Canada’s own Jason Reitman has made quite a name for himself in the last few years.  In 2005, he wrote and directed Thank You For Smoking (one of this reviewer’s favourite movies), a satirical look at the tobacco industry, before directing the widely-adored hipster romp Juno, which of course won an Oscar for Best Screenplay.  With a short, but impressive resume, Reitman has returned with Up in the Air, another satirical dramedy, this time taking a look at modern life.  Co-written and directed by Reitman, this is another film with …

Sherlock Holmes (2009) – Guy Ritchie
Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law play House and Wilson respectively in late 19th century CG London. Rachel McAdams has breasts. Very entertaining but runs a bit long in the second half, with too much lead up to the inevitable sequel. Nothing like his previous work, but there are still elements of Ritchie’s signature style. Downey Jr is the reason to see it however, so if you like him go, and if not go spend $15 on Avatar and then see it.
 
 
 
A Serious Man (2009) …

Fun and free films at the Royal!
The European Film Festival has hit Toronto, bringing with it a slew of absolutely amazing and FREE films to The Royal Cinema. It all actually starts on Thursday night with the Czech film The Karamazovs (2008). Following which, Friday night brings a double bill starting with the Slovakian dark romance Half-Life at 6:00pm and ending with the muchly hyped french film A Prophet at 8:30 PM, which premiered early this year at the Toronto After Dark Festival.
If you are already going to be at …

Here, I attempt to explore the work and ideas of the greatest, and undoubtedly most accomplished filmmaker of the 20th century -

“According to Bazin, Renoir’s long takes, in depth shooting and mobile camera overrode the fragmentary effects of montage and the constraining effects of the frame to communicate the underlying unity of the real world.” (Powrie, pg 44, 2006)

Every Friday, eager filmgoers will address the multitude of trade papers that dictate which films are worth their attention. The reviewers themselves range in age and interest, and I am sure …

And so the White Night returns! For those of you who don’t know, this weekend marks the 3rd Nuit Blanche in Toronto. Nuit Blanche is a festival of contemporary art which has been going on annually across Europe since the late 90s. Since 2006, we here in Toronto have had the privilege of joining in on its festivities, and as someone who has gone every year I’ve got to say it is one hell of a night. In the past I have witnessed such things as full scale zombie walks, …

It’s the greatest fucking movie of all time. It’s that simple. Citizen Kane was a joke, 8 ½ was shallow, Star Wars had crappy effects, and 400 Blows was child’s play. You will laugh. You will cry. You will ponder the meaning of life and love. You will throw spoons at the screen and cry for Denny. Nothing I can say will do this film justice. You just have to see The Room (2003).

Placing itself somewhere between soft-core porn and foreign melodrama, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room is all the right …

You can’t nail comedy. Actually, rephrase that; you need skill and prowess to execute your comedy at just the right moments. All too often, a screenwriter, a comic, a director, a drunken partygoer, a backyard hooligan either lacks the patience or feels the need to expedite the patience required for the best comedic results. The best comedies which have gone down in cinematic history, from It Happened One Night and The Graduate to Animal House and recently Knocked Up, have done so because of their impeccable sense of comedic timing. …

A group of kids, fourteen years old or something, a group of kids stroll in from the root beer stained corridor, bouncing around at the bottom of the screen finding a clear row of eight seats. Strolling and bouncing around as if they going to a Brad Pitt movie. Or something. From this eagle’s nest, dead center, on padded seats to scrutinize, one can only notice the latecomers distracting from the opening previews. In this theatre, a group of kids, fourteen years old or something, walk in a few more …

A case of high expectations meeting with mixed results: Watching Adventureland, director and screenwriter Greg Mottola’s semi-autobiographical account of his summer from hell, for the first time. The raucous, highly juvenile teen comedy set in the 1980s from the director of the vulgarly sweet Superbad, as its theatrical run and subsequent DVD release advertisements strongly suggest, isn’t actually all that raucous, juvenile, or vulgar. What it did become was head-scratchingly confusing.
A case of leveled expectations met with shock, awe, and utter respect for the creator of a heartfelt and superbly …

Everyone loves Zombies. They instantly add additional points of awesome to any movie, and it’s almost impossible to mess them up (though some movies certainly try). But why are we so enthralled by the cinematic undead? Is it their immediate kitsch value? The zombies’ insatiable animalism and hunger? The mindlessness of the violence? The gratuity of the sex? The stupidity of the characters or the epicenes of their survival?
Whatever it is that makes zombie movies great, Dead Snow (2009) has it all and is bound to be the next zombie …

The 420 Film Festival!

The Bloor Cinema keeps the awesomeness coming from the After Dark Film Festival last weekend with the 420 Film Festival this weekend. It all kicks off Saturday night at 9:20 with a new Canadian 20 minute long Silent Marijuana Western, scored with some funky vintage reefer tunes.  Following this there is a 1915 silent comedy (15 mins), then a 1909 “drug drama” (10 minutes), Bambi vs Godzilla (2 mins), many more random shorts and a performance by The 420 Band. In all, almost an hour and …

A quick review for what could truly turn out to be one of the most magical tales in film of the year.  Spike Jonze is directing a live-action, full-length edition of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” (opening October 16th).
Adding icing to this already-frosty cake is that Yeah Yeah Yeahs front-woman Karen O. is producing the soundtrack to the film with a massive cadre of collaborators she’s dubbed “The Kids”.  A posse that includes the likes of Deerhunters‘ Bradford Cox, Raconteurs/Dead Weather’s Dean Ferita and Jack Lawerence, Aaron Hemphill …

There are two ways to look at why District 9 is a bad movie.

Thirst (2009) is the latest film by renowned Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook, and while I still recommend checking it out, a couple of things about it are a bit off. To begin, Park unfortunately picked a bad time to release a movie about tragic vampires, as I’m sure some people are going to be referring to this as the Asian Twilight or something to that regard; which of course it is not. Park’s films have always contained an almost operatic air, a back and forth flow of thematic action and …

This is, my friends, is a documentary to bring music fans together.  In what is no doubt bound to be a very curious and entertaining piece of documentary entertainment, three icons of rock music for their own generations come together for a summit of insight and knowledge to share, collect, and pass on their knowledge from one mind to the other, allowing us as the audience a glimpse of the process.
Buzz about this film has been flitting about since it’s concept was announced some months ago.  In their own words, …