Festivals
The Warlords (Tau ming chong) is a stunning tale about the bonds of friendship, loyalty and morality in China in the 1800s. Majestically beautiful cinematography, a compelling story that never feels formulaic and incredible art direction, The Warlords is a must see film experience, strongly recommended for the big screen. The movie begins as we see General Pang climb out from under a pile of bodies, all lying dead on the battlefield. The bodies are those of Pang’s entire battalion, leaving him the last man standing. Emotionally and physically broken he is cared for by a beautiful woman who offers...
Embodiment of Evil (Encarnação do Demônio) is a reasonably useless film that doesn’t hold much for the viewer except to disgust. It is is a movie that is almost fetishistic in its execution, providing the best in over the top gore and publicizing that that gore is real, not good special effects. Beyond this, it has little point, even though the filmmakers thought enough of the main character to make it. The movie starts as Coffin Joe, a mass murderer with really ridiculously long fingernails, is being released from prison for reasons that no one, including the prison warden, can...
Black is a phenomenal heist movie set in both Paris and Dakar, intelligently mixing the religions and beliefs of Africa with a very modern story that’s action packed, funny and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Directed by Pierre Laffargue this compelling story will only leave audiences wanting more. Black is a thief. When we meet him he is on his way to an armored truck robbery that goes terribly wrong. As he is laying low and trying to recover from the horrors of the heist, something else is going on in the city of Dakar, Senegal. A...
Franklyn is a beautiful movie about four lives touched by mental illness. One deals with a long forgotten coping mechanism, one with self-destruction and one with the effects of religious fervor in a tale that twists together fantasy and reality, future and past. It is a film that grips the viewer and tells a beautiful story of the power of love, despite some minor issues the viewer might have with the script and production design. As Franklyn begins we are introduced to Jonathan Preest who, we are told, is going to kill a man tonight. He is searching for a...
The Dark Hour is a confusing film set in a post-nuclear apocalypse world of strange creatures, even stranger rules and very compelling characters that you really want to like, if only you could figure out who they were. It is a film that had good bones and a story it definitely wanted to tell but it’s mired in the hows an whys of its own world, making what could have been a great movie simply a good one....
When The Man kills Black Dynamite‘s only brother he makes it his mission to make him pay. Along the way he discovers that his brother’s murder is only one piece to a larger puzzle that includes smack in orphanages and bring the Black Man to his knees. Add some hoes, kung-fu, smack, jive-talk, boobs, pimp suits, and donuts and chili and what you get is an incredible movie that is both love letter and spoof that is not to be missed. Already a selection at Sundance, as well as at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, this movie is set...
Toronto After Dark Film Festival kicks off this Friday, Aug 14, with its 4th annual showcase of new horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema from around the world. Highlights of this year’s 8 night fest, which runs until Aug 21 and is expected to be attended by some 10,000 film fanatics, include the Toronto premiere of the hotly anticipated Halloween spookfest TRICK ‘R TREAT starring TRUE BLOOD’s Anna Paquin,...
The Shinsedai Cinema Festival is gearing up for its inaugural year here in Toronto. Created by Chris Magee of J-Film Pow Wow and Jasper Sharp of Midnight Eye, the Shinsedai Cinema Festival is set to bring fresh, new and innovative Japanese cinema to Toronto for the first festival of its kind in the city....
