The majority of joy experienced with 1993’s JURASSIC PARK had a lot to do NOT just with the dinosaur action, terror and revolutionary visual effects work, but the fact we were witnessing a theme park that we absolutely wanted to visit ourselves. A lot of people would LOVE to take a chartered helicopter to a […]
Movies
All the latest movie reviews for films released in Canada.
HEREDITARY: Are You Ready For This?
The mainstream audience is not ready for the newest commercial art house horror film. HEREDITARY uses the power of subtleness to pull off one of the most terrifying viewings in recent memory. This film will not only terrify you, it will also subdue you causing you to be locked into your seat trying to figure […]
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDRÉ: The Documentary Of The Latest Fashion!
At no point in my life have I ever purchased an issue of Vogue, let alone ANY fashion magazine. My experience is limited to only a few scant documentaries on the subject. My first exposure was the outstanding THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE featuring the lovely Anna Wintour as she was followed by a crew putting together […]
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – Hey, Anyone Remember Fun & Laughter?
Although one may disagree, for this film fan it is a great time to be in love with STAR WARS. When the mighty empire of Disney took over this franchise a few years ago from legend George Lucas, the Mouse House had a tall order to fill with a lot of product already out […]
HotDocs 2018 Review – PRIMAS
PRIMAS begins almost exactly like your standard-narrative based coming-of-age drama. Our subject is lying down in a beach, seemingly asleep and very clearly angst-ridden as we see her in scenes to follow. This quirky feeling doesn’t last for long though as we find out said subject is one of two cousins that bond over something […]
HotDocs 2018 Interview: GURRUMUL director Paul Damian Williams
“GURRUMUL is a film about the wonderful things that can happen when people from two very different worlds struggle to truly understand one another.” Director Paul Damian Williams on GURRUMUL which screens at #HotDocs25. Great to have you here at HotDocs! Are you going to be attending your screenings? Yes, the Saturday and Sunday screenings. […]
HotDocs 2018 Interview – THE ARTIST & THE PERVERT director René Gebhardt
“Art. Love. Radical self-determination. Nazis. BDSM. Consent. THE ARTIST & THE PERVERT is a documentary about a very special couple; Georg Friedrich Haas is a world-renowned composer and his wife Mollena is a sex educator, storyteller and activist. Together, they live in a 24/7 BDSM relationship with him being the master and her being the […]
HotDocs 2018 Interview: LAILA AT THE BRIDGE director Elizabeth Mirzaei
“LAILA AT THE BRIDGE is a film about an Afghan woman who tries to offer second chances to the outcast heroin addicts living under an infamous bridge in Kabul. Laila’s own brother was a heroin addict for over 25 years, inspiring her to undertake this Sisyphean task to provide free treatment to thousands of men […]
Hot Docs 2018 Interview – THIS MOUNTAIN LIFE director Grant Baldwin
“THIS MOUNTAIN LIFE follows 60 year-old Tania and her daughter Martina who survive a 6 month ski trek through the treacherous Coast Mountains from Vancouver to Alaska. Their adventure is the main thread of the film, but it’s also intertwined with five other stories about people with incredible passion for the BC mountains from a […]
Hot Docs 2018 Interview: THE ACCOUNTANT OF AUSCHWITZ director Matthew Shoychet
“The film essentially focuses on the trial of a 94-year-old former Nazi named Oskar Gröning, who, seventy years after the Holocaust, was charged with being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Hungarian Jews at Auschwitz. His job was to collect the victims’ valuables when they arrived at the death camp. Why is this happening […]
A Quiet Place: A Winner Across the Board
I have said it before but I will say it again. We are living in the era of horror movies and they keep coming almost on weekly basis. Surprisingly a good number of them are really good films. After GET OUT and IT broke box office records last year, A QUIET PLACE is doing the same this […]
Happy National Canadian Film Day!
Wednesday, April 18th, 2018 marks the fifth annual National Canadian Film Day, an annual celebration of Canadian cinema in our own very, very, very big backyard. Through my annual film festival pilgrimage to Toronto, Vancouver and Whistler Film Festivals I see a large amount of Canadian productions from all corners of the country. To celebrate […]
RAMPAGE: For The Transformers Fans
If you liked the TRANSFORMERS franchise then RAMPAGE may very will be right up your alley. The movie beats the last couple of entries in that franchise in terms of pure escapism and fun but that is not saying much. It is still one big dumb loud blockbuster that offers nothing new. It is hard […]
Chappaquiddick – Fortune Favors the Powerful
I have always wanted to know the truth behind the well-known Ted Kennedy car accident. I guess we will never know the full truth behind this infamous and unfortunate event that largely killed Ted Kennedy’s presidential chances, but CHAPPAQUIDDICK, an admirable effort from director John Curran, provides some very good insight and perspective on […]
Ready Player One: Rudimentary Mechanics Within a Busy Story
It’s safe to say Ernst Cline’s gaming-curated novel READY PLAYER ONE was a home run for Hollywood; not just an adaption, but another opportunity to showcase visuals in a blockbuster medium. Following Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) in a much tattered Columbus Ohio, a virtual universe titled the OASIS has taken the human experience by storm, […]