This year at TIFF we’re seeing the Trump era’s first real artistic blowback. I started with Darren Aronofsky’s mother! (opening across North America this Friday, September 15th), and holy cow, it … Continue reading TIFF 2017: mother!
Out today exclusive to PlayStation 4 is Knack 2. It’s a fun platformer, a sort of cross between the Lego games and Uncharted via Ratchet and Clank, with goblins and robots to … Continue reading Knack 2: Platformer Sequel Finds Its Footing
He might’ve died forty-four years ago, but Bruce Lee still attracts controversy. Director George Nolfi found that out, with the release of his Lee sort-of biopic, Birth of the Dragon. Centering … Continue reading Birth of the Dragon: The Hero Nobody Wants or Needs
Sure, Jack Kirby’s a revered artist, and he created some of the best known comic characters around. Captain America and the Avengers and the Inhumans and the X-men, Galactus … Continue reading #Kirby 100: Jack and the Argo Nuts
It’s the silly season for Toronto filmgoers, the cine-season, TIFFmas to many devoted local movie buffs. Today the Toronto International Film Festival 2017 edition announced its first swath of upcoming … Continue reading Happy TIFFmas! Toronto’s film fest reveals first 2017 picks
Long before the teen angst pangs of Twilight or the fever heat of True Blood, director Kathryn Bigelow had an inkling of what a southern-fried vampire romance could be. Near Dark delivered on her … Continue reading Near Dark: The Original Hillbilly Vamps
If you like thrillers, genre-bending capers, femmes fatales and shady figures wrapped up in criminal exploits where no one comes out on top, chances are you’re a film noir fan … Continue reading Panique: French Crime Classics
This summer, TIFF’s having a crime wave. French crime to be exact. They’re mounting two programmes, both bursting with criminal intent. I’ll take a look at the second bunch next … Continue reading Hardest Boiled: The Many Noirs of Jean-Pierre Melville
Man. I guess people were so depressed in the seventies they’d try just about anything. As we live through a fast-forward remix of the Watergate scandal, it’s interesting to take a … Continue reading Marriage Under a Microscope Overshadows The World Of ‘The Commune’
Anyone who watches Mr. Robot knows how hypnotic Rami Malek’s presence can be. He’s mastered an aura of complicated blankness, his glinting, buggy eyes set deep in his flatly inexpressive face. … Continue reading ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’: Rami Malek Shines in Surreal But Broken Thriller
Gaming culture’s gotten huge. It’s easy to miss, but the gaming industry makes more than either the movie or music industries. Hot Docs in Toronto plugs into the gaming world this year … Continue reading Hot Docs: ‘Living the Game’ and ‘Ukiyo-e Heroes
With his passing on Wednesday, I sat down to watch a couple of Jonathan Demme’s best films. Demme’s never been in the pantheon; he’s not one of the revered directors … Continue reading Remembering Jonathan Demme: The director was a master of the intimate moment
