes dedication and sacrifice to make nature movies of this kind. Hats off to the Disney team and to directors Fitherill an Scholey.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJYTEOkmKiI
Directed by Randall Wallace
HEAVEN IS FOR REAL deals with a small-town father and pastor, Todd (Greg Kinnear) whose young son tells of visiting heaven during a near death experience. This brings out the wrath of unbelievers that include members of his congregation. But this is a religious Christian film because of Todd's vocation. The film is based on a true story and on the best seller of the same name.
As far as Christian films go, the film holds fast to the faith. God's glory can be witnessed in many parts of the film. It is sometimes too obvious as the camera pans the colors of the town's crops or when Todd opens a garage door to reveal again the glories of God's creation.
Religion or Christianity aside, director's Wallace's film is monotonously paced and offers nothing new that is not already seen in the film's trailer. The film gets boring pretty fast without any action, heightened drama or evil villains. The poverty and the hardship of the townsfolk are mentioned at the film's start but the script never goes anywhere with it.
The one plus thing about the film is Emmy Award and Oscar nominee Greg Linear in the main role. He jumps into his role with he fervor of a minister ready to spread the Word of God.
For a Christian film, there is one extremely graphic scene in which Todd injures his leg during a baseball game.
But the target market of Christians should help HEAVEN IS FOR REAL make a decent buck at the box-office.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mydh4MEo2B0
HOLD FAST (Canada 2012) ***Directed by Justin Simms
HOLD FAST is the plight of two14-year olds as they flee an adult world to try to survive in the wilderness. It is a coming-of-age story which deals with many current adolescent issues. A family film, suitable for the holiday Easter season, the film does not contain swearing, violence or any other nastiness. The result too, is a film that should have more drama or impact, but there are many other plusses that can be discovered in this well-intentioned film.
Michael (Avery Ash), 14, lives in a fishing village in Newfoundland but his world turns upside down when his parents are killed in a car accident. He's sent to live in a city, where he constantly gets into trouble at school and at home, with his strict Uncle Ted.
After another fight at school, Michael decides not to stay where he's not wanted. His timid cousin Curtis (Douglas Sullivan) begs Michael to let him come with him and together they set off on a quest into the Newfoundland wilderness for freedom and belonging, determined to prove they can survive on their own.
Issues dealt with in this film include bullying, buddying, survival, loss (death) and first love. Though each of these is not covered in great detail, they are touched long enough to make an effect. Sullivan and Ash deliver winning performances as the two on the run.
A big plus of the movie is the stunning scenery captured on film. This is one film that should be used to promote tourism in Labrador, Newfoundland. From the rugged cliffs, to the sea to the meadows, Canada never looked more inviting.
Made in 2012, HOLD FAST took a while to get general release. HOLD FAST is entertaining good old fashioned Canadian fodder.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4pcVZHCQDs
Directed by Rudy Barichello
The young poet of the film title is an aspirin writer, Paul Susser (Vincent Hoss-Desmarais) who has several meetings with his Master and great author, Samuel Beckett (Stephen McHattie). Paul also meets Lucia (Maria de Medeiros), a diva actress who needs Paul's permission to play Krapp, Beckett's most autobiographical male character.
As the film progresses, Beckett denounces Paul's writings. Lucia sleeps with Paul to secure permission. The reason Paul obtained Beckett's legacy is also explained in the film.
This is a complex fictitious story that involves three main characters, all of whom are not very nice people. Each uses another for personal gain or for evil pleasure. The film is thus not easy to like, though director Barichello goes about his duties as if he does not care. Lucia comes across as a stuck-up diva who is not as talented or pretty as she thinks she is. Beckett is a pompous ass and Paul has no backbone.
At least the film's message is not drummed into the audience's heads. As each character goes about his or her path, fate eventually comes up on top.
MEETINGS WITH A YOUNG POET meanders around a lot while not coming to any conclusion. If one is ok with that, the film can come across as a neat essay on eccentric writers and their muses.
Trailer: http://www.cinemamontreal.com/trailers/197366/Meetings_with_a_Young_Poet.html
STRESS POSITION (Canada 2013) *1/2
Directed by A.J. Bond
Two friends make a bet of $10,000 to see who can stand a week of psychological suffering in the hands of each other. Dave (David Amito) goes first as the victim and director A.J. Bond who plays himself goes next.
The tortures, both emotional and physical (with references to Guantanamo Bay) include not being able to go to the toilet, being tied up, seeing their closed ones suffering, drawing blood and even tickling. All these are shot on film by the torturer.
