Posts Tagged ‘Toronto Film Festival review’
 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her”

  THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY: HIM & HER is an extraordinary feature debut for its writer/director Ned Benson.  Indeed, it’s so remarkable that it comes close to not needing the modifier “debutR...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “Trumbo”

  It’s an unfortunate irony that TRUMBO, the story of one of Hollywood’s great blacklisted screenwriters, is undermined by an inadequate script.  It’s written by John McNamara, also the man behind NBC...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Under the Skin”

  A film festival is certainly the place for a feature-length semi-linear flow of unscripted dialogue and bizarre imagery if anywhere is, so welcome to UNDER THE SKIN.  The writer/director Jonathan Glazer has gradually b...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto 2014 Review: “The Theory of Everything”

  THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Focus/Universal) – Opens November 7  – Worth A Ticket There’s a benefit but also a burden to being clear-cut “Oscar bait.”  At this point we all know the kinds of...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Prisoners”

  The prevailing atmosphere in Denis Villenueve’s PRISONERS will be familiar to anyone who’s been watching cable TV drama for the past few years.  Gloom, grief, hopelessness, helpless rage–it’s h...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “The Meddler”

  Lorene Scafaria’s THE MEDDLER spins its way past so many potential crash sites that it’s practically an example of cinematic stunt-driving.  The premise itself is something out of a thousand terrible sitcoms...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “Freeheld”

  Events on the same-sex rights front have moved so quickly that FREEHELD, which is based on a true story from 2007, and has been in development almost since it occurred, now feels like something of a history story.  Not ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “Spotlight”

  Awards season is Darwinian, often placing two titles in direct competition that have only general traits in common.  Last year we had the British biographies The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game, which might ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Philomena”

  In recent years, the… let’s call it mature audience has been a profitable one, making moderate hits of films like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Quartet.  This holiday season, the title of choice fo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “The Martian”

  Ridley Scott’s THE MARTIAN is the jaunty sci-fi offspring of Apollo 13 and McGyver, Scott’s least self-important movie in years and not coincidentally his most enjoyable.  Drew Goddard’s expertly craft...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Tracks”

  There’s no cutesiness to be found in John Curran’s film TRACKS, a bracingly non-Disneyfied true-life nature tale.  In the mid-1970s, a young Australian woman named Robyn Davidson decided to walk across almo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival/Series Premiere Review: “Casual”

  CASUAL:  October 7 on Hulu Hulu has included some original programming in its inventory for a while now, but it’s signaled its intention to join Netflix and Amazon in that realm in a more serious way with its orde...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival/Series Premiere Review: “Heroes Reborn”

  HEROES REBORN:  Thursday 8PM on NBC, starting September 24   This year, for the first time, the Toronto Film Festival has included a slate of television productions from around the world in its line-up, formalizing...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “The Program”

  THE PROGRAM feels entirely useless.  With an authoritative documentary about the Lance Armstrong story already in wide distribution (Alex Gibney’s excellent The Armstrong Lie), the only reason to attempt a scripte...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Rush”

  The writer Peter Morgan is a whiz at boring into little-remembered (and in the US, sometimes little-known) crannies of recent history and scooping out the rich drama inside, with scripts like The Deal, Frost/Nixon and Th...
by Mitch Salem