TAD 2012: Dead Sushi Review (Kirk Haviland)
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Rina Takeda, Shigeru Matsuzaki and Kentarô Shimazu
Written by Noboru Iguchi, Makiko Iguchi and Jun Tsugita
Continuing a long tradition of Japanese splatter films at Toronto After Dark – past years have also brought us Tokyo Gore Police, RoboGeisha and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl – we were treated to Noboru Iguchi’s Dead Sushi for the 2012 edition of the festival. One of Iguchi’s first films outside of the Sushi Typhoon label since that company launched, Dead Sushi has been hailed as a fun romp that returns Iguchi back to the form of Machine Girl, the film that helped launch Typhoon in the first place. (more…)
TAD 2012: Resolution Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Peter Cilella, Vinny Curran, Zahn McClarnon
Written by Justin Benson
Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
Resolution, the hit film from the Tribeca and Fantasia festivals made its Toronto debut at Toronto After Dark 2012. Another cabin in the woods style thriller in a year that has also given us ‘Cabin in the Woods’, Resolution is a smaller more compact story that strives to tell an equally intense and original story. But the question is can they succeed?
Mike (Cilella) receives a deranged video via email from his junkie friend Chris (Curran)……………………………… (more…)
TAD 2012: After Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Steven Strait, Karolina Wydra, Madison Lintz and Sandra Ellis Lafferty
Written by Jason Parish and Ryan Smith
Directed by Ryan Smith
Making its Canadian Premiere as part of Toronto After Dark 2012’s Sunday night lineup was the fantasy thriller After. The tale of a pair of bus crash survivors who awake to an empty town hopes to harken back to a darker version of the more whimsical films of Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg back in the 1980’s. But can After live up to such a high pedigree? (more…)
TAD 2012: Citadel Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wunmi Mosaku, Jake Wilson and Amy Shiels
Written and Directed by Ciaran Foy
After receiving numerous awards at festivals around the world, including SXSW, Citadel finally makes its Toronto debut as part of this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The dark/grimy tale of a man that desperately wants to protect his family but has been so traumatized that he can’t, features a breakout performance from both its lead actor and director.
Tommy (Barnard) and his pregnant wife Joanne………………………………………… (more…)
Can ‘Pitch Perfect’ actually satisfy men as well as women? (Film Review)
(L to R) Denise (WANETAH WALMSLEY), Ashley (SHELLY REGNER), Cynthia Rose (ESTER DEAN), Fat Amy (REBEL WILSON), Stacie (ALEXIS KNAPP), Beca (ANNA KENDRICK), Chloe (BRITTANY SNOW), Lilly (HANA MAE LEE) and Jessica (KELLEY ALICE JAKLE)
Pitch Perfect
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Ben Platt, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee with John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks.
Written by Kay Cannon, based on the book by Mickey Rapkin
Directed by Jason Moore
Every decade we seem to get that one young female driven comedy, you know that one teen/”chick flick” film, that manages to transcend the basic genre trappings with a smart, funny script and great performances. The 80’s brought us Sixteen Candles, 90’s the Amy Heckerling classic Clueless and back in 2000 we got the cheerleading opus that spawned many inferior sequels, Bring it On. And now, 12 years after Bring It On, we get the next contender to join this exclusive group with Pitch Perfect.
Beca (Kendrick) is an aspiring DJ forced to go to college by her professor father……………………………………. (more…)
TAD 2012: Cockney’s VS Zombies Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Harry Treadaway, Rasmus Hardiker, Georgina King, Alan Ford, Honor Blackman, Michelle Ryan and Richard Briers
Written by James Moran and Lucas Roche
Directed by Matthias Hoene
Another entry from the UK, Toronto After Dark presented us with the FrightFest hit Cockneys vs Zombies for its Canadian premiere. The horror comedy set in London’s infamous east end aims to take off from where Shaun of the Dead left off also uses the insular setting of an elderly age care home to stage most of the action. The combination of the care home residents and young protagonists out to save their granddad is unique, but does it work?
Brothers Andy (Treadaway) and Terry (Hardiker),………………………………………….. (more…)
TAD 2012: Inbred Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Jo Hartley, Seamus O’Neill, James Doherty, James Burrows and Nadine Rose Mulkerrin
Written by Alex Chandon and Paul Shrimpton
Directed by Alex Chandon
From the UK we get our next Toronto After Dark 2012 selection, Inbred. Taking direct influence from films like Deliverance, Alex Chandon brings us one of the most un-repentantly, vile and crude films since perhaps A Serbian Film. But is there actual story worth watching amongst the blood splatter and septic tank contents?
