TIFF21 REVIEW: The Middle Man [2021]

You’ve just got to take things as they come. Frank Farelli (Pål Sverre Hagen) has been unemployed in a dying town for quite some time. The area used to attract visitors in the past—not many, but enough to staff a hotel that’s now been closed for years. So too has the local movie theater. As the so-called “Commission” (Paul Gross‘ Sheriff, Nicolas Bro‘s Pastor, and Don McKellar‘s Doctor) explains it, they may not be able to keep the streetlights going thanks to a dwindling budget caused by a lack of…

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REVIEW: The Void [2017]

“You’d be surprised at the things you find when you go looking” I was recently comparing directorial culture today with that of the 80s and 90s, referencing how new technology has allowed a disintegration of the old school “pay your dues” mentality. Forty years ago you had artists working their way up under the tutelage of established directors through the more niche technical departments. See James Cameron (matte painter on Escape from New York) and Joe Johnston (visual effects on Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark) as examples.…

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