Everything to do with films!
When you hear that Martin Scorsese has made a new crime movie with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and a pulled-out-of-retirement Joe Pesci, that’s cause to get excited. Scorsese is a master filmmaker, and his crime films are among the best in the genre.
The Irishman is no exception. A 210-minute examination of the life and times of Frank Sheeran, or at least the version he told of them, Scorsese and De Niro tell stories within stories that remind us why they’re among the best at what they do.
This week we only have a few new trailers for you. There’s a new remake of The Grudge, a scifi horror festival darling in Little Joe, romance in The Photograph, awards bait in The Banker, grime in the new CHristmas Carol adaptation, and a brand new pope on HBO. Let’s watch!
There has been more than a few big news stories this week and I barely know where to begin. Let’s dive right in!
Little Women, Richard Jewell, The Aeronauts, and Ford v Ferrari all have new posters this week but I know you’re only here for The Mandalorian.
The final film in the Disney Era Star Wars Trilogy, which promises to bring to a conclusion the story started in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi is coming this December and this week Lucasfilm finally released a full-blown trailer for it.
Since we’re all bunch of nerds around here I figured it might be neat to take a closer look at that trailer, and in the process, I grabbed more than sixty high-definition stills.
Oh hey again, it’s the weekly news roundup. Do you like Disney, Marvel, or DC? How do you feel about reboots? Let’s take a look!
Look, I know that you’re here for the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker poster but we also have Doctor Sleep posters, four each from Frozen 2 and Birds of Prey, one hilarious poster for The Lighthouse, Pixar’s latest Onward, along with new sheets for Dolittle, Bombshell, and Disney’s Jungle Cruise.
It has been kind of a slow week for movie trailers, but HBO and Netflix have released some series trailers that are definitely worth taking a look at. This week we have trailers for The Mandela Effect, Bloodshot, and Adopt a Highway as well as HBO’s Watchmen, the final season of Silicon Valley, and 2020 series The Outsider, and finally, Netflix has released a trailer for the third season of The Crown featuring a whole new cast.
Oh, and a B-Movie franchise called "Star Wars" released a trailer as well.
Another Vancouver International Film Festival has come and gone, and we saw quite a few movies this time around. While there were tons to see, here are my five favourites of the twenty-plus I saw, presented in alphabetical order.
Continue reading “VIFF 2019: My Favourites From The Festival”
I really liked Zombieland. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination but it has a great cast and a solid premise, and a few big laughs.
It was a surprise hit and made a ton of money so it’s no surprise that it got a sequel. What is surprising is that the sequel feels exactly the same as the original. That’s not always a deal-breaker, but ten years and a radically changed socio-political landscape in this world mean little to no updates in the new film definitely are a dealbreaker.
Ford v Ferrari is a lot of things: a showcase for two of our great actors, one of the best car racing movies ever made, a compelling drama. At its core, though, it’s a story of two men completely dedicated to what they do and doing it despite the system they work in and the company they work for, always asking them to make concessions.
Make no mistake, Ford v Ferrari is an underdog story, but Ford isn’t the underdog, and Ferrari isn’t the villain. Instead, the underdogs are Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, toiling away at making the best car in the world while their bosses are telling them to make the best Ford.
There’s a metaphor for filmmaking in there, somewhere.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘Ford v Ferrari’ offers compelling drama and thrilling races”
Welcome to the news for the week of 19 October 2019. It feels like most of the big news is casting news and that The Matrix 4 is a real thing that is really happening. Sam Raimi is in back and the director’s chair and so is Robert Eggers.
All in all, it’s been a good week! Let’s take a look!
Apologies dear readers as this post comes a day later than planned. Life, as they say, happens. This week we have a healthy crop of freshly harvested trailers for you to feast your eyeballs on. Let’s take a look at the latest for Bombshell, Charlie’s Angels, Dolittle, Frozen 2, Jungle Cruise, Lady and the Tramp, Onward, The Report, and The Turning.
Let’s dive right in!
Whales are among the more majestic animals on the planet. They’re enormous but graceful, and they play an important part in the cultural history of many of the First Nations peoples of BC. In the Kitimat fjord system, researchers Hermann Meuter and Janie Wray study the orca and humpbacks who make their homes there, and Mirjam Leuze took cameras to chronicle what they do.
The Whale and the Raven is the result and follows is a slightly meandering but absolutely stunning-to-look-at 100 minutes of footage of the north coast of British Columbia.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘The Whale and the Raven’ is quiet and gorgeous”
Synonyms begins with the protagonist Yoav (Tom Mercier) breaking into a luxurious but unoccupied apartment looking for a place to sleep for the night. The clothes on his back, the few things in his bag, are all of his worldly possessions. After a night in the austere accommodations, he takes a shower, and during that shower, someone steals all of his clothes and his bag.
Frantically he runs, naked and dripping wet, down the stairs and after the thief, but it’s too late; his things are gone. Rather than chase them into the street, he returns to the apartment and passes out in the tub, seemingly waiting for death.
This franticness is at the heart of Yoav’s character. He’s in France feeling his past self with the sole, desperate intention to form a new self. But is that even possible?
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘Synonyms’ is maddening, heartbreaking, frustrating, challenging, and contains a performance you definitely shouldn’t miss”
You must be logged in to post a comment.