Reviews
Federal agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is back and getting in Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner’s (Paul Walker) faces, only this time it’s not to arrest them. Hobbs is chasing an international crime boss who pulls dangerous jobs and kills people mercilessly. Now Toretto, O’Conner and their crew are pulled back into the game to catch the elusive Shaw (Luke Evans) with their payment being full pardons for everyone. The first Fast & Furious movie was based on a fairly realistic premise, designed to be a crime-action thriller fusion with great driving that bordered on the unrealistic. I think...
18-year-old Claire (Tatiana Maslany) is in the midst of her second attempt at Grade 13 after failing some courses during her first go around, including math and gym. Even though her successful completion of high school is in jeopardy, Claire remains careless about school, electing to dash in late on a daily basis after spending late nights out with Jim (Steven McCarthy), the much older lead singer of a band called The Elastocitizens (FYI: an actual Toronto band, in case you want to try and reenact some of the movie’s key scenes in real life). While diving headfirst into her...
Winnipeg born stand-up comic, actor, and director David Steinberg continues to be one of the most beloved and respected names in the comedy world even despite the fact that he’s long stepped out of the spotlight. A natural and gifted performer from a young age, Steinberg left the Yeshiva at 22 for a spot at Second City in Chicago where he regularly delighted audiences with his improv religious sermons that were very daring for the time period. After being tapped by the New York Times as a cross between Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen, Steinberg bounced around various parts of...
Epic is about a teenage girl who finds herself caught in the middle of a massive battle between good and evil when she is brought to the world of the Leafmen, an elite band of tiny warriors sworn to protect the forest from the Boggans, a ghoulish army bent on destroying it. M.K. (played by Amanda Seyfried) tries reconnect with her estranged father, the quirky, absent-minded and reclusive Professor Bomba (Jason Sudeikis), who devotes his life to seeking out a hidden miniature civilization living in the woods. M.K. is naturally worried about her dad’s sanity, but when Tara (Beyoncé Knowles),...
In 2010, three industrious movie lovers attempted a feat that seems like a pipe dream to those of us who’ve always fantasized about opening their very own movie theatre. Seeing a hole that needed filling in the Toronto rep cinema scene, Charlie Lawton, Nigel Agnew and Alex Woodside opened Toronto Underground Cinema with the intent of screening some of their favourite cult films and holding special events that would entice filmgoers out of their living rooms and into the Chinatown single screen theatre. As it turns out, running a theatre comes with a whole set of issues that the trio...
For decades New York department store Bergdorf Goodman has been a destination for discerning shoppers from all across the globe, both those of means and those who only aspire to own the high end, and often fashion-forward, merchandise that they stock. The 5th Avenue institution was started more than a century ago by a couple of immigrants who decided to open a tailoring business that eventually switched over to retail and soon occupied an entire city block of prime Manhattan real estate on what was the former home of the Vanderbilt Mansion. This slick celebratory documentary from Director Matthew Miele...
In 1994, General Roméo Dallaire was the UN Force Commander during the Rwandan genocide. Now retired, Dallaire is haunted by memories of child soldiers, recruited by various groups to fight their wars. In an attempt to put an end to the use of children in combat, General Roméo Dallaire heads back to Rwanda to meet with leaders of the various militias, as well as members of the UN currently working with child soldiers who are attempting to leave that life behind them. While the motivation behind Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children is a worthy one, the final result is...
Ellis and Neckbone are two 14-year-old best friends, looking for adventure and purpose in their small Southern town. They find it in a man named Mud, an outlaw on the run from bounty hunters and police, as they befriend him and agree to help him reunite and run away with his one true love, Juniper. Mud is the perfect summer movie, steeped mile high in Southern charm. Director Jeff Nichols recreates adolescent summer, with long days and first loves. The coming-of-age genre is a staple for most film lovers, but Mud might be the best one since Stand By Me. Few films perfectly encapsulate what...
Michel Gondry, unleashed from the commercial shackles of oh, say The Green Hornet, returns a bit more to form with The We and the I. Basically plotless, the film takes a bus ride through the Bronx with a group of teenagers, on the way home after the last day of school before summer break. Gondry lets his non-professional cast have free rein here and he lets the narrative ramble, but in a compelling way. Details tease out slowly and characters come into sharper focus as the bus empties. This is less a movie, and more a nature documentary – teens...
Robbie (Paul Brannigan) has barely avoided a prison sentence from an assault charge, helped by the fact that he’s about to become a father. His girlfriend’s family hates him, and after years of being an unemployed thug, Robbie wants nothing more than to change his life. Given community service for his assault charge, Robbie meets Harry (John Henshaw), his community service worker, and a few other unlucky individuals in the same position that he’s in. Harry decides to take the group to a whiskey distillery tour, where Robbie learns he has quite the nose for whiskey. With an auction for...
The untimely death of an actor, artist or, in this case, musician, always seems to add a layer of mysticism to the legacy of the work that’s left behind. But that layer gets even deeper in the case of Tim and Jeff Buckley. A father and his son, both musicians, both died early. This is pop culture gold. Except, apparently when it’s translated into a film. Greetings from Tim Buckley is a film that chronicles the days leading up to a tribute concert for a folk music icon, Tim Buckley, that features none other than Tim’s own son, Jeff Buckley,...
This follow-up to the 2009 film picks up shortly after its predecessor left off: Kirk (Chris Pine) is still at the helm of the Enterprise, Spock (Zachary Quinto) is his first officer, and they’re in the midst of a mission to spare a primitive civilization from incineration. In attempt to save Spock’s life after he gets stuck in the centre of an about to erupt volcano, Kirk defies the Starfleet prime directive by allowing the planet’s cave person-like inhabitants to see the USS Enterprise swoop in to the rescue. Kirk fibs about the incident to his commanding officer, while Spock writes...
