Reviews Archives - Page 23 of 34

3 October 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘The Realm’ is a fast-paced and satisfying political thriller

The opening scene of The Realm follows Manuel (Antonio de la Torre) from a quiet beach, through a noisy kitchen, and to a table full of friends enjoying wine and seafood. There is laughter and toasting and inside jokes, and a great time being had by all. It’s a joyous scene, but these men and women are no mere friends. They are all government officials, and their good time comes at the expense of the people they have been elected to represent.

This is the world of The Realm, one in which it seems that nearly all government officials are corrupt to some extent and Manuel –our hero– is perhaps the worst of them. He has been living the high life for the last fifteen years off bribes, kickbacks, and graft, but when some of said graft comes to light, his political party ousts him.

That’s a hell of a setup for a story but does the movie equal the potential? Yes, it mostly does.

1 October 20193 October 2019

VIFF Review: Feminist Live Reads ‘Some Like It Hot’ has women playing men playing women (and totally rocks it)

Feminist Live Reads: Some Like It Hot / VIFF 2019

Sitting comfortably alongside VIFF for a number of years, Feminist Live Reads reaches through the fourth wall to give an even more intimate experience to the moviegoer set. And their love letter tonight to ‘Some Like It Hot’ was part live theatre, part jazz performance, all brought together by some of the most versatile women you’ll ever hear tearing through Billy Wilder’s electric script.

29 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘The Lighthouse’ is on a journey into madness and it’s taking you with it

Robert Eggers has made two movies now. Both with predominantly natural light, confident eye and camera, and period set using actual dialogue from sources contemporary to said setting.

The man has a style, is what I’m saying. But whereas The Witch was a good old fashioned horror movie about a family terrorized by their own inadequacies and a witch, The Lighthouse is something different altogether. It’s a chronicle of two men descending into madness, tortured by their utter solitude but also each other’s persistent company.

It’s tense, absurd, it features two powerhouse performances, it’s overwhelming, and it’s an absolute must-see.

28 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘Who You Think I Am’, in which Juliette Binoche dazzles

Loneliness is a painful emotion. Whether you’re surrounded by people or not, the feeling that you are truly alone can cause even the most rational people to do all kinds of things. We are, after all, all human and subject to the whims of our emotions.

Enter Juliette Binoche as Claire, a 50ish publisher and professor and divorcée who is making her way unhappily through life. After she is spurned by Ludo –the younger man she has been seeing– when she suggests they spend some real-time together, she decides she would like to enact some revenge upon him. To that end, she creates Clara, a gorgeous 24-year-old avatar to bait Ludo with. After several glasses of wine and friend requests, she receives a message, but it’s not Ludo she has hooked; it’s his roommate Alex.

This is where things start to go a little sideways, and also where I am going to do my best to stop speaking about the plot as this one has many twists and turns, and I don’t want to spoil any of them.

27 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘Amare Amaro’, bitter love indeed

Tragedy is defined as a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis for the audience. A story in which the characters suffer, and no one ends up happy, and maybe we learn something along the way.

Amare Amaro is, very loosely, an adaptation of the Greek tragedy Antigone, in which the heroine attempts to secure a proper burial for one of her brothers in defiance of the king. Her brother was killed in battle, fighting for the wrong side, and fought to the mutual death against his own brother. This is not a happy story, in case the genre didn’t tip you off.

The updated story, in which Antigone is removed, and one of the dead brothers is now the protagonist, has been transposed to modern times and results in a beautifully shot but melancholy picture about the lengths we’ll go to for the honour of the people we love.

26 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘Babysplitters’ has some great moments but overstays its welcome

Having a baby is an overwhelming life change. Of course, I’m stating the obvious here, but it is the inciting idea behind the plot of Babysplitters, in which two couples who are divided on their intentions to have a child get together and decide that if the four of them have one baby together, then the burden might not be quite so life-changing.

That right there is a pretty great setup for a comedy. There’s plenty of room for hi-jinx as the four people make the decisions that two normally would, as double the normal number of values and undisclosed religious backgrounds and other exiting biases and expectations clash together.

Add a great cast, and you have a hell of a movie. Luckily, this movie has that too, with Danny Pudi (Community) and Emily Chang in the lead roles. Together they enjoy easy and sincere chemistry as a married couple at odds over whether to have a child (she wants one, he’s not so sure). Once they learn that their best friends (Maiara Walsh and Eddie Alfano) are in the same boat (but with the roles switched), the plot and hi-jinx ensue. But also it’s where the film’s problems begin.

25 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘Assholes: A Theory’ is a disappointment

Everyone knows one. A friend or acquaintance you tolerate because of a shared history or friend circle. He’s an asshole, but he’s your asshole. But why is he such an asshole?

Assholes: A Theory wants to explore this segment of society. Why are people Assholes? How are they assholes? Can we distinguish different kinds of assholes? What kind of behaviour is asshole behaviour? What can we do about it?

A documentary with such a strong setup could be equal parts fascinating and hilarious. Unfortunately, this is not that documentary, as while there are a few laughs and a few interesting examinations, the film peters out before it starts to hit the meat of the problem.