Inbred starts with two social workers, the overly eager Jeff (Doherty)……………………………… (more…)
TAD 2012: American Mary Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Katherine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, Davis Lovgren and Twan Holliday
Written and Directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska
The Soska Sisters, better known to those in genre circles as the “Twisted Twins”, arrived at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival with their 2nd feature film, American Mary. The creators of the provocative Dead Hooker in a Trunk return with a graphic horror thriller based in the world of extreme body modification. Does American Mary live up to the promise most genre fans found in Dead Hooker?
Buried under medical bills and tuition…………………………………………… (more…)
Paranormal Activity 4 Review
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
Starring Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively, Brady Allen, Aiden Lovekamp and Katie Featherston
Written by Chad Feehan, Zack Estrin and Christopher Landon
Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
New this weekend in theaters from Paramount Pictures comes the latest installment in the Paranormal Activity series: Paranormal Activity 4. Starting with superbly crafted tiny indie film that became a sensation that was the first PA, the series has gone on to generate millions in revenue for little cost for Paramount and has managed to supplant the Saw films as the recurring new film each year for Halloween in theaters. But has the film series exhausted itself creatively, and perhaps more importantly has it outstayed its welcome with its audience?
Paranormal Activity 4 takes place five years after Paranormal Activity 2, which ended with Katie’s (Featherston) dispatching of her sister’s family and the abducting of their baby, Hunter. The 4th film follows the life of teen Alex (Newton), along with her boyfriend Ben (Shively), her parents and her little brother Wyatt (Lovekamp). Alex’s mom takes Robbie…………………………………..
TIFF 2012 Clip and Picture Day Reviews
Photo from TIFF.net
Starring Isidora Simijonovic, Vukašin Jasnic, Sanja Mikitišin, Jovo Makisc and Monja Savic
Written and Directed by Maja Milos
Jasna (Simijonovic) is a teenage girl living in the poor suburbs in the south of Belgrade, Serbia. She, like many girls her age, likes to record everything around her using a mobile phone camera. She is making videos of herself, her school friends, family and Djole (Jasnic), the boy of her dreams. Her family life is a mess, her father is terminally ill and mother is barely coping. Jasna cannot figure out how to cope with this and it leads her further down the wrong path, leading to more and more time hanging out with her school friends, partying and drinking. At one of the parties, she finally starts a conversation with Djole and later they develop an intense sexual relationship. When he realizes that she will do anything to be close to him, Djole starts using her as a sexual object. Jasna……………
Sinister Review
Sinister (2012)
Starring Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Michael Hall D’Addario, Clare Foley, Fred Dalton Thompson and James Ransone
Written by C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson
Directed by Scott Derrickson
In theaters this weekend from Alliance Films, just in time for Halloween, we get the newest horror title from director Scott Derrickson, the director of the Exorcism of Emily Rose. With the mainly lackluster theatrical year we have had to date for the horror genre, Cabin in the Woods withstanding, the real question is can Sinister deliver where others this year have failed? And can one of us, online film Critic C. Robert Cargill, aka Ain’t it Cool News’ Massawrym, really write a film that lives up to the hype?
TIFF 2012 No One Lives Review
TIFF Midnight Madness 2012 – No One Lives Review
Starring: Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Lee Tergesen, Derek Magyar, America Olivo, Lindsey Shaw and Beau Knapp.
Written by David Cohen
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
Returning to Midnight Madness for the first time since his 2000 film Versus, Director Ryuhei Kitamura brings us a messy, bloody and disturbing case of why it pay to not judge a book by its cover with No One Lives. The twisted tale of a team of break and enter specialists who pick on the wrong person is unflinching and forces you to root for someone where there is no presented worthy of it. But does No One Lives deliver on the promise of its premise?
Detropia Review.
Detropia (2012)
Written and Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
The once bustling city of Detroit is a shadow of its former self. Starting back in 2010 when the economic downturn was in full swing, Detroit went from downturn to depression in a heartbeat. With the closures of local automobile production plants, the heart of Detroit’s manufacturing industry, other key business people started leaving Detroit in droves. Once one of the fastest growing cities in the world, Detroit now ranks among the highest cities in lost population over the last couple of years. While the families have moved on, the younger generation of bloggers and performance artist have now claimed it due to cheaper housing and access.
