Craig S. Zahler is back with his first film since the phenomenal Western Bone Tomahawk and man did he knock it out of the park. Brawl in Cell Block 99 follows Bradley (not Brad) who’s played by longtime comedic actor Vince Vaughn. Bradley is a drug runner for his friend Gil because of a need for money to provide […]
Reviews
‘Let There Be Light’ Review: Big, Bright and Beautiful
Let There Be Light is an elegant reminder of a distasteful truth: we are yeast. We are continually multiplying while hungrily eating up all the available resources until eventually dying in our own excrement, as physicist Mark Henderson expresses in a grisly metaphor. Thanks to a steady diet of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Of Sheep and Men’ Review
Of Sheep and Men offers a sombre slice-of-life story, shining a light on the lives of sheep in Algeria, and the men who own them. (The documentary fully delivers on the expectations of its title, with sheep occupying almost every single frame.) The men in question are 16-year-old bus conductor Habib, who hopes to train his […]
TIFF 2017: ‘The Breadwinner’ Review
Based on Deborah Ellis’ award-winning children’s novel of the same name, The Breadwinner is about the story of Parvana, a young Afghan girl living in a Taliban-controlled Kabul, and her family. Females are not allowed to be outside without a male, so when her father is captured and imprisoned by the Taliban, she pretends to be […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Valley of Shadows’ (‘Skyggenes Dal’) Review
Lots of horror films (recently, in fact) have had a large focus on capitalizing fear through a device of sorts. And then here comes a film by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. While it’s not what you’d call horror necessarily, the keen intent of capturing fear through the eyes of a child is also prominently featured here, […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Brad’s Status’ Review
Ben Stiller stars in Mike White’s Brad’s Status as a 47-year-old man who resents how little he’s accomplished in his life. He’s jealous of all of his college friends who he perceives as being more successful than him because of their fame and money. When Troy, Brad’s son, starts looking at colleges, Brad projects his own […]
TIFF 2017: ‘What Will People Say’ Review
As the title suggests, What Will People Say is about expectations, image and reputation. Even more than that though, Iram Haq’s second film is an honest but brutal portrayal of the second-generation immigrant struggle to both fit in and devote oneself to family. Nisha (Maria Mozhdah) lives a double life – at home, she follows the […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Stronger’ Review
Stronger is based on the true, inspirational story of marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his marathon-running girlfriend Erin (Tatiana Maslany). After losing his legs in the bombing, Jeff isn’t so much as having a hard time acclimatizing to not being able to walk, but rather the media attention. He did help the […]
‘IT’ Review: Scary, Funny, and Emotional
So far 2017 is considered one of Hollywood’s worst box office years in recent memory with many big budget action and comedy movies completely flopping while costing their studios millions of dollars. Against all odds and expectations, 2017 is proving to be the year where horror movies are reclaiming the box office glory of the […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Suburbicon’ Review
In a utopian town called Suburbicon (obviously), nothing bad ever happens. Everyone’s perfect life is perfect. That is, until a black family moves in and suddenly the residents are in a uproar, blaming them for a robbery gone bad that ends in murder. Less a whodunit and more a whytheydunit, George Clooney and the Coen […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Review
Set somewhere in Northern Italy in the summer of 1983, Call Me By Your Name (based on André Aciman’s novel of the same name) is a beautiful coming-of-age story about 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and his sexual awakening. Every summer, Elio’s father, Professor Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg) invites a research assistant to their summer home – this year […]
TIFF 2017: ‘The Judge’ Review
The Judge (not the Robert Downey Jr. one) is a very apt title for this documentary. I think we all unintentionally associate the profession with men, so Erika Cohn’s film about the first female judge in the Middle Easts’ Shari’a courts is a welcome surprise. Kholoud Al-Faqih is an extraordinary woman – prior to becoming a […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle’ (‘Muchos Hijos, un Mono y un Castillo’) Review
Playing out more like a series of home movies than a documentary, Lots of Kids, a Monkey, and a Castle follows director Gustavo Salmerón’s family and his eccentric mother, Julita. As a newlywed, she wished for three things: the eponymous lots of kids, a monkey and a castle. They were ambitious dreams for sure, but […]
TIFF 2017: ‘The Disaster Artist’ Review
How does the best, worst movie of all time get made? And for what reasons? James Franco directs himself, his brother, and all his friends in The Disaster Artist, which is based on the book of the same name by Greg Sestero of The Room fame. Focusing more on Sestero’s relationship with Wiseau, The Disaster Artist answers some of our […]
TIFF 2017: ‘The Rider’ Review
The Rider is a beautiful and introspective portrait of a young cowboy, Brady, in South Dakota who can’t give up the life of a rodeo star even after a near-fatal head injury that stemmed from being bucked off a horse. Doctors have told him he needs to stop riding, but without the rodeo he doesn’t know […]