Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 15, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“How did you get past the wall?” You won’t find a better locale for a film than Serra da Canastra in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its rocky landscapes and serene hills are gorgeous, their quiet solemnity a perfect contrast to the loud gas-guzzling motorcycles director Vicente Amorim has roaming their dirt paths in Motorrad. The only […]
Category film features, film festival, film reviews, foreign, suspense/thriller, toronto international film festival · Tags Alex Nader, Carla Salle, Danilo Beyruth, Emilio Dantas, Guilherme Prates, Jayme del Cueto, Juliana Lohmann, L.G. Bayão, Motorrad, Pablo Sanábio, Portuguese, Rodrigo Vidigal, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, Vicente Amorim
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 14, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“How’d your passengers turn out? Any weirdos?” A car slams on its breaks at the pop of a flat. Inside is Todd (Rod Hernandez) and Sara (Alexa Yeames), a young couple toting around a bunch of strangers who pitched in gas money to reach everyone’s shared destination. Putting on the spare this SUV is thankfully […]
Category film features, film festival, film reviews, suspense/thriller, toronto international film festival · Tags Alexa Yeames, Anthony Kirlew, Downrange, Jason Tobias, Joey O'Bryan, Kelly Connaire, Rod Hernandez, Ryûhei Kitamura, Stephanie Pearson, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“You don’t deserve any of it” Capturing the complexity of abuse is tough to accomplish when mainstream audiences clamor for black and white delineations between predator and prey. Some go the horror route for metaphorical terror focusing on the pursuer while others go dramatic for the helplessness of a victim unable to break free. Writer/directors […]
Category drama, film features, film festival, film reviews, romance, toronto international film festival · Tags A Worthy Companion, Allure, Carlos Sanchez, Denis O'Hare, Evan Rachel Wood, Jason Sanchez, Julia Sarah Stone, Maxim Roy, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“Everything changes. That’s what stories tell us.” In the Taliban-controlled Afghan city of Kabul, Nora Twomey‘s debut film as sole director (she co-helmed Oscar nominee The Secret of Kells) depicts an eleven-year old girl facing the futility her future inevitably holds. Adapted by Anita Doron from the award-winning novel by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner delivers […]
Category animation, drama, family, film features, film festival, film reviews, toronto international film festival · Tags Ali Badshah, Anita Doron, Deborah Ellis, Kawa Ada, Laara Sadiq, Nora Twomey, Saara Chaudry, Shaista Latif, Soma Chhaya, The Breadwinner, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“Star in a jar” The title is The Current War, but it’s subject is truly more history than battle. It’s flashier to think about our modern day electrical system as a conflict between two geniuses fighting for their vision’s victory, but the truth is more complex. Michael Mitnick‘s script understands this (mostly) despite the title […]
Category biography, drama, film features, film festival, film reviews, toronto international film festival · Tags Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Macfadyen, Michael Mitnick, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, The Current War, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“Why are you competing at all?” Brad’s (Ben Stiller) son is about to embark on college. It’s the type of auspicious life marker to make anyone look back and question the journey they’ve taken thus far. Has Brad done enough? Lived up to the potential he felt he possessed? Or was he passed by? All […]
Category comedy, film features, film festival, film reviews, toronto international film festival · Tags Austin Abrams, Ben Stiller, Brad’s Status, Jemaine Clement, Jenna Fischer, Luke Wilson, Michael Sheen, Mike White, Shazi Raja, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“Get what I mean?” If the phrase “tell-all” hadn’t been coined before 2012, Scotty Bowers‘ memoir Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars would have done the job. Here’s a Marine Corps veteran of World War II born in Illinois who decided to land in Hollywood upon his […]
Category biography, documentary, film features, film festival, film reviews, toronto international film festival · Tags Lois Bowers, Matt Tyrnauer, Peter Bart, Robert Hofler, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, Scotty Bowers, Stephen Fry, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, William Mann
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“Which of you is the bigger liar?” It didn’t win the Oscar for best live action short in 2014, but Xavier Legrand’s Just Before Losing Everything was by far my favorite nominee. Discovering his debut feature Jusqu’à la garde [Custody] was constructed as an expansion of that story therefore made it a must-see. The short […]
Category drama, film features, film festival, film reviews, foreign, toronto international film festival, z.slideshow · Tags Custody, Denis Ménochet, French, Jusqu'à la garde, Just Before Losing Everything, Léa Drucker, Mathieu Saikaly, Mathilde Auneveux, Thomas Gioria, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, Xavier Legrand
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“Fantasy is possibility” Many probably don’t know about the man who created Wonder Woman. It’s not a surprise considering the decades it took to finally bring the character to the big screen despite a popularity that rivals her male Justice League counterparts. He wasn’t just some writer cashing in on the superhero craze spawned by […]
Category biography, drama, film features, film festival, film reviews, toronto international film festival · Tags Angela Robinson, Bella Heathcote, Connie Britton, Luke Evans, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Rebecca Hall, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“I’m a hero for standing there and getting my legs blown off?” Peter Berg‘s take on unsung heroes Patriots Day is barely a year old and here we are with another Boston Marathon bombing film in David Gordon Green‘s Stronger. Rather than focus on the event itself, however, John Pollono‘s script turns focus squarely onto […]
Category biography, drama, film features, film festival, film reviews, toronto international film festival · Tags Bret Witter, Clancy Brown, David Gordon Green, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jeff Bauman, John Pollono, Miranda Richarson, Stronger, Tatiana Maslany, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival
Posted by Jared Mobarak on September 8, 2017 · Leave a Comment
“You have to do right what you did wrong” The story goes that the police were dispatched to a Madrid residence in June of 1991 only to find a teenage girl screaming from what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds. Strange phenomena was seen/found throughout the apartment, so much that the detective assigned the case could […]
Category film features, film festival, film reviews, foreign, horror, toronto international film festival · Tags Ana Torrent, Bruna González, Claudia Placer, Consuelo Trujillo, Fernando Navarro, Iván Chavero, Paco Plaza, Sandra Escacena, Spanish, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, Verónica
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