It must always be remembered that this is not a documentary or a reality show though played out most times as one. Everything is staged here as obvious from certain scenes like the one in which David breaks down in front of the camera. The question emerges as who is the worst torturer or worst human being? It is a hard contest. The film's first half has A.J. the torturer and Dave the victim and the second quarter with the roles reversed.
A low budget film with a minimum of players, the film has the occasional 70's sci-fi look with its sparse and white sets and characters going around in white uniforms.
One wonders what the aim of the filmmakers is in the making of the film. There is no clear message or comedy or real drama. Is it to see how far the human endurance can take? The movie turns out less and less interesting though at one self-conscious point in the film, A.J. promises to make the events more interesting. It is obvious that Dave and A.J. are not the only ones tortured here.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzfsR6IfuB4
THE TRAILER PARK BOYS : DON'T LEGALIZE IT (Canada 2014) **
Directed by Mike Clattenburg
The third and most serious of the Trailer Park Boys films based on the TV comedy drama series sees one again the trio getting out of one trouble and into another.
The story follows Ricky (Robb Wells), Julian (Jon Paul Tremblay) and Bubbles (Mike Smith) attempt a series of money making schemes after being released from prison, but are again pursued by former Sunnyvale Trailer Park supervisor Jim Lahey (John Dunsworth).
There is more road trip as the boys take to travelling down the road than actual trailer park living. Of course, the boys do the politically incorrect thing, like driving under the influence. After making several wrong turns, they finally reach their destination only to be robbed.
The novelty of the Trailer Park Boys has worn thin and the laughs are no longer fresh or hilarious. It can be observed how laborious it is to keep the film afloat. But one thing the film does have is an accuracy of the lives of these white trailer trash material. Selling untainted piss to drug addicts that need clean ones for their medical tests is a novel idea and one might be surprised that there is such a business going on. This slice of Canadiana is effectively portrayed and is the one good point of the movie.
Trailer: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=39e_1367445205
TRANSCENDENCE (USA/UK/China 2014) **
Directed by Wally Pfister
Oscar winning Cinematographer of INCEPTION, Wally Pfister delivers his debut directorial feature in the form of a sci-fi suspense thriller that looks good on screen but lacks the punch of a good shocker. INCEPTION's director Christopher Nolan serves as executive producer for the film.
Though the lead character in the film appears to be Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), who strives to create the perfect Artificial Intelligence machine, his wife and collaborator, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) has more to do and say that affects the plot. The story clumsily begins with a bewildered Max Waters (Paul Bettany), a friend who wonders about before the film flashes back 5 years before to explain what has occurred.
Dr. Caster has been shot and to save himself, he downloads his mind to the computer acquiring power and making him unstoppable. Then the rebels appear to stop him and to prevent the world from been at the mercy of such a super being. The question is whether one can trust Dr. Caster. But then, a precedence should not be set.
As far as the film goes, it is all okay as the plot initially unfolds. It gets too talky in the middle with the suspense/thriller element totally thrown to the dogs. The third half of the film turns silly, with the rebels trying to save the world and a lot of guns and explosions going off.
Johnny Depp looks totally out of it and only Cillian Murphy a the FBI agent seems to take things seriously. But it is actually Rebecca Hall's show here and she performs her acting tasks satisfactorily.
The film's cinematography (by Jess Hall) appears to be the only reason to see it on the IMAX screens. But during the one I attended, the far and medium shots were blurry and the end credits were jumpy, indicating that the projectionist should have got all the equipment properly calibrated. After all, IMAX screenings boast the best in focus and projection in both sight and sound.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Sd7J-_3Ho
$11. American Hustle
$12. The Grand Budapest Hotel
$13. Like Father, Like Son
"If you can't see us, then you don't know. If it bothers you to see us then close your eyes and just experience the music. We want it to be about the art, about the music and what's manifesting through each artist."
- Rob Da' Noize Temple
The 11th Annual Tangled Arts Festival will showcase tomorrow, April 12, the Krip-Hop Nation: Toronto event featuring hip-hop artists with disabilities. The show will be Canada's first introduction to a growing movement of disabled hip-hop artists that is building a worldwide following. "People are learning about krip-hop. We have chapters all over the world, we have chapters in the UK, Germany, South Africa, Chile and so on," as Rob Da' Noize Temple, one of the event's performers, told AfroToronto.com.