24 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: “Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own” highlights a lifetime of art

Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own / VIFF 2019

Documentaries are a difficult thing. The amount of time spent with the subject and the amount of footage shot compared to what’s used in the finished product are both monumental. One needs a compelling subject with a compelling story to tell, and those are not as easy to come by as many would probably assume.

Luckily, Ursula von Rydingsvard is a compelling subject. A woman at the forefront of the contemporary art scene creating massive cedarwood, bronze, and copper sculptures, she has been a creative force since the 1970s. She felt a lifelong determination to be an artist, a drive recalled by everyone in the film from her brother to her patrons, but with a runtime of only 57 minutes, this film a little light on the details of the story of this drive.

23 September 201914 September 2021

VIFF Review: ‘White Lie’ is a tense psychological drama

The problem with telling a lie –even a white lie– is that to maintain it, you have to tell more of them. Each new lie you tell builds on the ones you’ve already told until one day, instead of maintaining some small mistruth, you’re maintaining an entire narrative that you can barely keep straight.

This is the world of Katie Arneson (Kacey Rohl), the university student and dancer at the heart of Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas’s White Lie. With one minor difference: she hasn’t told a little white lie; she’s told the world she has cancer.

What lengths would someone have to go to maintain that lie? How long could you keep your head above water with the lies swirling around you? These are the questions at the heart of this movie.

22 September 201922 September 2019

Review: ‘Ad Astra’ takes you on a journey through the spaces between fathers and sons.

James Gray seems to have a thing about fathers and sons. In his previous outing The Lost City of Z, a father left his family behind and travels 5000 miles across the globe to pursue his obsession of finding a city made of gold. We followed in across the world and watched how he could never let go of his obsession despite the toll it was having on his relationships at home.

Ad Astra involves that dynamic as well but from the other side, and taken to an extreme. We follow a son who was abandoned by his father who traveled 2.8 billion miles away in pursuit of scientific knowledge.

When we first meet Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) he’s standing literally on top of the world, working on an International Space Antenna that stretches from the ground all the way to space. Space is where he’s most comfortable, isolated in his suit and perfectly calm until a massive power surge knocks him off the tower and he plummets back to earth. Even through this pulse pounding sequence his pulse never pounds, he famously has never had his heart rate get above 80. But then he learns power surge originated in space and may have been caused by his father.

16 September 201916 September 2019

Watch Jurassic World Short Film ‘Battle at Big Rock’ Now!

Remember we let you know that there would be a new short film based on Jurassic World coming from Colin Trevorrow this past weekend? Well it’s here and you can watch it now!

8 September 20197 September 2019

It Chapter Two Review: This movie is a million years long.

Some stories are beloved by their fans. This isn’t a terrible thing, but it can make stories difficult to adapt for the screen. What parts of the story can you trimmed down? What parts can be excised completely? These are difficult questions, and if your viewers are those that love the text their answer will be "nothing."

It Chapter Two is a long movie. It’s not a poorly made movie or a poorly acted one, but it is long. Too long. Like, way too long, and I feel like the filmmakers didn’t have adequate answers to those two questions I posed above.

14 February 201914 September 2021

Vancouver Just For Laughs Film Festival: Thunder Road Chronicles a Man on the Brink with a Must-See Performance from Jim Cummings

Sometimes you see a movie, and there’s an actor who you have never seen before who you think, “holy crap, where did that person come from?”. They give a performance that you love, and maybe it becomes the part that makes them a movie star, or maybe not. You know they came from somewhere, though. Maybe it was an indie film, a festival darling, or both.

Thunder Road is for Jim Cummings, the former of those two films. An indie film you should see now so that one day when he is a movie star, you can say, “I saw him when”.

13 February 201914 September 2021

Vancouver Just For Laughs Film Festival: ‘Sorry for Your Loss’ Lost Me

Movies that don’t evoke a strong reaction are the hardest for me to write about, but they are not the ones I like to write about least. The ones I like to write about the least are the ones I don’t like at all. It sucks to watch something that many people have put a ton of work into and come away knowing that you’re going to have to tell people you can’t recommend seeing that work.

Unfortunately, that is what I have to do right now. Sorry For Your Loss is not a good movie.

12 February 201914 September 2021

Vancouver Just For Laughs Film Festival: ‘Pork Pie’ is a fun romp through the country

A man pulls into a service station because he’s having engine trouble. He parks the car, walks into the shop, and asks the man behind the counter if the car can be looked at because he thinks the engine is overheating. As he’s saying this, the engine explodes in the background. We’ve all had bad days, but this guy is having a really bad day, week, and present in general.

This is Jon, a man who is presently a wreck, distraught over losing his fiancée. He doesn’t know how to do it, but he needs to get her back, and so commences a road trip during which he will find himself.

If this is all sounding familiar, well, it is a bit familiar. Lovable screwup goes on a road trip with interesting misfits and figures out how to be slightly less of a screwup is not a new story by any stretch, but beautiful locations, a thrilling car chase, and a strong central performance make Pork Pie definitely worth your time.

Awesome Friday!

Category: Reviews