Top 20… err 23 movies of 2012 part 1 (Examiner)
Top 20… err 23 movies of 2012 part 1
#’s 21-16
As the year comes to a close the steady stream of “best of the year” lists have already started and will continue well into the first part of 2013. We in the film criticism business are not exempt in this practice; in fact a lot of the most read and regarded critics will be adding their opinion to the arena or already have. While this critic is still relatively new to the game and hardly expecting to battle it out with the heavy weights, my opinion is humbly offered regardless. The list will be made up of films seen in the calendar year of 2012, whether during a regular theatrical release or the film festival circuit.
Just a quick preface, there will be a handful of films that will not appear on this list simply due to the lack of being able to see them before this list was made. These include critical favorites Argo, The Imposter, Lincoln, Life of Pi and The Impossible. Now on to the list.
#21 – [Tie] My Father and the Man in Black and Ping Pong (more…)
Top 20… err 23 movies of 2012 part 2 (Examiner)
Top 20… err 23 movies of 2012 part 2
#’s 15-11
Starting with the # 21 –16th ranked movies published recently, we are counting down the top films of 2012, as ranked by yours truly. The list will be made up of films seen in the calendar year of 2012, whether during a regular theatrical release or the film festival circuit.
Just a quick preface, there will be a handful of films that will not appear on this list simply due to the lack of being able to see them before this list was made. These include critical favorites Argo, The Imposter, Lincoln, Life of Pi and The Impossible. Now to continue with the list.
# – 15 [Tie] Pitch Perfect and 21 Jump Street (more…)
Silver Bear award winner ‘Barbara’ arrives at the TIFF Bell Lightbox
The winner of the Silver Bear for best direction at the 2102 Venice Film Festival and Germany’s entrant for the best foreign language film Oscar this year, Christian Petzold’s Barbara starts an exclusive run at the Tiff Bell Lightbox in Toronto and select theaters across Canada on Friday Dec 28. The story of a disgraced nurse in early 1980’s East Germany features another very strong performance from the emerging powerhouse that is Nina Hoss. A relative unknown to the majority of North American audiences, Petzold’s muse (she has starred in 5 of his productions) may finally breakthrough with this strong and intimate portrayal of a woman forced to make a life altering decision and decide between following her head or her heart.
Barbara
Starring: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Mark Waschke and Rainer Bock
Written and Directed by Christian Petzold
After being removed from a prestigious medical post in East Berlin and reassigned to an underfunded (more…)
‘The Central Park Five’ look to clear their names at the bloor cinema (Review)
Back in 1989 a horrendous attack in New York’s Iconic Central Park shocked New Yorkers and captivated people worldwide. The attack and the following investigation involving corruption, deceit and intrigue has become the stuff of legend. Documentarian master Ken Burns teams up with his daughter and son in-law to tell the story of the 5 teenagers convicted and jailed for the crime, and their journey to redemption, in “The Central Park 5”. Starting Christmas Day, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto begins an exclusive theatrical run of the film with additional screenings over the next 2 ½ weeks.
The Central Park Five
Written and Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon
The film examines the infamous 1989 Central Park Jogger case, where a young white woman was raped and brutally (more…)
Will ‘Les Misérables’ steal the Christmas box office? (Review)
Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, with Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen
Based on the Original Stage Musical: Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables
Screenplay by William Nicholson, Herbert Kretzmer Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
Directed by Tom Hooper
The director of 2010’s multiple award winning “The King’s Speech”, Tom Hooper, is back with his latest Oscar baiting offering, an adaptation of the award winning and long running play based the Victor Hugo book “Les Misérables”. The production is a huge undertaking and has assembled a high profile cast under Hooper’s guiding hands to bring the tale to the screen. But is Hooper ready to helm a film that is well beyond the scope and scale anything he has ever done?
Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story full of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice (more…)
Judd Apatow proclaims that “This Is 40” (Review)
This Is 40 (2012)
Starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Megan Fox, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Chris O’Dowd, Jason Segel, Melissa McCarthy, Graham Parker, Lena Dunham, Annie Mumolo, Robert Smigel, Charlyne Yi, Lisa Darr with John Lithgow and Albert Brooks
Written and Directed by Judd Apatow
With This is 40, Judd Apatow’s latest directorial effort, we delve back in to the world that he created years ago with “Knocked Up”, this time focusing on the lives of Pete and Debbie instead of Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigel’s Ben and Allison. In fact Rogen and Heigl are completely missing from the entire film this time around. The real question is can Apatow craft a successful follow up to “Knocked Up” by going a completely different direction with it?
Five years after “Knocked Up” introduced us to Pete (Rudd) and Debbie (Mann), we are re-introduced to the couple approaching a milestone
Are the “Simpsons” still relevant with the “15th Season DVD”
Simpsons Season 15 DVD Review
With the voices of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria
Created by Matt Groening
The longest running primetime show in American television history, the Simpsons, is world renowned and beloved. They also produce some of the most influential and feature packed DVD sets on the market place. New to DVD from Fox Home Entertainment comes the 15th season of the series. So how does season 15 stack up with their already impressive library?
In Season 15 the show welcomes guest voice performances from Jerry Lewis, Jennifer Garner, and Oscar De La Hoya in this season’s hilarious (more…)
Is “Ice Age: Continental Drift” worth the trip? (Review)
Ice Age: Continental Drift Blu-Ray
Starring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, Wanda Sykes, Drake, Aziz Ansari, Nick Frost and Peter Dinklage
Written by Michael Berg, Jason Fuchs and Lori Forte
Directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier
New to Blu-Ray and DVD this week from Blue Sky Studios and Fox Home Entertainment is the latest chapter in the now decade spanning series of Ice Age films, Ice Age: Continental Drift. What started out as one of the solo Scrat short adventures, entitled Scrat’s Continental Crack-up, now been expanded into a new adventure for the entire Ice Age gang and they are bringing along a slew of new characters to join them. But has the series run its course with the fourth installment of the franchise?
In Ice Age: Continental Drift Scrat’s nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn (more…)
New ‘Willow’ blu-ray, due in stores in March 2013, has a trailer hit the web
Hot on the heels of the announcement of the new Blu-Ray transfer of Lucasfilm and Ron Howard‘s fantasy epic “Willow“earlier this week, Fox Home Entertainment today released a new trailer online for the project. The fully restored and remastered version (more…)
Golden Globes nominees get ready for the red carpet
On Thursday Dec 13th the nominees for the Golden Globes, predecessor for the Oscars and, were announced. Among the leading recipients were “Django Unchained,” “Lincoln” and “Argo”. Here’s the rundown of all the Movie Nominees:
BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Life of Pi may be the
The Bloor Cinema invites us all to ‘Meet the Fokkens’
With the holiday season fast approaching, the fine folks at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema have decided that with all the holiday themed options around the city they would offer up some cinematic counter programming. Starting Friday December 14th the cinema starts an exclusive run of the Hot Docs festival alumnus “Meet the Fokkens”. The seemingly innocent documentary based on a pair of 69 year old twin ladies living in Amsterdam might even remind you of your own lovely grandmother. Until you find out that the pair has been working the notorious Red-Light district of Amsterdam for over 40 years! And one of them is still active today!
Meet the Fokkens
Starring Louise and Martine Fokkens
Written and Directed by Gabrielle Provaas and Rob Schroder
“Meet the Fokkens” follows Louise and Martine as they go about their daily routines, (more…)
Oscar narrows down it’s top 15 docs of 2012
This past Monday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the short list of 15 finalists for nominations in the best Feature Documentary category. The Feature Documentary award is frequently the cause of heated debate and controversy as the sheer amount of possible nominees ensures that hard hitting critic favorites will be left off.
The final 15 are: (more…)
‘Jason Becker’ proves he’s ‘Not Dead Yet’…………..(Film Review)
After a triumphant set of screenings at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival this past April, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet makes it return to Toronto screens when it starts Friday Dec 12th at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. Not Dead Yet is the inspirational story of one man’s fight and struggle to continue making music after a debilitating disease strikes him down at a young age.
Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet
Starring : Jason Becker
Directed by Jesse Vile
Jason Becker was already a gifted musician before he hit his teens. In 1989 when doctors diagnosed the then 19 year old with Lou Gehrig’s disease (aka ALS) he was an international virtuoso about to join David Lee Roth as lead guitarist for Van Halen. He had also released a solo album and a debut album (more…)
Blood in the Snow 2012: Devil’s Night Review
Starring Danielle Harris, Steve Byers, Shawn Roberts, Robbie Amell and Boyd Banks
Written and Directed by Christopher Harrison
Back in 2007 Director Harrison along with his cast and crew set out to make an indie film that played as a horror homage to the films he grew up watching in the 1980’s. After filming was completed the film’s rough cut was turned into a feature that was edited, marketed and released under the name Left for Dead. After a five year wait while other projects took precedence and the film was shelved for a bit, Harrison has finally delivered his final version of the film, Devil’s Night. Devil’s night made its Toronto theatrical premiere at the Blood In the Snow Canadian Film Festival this past weekend.
The College students of a nondescript Canadian town throw wild parties (more…)
Blood In The Snow 2012: In The House of Flies Review
Starring: Lindsay Smith, Ryan Kotack, Henry Rollins and Ryan Barrett
Written by Angus McLellan
Directed by Gabriel Carrer
Making its World Premiere as part of the Inaugural Fright Nights: Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival this past weekend at Toronto’s Projection Booth East cinema is the newest film from Canadian director Gabriel Carrer (Kill, If a Tree Falls), In the House of Flies. The micro budget indie makes use of a small cast and minimal settings to create a suspense thriller about abduction, suffering and sacrifice. But will In the House of Flies be the film to catapult Carrer onto the world stage?
Set in June of 1988 In the House of Flies tells the story of young lovers (more…)
Hot Docs Doc Soup dishes out ‘The House I Live In’ for December’s consumption (Review)
This month’s Doc Soup presentation from the venerable Hot Docs programmers is The House I Live In. The award winner from this year’s Sundance Film Festival makes its Toronto premiere with 3 showings at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, on Wednesday December 5th at 6:30 and 9:15 and Thursday the 6th at 6:45. The House I Live In is a detailed look at the war on drugs in the US, but from the other side of the coin.
The House I Live in
Written by Eugene Jarecki and Christopher St John
Directed by Eugene Jarecki
In America a war is raging, not just overseas but at home as well, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations. For (more…)
Add ‘Silent Night’ to your holiday non-festivities this year…(Blu-Ray Review)
Back in 1984 a small budget slasher film caused a major backlash in theaters across North America. People picketed, officials banned it and film critics panned it, calling for the heads of both the director and producers. But through it all the film became a success and spawned 4 sequels. The film, considered a camp horror classic by genre fans, has now served as the basis for a ‘inspired by’ remake released on Blu-Ray and DVD this week from Anchor Bay Entertainment called simply Silent Night.
Silent Night
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Jamie King, Donal Logue, Ellen Wong, Brendan Fehr and Lisa Marie
Written by Jayson Rothwell
Directed by Steven C. Miller
In a small sleepy suburban town, Sherriff Cooper (McDowell) and Deputy Bradimore (King) (more…)
Brad Pitt tries ‘Killing Them Softly’ but without much fanfare (Review)
New this week in theaters from Alliance Films and the Director of the polarizing ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ Andrew Dominik is his newest collaboration with Assassination star Brad Pitt,Killing Them Softly. The crime drama features Dominik’s now trademark long pauses and drawn out sequences, but is the story as fascinating as the real life drama that inspired and spurred on The Assassination of Jesse James?
Killing Them Softly
Starring: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta
Written by Andrew Dominik based on the novel by George V. Higgins
Directed by Andrew Dominik
Frankie (McNairy) and Russel (Mendelsohn) are 2-bit hustlers that are convinced to pull a job that is very ill advised, holding up a (more…)
The ‘Bones Brigade’ are here to tell their own story with their ‘Autobiography’
Better known as a filmmaker nowadays, with acclaimed films like Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants under his belt, former Z-Boy and Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee Stacey Peralta brings us his latest project based on his historic mentorship of some of skateboarding’s greatest innovators, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography. A decade after the now seminal Dogtown, and after being pestered by the Brigade members for a Bones Brigade film for almost the same amount of time, Peralta has finally delivered a follow up showing the 1980`s segment of his skateboarding career that saw him move behind the scenes and put young stars in the spotlight.