In addition to New York-based musician, producer and performer Rob Da' Noize, Krip-Hop Nation: Toronto will also headline and be hosted by Berkeley, California native and Krip-Hop Nation founder, Leroy F. Moore Jr. Also performing will be Cleveland Heights alternative punk-hop act Kounterclockwise. Samplings of all the performers' music can be heard here.
These artists are at the forefront of the krip-hop movement, which comprises of a collaborative network and community of artists from around the world. "The hallmark of branding and marketing is to be the first in your category. So we're now pretty much the first in our category; so it's new. People may chuckle at the idea of it, but those chuckles turn into awareness," says Rob Da' Noize Temple.
Rob Da' Noize Temple looks forward to coming back to Toronto. He's been to the city a few times before as a performer with the group Rapper's Delight, composed of the original members of The Sugar Hill Gang: Wonder Mike and Master Gee.
Art Across Genres and Nationalities
Given the common experiences of discrimination and exclusion, as a result of their disabilities, the krip-hop movement holds no barriers of race, colour, ethnicity or art form. While both Leroy Moore Jr and Rob Da' Noize Temple have been active together in the African-American community's arts and culture scenes (such as in poetry and theatre), they refuse to allow themselves and their art form to be pigeonholed or defined by their disability, race, or nationality. "There's nothing really black or white about it because we have Jewish artists, Italian artists and whether they're black or white we're just bringing them into the music," Temple said.
As Temple further explains: "Krip-hop artists express their talents through their music and their art form; whether it be graffiti, whether it be hip-hop, break dancing, or what have you. We have artists that do that as well. So it's about the culture of hip-hop within hip hop's sub-genre. So we're trying to fit within a zone but not look at that zone as our only way of expression. We're trying to be ageless, colourless, sexless, and just let it be about the art. Let it be about the music."
The Growing Voice of Disabled Artists
The son of a Juilliard School-trained mother, Rod Da' Noize Temple has grown up around music. He began playing keyboards and the age of six and, over his 40-year career, has worked with top industry people like musician and hit producer George Kerr, as well as produced and arranged music for major labels and movie productions such as Beverly Hills Cop III. He was also the first artist signed with Jive Records.
His cerebral palsy hasn't stopped him from approaching his career in the music industry on the same playing field as any other musician. As he recounts: "I never really thought about anything, I've just been pretty much in mainstream music. … Clients who work with me know that I'm going to bring everything I can bring to the table. And I try to surround myself with truly gifted musicians. … I think that Jive Records really truly never recognized that I was the first artist and first disabled artist outside of Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles on a major label."
Societal barriers and lack of awareness remain, however, toward the full recognition and appreciation of disabled artists. As Rob Da' Noize Temple asks: "When was the last time you saw a video on TV, a love song, where the guy is singing to a girl and he rolls up in a wheel chair?"
As the krip-hop movement expands, including through the large number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans coming back wounded and discovering new forms of artistic expressions, hundreds of disabled artists from around the world are growing their following. They actively disseminate their work through global online communities, media exposure, word of mouth and international tours.
"It's a spiritual journey to me. I truly love to make music. It would be nice to make money. I mean that's the end goal for most people but for me it's the art itself; and what we leave behind for the next generation," as Temple concludes.
Event Info
Krip-Hop Nation: Toronto
April 12, 2014
8:00 pm
Oakham House
$10 General Admission
$5 Students/PWD
Buy tickets
Big films opening this week are DIVERGENT, the new TWILIGHT and HUNGER GAMES hopeful and MUPPETS MOST WANTED.
Both are expected to be hits.
Directed by Neil Burger
The most anticipated film opens this week and proves to be hit entertainment.
This story takes place in the city of Chicago in the distant future. The city is divided into 5 factions: Abnegation, meant for the selfless; Amity, meant for the peaceful; Candor, meant for the honest; Dauntless, meant for the brave; and Erudite, meant for the knowledgeable. On a given day each year, all sixteen-year-olds take an aptitude test that will tell them for which faction they are best suited. After receiving the results of their test, they must decide whether to remain with their family or transfer to a new faction.
At 16, Tris (Shailene Woodley) is tested DIVERGENT, which means she belongs to more than one faction. Divergents are deemed threats to peace as they do not fit into any faction, and are hunted and eliminated by Dauntless. Tris has to keep the secret while she opts to enter the Dauntless faction for training.
The film goes on with her training before revealing half way through the film, a plot by Erudite to eliminate Abnegation, which was Tris' birth faction.
