Reviews of movies, television, games, and whatever else strikes our fancy.
People are going to compare God’s Own Country to Brokeback Mountain. It’s inevitable because they cover much of the same ground: two men spending time away from the world and looking after a herd of sheep form a relationship. That isn’t completely unfair because the basics are remarkably similar but also because they’re both great movies.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘God’s Own Country’ is quietly great”
Guy Maddin makes weird films. This isn’t a complaint; it’s a compliment of the highest order. In a world where studios are making only the safest of choices on a daily basis, weird, experimental film is always some of the most important films around. _The Green Fog_ is no exception: it re-imagines Hitchcock’s Vertigo using clips from other films (new and old) and television from the 70s and 80s –all also shot in San Francisco–, and only one single shot from the film itself.
It’s something else, and the fact that Kronos Quartet were there to play the original score live made it truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘The Green Fog’ with Kronos Quartet playing live was something else.”
Have you ever watched a scene in a foreign film and thought “something must have been lost in translation”? The Hidden Sword is an entire movie like that.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘The Hidden Sword’ is a muddled mess with some awesome martial arts action”
The original _Blade Runner_ is held up by many as the gold standard of dystopian existential science fiction films. It asks questions about the nature of humanity and what it means to truly live while at the same time painting a picture of a world that seems to have broken under the weight of more people being alive than ever before. It’s an acknowledged masterpiece –even if it took a decade or two and two different directors cuts to get to that status– and that’s a lot to live up to.
And I’m here to tell you that it does. I’m also here to tell you that you should probably go into it as cold as possible, so maybe bookmark this and come back to it after you’ve seen the film to see if you agree with me. I’m not going to say any major spoilers but regardless, this is your warning.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Blade Runner 2049’ is as good as the original.”
I really like movies about making movies. I think they’re a fun way to explore and poke fun at the filmmaking business. I also like period set comedies, in particular those set in the late 40s and 50s. I like the design sensibilities, and I feel like the feel-good image of that era that still lingers today is one ripe for subversion. Also also, I really like Penelope Cruz. I think she’s a dynamic and interesting screen presence.
_The Queen of Spain_ then is a movie that should be right up my alley: it’s a period set comedy about making a movie starring Penelope Cruz. It turns out it’s not, though.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: Penelope Cruz can’t save ‘The Queen of Spain’”
Truck? *What* truck?
Fascism is on the rise in the world. It’s easy living on this continent to forget that it’s happening elsewhere. _In The Fade_ isn’t directly about the resurgence of Nazism, but those themes never the less play an important part in this story of family, justice, and revenge.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘In The Fade’ will net Diane Kruger all the award nominations”
Director Mina Shum is back, people. Meditation Park is the latest film from the Vancouver director and explores the immigrant experience with a woman finding empowerment. You know what? It’s a damn delight, too.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘Meditation Park’ is just lovely”
The first complete, portable football game that gives an almost perfect experience – just as long as you don’t want to play online with friends.
Andrew Garfield has a marvellous gift: when he smiles, he does so with his entire face, including his eyes. This may sound like a weird thing to start a review with, but when you’re talking about a film where he has to lay completely motionless save for his face, it becomes a big deal.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘Breathe’; Andrew Garfield & Claire Foy are great in this OK film.”
What is this? *DOOM* for ants?
_Thelma_ begins with two things. First, a warning that if you have epilepsy, the movie might set it off and second, a father and his young daughter walking in the woods, hunting. The girl sees a deer and inches forward, transfixed. The father readies his gun, aims at the deer, and then slowly changes his aim to the back of his little girl’s head. He doesn’t pull the trigger; it’s clear from the get-go that he desperately wants to. Then the movie starts to get interesting.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘Thelma’ and the existential dilemma that is becoming yourself”
A man lives alone in a small house in town so small you’d probably miss it if you blinked driving down the highway. He’s never been married, and he has no kids. He starts each day with a cigarette, a vigorous yoga routine in his underwear, and a walk into town to do his morning crossword and see his friends.
I’m sure this wasn’t exactly Harry Dean Stanton’s real-life, but _Lucky_ is clearly a movie about Harry Dean Stanton.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: ‘Lucky’ is the perfect swan song for Harry Dean Stanton”
It has been three days since I saw _Dunkirk_ and I cannot stop thinking about it. That alone should be enough to tell you that the movie is great and that you should see it, so if an affirmation that it is worth seeing is what you are looking for you can stop reading now. Let me say this clearly and concisely right up front: _Dunkirk_ is Christopher Nolan’s best film to date and you should absolutely seek it out on the biggest screen you can find.
Continue reading “‘Dunkirk’ Review: Christopher Nolan’s best film to date”
I sometimes find the music in films almost manipulative. You watch something big and brash, like a *Transformers* or *Avengers*, and the aural aim is clear: use the score to generate the required emotional response from the audience. Here’s the hero, *BAM BAM BAAAAM*. Moment of loss; strings in a minor key. Racing through a jungle, peppering Colombian foliage with bullets? Have some dubstep to pass the time. What stands out for me more these days are films where the music is *part* of the story, instead of merely underpinning the action. *Inception*’s slowed-down *Non, Je ne regrette rien*; *Fury Road*’s war drums; Tarantino’s torture music. It’s an elevation of the material, a move that takes it to a whole level of blissful enjoyment.
But even the creative musicality of these great films cannot eclipse the groove of *Baby Driver*. Edgar Wright’s crime story is choreographed like a ballet, where every movement, spin and gunshot is rooted in the music blasting out, and the effect is somewhere approaching pure magic.
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