A man gets shrunk down in the hope for a better life in Downsizing. Norwegian scientist Dr. Jorgen Asbjørnsen (Rolf Lassgård) has discovered a method to shrink the human body down to a height of only five inches, in an effort to combat overpopulation. Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) is a cash-strapped man living in Omaha, who decides…
An imprisoned drug runner unleashes his violent side to save his wife in Brawl in Cell Block 99. Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) is a violence-prone man, who does drug running for his friend Gil (Marc Blucas) to support his pregnant wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter). When a pick-up for a man named Eleazar (Dion Mucciacito) goes sour, Bradley…
This review was originally published as part of my coverage of TIFF15 Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson embark on a surreal cinematic journey in The Forbidden Room. A series of interconnected narratives tells stories inspired by forgotten genres from cinema’s past. Over the course of this increasingly weird and surreal journey, a number of familiar faces…
Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson embark on a surreal cinematic journey in The Forbidden Room. A series of interconnected narratives tells stories inspired by forgotten genres from cinema’s past. Over the course of this increasingly weird and surreal journey, a number of familiar faces show up, including Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Rampling, Udo Kier, and Guy Maddin regular Louis…
This review was originally published as part of my coverage of TIFF 2014 From the Winnipeg-based film collective Astron-6 (Father’s Day, Manborg) comes this homage/spoof of Italian giallo horror films. Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks) was once one of the world’s greatest film editors. However, after losing his fingers in a freak accident, Ciso has been reduced…
From the Winnipeg-based film collective Astron-6 (Father’s Day, Manborg) comes this homage/spoof of Italian giallo horror films. Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks) was once one of the world’s greatest film editors. However, after losing his fingers in a freak accident, Ciso has been reduced to editing schlocky horror films, all while being distained by his former…
TIFF’s annual celebration of Canadian Cinema is now well underway and today I saw the first of five films I plan on seeing in the Canada’s Top Ten series – Guy Maddin’s Keyhole. This was only the second of Maddin’s films that I have seen, the other being 2008’s My Winnipeg. However, it’s definitely obvious…
Melancholia was without a doubt one of the most bleak and depressing films I have ever seen. I guess that’s not too much of a surprise, considering the fact that the film was directed by Lars Von Trier, who isn’t really known for making happy-go-lucky films. The story is split into two parts, with each part…
Back in April, I pondered how Rob Zombie’s remake/reimagining/whatever of Halloween would measure up to John Carpenter’s original film. My final verdict is not that well. I have to say, when I was watching the film, I was intrigued by the expanded backstory that Zombie gave Michael Myers. In fact, I thought it was quite…