Director Burger is no stranger to the action sci-fi genre. His LIMITLESS was a delight and THE ILLUSIONIST was mesmerizing.. Focusing on story and a strong romantic element (between Tris and her leader, Four played by Theo James), all the action is meaningful. Ethical issues such as the price of peace are cleverly tied to the plot. Special effects are of course present, and are kept at a minimum thus aiding credibility. There are no meaningless action sequences or silly car chases.
Shailene Woodley, best remembered as George Clooney's daughter in THE DESCENDENTS fares well as the heroine, requiring her to display strength in the fighting scenes and in emotion as with the death of a loved one. Hunky Theo James proves that he not just a pretty face or body. Trained in London theatre, he shows great promise as a talented good looking star. And Oscar Winner Kate Winslet offers star power as Jeannine Matthews, the female villain of the piece.
Running at 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film covers all the material in the Veronica Roth novel. The book was reviewed in The New York Times as rich in plot and imaginative details. The film matches the standard.
The plot contains all the elements that make good storytelling of film adaptation series. Tris is in training school in preparation for some higher purpose, just as Harry Potter in the HARRY POTTER films. She learns of her strengths just as action heroes learn how to use their super powers (e.g. SPIDER-MAN). War games as in HUNGER GAMES exists where one must be able to fight individually as well as in groups.
DIVERGENT cost $80 million to make. The bar of success is $70 million in box-office for the first weekend. On the first day of advance sales, half the tickets were sold surpassing the TWILIGHT film five times.
Also, this paragraph contains a disclosure regarding conflict of interest. I own $30 grand of Lionsgate stock, the company responsible for HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT. Though it can be argued that I should not write this review as it might be deemed a conflict of interest, I do believe that my readership, though substantial will not affect the stock price of Lionsgate. And after all, it is an excellent dystopian commercial movie.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6HHCxLZftQ
THE LUNCHBOX (India/Fr/Germ/USA 2013) ***
Directed by Ritesh Batra
One of the daily routines in busy Dubai is the receiving of the dabba or lunchbox. These boxes are prepared by wives that are delivered to their husbands at work. The film tells the tale of a wrongly delivered box and the relationship that develops between the neglected woman, Ila (Nimrat Kaur) and the government worker, Saarjan (Irrfan Khan from last year's THE LIFE OF PI).
But it is hard to believe that the lunchbox delivered to the wrong recipient would continue again and again. The problem is addressed at one point in the film when she confronts the carrier who insists that there has been no mistake in the delivery. But this does not answer the nagging question.
THE LUNCHBOX is neither a love story nor a film that settles the problems of the characters' lives. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Whatever problems still exist at the film's end, though the characters have a clearer idea of what they are facing. The film does, however, paint a good portrait of the hustle and bustle of the subcontinent city life. In fact the first 10 minutes, in which the camera depicts the goings-on of the city (over-packed trains and overcrowded streets) is quite like Alfred Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST where Hitchcock shows the craziness of an advertising executive's life in the New York.
The relationship between the accountant and his understudy turns out to be more interesting that that of the man and the woman who makes the lunchbox. It is easy to see why as the two men interact whereas the man and woman do not. But the two stories come together at the end when the understudy guesses that the girl in his supervisor's life is the one that cooks his lunch meals.
THE LUNCHBOX is entertaining as an observation piece – of both of how relationships work (or fail). Though THE LUNCHBOX has a look similar to SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, there is no fairy tale ending. But the film won the viewers' choice award at the Cannes Critics' Week.
And just incidentally, in Britain, what Saarjan receives is not called a lunchbox but a tiffin carrier.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKggd5rAdYc
Directed by James Babin
MUPPEST MOST WANTED is the sequel to the reboot of THE MUPPET MOVIE , that being Disney's THE MUPPETS which made a ton at the box-office that I hated. Thankfully, this film beats a lot of odds in the sequel being better than the original.
The plot has The Muppets hiring a manager in the form of the number 2 biggest crook in the world, Dominic played by Ricky Gervais. He has teamed up with Number One, Constantine, a Kermit look alike who has just escaped from The Gulag in Siberia. Kermit is kidnapped and replaced with Constantine. The Muppets, unaware of the switch, tour Europe while Number 1 and 2 rob buildings next to the performance venues. Humour is also provided by Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon (Ty Burrell) working with Muppet character Bald Eagle in solving the case together caustically and then amicably.
