TIFF13 REVIEW: Jimi: All Is by My Side [All Is by My Side] [2014]

“The rest is just painted with a little science fiction” On paper a biopic of Jimi Hendrix without the rights to his music seems like a complete waste of time. Even with John Ridley‘s All Is by My Side detailing the guitarist’s two years prior to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the thought of not using an iconic track for the credits is a daunting one to overcome. Thankfully, with a bit of ingenious sound design and multiple sensory collages of images and music, we’re able to experience the…

Read More

TIFF13 REVIEW: Bad Turn Worse [We Gotta Get Out of This Place] [2014]

“And that’s how you play What’s Your Price” Life for Sue (Mackenzie Davis) and Bobby (Jeremy Allen White) in their sleepy blue collar Texas town is at an end. They’ve been accepted to college and can’t wait for the transition in hopes it’s the first step towards never returning. But while neither is sad about leaving families behind, there is one person they can’t help feel conflicted about deserting. BJ (Logan Huffman) is her boyfriend, his best friend, and the kind of guy whose heart is always in the right…

Read More

TIFF13 REVIEW: Gravity [2013]

“You should see the sun on the Ganges. It’s amazing.” Remember back in the 90s at the advent of IMAX technology how certain amusement parks would have a screen with some “experience” putting you “into the action”? Well Alfonso Cuarón has made one of those for the twenty-first century in Gravity. While I admit such a description may seem like I’m putting the film in a bad light—simplifying it to its basest aesthetic trait—I honestly mean it as a compliment. Space has always been one place to which only a…

Read More

TIFF13 REVIEW: Dallas Buyers Club [2013]

“I prefer to die with my boots on” How do you stretch having thirty days left to live into seven years? You put in the work. Ron Woodroff (Matthew McConaughey) didn’t journey towards opening up the Dallas Buyers Club in order to stage a revolution against the FDA—he simply sought to prolong his own life. Director Jean-Marc Vallée’s film depicts this evolution as Woodruff’s homophobic cowboy becomes a champion of the LGBT community and a leader in the fight against government AIDS profiteering. It’s a story twenty years in the…

Read More

TIFF13 REVIEW: Parkland [2013]

“It’s my story too” We all know the story of President John F Kennedy’s assassination. It’s an event that has been ingrained into our culture, spawned a myriad of conspiracy theories, and remains a hotly contested moment in time that changed the fabric of an entire nation. But what about the people this tragedy affected on a personal level beyond victim and perpetrator? What about the trauma surgeons and nurses who watched as the president’s heartbeat flat-lined? What about the giddy business owner excitedly filming the motorcade on his lunch…

Read More