If you want a film with split personalities, try the long-winded and long titled The House at the End of the Street. Cool teenager Elissa (a rightfully aloft Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother Elizabeth Shue have moved to a new town and into a secluded house tucked away in the woods. Their nearest neighbour happens […]
Jacob Boon
Posted inArts + Music
Trouble with the Curve
Clint Eastwood is old, and trying to teach these young people with their computers a lesson, in the fussy but endearing baseball comedy, Trouble with the Curve. An septuagenarian scout for the Atlanta Braves, Eastwood’s failing eyesight might soon force his retirement. So, begrudgingly he brings his distant lawyer daughter (a pleasant Amy Adams) on […]
Posted inArts + Music
Dredd
Judge Dredd is just having one of those days, wherein a routine triple-homicide turns into full-on death trap. Part of the elite team of badass lawmen patrolling the unending dystopia of Mega-City One, the perpetually masked and gravel-voiced Dredd (Karl Urban) is saddled with training a rookie psychic (Oliva Thirlby) when the two end up […]
Posted inArts + Music
Roller Town
Long-gestating, the feature film debut from beloved comedy troupe Picnicface has finally hit theatres. When arcade-pimping gangsters threaten his rink, and snobby prep school skaters disparage disco, roller-skating wonder Leo (Mark Little) must rally his funk to save the town and maybe get the girl (Kayla Lorette). Wisely, the 1970s satire is only a single […]
Posted inArts + Music
End of Watch
From the writer of Training Day comes this gritty look at the day-to-day operations of two street cops in south-central L.A. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a hot shot beat officer who decides to record his operations for a film class, much to the chagrin of loyal partner Michael Peña. The found footage style even extends […]
Posted inArts + Music
Producers wanted
So read the classifieds in the latest news email from the Atlantic Filmmakers’ Co-op. It seems several young filmmakers need producer partners for this year’s FILM 5 program. Having briefly flirted with that role myself, several years back, I have to say the lack of aspiring producers is disappointing. Clearly, we all want to be […]
Posted inArts + Music
Jack & Diane
A little ditty, about Jack and Diane — two teenagers in New York who are also lesbians. Their blooming romance eclipses personality gulfs, but frightens Diane, who’s also kind of a werewolf. Mellencamp tributes aside, this off-kilter film is mostly comedy that seems to think it’s heavy drama and sometimes falls into scenes of horror. […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Disappeared
It’s tempting to call The Disappeared a mixture of disaster porn melodrama The Perfect Storm and survival-horror one-note Open Water. Doing so would give you a sense of the unflinching way the film follows six fishermen adrift in the North Atlantic after their vessel sinks. But it would also be a disservice to the powerful […]
Posted inArts + Music
Must-see movies
FEATURES The Angel’s Share Opening Gala, Thursday, Sept 13, 6:30pm at Oxford, 7pm at Park Lane 8 and 7 The AFF kicks off this year with the spirited whiskey-tasting feature The Angel’s Share. Palme d’Or winning director Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) aptly directs this quiet, sinewy study of a thug and […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Cold Light of Day
Saddled with an overused premise, and a horrendous title, there’s still some glimmers of fun in The Cold Light of Day. When vacationing businessman Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) is forced to rescue his kidnapped family, he’s consequently thrown into a world of espionage and trigger-happy spies. All routine stuff, but director Mabrouk El Merchri (who […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
Sixty million dollars was somehow spent on The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, a torturously awful singalong puppet pile of trash. A trio of rainbow-coloured monstrosities, Oogieloves Zoozie, Toofie and Goobie work with goldfish Ruffy and vacuum cleaner J. Edgar to rescue five magic balloons lost in Lovelyloveville and throw a birthday party for […]
Posted inArts + Music
Robot and Frank
Technology, like the elderly, is often thought obsolete as soon as its out of date. Or so feels Frank (a charmingly grumpy Frank Langella), the retired cat burglar whose children don’t want to visit him. When Frank’s memory begins to fade, his son brings him an ASIMO-like robotic helper which Frank dismisses as a nuisance […]