TIFF’s ‘Packaged Goods’ series highlights animation for it’s winter program
Feb 20, 2013 brings the newest in the “Packaged Goods” series to the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The ongoing series surveys the world of commercial, music video and web content film-making. Exploring these by themes and highlighting the best that each theme has to offer, the series’ latest installment explores the ever changing worldanimation in the corporate sense in its “Artful Animation” presentation.
TIFF’s Packaged Goods: Artful Animation Program
Today’s animation has come a long way from Saturday morning cartoons: whether photo-real or illustrative, stop-motion or CG (more…)
Night of the Living Dead re-enacted for real? A review of the meta-horror Memisis
Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Allen Maldonado, Lauren May Shafer, Jana Thompson, Gavin Grazer with Courtney Gains and Sid Haig.
Written by Douglas Schulze and Joshua Wagner
Directed by Douglas Schulze
Mimesis, the word meaning ‘mimicry’ or ‘imitation’, is the beginning of what the filmmakers hope to be a series of films in which the premise is that a group of ‘thrill seekers’ set out to recreate classic horror films and play them out their way. The first of these films, Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead, comes to DVD and Blu-Ray Feb 10 from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Time to take ‘A Glimpse Inside the mind of Charles Swan III’
For his first directorial effort in over a decade, since 2001`s “CQ”, and hot on the heels of his Oscar nomination for co-writing “Moonrise Kingdom”, Roman Coppola returns with the bizarre “A Glimpse Inside the mind of Charles Swan III”. The film stars the erratic Charlie Sheen in one of his most over the top performances, and probably one of the most autobiographical as well, along with a stellar supporting cast.
A Glimpse Inside the mind of Charles Swan III
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Katheryn Winnick, Patricia Arquette, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Written and Directed by Roman Coppola
A Glimpse Inside the mind of Charles Swan III is set in a stylized Los Angeles; Swan (Sheen) is a man who glides through life on fame,
money and charm, the manipulator
TIFF Next Wave 2013: mini reviews
TIFF Next Wave Film Festival starts Feb 15 with the ‘Battle of the Scores’ music program on Feb 15. The Film Festival kicks off the film portion on Feb 16, and here are some mini reviews of 4 of the films highlighting the festival this year.
For more information on all of the films in the Next Wave Film Festival check out TIFF’s online schedule. But for now lets get on with the films.
The Trailer Park Boys get ‘Drunk and on Drugs’ on dvd
The Trailer Park Boys are back, well sort of, with a new DVD out in store Feb 12 from Anchor Bay Canada, “The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour”. The 6 episode series, presented here as a 2 hour 40 minute continuous movie, is a demented and twisted take on classic variety shows like “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”, “SCTV” and “Little Britain”. Being the main creative force behind the show this time around, the Trailer Park threesome has a more invested in its success, but will they be able to capture the same audience that made “Trailer Park Boys” a massive hit?
The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour DVD Review
Starring: Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, Jay Baruchel, Amy Sedaris, Pat Roach and Maury Chaykin.
Written by Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay and Robb Wells
“The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour” show stars former Trailer Park Boys actors John Paul Tremblay (more…)
TIFF’s Spotlight Japan series gets gritty with ‘Rusty Knife’
Screening Feb 9 2013 as part of TIFF’s Spotlight Japan celebration and part of the 100 Years of Nikkatsu series is the 1958 noir classic “Rusty Knife”. The setting of Udaka, a post-war city in the heart of the rebuilding phase and corporate development after the war, is a place that corruption has already taken hold. This setting provides a unique look into Japan during the rebuilding phase after the war while providing the necessary background for director Masuda to deliver a noir piece to rival the French and North American noir pieces dominating the box office at the time.
TIFF Spotlight Japan: Rusty Knife
Starring: Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Akira Kobayashi, Naoki Sugiura, Shôji Yasui and Masao Shimizu
Written by Shintarô Ishihara
Directed by Toshio Masuda
A persistent district attorney desperately attempts to arrest and convict Katsumata (more…)
‘Identity Thief’ should have gotten a better identity (Review)
Starring: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick,Eric Stonestreet
Written by Craig Mazin based on a story by Jerry Eeten and Craig Mazin
Directed by Seth Gordon
The doldrums of the winter post-Oscar bait box office continue this week as after a very lackluster January our friends at Universal Pictures give us Identity Thief. This comedy is the follow-up feature from McCarthy after her breakout role in 2010’s Bridesmaids (This is 40 cameo notwithstanding) and her first shot at a lead performance. Along for the ride is Jason Bateman playing his very familiar bland straight man role and Amanda Peet as his long suffering wife.