Detropia starts before the economic buyouts that turned around the auto industry in Detroit. These were the leanest of days, focusing on the few that stayed fighting and trying to rally the…
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The Story Of Film Preview
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Written and Directed by Mark Cousins
Last year Mark Cousins in conjunction with the BBC brought us a 15 part epic series entitled The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Starting last weekend and continuing through to November The Hot Docs Bloor Cinema is presenting the entire series in 2 part chunks on Sunday nights with replays on Tues nights, only taking a break to present the Toronto After Dark Film Festival in late October. Starting from back at the turn of the 20th century, The Story of Film attempts to present the most complete version of the history of film production put forward. Not content to just focus on the Hollywood scene, Cousins spans the globes for the most influential films and filmmakers of their time and presents their stories in detail.
The first two episodes cover the start of film, from the…
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TIFF 2012 Yellow And Tim Buckley
Starring Heather Wahlquist, Sienna Miller, David Morse, Gena Rowlands, Melanie Griffith, Lucy Punch, Max Theriot, Ray Liotta and Daveigh Chase
Written by Heather Wahlquist and Nick Cassavetes
Directed by Nick Cassavetes
Mary (Wahlquist) is a substitute teacher who flounders through her days with nonsensical daydreams and sneaking out to her car to drink mini-bar sized bottles of alcohol and pop at least 30 pain pills a day. Her shrink, or so we believe him to be, thinks she’s over-medicated and her complaints of not being able to feel anything stem from this. When Mary disappears into a broom closet to have sex with the parent of a student during a PTA meeting, even she knows she has gone too far. Broke after being fired by the school, she packs up her car and sets out alone on a road trip back to see her family to confront old…
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Resident Evil: Retribution Review
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
Starring – Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer, Boris Kodjoe, BingBing Li
Written and Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
Coming back to the Cineplex, from Allliance films, this weekend for the 4th follow up to 2002’s Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Retribution goes back to its roots. Writer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson brings back characters from all of the previous films, including Michelle Rodriguiez’s Rain from the first film, and this time around takes us to the iconic Racoon City. But will this Resident Evil be the fun joyride of the first or continue the lacklustre trend of its follow ups?
Retribution starts directly from the end of Resident Evil: Afterlife with Alice (Jovovich) managing to escape the carnage of the incoming onslaught at the end of Afterlife, only to end up in The Umbrella Corporation’s custody, barely alive and breathing. The Umbrella Corporation’s deadly T-virus…
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Matchmaker Review
The Matchmaker (2012)
Starring Tuval Shafir, Adir Miller, Dror Keren, Bat-el Papura, Dov Navan, Maya Dagan, Tom Gal and Neta Porat
Writen and Directed by Avi Nesher, based on the novel by Amir Gutfreund
This week sees a small Israeli film that played at TIFF back in 2010, The Matchmaker, open in Toronto for a highly exclusive engagement. This coming of age story set in the backdrop of late 1960’s Israel is a little charmer that deals with a lot of serious matters under the surface but maintains a quick witted exterior to help keep the audience enthralled.
As young Arik Burstein (Shafir) is out playing and goofing around with his friends on a summer afternoon the group stumbles upon a strange man. Yankele Bride (Miller), a Romanian survivor of the Holocaust with a scarred face and a noticeable limp, is a relentless matchmaker that specializes in difficult cases. He…
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For A Good Time, Call… Review
For a Good Time, Call…
Starring Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller, James Wolk, Mark Webber, Justin Long, Sugar Lyn Beard, Don McManus and Mimi Rogers
Written by Lauren Miller and Katie Anne Naylon
Directed by Jamie Travis
Back in 2002 a raunchy comedy came along that was supposed to be the truth about what women were really like when they got together, this movie was called The Sweetest Thing and starred Cameron Diaz. Going almost exclusively for the raunch, The Sweetest Thing failed to hit big with audiences and critics alike and the ‘chick flick’ seemed to retreat back to the sappy predictable mess it was prior almost overnight. That was until last year’s mega smash Bridesmaids. Now the ladies are back with the raunch in a big way, a prime example being this week’s sex phone operator comedy For a Good Time, Call… from Alliance Films.
