Posts in Festival Review
‘The Survivor’ Review: Barry Levinson Directs Ben Foster to a Career-Best Performance [TIFF 2021]

Ben Foster gives a transformative performance that should garner the actor his first Oscar nomination in Barry Levinson’s ‘The Survivor’, a career highlight for the veteran director that shows the Holocaust from a different perspective while looking to the future.

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'Dashcam' Review: A Found Footage Film Aiming To Troll It's Audience [TIFF 2021]

An all too familiar addition to an already oversaturated subgenre, director Rob Savage follows up his debut feature ‘Host’ with ‘Dashcam’, another pandemic horror film that seems to aim at audience’s patience, rather than their ability to be frightened.

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‘Oscar Peterson: Black + White’ Review: An Ode to Canada’s Most Beloved Musician [TIFF 2021]

Oscar Peterson: Black + White’ is one of the great music documentaries, and an essential release out of TIFF 2021. Guided lovingly by Barry Avrich, this tribute to the extraordinary life and career of Oscar Peterson must be seen by anyone who loves music, and especially if they love Oscar Peterson.

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'All My Puny Sorrows' Review: Alison Pill Excels in this Sad and Sweet Canadian Drama [TIFF 2021]

The appeal of ‘All My Puny Sorrows’ comes not necessarily from the heavy subject matter, but the novel and stimulating manner in which it presents the story. The film is packed with stellar performances, lead by Alison Pill, and captained by a director who always seems to get ‘stellar’ out of his actors.

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'Belfast' Review: Kenneth Branagh Tells His Most Personal Story in His Most Poignant Film [TIFF 21]

While Kenneth Branagh may only make a handful of artistic choices as director, every ounce of thoughtfulness went into the script of ‘Belfast’, and that remains enough. The film is shot in an intimate and small manner, the conflict is shrunk down, and eventually it’s all slow cooked into more delicious morsels about morality and love.

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'Wildhood' Review: A Canadian-Made Triumph A Decade In The Making [TIFF 2021]

Canadian cinema has always had an uphill road to climb, but this is especially true of films like ‘Wildhood’. Now being screened for the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, Wildhood draws heavily from Hannam’s own identity and experiences, telling the story of re-defining one’s family, rediscovering love, and recovering one’s sense of self.

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‘Titane’ Review: A Mesmerizing Body Horror That Shows True Heart [TIFF 2021]

‘Titane’ is Julia Ducournau’s second feature length film and just like her last film, this on e isn’t for the faint of heart. A movie that will truly divide audiences with its disturbing imagery but one that will stand the test of time because of the method to it’s madness

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‘Violet’ Review: An Experiment in Cinematic Exploration and Repetition [SXSW 2021]

A seasoned performer like Justine Bateman, who has done almost everything in terms of acting, seemingly has to invent a new ‘thing’ while directing her feature film debut. Her Violet can easily be defined as ‘experimental cinema’ as it isn’t your typical type of film in terms of format or the tools used. It can also, unfortunately, be easily defined as ‘obvious’

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'Pieces of a Woman' Review: Vanessa Kirby Captivates In This Devastating Portrait Of Grief And Loss [TIFF 2020]

Pieces of a Woman” is not for the faint of heart; it’s a truly heartbreaking, intimate, unflinching, and harrowing look at one woman’s unimaginable loss and her process to recovery.

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'Concrete Cowboy' Review: A Gift-Horse The Filmmakers Looked In The Mouth [TIFF 2020]

Concrete Cowboy” is a story about a forgotten aspect of Black-America which needs to be told. That is why it is such a shame that it gets lost in an otherwise formulaic ‘coming of age’ film for inner-city youth.

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'Synchronic' Review: A time-travelling trip that misses its destination [TIFF 2019]

Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson might not be household names, but something is on the horizon for this duo. Their new film, SYNCHRONIC has subtext, a message, and a key central idea, but because Moorhead & Benson wanted to introduce so many elements from different genres, almost all of that effective storytelling was, ironically… lost in time.

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‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ Review: A Reminder that Hope and Humanity Is Never Gone [TIFF 2019]

We might look at some of the forgotten childhood tidbits that have been chipped away from our soul and scoff at the idea, but A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood reminds us not only are these things natural, they can come back into our lives easily. Here’s our review.

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‘Joker’ Review: Todd Phillips Ushers in a New Era of Auteur-Driven Comic-Book Films [TIFF 2019]

Joker utilizes the popularity of the comic book movie platform to deliver a new character story. In a repulsive, vile, and evil exploration of one of comics’ most iconic villains, Phillips changes the lens through which we view films in this genre.

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'Knives Out' Review: Rian Johnson’s Wickedly Sharp Murder Mystery Puts a Timely Twist on a Bygone Genre [TIFF 2019]

Not since “Clue” has there been such a wildly entertaining good old fashioned murder mystery. Rian Johnson breathes new life into a neglected genre with his Agatha Christie inspired throwback offering a timely modern twist on a classic favorite.

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Shia LaBeouf’s Cathartic ‘Honey Boy’ is a Harrowing examination of Hereditary addiction

The pitfalls of fame are in abundance, suffocating them from every angle and submerging them into maturity before they’re even ready. However, if you’re Shia LaBeouf, the environment may lead to severe emotional distress and he’s not afraid to share in his latest film, Honey Boy in which the writer/actor exercises a long overdue catharsis contextualizing the heartbreaking and complicated relationship between he and his father.

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