Diana (McCarthy) makes her living assuming stranger’s identities and bleeding them dry. Her seemingly unlimited funds have allowed Diana (more…)
Hot Docs doc soup sails the ‘Stolen Seas’ for its February edition
February’s Doc Soup presentation at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema brings us drama on the high seas with the award winning documentary “Stolen Seas”. The documentary explores the Somali pirate phenomenon, how the pirates get away with all the damage they inflict and the impact on all of those involved.
Stolen Seas
Written by Mark Monroe
Directed by Thymaya Payne
“Stolen Seas” is in essence the story of a Danish shipping vessel’s 13-man crew held at the mercy of pirates, but the film goes much further than this singular story. It’s November 8th, 2008 and the CEC Future is on high alert. Sailing inside the pirate-infested swath of sea between Somalia and Yemen (more…)
Walt Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’ goes diamond with a blu-ray special edition
Peter Pan Diamond Collection Blu-Ray
With the voices of Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Paul Collins and Tommy Luske
Written by Ted Sears, Erdman Penner, Bill Peet, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, Ralph Wright and Bill Cottrell based on the play by Sir J.M. Barrie
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske and Jack Kinney
The classic animated feature film from Disney, Peter Pan, hits its 60th ‘Diamond’ anniversary this year and celebrates with a brand new, fully loaded Blu-ray release in stores this week. The timeless tale of Peter and his ‘lost boys’ in considered one of the greats from Disney’s golden age of hand drawn animation and is based on the 100 year old stage play from Sir J.M. Barrie. As a young child, Walt Disney saw a travelling production of the play and it stayed with him for decades until he was finally able to produce his own version.
The story has been told many times. (more…)
Cineplex’s Great Digital Film Festival runs through Feb 7
Cineplex’s Great Digital Film Festival Preview
Starting Feb 1, 2013 select Cineplex theaters across Canada will participate in the fourth annual ‘Great Digital Film Festival’. The festival runs from Feb 1 through Feb7 and is dedicated to bringing classic films back to the big screen, and often in digital format for the first time. This year the festival is also serving as the nationwide debut for last year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival Favorite Cockneys vs Zombies.
All films are only $6 per screening with discount pricing for purchasing multiple tickets with extra Scene points for members of Cineplex’s Scene loyalty program. In the GTA the theaters participating will be the Scotiabank Theaters downtown (more…)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Review
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Pihla Viitala, Derek Mears, Thomas Mann, Rainer Bock and Peter Stormare
Written by D.W. Harper and Tommy Wirkola
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
New in theaters this week is the first big budget Hollywood production from the Norwegian director of the horror comedy Dead Snow, Tommy Wirkola: the horror/fairy tale reinvention Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as the legendary siblings. In this version of the story the two have become full blown witch hunters after disposing of the witch in the candy house of the original fairy tale. But can Hansel and Gretel match the absurdly fun Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, from last year, on the enjoyment scale?
After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) have devoted their lives on their hell bent retribution against all witches. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face (more…)
‘Tatsumi’ animates the TIFF Bell Lightbox starting Jan 25 (review)
Starting on Jan 25, the TIFF Bell Lightbox will host an exclusive run of the animated tribute/biography of Yoshihiro Tastsumi that was a giant hit at this year’s Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival simply titled Tatsumi. The gloriously hand rendered 2D animated film tells the story of the master animator’s early life up to his founding and establishing of the ‘Gekiga Manifesto’ launching the Gekiga movement in Manga writing which adapted a more realistic and adult style of writing and animating. Along the way it adapts 5 of Tatsumi’s works into animated tales, showing the progression of his stories and the reason why creating a place for a more realistic style was needed.
Tatsumi
Directed by Eric Khoo
Tatsumi adapts five of the artist’s short stories (Hell, Beloved Monkey, Just a Man, Occupied and Good-Bye) and intersperses them throughout the adaptation of his manga memoir (more…)
Stephen Dorff is a ‘Officer Down’ in a new police thriller
New this week on DVD and Blu-Ray from Anchor Bay Entertainment is the crime drama/thriller “Officer Down”. The story of a once corrupt cop now trying to walk the straight and narrow path packs a stellar cast for director Miller, a veteran of the direct to DVD action scene, led by Stephen Dorff and James Woods.
Officer Down Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Dominic Purcell, David Boreanaz, Stephen Lang, Walton Goggins, Tommy Flanagan, AnnaLynne McCord, Laura Harris, Elisabeth Rohm and James Woods.
