Joseph Belanger
About Joseph Belanger
Joseph Belanger is a Toronto-based film enthusiast who was born and bred in Montreal. He has been published in the National Post and on CBC Arts Online. He also writes a monthly column for The Movie Network website. He has been writing about film since 2005 on Black Sheep Reviews, a site he created and still writes for today. Joseph's favorite film is "Annie Hall", which coincidentally won the Oscar for Best Picture on his first birthday.
Social Links
Last entries by Joseph Belanger
  • 06 Jun 2012
    The comedy of Cosmopolis: an interview with David Cronenberg and Robert Pattinson
    When a director is as prolific as David Cronenberg, it is not uncommon to end up interviewing them more than once in the same year for different projects. I had spoken with Cronenberg earlier this year when  Dangerous Method  had its Canadian release and with this week’s release of Cosmopolis,...
    Archived in Articles Interviews Issue 3 Volume 6: June 2012 - Music & Film
  • 29 May 2012
    Nobody’s Goon: an interview with Marc-André Grondin
    Before Québécois actor, Marc-André Grondin started work on the Canadian hockey comedy, Goon, he was not what you would call a great skater. “I skated like shit,” is how he actually put it to me when we met recently at the Drake Hotel in Toronto. This meant Grondin would have...
    Archived in Articles Interviews
  • 17 May 2012
    Review: Naked As We Came – Inside Out Film Festival 2012
    If you’re the type of person who likes your movies melancholic and melodramatic, then Richard LeMay’s  Naked As We Came is the movie for you. This is not to say that the film doesn’t satisfy on these levels, but rather that you have to be prepared to dive into a...
    Archived in Festivals Other Festivals
  • 15 May 2012
    Review: Morgan – Inside Out Film Festival 2012
    For a movie about how no obstacle can stand in the way of true love, Morgan is awfully depressing. When we first meet the title character in Michael D. Akers’ latest love story, he’s waking up to a pretty meaningless existence. He’s recently handicapped and, after wheeling himself to the...
    Archived in Festivals Other Festivals
  • 01 Jul 2011
    Books on Film Club: Breakfast at Tiffany’s
    If there is one thing I know about women, it is that they are both beautiful and complicated. One such perfect example of this, in both literature and film, is Holly Golightly, the central character in Truman Capote’s novella and Blake Edwards’ film of the same name, Breakfast at Tiffany’s....
    Archived in Articles TIFF Programming
  • 20 Jun 2011
    Beautiful still: An interview with Shawn Ku
    I remember thinking that I had already seen Beautiful Boy before I actually saw it.   Not to say I had seen the film itself already, but that I had come across a number of variations on the plot prior. Michael Sheen and Maria Bello play parents who lose a...
    Archived in Articles Cover Stories
  • 20 Jun 2011
    From scratch: An interview with Mike Mills
    Ordinarily, by the time a filmmaker is sitting in front of me for an interview, the film they are promoting is a distant memory in their mind. They finished it months beforehand and whatever issues went into making it have been dealt with in the process. Sitting down to speak...
    Archived in Articles Cover Stories
  • 03 Jun 2011
    Books on Film Club: Double Indemnity
    Billy Wilder’s 1944 film, Double Indemnity has been cited as the birth of Film Noire as a genre. As a film critic, it was pretty embarrassing for me to admit that I had not actually seen the film before this week. Of all the TIFF Books on Film Club selections,...
    Archived in Articles TIFF Programming
  • 03 Jun 2011
    Review: Midnight in Paris
    Every time I review a Woody Allen movie, it seems I address the same issues time and time again. This is likely because Allen always chooses to tackle the same themes ““ class, art and commerce, American values, inferiority and infidelity, to name but a few. Often times, he falls...
    Archived in Major Theatrical Reviews
  • 30 May 2011
    How good are your neighbours? An interview with Jacob Tierney
    If you’ve ever lived in an apartment building, you know how it feels. It’s basically you and dozens of other people stacked one on top of the other and you might actually know a handful of them by name, if that. You pass them in the halls or see them...
    Archived in Articles Cover Stories
  • 30 May 2011
    Review: The Hangover Part II
    I must begin by stating that I was not a big fan of The Hangover, the 2009 comedy sensation that would go on to become one of the biggest R-rated successes in history and put director, Todd Phillips, on the map. My expectations going into the highly anticipated sequel were...