The film stays true to the success of its roots. The film contains plenty of silly puns, musical numbers (including the outrageous Gulag Follies) and lots of star cameos – all of which made The Muppets TV series addictive to watch week after week, even by adult audiences. The Kermit Piggy romance is still there, with a wedding as a clever plot twist. And all the favorite Muppet characters get to do their famous acts like the Swedish Chef, Gonzo the Great, Animal and of course, Fuzzie Bear.
The actors in MUPPETS MOST WANTED are a 100% improvement over the last film. For one, they replaced my two most unfunny, obnoxious comedians (Jack Black, and Ken Jeong) in cameos in the last film with the funniest (but still obnoxious hilarious as a Golden Globe Awards host) as the main lead in the film. Whereas Disney's THE MUPPETS only had a limited number of guests like Chris Cooper and Amy Adams, MUPPETS MOST WANTED has a slew lot more that incudes Sean "Diddy" Combs, Salma Hayek, Lady Gaga, Danny Trejo (with the best cameo joke in the film) and Christophe Waltz as themselves while others like Celine Dion, Ray Liotta and Stanly Tucci, just to mention a few, play pop up characters.
But what works is that this film has taken the MUPPET series to a new success level. While Disney's THE MUPPETS was basically one stretched out TV Muppets episode disguised as the Muppets Telethon which turned out boring (I rated this film 2 stars), this one is multiple episodes set in different countries with different stars (Christophe Waltz, yes doing the waltz in Germany, Salma Hayek dodging bulls in Spain etc.).
The film also parodies lots of escape films from THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION to every other escape movie including THE SOUND OF MUSIC. My favorite is the prison escape sequence where the convicts escape during their musical performance and when the warden realizes this during the scene curtain call, just as the Von Trapp family escapes during their performance. But the last scene in which the Muppets, one by one shout out; 'Take me too (back to the Gulag)' could and should have been made into a parody than left as a clichéd ending.
MUPPETS MOST WANTED are up to the box-office test opening the same week as the much anticipated DIVERGENT, the next HUNGER GAMES hopeful. Though both films stand a good chance as they target different audiences, it would be a good close fight for the number one spot.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUMVmK6tPac
NYMPH()MANIAC (Denmark 2013) ***Directed by Lars Von Trier
A bit of background is needed before watching NYMPH()MANIAC or reading the review. The film is screened in two 2-hour parts, Volume 1 and Volume 2 and is the abridged, cut version of Von Trier's original opus. The only time the five and a half version was shown was at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. All over the world, which includes North America, audiences will have to pay and watch individual films as Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. But both parts were screened together for press and both parts will be released (at least in Toronto and most of Canada) together. But both parts should be seen, not too far apart from each other, so that the film makes sense (at least in Von Trier's way of making sense) and that each part will remain fresh in memory. Vol. 1 opens in the U.S. only an Vol. 2 later in a few weeks. But the review will be an aggregate of both volumes.
NYMPH()MANIAC is the third and final entry of Von Trier's 'Depression Trilogy' the other two being ANTICHRIST and MELANCHOLIA. But the stories of each film are independent of each other.
The almost soft pornography tells of a woman's erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and in her earlier years by Stacy Martin). It all begins on a cold winter's evening, when an old, charming bachelor Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard) finds Joe beaten up in an alleyway. He brings her home to his flat where he tends to her wounds while asking her about her life. She tells of her erotic life in the film's 8 chapters (Vol.1 containing the first 5 and a half). Seligman and Joe interact as she recovers, though caustically.
Von Trier's film opens with a 2-minute blank grey screen. The camera then pans down a wall with dripping water, all of which is the set for Seligman to find the beaten Joe in the alleyway. So, despite the abridged version, do not expect the film to move fast.
Von Trier's film is stylized, and filled with artistic references (Faust, Bach) wit much to read between the lines (or images as they may be).
But what is notable is the reason for Joe revealing all to a total stranger. Is she hoping for redemption or perhaps a reward to her rescuer, as Seligman is revealed as an asexual character incapable of having sex with either male or female. In one key scene, Seligman moves in to Joe with his private part showing, so perhaps Joe's storytelling has achieved some good, though not to her advantage. There is much to ponder on, when watching the film aided by the fact that Von Trier's film moves at an extremely slow pace.
Vol. 2 is the more disturbing half with segments such as a naked Joe in front of two African men with erect penises, and the one aforementioned with Seligman approaching Joe.