Written by John Chase
Directed by Brian A. Miller
The story of “Officer Down” begins a year prior, when a boozy, cocaine addicted dirty cop, David ‘Cal’ Callahan (Dorff), was shot in a shakedown gone wrong. (more…)
Explore the ‘Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis’ on DVD today (review)
New to DVD on Jan 22, from Anchor Bay Entertainment, is the Starz Encore Originals presentation of “Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis”. The documentary features interviews with a multitude of famous actors and directors who all talk about Jerry’s influence in their careers and on show business in general. Director Barson covers the entire gamut of Lewis’ career, interspersing classic footage from Jerry’s past with the interviews and new footage of Jerry on the road still touring in his 80’s. Whether you know Jerry as the ‘muscular dystrophy’ guy, one half of Martin and Lewis or for his own multitude of films, “Method to the Madness” provides a fascinating portrait of the man known worldwide for his comedy.
Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis DVD Review
Starring Jerry Lewis
Directed by Gregg Barson
The son of a famous Vaudeville performer, Jerry’s first exposure to the spotlight came as an 8 year (more…)
‘Life’s Too Short’ for Warwick Davis on DVD (review)
Life’s Too Short Season 1 DVD Review
Starring Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Rosamund Hanson, Steve Brody and Jo Enright
Series created by Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
The team behind The Office and Extras, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, are back with another HBO/BBC co-production: Life’s Too Short, now available on DVD from HBO Home Entertainment. Life’s Too Short stars Warwick Davis, star of Willow and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, as he plays an egotistical and self centered version of himself. Returning to the faux documentary style with great success in the Office, the question remains will that style work for them a second time in Life’s Too Short?
The seven episode series centres on Warwick Davis, or a fictional version of him, who is one of Britain’s preeminent dwarf actors, or at least (more…)
TIFF celebrates the films of Japan in their winter schedule
TIFF celebrates the films of Japan in their winter schedule
Starting Jan 19, as part of the city wide Toronto ‘Spotlight Japan’ celebration, theTIFF Bell Lightbox begins a 3 month celebration of Japanese cinema also entitled ‘Spotlight Japan’. The collection includes 3 series and some other individual titles that spotlight classic and contemporary Japanese cinema. Running through April 17, TIFF will show individuals screenings of classic Japanese cinema broken into three series:
Tokyo Drifters: 100 Years of Nikkatsu
Celebrating the history of the legendary (more…)
‘The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song’ at the royal this week
This week, at Toronto’s Royal Cinema, sees an exclusive engagement of the acclaimed documentary “The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song” begin, starting Jan18. The documentary, filmed in Georgetown, Guyana, introduces us to Muscle and his mother Mary. The pair are both struggling to break free off their circumstances, which manages to bring them constantly into conflict with each other. Mary (74), when she leaves their house, wanders on the road begging for money to get drunk from passing cars and neighbors and sometimes falls down and hurts herself. Unable to convince Mary that she is only harming herself and her family, her son Muscle (43) decides that the only way to prevent her drunken excursions is to keep her locked up in her small, dark room.
The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song
Directed by Christy Garland
Muscle ekes out a living raising fighting cocks and songbirds, but yearns and longs for a better house and situation for his family. Mary drinks to forget though (more…)
‘Beware of Mr. Baker’ thunderously drums it’s way to the bloor cinema
Starting an exclusive run this Friday Jan 18 at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is the new rock documentary of one of the true ‘wild men’ of rock, “Beware of Mr Baker”. “Beware of Mr Baker” opens with the man himself, Ginger Baker, approaching a parked car in which the filmmakers are sitting. Moments later Baker has his cane inside the window attacking and beating the director and crew with it. Very few films can say their opening scene involves the main character breaking the director’s nose, but as this film’s title suggests Ginger Baker is a man to approach with caution. Featuring interviews with his ex-wives, his children and many of the greatest living musicians who know him (including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, Mickey Hart, Carlos Santana, Femi Kuti, Neil Peart and Marky Ramone) this is a look back at a tumultuous career through explosive interviews with one of rock’s greatest characters.
Beware of Mr Baker Official Trailer
Beware of Mr. Baker
Starring: Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts, Steve Winwood, Mickey Hart, Carlos Santana and Neil Peart
Written and Directed by Jay Bulger
A madman and a genius best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith, (more…)
‘Quartet’ features one excellent supporting performance
With over 70 acting credits under his belt, according to IMDB, Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with “Quartet”, opening in theaters nationwide from Alliance Films Jan 15. The story of a retirement home for musicians and the reluctant star moving in that changes everything has been adapted for the screen by Ronald Harwood from his own stage play. So has all the films that Dustin Hoffman appeared in prepared him to step behind the camera?
