Michael Haneke’s (The White Ribbon, Amour) latest film is misnomer. There is nothing happy about this movie – and I loved it. The ironically named film is a dark, satirical drama about a seemingly perfect family on the surface, but is actually quite dysfunctional behind closed doors. Seeing Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant reunited as a […]
Reviews
TIFF 2017: ‘The Florida Project’ Review
Shot in beautiful pastel colours, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is so intimate and real that you can almost feel the Floridian heat radiating on your skin. Set during the summer, the film follows Moonee, a young girl living with her mother, Halley, in an extended-stay motel. She explores her surroundings with her friends with a […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Porcupine Lake’ Review
Love never feels quite real from afar, but once you’re face to face with it, it’s like nothing else matters. Ingrid Veninger’s Porcupine Lake brings us an honest tale of discovery of a young girl named Bea, who meets Kate during a family trip. While Bea and Kate form a connection and explore a loss […]
TIFF 2017: ‘High Fantasy’ Review
The hedonistic era of filmmaking has had a much needed boost over the past few years, ones that gave off vibes of undoubtable realism. Jenna Bass’s High Fantasy is a movie that manages to keep that realization at hand with a twist to it. Here, a group of South African teens recoil a camping trip […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Novitiate’ Review
In recent years, there have been a couple films about the Catholic Church. Spotlight made us angry about the scandals behind closed doors. Ida let us see the psyche of a young woman who was about to take her vows to become a nun. Margaret Betts’ latest film, Novitiate, balances both of these stories. Cathleen (played by a […]
‘The Space Between’ Review: The Book Would have Been Better
The Space Between, written, directed, and produced by Amy Jo Johnson (who you may recognize as the Pink Power Ranger, Kimberly Hart from the 1990s series), would have been a good book. On a bright sunny morning, a new father, Mitch, finds out his miracle baby is not actually his. This sudden and unwelcome discovery […]
‘Blood Honey’ Review: An Enticing Canadian Thriller
After nearly a decade, Jenibel Heath (Shenae Grimes-Beech) returns home to be with her dying father. But her dysfunctional family still hasn’t gotten over her mother’s suicide and Jenibel struggles with her personal guilt and nightmares. Influenced by classics such as Vertigo, The Shining, and Rosemary’s Baby, Blood Honey is an enticing thriller set on a secluded island in […]
‘Pilgrimage’ Review: Solid Talent Both In Front of and Behind the Camera
Pilgrimage is a good movie that could have been great if there was bigger budget. But at the same time, there is no big audience out there for a film like this so it’s difficult to blame the investors for keeping things small and place their bets instead on the talents of the crew in […]
‘Death Note’ Review: Fails to Recapture the Manga Magic
Based on the Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note is about high school student Light Turner (Nat Wolff) who discovers a notebook that has magical powers. When he writes someones name in the notebook while picturing that person’s face, that person will die. Playing God, Light is now drunk on power […]
‘The Queen of Spain’ Review: A Forgettable Hollywood Caper
These days, it seems like every studio is scrambling to make sequels out of modern classics: the biggest culprit being the long line of Star Wars sequels and spin-offs that are rolling out for the foreseeable future. Elsewhere, we have Blade Runner 2049 and even Dazed and Confused’s “spiritual sequel” Everybody Wants Some!. A sequel you […]
‘Bushwick’ Review: Ambitious, but Fails to Deliver
In indie action film Bushwick, a stark departure from director duo Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion’s previous feature Cooties, Brittany Snow stars as Lucy, a 20-year-old student who has come back to her home in Brooklyn to visit her grandmother. Unbeknownst to her, the neighbourhood has fallen into chaos after an invasion from a Texan […]
‘Le Ride’ Review: A typical doc with Intriguing Insight
A flood of documentaries come out each year, all in which attempt to accomplish either a mission or give insight to real life. Le Ride takes the insight route, breaking down the 1928 Tour De France cycling event. A challenge amongst nearly all athletes, a 3,500+ mile course in which only 41 competitors were able […]
‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ Review: Saved by Reynolds and Jackson
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is an unusual beast. From the trailers it looked like another buddy comedy, and in many ways it was. One thing that stands out in The Hitman’s Bodyguard is the hitman, Darius Kincaid played by Samuel L Jackson. He’s unlike any trained killer we’ve seen on screen before, as he laughs, loves and cries. His […]
‘Logan Lucky’ Review: Four-leaf Clover Approved
When planning to rob the Carolina Speedway, it always helps to make bacon, stay organized and build a model using cardboard and toilet paper rolls. These three things alone will guarantee success in convincing your little brother to join you. After being laid off from his construction job because of his limp, Jimmy Logan (Channing […]
‘The Glass Castle’ Review: Not Quite as Therapeutic as You’d Hope
The Glass Castle is based on the true story of author Jeannette Walls’ unusual upbringing. Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton, who is one of the most talented indie directors out there, was enlisted to adapt the best-selling 2005 memoir and it was no easy task. How do you take the most personal story someone has […]