Reviews Archives - Page 5 of 34

15 October 20218 January 2022

Review: ‘Mass’ tackles the pain and grief of the aftermath of a school shooting with four powerhouse performances

There are few topics so sensitive in American than that of mass shootings. All too common, they plunge entire communities into a disarray of astonishment, grief, and a desperate need for answers that will likely never come. Fran Kranz, best known to me as a series of stoner characters in various genre films and series, aims to tackle at least some of these feelings in his debut feature as a director, Mass, which sees the parents of a high school shooter face to face with the parents of one of the victims. Let me tell you, folks: it’s a hell of a debut.

14 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Belfast’ is a crowd pleasing but personal film from Kenneth Branagh

The Troubles, as they are so politely referred to, have had an indelible impact on Northern Ireland and the people who live there. Yes, that is the understatement of the decade, but while we think about the 30-year conflict in very broad terms, generally, outside of that country, we often don’t think about the real human impact. Kenneth Branagh is one of those people, and with Belfast, he seeks to tell the story of his families well as part of the story of Northern Ireland at large.

13 October 20218 January 2022

Review: ‘No Time To Die’ gives Daniel Craig an emotional ending to his time as James Bond

It is the end of an era. No Time To Die, the 25th entry in the James Bond franchise and the last to feature Daniel Craig as the titular superspy, is finally here after several pandemic related delays. It has been a long time coming; in fact, this has been one of the most prolonged periods without a Jame Bond film since the franchise began back in 1962. The question then becomes, “Is this film worth the wait?” and the answer to that is a resounding “yes.”

11 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Tin Can’ is a great example of doing a lot with limited resources

In the not too distant future, a global outbreak of a parasitic fungus is devastating humankind. Not content to merely kill you, it latches onto your body, sprouts growths and spores, and changes you into something else entirely. This is the world of Tin Can, one that is in many ways not unlike our own: a world with a raging pandemic, with some people who want to solve the problem and some content merely to avoid it.

As ever, the cinema of the age of COVID-19 speculates what a world might look like under similar circumstances to ours, and Tin Can takes a look at one of those dark futures.

11 October 202118 October 2021

VIFF ’21 Short Film Reviews!

The Vancouver International Film Fest is a showcase for short films and the talent behind them as much as it is for features. So let’s talk about seven short films I’ve watched at this year’s festival.

10 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Quick Reviews: ‘All My Puny Sorrows’ and ‘Bergman Island’

VIFF is nearly over, and it has been a busy week, so to catch up a little, here are two more movies I’ve seen at the festival.

9 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Memoria’ is an experience

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a unique filmmaker with only a few films under his belt, but each of them garnering widespread acclaim, probably most notably with 2010s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, for which he won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Memoria is the first film he has made outside of his native Thailand, and the first time he has worked with an international cast. While the film is beautifully shot and singular in its vision, it’s also overlong, incredibly indulgent, and will reach into your soul and pull out… something.

9 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Flee’ harnesses the power of animation to give its true story a greater impact

Documentary filmmaking is some of our most crucial filmmaking. They tell stories of our world and the people that live in it. How, though, do you tell a story that has no images, no film, or any talking heads to back it up. One standard route is to turn the story into fiction. Another, taken this year by director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, is to animate the story his friend is telling him, which turns out to be just as powerful a choice.

8 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Paris, 13th District’ is a gorgeous, if slightly thin, look at how we deal with trauma

The first thing you will notice is the cinematography. Shot in elegant black and white, the camera in Paris, 13th District (Les Olympiades, en Francais) is a character unto itself, peering into the windows and lives of the residential towers of the district before settling on three to follow. The camera then follows them, like a close friend, and while the resulting film is lightly paced and slight with the details, it never doesn’t feel intimate and empathetic.

7 October 202112 June 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Official Competition’ is a savvy, hilarious satire

The best comedies are the ones with depth. The ones that layer together stories and satire and lay bare what the filmmakers feel about whatever subject they are tackling. Official Competition is one of these films.

The film opens in the wake of a billionaire’s birthday party, a man looking back on his 80 years and wondering about his legacy. What can he do to ensure he’s remembered? An idea comes to him: a film; A great film. A film directed by and starring the greatest talent available and drawing on a beloved novel as its source. Or maybe a bridge. A bridge would be good. But no, a film is the way to go, and he impulsively buys the rights to a noble prize-winning book, hires an award-winning art-house director, and the two greatest actors of this generation. Of course, when I say he does it impulsively, I mean he has his assistant do it.

6 October 20218 January 2022

Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Mad God’ is a trip into a deranged nightmare. Do with that information what you will.

I don’t even know where to begin. Phil Tippett, a genuine living legend, has been working on Mad God in some way, shape, or form for literal decades. Conceived in the 1980s, shelved in the 1990s, and resurrected in the 2010s with the help of Kickstarter, the release of this film is the culmination of untold hours of artistry and technical wizardry. It features the kind of stop motion animation and compositing that we haven’t seen the likes of in ages.

Also, it is disturbing, disgusting, and deranged, and I can’t tell if I mean that in a good way, even if I don’t exactly mean it in a bad way.

5 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Time’ uses narrative layers and black humour in a touching tale of old age

Time is a film that takes its time to show you its true character, and as such, you’ll work your way through many assumptions as you watch Ricky Ko’s debut feature. Is it a pastiche of 60s Hong Kong action flicks? A bucket list final hit taken by three ageing assassins? A Leon-style juxtaposition of caring for a young tearaway while killing? A heartfelt, even defeatist, look at the withering pain of old age? Truth is, it’s somehow all of those things, and how it brings all its story threads together is where the true joy of this film lies.

4 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Benediction’ is a heartbreaking portrait of poet Siegfried Sassoon

How does one determine ones own worth? This is one of the questions at the heart of Benediction, Terrance Davies new biopic of English poet Sigfried Sassoon. Sassoon lived through the first world war, and as a commissioned officer, won himself the Military Cross for gallantry, but he opposed the war and wrote poems of the hell that was the trenches. This is just the start of the contradictions and the self loathing Davies portrays of his life, and the result is a heartbreaking look at a man who was never able to answer that question satisfactorily.

4 October 20218 January 2022

Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Knocking’ has a great central performance

How do you deal with anything if no one will believe you. How do you proceed with life if everyone tells you that what you are experiencing is all in your head? This is the process of gaslighting, an abuser forcing someone to question their thoughts and beliefs.

From this place comes the film Knocking, in which a woman recovering from a devastating emotional trauma who is trying to re-enter society is forced by those around her to question her very reality. It’s a hell of a premise for a horror movie.

2 October 20218 January 2022

Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Barbarians’ is a brutal but familiar take on toxic masculinity

Imagine for a moment a dinner party. Four friends coming together after an absence to celebrate the purchase of a home and the beginnings of a new chapter in all their lives. This is the setting of Barbarians. It is a simple enough setup, and with the right characterisations and right narrative push, it’s the kind of setup that a compelling story can be told from, and Barbarians (mostly) pulls that off.

Awesome Friday!

Category: Reviews