Quartet Review
Starring: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay,Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith and Michael Gambon
Written by Ronald Harwood
Beecham House for retired musicians is buzzing ever since the rumors have started circling that the home is soon to play host to a new resident, and word is it’s a major star. (more…)
Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his ‘Last Stand’
The Last Stand (2013)
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega, Rodrigo Santoro, Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Luis Guzmán, Peter Stormare and Genesis Rodriguez
Written by Andrew Knauer, Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Goergeo Nolfi
Directed by Jee-Woon Kim
Making his first starring bow since leaving his office as Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger returns this week with his new film: The Last Stand. The film also marks the English language debut of Korean director Jee-woon Kim, the director of atmospheric thriller “I Saw the Devil” and the western homage “The Good, The Bad and the Weird”. But will Jee-woon’s frenetic style mesh with the action veteran Schwarzenegger’s own signature style?
Sheriff Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) moved out of Los Angeles and settled into a life fighting what little crime takes place in the sleepy border town (more…)
Found footage horror gets parodied with ’30 Nights of Paranormal Activity’ (review)
Veteran of two other straight to DVD parody films, Writer/Director Craig Moss brings us his third parody film with 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (for the rest of this article known as 30 Nights for the sake of brevity). 30 nights is a take on the recent found footage horror craze, as well as some other current films. So how does 30 Nights compare to other parody films?
30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo DVD Review
Starring: Kathryn Fiore, Flip Schultz, Olivia Alexander, Danny Woodburn andFrench Stewart.
Written and Directed by Craig Moss
30 Nights is the tale of the Galen family. Parents Dana (Fiore) and Aaron (Schultz), aping Katie and Micah from Paranormal Activity, along with their teenaged daughter Liz, looking exactly like Rooney Mara (more…)
‘Lightning Bug’ illuminates on blu-ray (review)
Making its debut on Blu-Ray this week from Anchor Bay Entertainment is the 2004 filmLightning Bug. The story of a young special effects wizard in a small town, Lightning Bug has been out on DVD for years, but Anchor Bay has now gone back and remastered the film to reissue it on Blu-ray. Based on the true story of writer/director Robert Hall’s own life, the make-up effects master behind almost 90 different projects according to IMDB, the real question is how does the now 8 year old film hold up to a Blu-ray transfer and is the film any good?
Lightning Bug Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Bret Harrison, Laura Prepon, Kevin Gage, Ashley Laurence and Lucas Till.
Written and directed by Robert Hall.
Green Graves (Harrison) is a frustrated teen, with a gift for creating grisly monsters, who dreams of one day escaping his miserable life in a small Alabama town for a special effects make-up job in Hollywood. His dreams may soon be in reach (more…)
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis ‘Won’t Back Down’ on blu-ray (review)
New this week on DVD and Blu-Ray from Fox Home Entertainment comes the ‘Inspired by a true story’ of rebellion and revolution in the US school system “Won’t Back Down”. The story of two mother’s fight for a better education for their children seems to be ripped straight from the headlines and fodder for a splashy cable television movie. So was “Won’t Back Down” worth the theatrical release and Blu-Ray release it has gotten?
Won’t Back Down Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Oscar Issac, Rosie Perez, Emily Alyn Lloyd, Dante Brown, Lance Reddick, Ving Rhames and Holly Hunter.
Written by Brin Hill and Daniel Barnz
Hard working single mom Jamie Fitzpatrick (Gyllenhaal) is concerned that John Adams Elementary is letting her daughter Malia (Lloyd) down. Teaming with a caring teacher (Davis) who wants the best future for her own son Cody (more…)
Spend some time in ‘The Waiting Room’ (review)
The Waiting Room
Directed by Peter Nicks
Today (Friday, Jan 18), the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema begins an exclusive run of another of its 2012 festival favorites, The Waiting Room. When the shortlist of documentaries up for nomination for this year’s Academy Awards was released back in early December, director Peter Nicks found his film among the contenders. And even though it did not make the cut the film was in the mix for a reason, the day in the life of a U.S. hospital is an impactful and insightful piece of film making.
The Waiting Room is a riveting day in the life of an Oakland, California, public hospital’s overtaxed emergency room. The purely observational character-driven documentary expertly weaves the stories of several patients, most of them are uninsured, and who come to the inner-city facility because they have nowhere else to go. (more…)
MOVIE JUNKIE TO'S Entertainment Fix 