—————— The American Directed by Anton Corbijn Action fans and George Clooney enthusiasts might well be ill-prepared for The American, which, despite its marketing as a slam-bang thriller, is actually closer in spirit to Euro arthouse fare, and features Clooney in full-on “emptied out” mode. (It’s best described as a brooding drama slightly peppered with [...]
“Wings is a rare cinematic achievement – a poetic, literary script turned into pure cinematic expression…” Wings Of Desire Directed by Wim Wenders Every so often, a filmmaker will turn to a smaller project while he’s impatiently waiting to get a bigger one financed, and often that small independent film will turn out to be [...]
“Intelligent, audacious and complex filmmaking…” Open Your Eyes Directed by Alejandro Amenábar The 1998 Sundance Film Fest hit Open Your Eyes announced Alejandro Amenábar as one of the top directors working today. His sophomore feature is a labyrinth, thick in mystery, with intricate plot twists and a riddle that will keep you guessing to the [...]
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 [...]
“Worth recommending to fans of music, whether or not you are familiar with the workings of Broken Social Scene…” This Movie Is Broken Directed by Bruce McDonald Whether or not Bruce McDonald’s experiments in filmmaking are always successful, his passion and continued desire to push the limits of the medium in both form and content [...]
“A surprisingly invigorating horror film.” The Last Exorcism Directed by Daniel Stamm Thanks to its wicked humor and unexpected smarts, The Last Exorcism sets itself apart from many recent attempts at faux-documentaries. In the film, documentary filmmakers follow a disillusioned preacher who hopes to expose the danger exorcism poses in the modern age. He attempts [...]
Jaws Directed by Steven Spielberg Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw star in this terrifying thriller about an enormous man-eating Great White Shark that terrorizes the fictional coastal summer resort town of Amity, Long Island on the Fourth of July weekend. Based on the trashy best-selling novel by Peter Benchley (who also provides the [...]
“A charming film that will appeal to those with patience or tender souls…” Fausta: La Teta Asustada / The Milk of Sorrow Director: Claudia Llosa Fausta is a young woman afflicted with a rare disease. The milk of Sorrow, passed on to her through her mother’s breast milk, affects the children born to women tortured [...]
“An exquisitely rendered, charmingly wordless lament of a changing world.” The Illusionist Directed by Sylvain Chomet The Illusionist arrives with a spot of controversy up its sleeve. The fact of its being based upon an unproduced Jacques Tati script is more widely known than the alleged truth of its initial inspiration, which, according to Tati’s [...]
“Brash, numbing, shocking and laugh-out-loud hilarious…” Piranha 3d Directed by Alexander Aja There is nothing particularly funny or poetic about the carnage in Piranha 3D. Even “disturbing” seems a bit too strong a word to describe the excessive, but still somehow palatably cartoonish bloodshed on display – can a film about pre-historic. bloodthirsty piranha really [...]
————— The Switch Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck Adaptation is a difficult art. Stay too faithful and you’ll wind up importing elements not appropriate to the new form, but stray too far and you’ll annoy proponents of the original. While the latter approach has probably resulted in a greater volume of good films, [...]
“An admirable feat and one that is made all the more poignant by the film’s wonderful and thought-provoking final moment.” Afterschool Directed by Antonio Campos Afterschool is the feature-length debut from director Antonio Campos. He previously brought us the faux-documentary Buy It Now, an inquisitive peek into the world of social media commercialism, which featured [...]
“Essential viewing and one of the best films of the year so far.” Rampage Directed by Uwe Boll Rampage is the latest film from the infamous writer/producer/director Uwe Boll, the critically and publicly chided creator of such hilariously bad movies as House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne, and In the Name of [...]
“Stonewall Uprising turns out to be an emotionally satisfying experience…” Stonewall Uprising Directed by Kate Davis & David Heilbroner Stonewall Uprising is not the first documentary to directly address what has been referred to as the “Rosa Parks” moment in Gay Liberation. Even if one hasn’t seen either Before Stonewall, After Stonewall, or even Gay [...]
Doghouse Dir. Jake West (2009, UK, 89 mins.) One thing should be said from the outset: this film is about cannibalistic, man-hating, female zombies hell-bent on wrecking a boy’s weekend out. If you found any part of that offensive, then move on to something else. Doghouse does not just throw political correctness out the window. [...]
The American: Visions of damnationA look back at “Wings Of Desire”Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes)8: The Mormon PropositionThis Movie is BrokenThe Last Exorcism: A surprisingly invigorating horror filmA Look Back At Spielberg’s Masterpiece “Jaws”Fausta: The Milk of SorrowMIFF2010: The IllusionistPiranha 3dThe SwitchAfterschoolRampageStonewall UprisingToronto After Dark 2010: Doghouse (Review #1)
The Expendables
Toronto After Dark 2010: Last Lovecraft (Review #1)