The reserved Lauren (Miller)…
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The Possession Review
The Possession (2012)
Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Madison Davenport, Natasha Calis, Grant Show, Matisyahu
Written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White
Directed by Ole Bornedal
Late August has long been a staple for horror film releases, and also a dumping ground for lacklustre fare like last week’s The Apparition. Trying to buck the trend this year is the newest releases from Alliance Films, The Possession. Produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, The Possession was an idea Raimi had been pursuing for years, now finally coming to realization through director Bornedal. Featuring a fantastic poster and creepy trailer, the question remains, does The Possession deliver on its promise?
Supposedly based on a true story, The Possession is the terrifying story of how one family must unite in order to survive the wrath of an unspeakable evil. Clyde (Dean Morgan) and his recently divorced ex-wife Stephanie (Sedgwick) see little…
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Lawless Review
Lawless (2012)
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pierce, Mia Wasikowska, Dane DeHaan, Noah Taylor and Gary Oldman
Written by Nick Cave based on the novel by Matt Bondurant
Directed by John Hillcoat
New to theaters this week from Alliance Entertainment Canada is Lawless, a fictionalized accounting of the true story of the Bondurant brothers and their exploits bootlegging moonshine. The star-studded cast under director Hillcoat attempt to provide a prohibition era gangster epic, but do they succeed or go up in flames like a still set to blow?
In the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia, the Bondurant brothers are the stuff of legend: Howard (Clarke), the eldest, survived the war; Forrest (Hardy), the brains of the outfit, nearly died from the Spanish Flu that took his parents but gained a reputation of immortality due to his perseverance; and Jack (LaBeouf), the youngest, is impulsive, impetuous…
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ParaNorman Review
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
From the same studio that brought us Henry Selick’s Coraline we get a new stop-motion animated film also dealing with the slightly macabre, ParaNorman. From directors Chris Butler, storyboard artist on Coraline, and Sam Fell, director of Tale of Despereaux and Flushed Away, comes the story of a boy with the gift to talk to the deceased and a mission to fulfill. But can these two directors live up to the brilliance that was Coraline?
Norman Babcock (Smit-McPhee) is an awkward child with an extraordinary gift, he can see and converse with ghosts. Norman regularly converses with his dead grandmother, much to the exasperation of his incredulous father (Garlin), mother (Mann) and his sister Courtney (Kendrick)…
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The Expendables 2 Review
Starring – Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Liam Hemsworth, Nan Yu, and Scott Adkins with Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Written by Richard Wenk, Sylvester Stallone, Ken Kaufman and David Agosto based on characters created by Dave Callaham and Sylvester Stallone.
Directed by Simon West
Sylvester Stallone returns with his group of fellow action film heroes known as The Expendables for another bombastic cinematic outing in Expendables 2. This time out Sly passes over the directing reigns to Simon West and brings along Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Liam Hemsworth and Nan Yu for the ride, with extended contributions from Willis and Schwarzenegger. So is the second time a charm for this action franchise?
We catch up with our gang as they invade a Middle Eastern country stronghold in search of a…
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Killer Joe Review
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon and Thomas Haden Church
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by William Friedkin
Iconic director William Friedkin returns to the big screen this week with Killer Joe, his first feature since 2006’s Bug. The director of classic films like The Exorcist and The French Connection this time around brings us an extremely dark comedy of a murderer for hire that goes wrong in almost every way. Killer Joe may also be the film that brings us the most compelling performance in McConaughey’s career as the titular Joe.
After losing two kilos of drugs from a local supplier, Chris Smith (Hirsch) hatches a plan to get the $6,000 he owes to save his life. Enlisting the help of his father, Ansel (Church), mother-in-law, Sharla (Gershon) and sister, Dottie (Temple), Chris lays out the particulars of his nefarious scheme. You see…
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Oslo, August 31st Review
Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava and Malin Crepin
Written by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt
Directed by Joachim Trier
Off an extremely successful, record breaking European theatrical run, The TIFF Bell Lightbox welcomes the Cannes sensation Oslo, August 31st for an exclusive first run starting Friday August 10th. The Norwegian film from director Joachim Trier, a distant cousin of maverick director Lars Von Trier, stars the same actor from his award winning directorial debut Reprise, Anders Danielsen Lie, in a heavily character driven piece about a recovering addict and his return to the titular city.
Anders (Danielsen Lie) is a recovering addict in a rural rehab program. Coming near the end of his program Anders has been feeling more and more disconnected and actually does something drastic just to feel something. Given leave so that…
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