8: The Mormon Proposition Dir. Reed Cowan, Steven Greenstreet If you are the type of person who watches documentaries like 8: The Mormon Proposition, then it is likely that you already have an opinion on the subject of homosexuality, Mormonism, and California’s Proposition 8. In this case, you are in good company: it is clear [...]
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore Directed by Jimmy Mason and Frank Henenlotter Herschell Gordon Lewis is best known for creating the “splatter film” sub-genre of horror. He is often called the “Godfather of Gore” even though his film career included works in a range of exploitation film genres, including juvenile delinquent films, nudie-cuties, [...]
Marwencol Directed by Jeff Malmberg One of the more downright inspirational films here is Marwencol, the story of accidental artist Mark Hogencamp. After being targeted and beaten outside of a club one night, Hogencamp came out of a coma with severe physical and mental damage. His personal attempt at recuperation was to construct a 1/6th scale reproduction of a small [...]
Pulling John Directed by Vassiliki Khonsari If the name John Brzenk doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry: he’s just an airline mechanic for Delta. But since 1983, he has also developed and cemented his legendary status as the greatest professional arm wrestler of all-time (as certified by the Guinness Book of Records). His utter dominance [...]
“Fuel is successful despite Ticknell’s self-aggrandizement. The subject is too important to ignore, and, with the Gulf of Mexico becoming the USA’s new national embarrassment, there is no time like the present to reconsider our society’s addiction to fossil fuels” Fuel Directed by Josh Ticknell Energy is one of the defining issues of our time [...]
“It is difficult to walk into a film like 12th & Delaware without an opinion, but rest assured, wherever you stand on the issue, your opinion will be both respected and challenged – by the documentary’s subjects.” 12th & Delaware Directed by Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing (USA, 80 min) Picture, if you will, an unassuming [...]
Exit Through the Gift Shop Directed by Banksy “Our works in stone, in paint, in print, are spared, some of them, for a few decades or a millennium or two, but everything must finally fall in war, or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash – the triumphs, the frauds. The treasures, and the [...]
SUFFOCATING RUBBER CLOWN SUIT OF NEGATIVITY – “Sieveking explores the TM phenomenon via his adoration for Lynch, and what starts off as a deeply annoying exercise in overdone idol worship turns into a pretty funny and highly-critical look at the TM organization.” David Wants to Fly Directed by David Sieveking A couple of years ago, [...]
The heart wrenching film In The Name of the Family by award winning film maker Shelly Sawell was premiered last week and won the festivals top prize at Toronto’s Hot Doc film festival. The film tells the story a young muslim teenager, Aqsa Parvez who was strangled by her father for allegedly going against his [...]
And Everything Is Going Fine Directed by Steven Soderbergh It’s strange, the effect stories have when you know that they are true. They feel more immediate. That’s the power of non-fiction: the images are somehow more vivid, the blood somehow wetter. There is no disbelief in need of suspension. These things happened. They exist. It goes without [...]
The People Vs. George Lucas Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe Full disclosure: I have never watched Star Wars. How much flack do I get for this? That depends on who I’m talking to. With girls, the news that I am part of the 0.001% of the population who hasn’t seen Star Wars is usually met with mild surprise and an [...]
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia Directed by Julian Nitzberg Synopsis: Shoot-outs, robberies, gas-huffing, drug-dealing, pill-popping, murders, and tap dancing.” Way stranger than fiction, this wild jaw-dropper of a documentary will forever corrupt what pops in your mind at the mention of “family values.” At first glance, the White family are like something [...]
Lynch, Soderbergh, Rush, babies…every film festival has its own hype machine, even one as pridefully heady as Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary film festival and an international gathering place for those in the art and business of non-fiction. For eleven days, downtown Toronto will become a smorgasbord of doc and I am wicked stoked and salivating. [...]
Don’t Worry About Me Directed by David Morrissey British actor David Morrissey has had his share of highs and lows. With starring roles in acclaimed TV series like Holding On, State of Play and Blackpool, he had Doctor Who fans talking up his chances of replacing David Tennant in the iconic role that eventually went [...]
Marwencol Directed by Jeff Malmberg One of the more downright inspirational films here is Marwencol, the story of accidental artist Mark Hogencamp. After being targeted and beaten outside of a club one night, Hogencamp came out of a coma with severe physical and mental damage. His personal attempt at recuperation was to construct a 1/6th scale reproduction of a small [...]
The American: Visions of damnation
A look back at “Wings Of Desire”
Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes)8: The Mormon Proposition
This Movie is Broken
The Last Exorcism: A surprisingly invigorating horror film
A Look Back At Spielberg’s Masterpiece “Jaws”
Fausta: The Milk of Sorrow
MIFF2010: The Illusionist
Piranha 3d
The Switch
Afterschool
Rampage
Stonewall Uprising
Toronto After Dark 2010: Doghouse (Review #1)
The Expendables
Toronto After Dark 2010: Last Lovecraft (Review #1)