But the conclusion in Vol. 2 (conclusion in the Von Trier sense) still leaves much to be explained as to what really transpired. But, hey! This is a Lars Von Trier film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow0Coe8bnTk
Best Film Opening: Divergent
Best Films Playing: Like Father, Like Son, The Grand Budapest Hotel and American Hustle
Best Action: Divergent
Best Documentary: The Galapagos Affair: Satan Comes to Eden
Best Comedy: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson's new film THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is a real delight.
Big films opening this week are NEED FOR SPEED and the new Wes Anderson comedy THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL.
ENEMY (Canada/Spain/France2013) ****Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Viilleneuve does David Lynch in ENEMY.
In MULHOLLAND DRIVE, Lynch's film makes total sense the initial 75% of the film before taking off on a tangent to an illogical narrative for its last quarter. In Villeneuve's ENEMY, the film makes no sense from the very start. That is the beauty of ENEMY.
The plot (apparently based on a novel by Jose Saramago) has a successful college professor, Anthony (Jake Gyllenhaal) leading a comfortable life with his expecting wife (Susan Gadon). A colleague recommends him a film in which he recognizes his doppelganger in it. Compulsively, Anthony looks him up and finds him to be an unemployed actor living with his girlfriend (Melanie Laurent).
Weird as weirdness goes, the two start about exchanging partners. Though it gets a bit confusing trying to decipher whether the Gyllenhaal we see on the screen is the professor or actor, t all comes to place within a while. Or does it? Villeneuve brings his audience for quite the ride that includes a giant spider clambering the apartment wall and a secret meeting of gentlemen and prostitutes delivering spiders on a tray.
The film is set in Toronto as recognizable by its skyline and an early morning radio show announcing traffic problems along one of Toronto's expressways. But the city is shot in a grey misty atmosphere offering the notion that something is amiss in the city.
ENEMY is the most dumbfounding film I have seen this year. And I mean this in a good way. Villeneuve has kept his audience glued to the screen from tart to finish trying to follow his narrative 100% only to leave everyone mind f***ed! But he does give a warning at the start of the film with these words splashed on the screen: "Order is chaos yet un-deciphered.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJuaAWrgoUY
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (U.K./Germany 2014) ***** Top 10
Directed by Wes Anderson
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL tells the story of the hotel's most famous concierge, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). It is told by storyteller meister Wes Anderson (THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX, MOONRISE KINGDOM, THE DARJEELING LIMIED, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS) with his famous filmmaking traits such as his wide-pan tracking shots, colour, spot-on and bitingly funny dialogue and contains a whole slew of actors (Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton) that have appeared in his previous films. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is also his best movie.
As in true classic storytelling a teenage girl approaches a statue in a courtyard and leaves it at the end of the film while reading a chapter in the book about the author's visit to the hotel. The young hotel (Jude Law) is invited in the most polite of manners for dinner with its owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abrahams). Zero (Tony Revolori), as he is known when he was a lobby boy under the charge of concierge Gustave had a whole series of adventures that started from Gustave's great affinity to the hotel guests.
These adventures include cat-and-mouse between Gustave, Zero and Madame D's (Tilda Swinton) henchmen, a ski/bobsled chase, theft of a priceless painting all set during the beginning of the War, which makes great filmmaking. Anderson's film has chases, action, romance, period atmosphere, humor but most of all great dialogue. The film contains so many quotables that it would be wise to bring a notebook and someone who know shorthand.
Surprisingly, Anderson keeps the momentum paced well all throughout the film. Surprisingly, the lack of a climax does not help the film, but the story comes full circle. The result is one of the most entertaining and colorful pieces of the year. If you stay for the end credits, you can enjoy the dancing of an animated Moustafa dancing at the bottom right of the screen.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgGXL5lJ-6g
Directed by Scott Waugh
As the title of the film implies, NEED FOR SPEED is a high-octane chase and race film in which plot does not matter. It is based on a video game.
After being released from prison for a crime that he didn't commit, a street racer, Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), is set to race cross-country and to avenge the death of his friend Pete (Harrison Gilbertson). The villain of the piece is Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper from THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE) who framed Tobey and is also Pete's sister's boyfriend.
Tobey's character is supported by a bunch of loyals who all try the best to be cool. Benny (Kid Cudi) teaches rap fitness while serving time, Finn (Rami Malek) bears all when he quite his tiresome job while Monarch, the eccentric organizer of the race (Michael Keaton) hams in up the best he can. The result is all of them looking incredibly childish and idiotic. The coolest actor of the lot turns out to be Dominic Cooper as the villain. These people should learn that one is either born cool or not they ca