Movies
TIFF 2013 Interview: Director & cast of The Dick Knost Show
Posted by: Elizabeth Hughes Belzil • September 15, 2013 @ 8:30am
In all the hubbub of the Toronto International Film Festival, sometimes it's easy to forget where you are. Amidst the wall of people crowding the streets, the buzz of foreign languages, and Hollywood celebrities emerging from black SUV's you might be at any major world film festival.
TIFF 2013 Interview: Director Pirjo Honkasalo
Posted by: Elizabeth Hughes Belzil • September 13, 2013 @ 4:06pm
A teenage boy stares at his reflection in a fogged mirror shrouded in darkness. Moments later the same boy watches a train derail off a bridge. Then he is trapped in one of the train's cars as it fills with water. He impotently slams his hands against the ceiling in an attempt to free himself.
In 1965, the Indonesian military over-threw their government, allowing small time gangsters like Anwar Congo to rise in society. He was promoted from scalping movie tickets to leading a death squad that helped the military kill more than a million people, many of whom were alleged communists.
Turning fright into fortune can be a tricky task. The horror genre holiday window of Halloween is only open for a short period of time. Once its over people transition out their love for decorative corpses and make room for Kris Kringle and cookies.
San Diego Comic Con might be done for another summer but that doesn't mean the geeking out has to end also. Oh no true believers, the geeking out is far from over. Today citizens of Midgard were graced with the first full new trailer for Thor: The Dark World, and all the nine realms rejoiced.
It hasn't been easy to ignore the disapproval that has been brewing online since the Cannes debut of Only God Forgives, the new film from Drive collaborators Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn. People have gone so far as to call the film "one of the worst ever made".
If Jason Bourne didn't take himself so seriously, he would have fit in with the RED crew. If the Expendables worried more about stories and less about resurrecting dead careers, it would resemble the RED series.
I would much rather see Bruce Willis continue in the role of Frank Moses over John
McClain.
Critical Perspectives: The Zombie Apocalypse is Upon Us!
Posted by: Elizabeth Hughes Belzil • July 7, 2013 @ 3:42pm
There's a reason "critically acclaimed horror film" sounds like a paradox. The genre suffers from poor production values and inept acting. Clichés cling to them like mange on a stray dog. Their success lies in their ability to capitalize on the most primal human instinct: fear of death.
It is rare for a prequel to approach its subject without blatant reference to its predecessor. With Monsters University, I never got a sense that it was a forced story trying to expand or offer insights to moments that happened in Monsters Inc. Of course there were obvious things that had to be addressed in order to avoid plot holes.
There is no foreplay here. This thing unzips itself and goes in right dry. There is no stumbling, grumbling figure that appears as no threat. It begins with a bang.
The opening credits make it almost feel like you are about to watch a documentary. The let down happens after when it shows Brad Pitt and generic family unit.
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