MCN Originals Archive for September, 2014
The Torontonian reviews Good Kill
Written and directed by Andrew Nicoll and riddled with all the appropriate military jargon like “rules of engagement” and “painting the target,” his script compliments the disconnected horrors of these drone strikes by underlining the ironies of this cyclical, cynical conflict
Read the full article »The Torontonian Reviews Sunshine Superman
BASE jumping—or building, antenna, span and Earth jumping—wasn’t a thing before Carl Boenish appeared, but because of him it’s now the liberating (read: insane) act of parachute-controlled freefall that was never really regulated or understood by the authorities as anything other than a liability.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Confessions of a Film Festival Junkie
It’s kinda official. To be honest I really haven’t noticed anyone taking notice of the fact that Toronto mayor Rob Ford hasn’t shown his face at the Toronto International Film Festival. Granted the local attendees don’t appear to be his constituency and there is a mayoral race coming up before the end of the year. In fact, there either was a debate scheduled (there are three others on the ballot) or one that went forward that Ford opted out of without extending much of a reason.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report
The dog days of summer’s end box office remain doggy.
Read the full article »The Torontonian Reviews NIGHTCRAWLER
Currently my favourite film at TIFF, Nightcrawler is so refreshingly original that it’s surprising to see it’s also screenwriter Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut. But it is, and that’s fantastic, because the film goes places and takes risks I wish were more common in North American cinema. The result is a memorable, even great first feature.
Read the full article »Friday Estimates
Consider the Universe guarded for at least one… more… week.
Read the full article »Confessions of a Film Festival Junkie: Toronto 2014 – Getting Started
Naturally my Canadian content level has risen in recent days and came into focus last week when Telefilm Canada hosted a pre-fest event for journalists and buyers in Los Angeles. Apart from product reels and a limited bar, the ‘do also had a healthy supply of TIFF’s program book … or rather tome. To the event’s credit it’s developed a rather good system of press and industry screenings that run parallel to the public showings. The veteran TIFFer can keep to the P&I projections with a couple of regular screenings tossed in to mingle with the hoi polloi.
Read the full article »The Torontonian reviews Eden
Sure enough, the buzz is that Eden is the “Daft Punk” movie. It’s admittedly reductive to call it the “Daft Punk” movie in queues as the shorthand reference to what the film is about. Hansen-Løve is a name I respect more than that, but after seeing the film, though, I realize it’s the only salient thing.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »DVD Geek: All That Jazz
Not only Bob Fosse but screenwriter Robert Alan Aurthur died too young, doubly reinforcing the vivid spiritual premonition of All That Jazz, Fosse’s transfixing 1979 show business musical that blatantly anticipated his own death (eight years later) and Aurthur’s, who died before the film was finished, with Roy Scheider (who died 31 years later but still much too soon) in the autobiographical role of the stage and film director who smokes too much, ingests too much and works until he drops, creating brilliant art every step of the way.
Read the full article »Confessions Of A Film Festival Junkie: TIFF 2014 Opening Days
The first thing you notice, or, rather, sense about Toronto is there is no recession. In the midst of festival village and all around there is massive construction. A couple of natives (and former TIFF employees) told me they hadn’t seen this level of building activity in the downtown district for at least two decades. So it’s noisy. Traffic, human and vehicular, is very stop-start. And just to up the ante the festival got the city to agree to closing off about four blocks and turning the area around its Bell Lightbox into a temporary mall with art and live music events.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Draft Day, Jackpot, Queen Margot, Tinto Brass, Love Streams and more
Anyone looking for the graphic 16th century violence missing from Age of Uprising can find it Cohen Media’s superb 4K restoration of Patrice Chéreau’s 159-minute version of Queen Margot. It also offers as much sex and nudity—gratuitous and otherwise—as “The Game of Thrones” and “Borgias.”
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