    Archived in Major Theatrical Reviews
  • 24 May 2011
    Educating Naomie: in conversation with Naomie Harris
    In 2003, the government of Kenya announced that primary school education would be free for anyone interested in learning. They might have considered being a bit more precise in their wording though. When the gates opened and the children flooded in to take their seats, one man straggled behind them...
    Archived in Articles Cover Stories
  • 20 May 2011
    Books on Film Club: The English Patient
    The last time I saw Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient was three years ago, a few days after Minghella passed away from surgical complications. It may have been my third or fourth time seeing the film, I can’t be sure. At two hours and forty-two minutes, some people find sitting...
    Archived in Articles TIFF Programming
  • 08 May 2011
    Review: Thor
    So I Thor-oughly enjoyed Thor. I’ll be honest; I was not expecting to. I certainly enjoy the occasional comic book film, be it about a boy with serious spider issues or a technology genius with a giant ego and a sharp tongue. That said, I’m hardly an enthusiast. Of late,...
    Archived in Major Theatrical Reviews
  • 08 May 2011
    Review: The Beaver
    Who does depression hurt? Everybody. Ordinarily, this would mean to include everyone directly involved with a person suffering from depression but thanks to Jodie Foster, now depression can also hurt everyone who comes to see her latest directorial effort, The Beaver, as well. While I’m sure she was well intentioned,...
    Archived in Independent & Repertory Reviews
  • 02 May 2011
    The Greatest Interview Ever Sold: Morgan Spurlock talks film and ‘buying in’
    In the creative world, there is one sin that is reviled above all others ““ selling out. But just what is a struggling auteur filmmaker to do to get his quirky little movie made considering the mounting cost of the supposedly independent film? Well, he could give up a tiny...
    Archived in Articles Cover Stories
  • 30 Apr 2011
    Review: Boy Cheerleaders – Hot Docs 2011
    Do not let the title fool you. Boy Cheerleaders refers specifically to the more appropriate usage of the word “boy”, as in one’s ranging in age from about 9 to 12. I don’t have any problems admitting I was actually hoping to catch some older male cheerleaders strutting their stuff...
    Archived in Festivals Hot Docs Hot Docs 2011
  • 30 Apr 2011
    Review: A Simple Rhythm – Hot Docs 2011
    Canadian filmmaker, Tess Girard would like to ask you to slow down for just a second. She would like us to slow to the point where we can notice the pulse of the living and breathing world that we are a part of. I’m sure she would also very much...
    Archived in Festivals Hot Docs Hot Docs 2011
  • 27 Apr 2011
    Review: The Hollywood Complex – Hot Docs 2011
    Each spring, hordes of parents and their fame seeking offspring flock to Hollywood for a little phenomenon known as “Pilot Season”, in which all the major television studios cast their new fall shows. Apparently, the journey is much like geese migrating south for the winter as directors, Dylan Nelson and...
    Archived in Festivals Hot Docs Hot Docs 2011
  • 22 Apr 2011
    Review: African Cats
    Do you know what is amazing about nature? For me, it is that, despite being so complex, it unfolds without any evident intervention and more often than not, without the notice it deserves. You might even say nature just happens “naturally”. You might not though if you a) had no...
    Archived in Major Theatrical Reviews
Last Comments by Joseph Belanger

This week from Grolsch Film Works

5 Reasons Why Christopher Nolan Is Hollywood’s Greatest Director

The Dark Knight Rises is without a doubt the most anticipated major release of 2012. In a little over ten years, Christopher Nolan has gone from exciting indie filmmaker (Following…

Read

Latest Reviews

picture day 2
Review: Picture Day

18-year-old Claire (Tatiana Maslany) is in the midst of her second attempt at Grade 13…

david steinberg
Review: Quality Balls – The David Steinberg Story

Winnipeg born stand-up comic, actor, and director David Steinberg continues to be one of the…

epic
Review: Epic

Epic is about a teenage girl who finds herself caught in the middle of a…

The rep poster crop
Review: The Rep

In 2010, three industrious movie lovers attempted a feat that seems like a pipe dream…

bergdorf
Review: Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s

For decades New York department store Bergdorf Goodman has been a destination for discerning shoppers…