Bones Brigade: An Autobiography
Starring: Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain, Mike McGill, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Alva, George Powell, Christian Hosoi and Stacey Peralta.
Directed by Stacey Peralta
Shortly after retiring from competition, Peralta teamed with business partner George Powell to form Powell-Peralta (more…)
ParaNorman DVD Review
ParaNorman DVD
Starring the voices of Cody Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman
Written by Chris Butler
Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell
New this week on DVD and Blu-Ray from Alliance Films is the stop motion animated wonder, from the same studio that brought us Henry Selick’s Coraline, which scared up some decent box office this summer, ParaNorman. Directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell bring us the story of a boy with the gift to talk to the deceased and a mission to fulfill. So what does the DVD have in store for us?
Norman Babcock (Smit-McPhee) is an awkward child with an extraordinary (more…)
“Hitchcock” focuses on “Psycho” and the woman behind the man……..
Hitchcock (2012)
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, James D’Arcy, Jessica Biel and Michael Wincott
Written by John J. McLaughlin based on the book “Alfred Hitchcock and the making of Psycho” by Stephen Rebello
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
New this week in theaters, opening exclusively at the Varsity in Toronto and expanding nation-wide in the weeks to come, from Fox Searchlight comes Hitchcock. The biopic about the master of suspense himself Alfred Hitchcock, despite the inference of title, is not a story of the man and his life, but the shooting of his seminal film Psycho and his relationship with his wife and most trusted collaborator Alma Reville.
Hitchcock starts at the premiere for Alfred Hitchcock’s (Hopkins) (more…)
What discoveries will “The Fruit Hunters” have for you…..
The Fruit Hunters (2012)
Written by Yung Chang and Mark Slutsky – based on the book by Adam Gollner
Directed by Yung Chang
After a highly successful Toronto debut screening as part of last week’s Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival Richmond Hill program, Yung Chang’s The Fruit Hunters starts an exclusive engagement this weekend at the Hot Docs Bloor Cinema. The film about people obsessed with seeking out and growing exotic fruits from around the world spans the globe in search of these hidden treats and director Chang introduces us to people of all nationalities. From the South American trying to save the banana business from extinction to the Hollywood celebrity trying to launch a community orchard in the Hollywood Hills, we are invited into all of these stories through Chang’s lens.
The Fruit Hunters is indeed a globetrotting tour of places with the (more…)
Dreamworks unveils the “Rise of the Guardians”
Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Starring the voices of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Isla Fisher and Hugh Jackman
Written by David Lindsay-Abaire based on the books written by William Joyce
Directed by Peter Ramsey
New in theaters in time for US Thanksgiving weekend, and ready to fight for box office domination against stiff competition, Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures bring us the new animated film Rise of the Guardians. Classic iconic characters such as Santa, the Easter Bunny, Sandman, Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost are all in this rousing tale of camaraderie and teamwork. But how does Rise of the Guardians fare against other options out there this weekend?
Rise of the Guardians starts by introducing us to Jack Frost, (more…)
Reel Asian 2012: Cold Steel Review
Starring Peter Ho, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Jia Song, Mickey Ho, Ringo Yu and Wilson Chu
Written by David Wu, Li Xiao-Min
Directed by David Wu
Making a welcome return to Chinese action filmmaking after a long absence working in North American television, frequent John Woo collaborator David Wu brings us Cold Steel. After a very successful showing at Fantasia in Montreal this year, the war-time epic has finally made its Toronto debut thanks to Reel Asian and co-presenter Toronto After Dark. So how does Mr Wu’s Cold Steel stack up to the classic films of Woo’s that he worked on?
In 1938, during the second Sino-Japanese War, Mu Lianfeng (Ho), (more…)
MOVIE JUNKIE TO'S Entertainment Fix 