The early years of the career of Bob Dylan are recreated in A Complete Unknown. In 1961, enigmatic folk singer Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) travels to New York to visit his hero Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who’s hospitalized with a degenerative illness. It is at the hospital where Bob meets Peter Seeger (Edward Norton), who …
singing
The Polynesian wayfinder gains a crew to try and break an island curse in Moana 2. Three years after restoring her people’s status as wayfinders, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) finds a clue about other people living across the ocean. While performing a ceremony with her father Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison, Moana has a vision of her …
A family clashes over the fate of an heirloom piano in The Piano Lesson. On July 4, 1911, three brothers stole a piano from their former enslavers, though one of them, Boy Charles (Stephan James), died in a consequential fire. 25 years later, Boy Charles’ son Boy Willie (John David Washington) arrives with his friend …
A cartel leader seeks a new beginning in Emilia Pérez. Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) is a Mexico City Defense Attorney, who draws the attention of cartel boss Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón). Manitas wants Rita to help arrange gender reassignment surgery, so he can start a new life as his true self. Rita …
Arthur Fleck finds love as he is put on trial for his crimes in Joker: Folie À Deux. For the past two years, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) has been in the maximum security wing of Arkham State Hospital, subject to cruel and mocking treatment by the guards headed by Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson). While being …
The future President of Panem mentors and falls for a tribute of the tenth annual Hunger Games in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. In the years since the Dark Days, Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) lives in squalor with his cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer) and Grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan). Coriolanus is hoping to …
The lives of two Indian revolutionaries cross paths in RRR. In 1920 during the British Raj, Govoner Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his wife Catherine (Alison Doody) forcibly abduct a young girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma) from the Gond tribe in Adilabad. Malli’s brother Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) travels to Delhi to rescue …
Baz Luhrmann directs a biopic of the King of Rock and Roll with Elvis. Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) is a former carnie, who has moved into the music business managing country singer Hank Snow (David Wenham). Hank’s son Jimmie Rodgers (Kodi Smit-McPhee) brings to Parker’s attention Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), a new young signee …
Drama develops on the set of the sitcom I Love Lucy in Being the Ricardos. Starring the real-life married couple of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), the sitcom I Love Lucy became a huge hit when it began airing in the early 1950s. However, while in the middle of taping the …
A reclusive rock star is needed for the opening of a new show in Sing 2. Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) and his musical stage company of Rosita Brown (Reese Witherspoon), Ash Spinosa (Scarlett Johansson), Johnny Serafinowicz (Taron Egerton), Meena Jones (Tori Kelly), and Gunter Schwartz (Nick Kroll) travel to Red Shore City to pitch a …
Warning: This Review Will Contain Some Spoilers The torrid love affair between a comedian and opera singer leads to the birth of a very gifted child in Annette. Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) is a highly provocative stand-up comedian who is in a high-profile relationship with rising opera singer Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard). The couple quickly gets …
Take a look behind-the-scenes in the creation of one of the longest-running children’s television series in Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street. The brainchild of Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, co-founders of the Children’s Television Workshop, Sesame Street was created in 1968 as counter-programming for children’s television shows that at the time were focused …
A group of friends perform an experiment about how consuming alcohol can be beneficial to their lives in Another Round. Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), Peter (Lars Ranthe), and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) are four teacher friends from Copenhagen. While out to dinner to celebrate Nikolaj’s 40th birthday, the group begins discussing the theories …
A French family struggle for survival during the American Civil War in Savage State. In the midst of the American Civil War in 1863 Missouri, French colonists Edmund (Bruno Todeschini), his wife Madeleine (Constance Dollé), freed slave Layla (Armelle Abibou) and daughters Abigaëlle (Maryne Bertieaux), Justine (Déborah François), and Esther (Alice Isaaz) seek safe passage …
A cabaret singer encounters a mermaid washed up in the City of Lights in A Mermaid in Paris. Gaspard Snow (Nicolas Duvauchelle) is the primary singer at the Flowerburger, a cabaret club run by his family, which has fallen on hard times. One night, Gaspard encounters an injured mermaid named Lula (Marilyn Lima), who has …
A self-help author is tormented on a nightly business by a home-invading killer in Lucky. May Ryer (Brea Grant) is a notable self-help author, whose latest book hasn’t been selling as well as her first. One night. May discovers a masked invader at her house and her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh) matter-of-factly mentions that …
An aspiring musician wakes up into a world that has never heard of The Beatles in Yesterday. Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer from the town of Clacton-on-Sea in the UK, who is ready to give up on his musical ambitions, despite the neverending support of his childhood friend and manager Ellie Appleton …
The story of Freddy Mercury and Queen is told in Bohemian Rhapsody. In 1970, Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek), an Indian-British Parsi college student, is hired by Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) to be the new lead singer of their band Smile, adopting the new name of Freddie Mercury. Along with bassist John …
A successful musician helps lead a young woman to stardom, while his own career begins a downward spiral, in A Star is Born. Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) is a successful country rock musician, who constantly plays sold out show, yet offstage is secretly struggling with alcoholism, much to the frustration of his older brother and manager Bobby …
A shy teenager participates in an international singing competition in Teen Spirit. Violet (Elle Fanning) is a 17 year old Polish girl living on farm with her mother (Agnieszka Grochowska) on the Isle of Wright. An aspiring singer, Violet meets former opera singer Vlad (Zlatko Buric) at a bar and he help her improve her singing, as she prepares …
A Mexican boy finds himself lost in the land of the dead in Disney and Pixar’s Coco. In the Mexican village of Santa Cecilia, 12 year old Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of being a musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), however music is banned by Miguel’s family of shoemakers. Wanting to perform in …
A 90 year old atheist navy veteran contemplates his mortality in Lucky. Living in a small town in the California desert, Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton) has a very specific daily routine, which includes doing the crossword at the local diner run or conversing with his friends at the bar. However, one day Lucky’s routine is …
Two brothers plan a robbery during a NASCAR race in Logan Lucky. Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) is a down on his luck man, who was fired from his mining job and is constantly at odds with his ex-wife Bobbie Jo Chapman (Katie Holmes), who has custody of their daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie). With the help of his …
A college graduate discovers the harsh realities of modern America in #AnAmericanDream. William Bowman (Jake Croker) is an all-American young man, who takes an internship at financial company. While it initially seems that William has a bright future ahead of his, he arrives at work one day to find it has been bought out by …
The heir of a Polynesian tribe goes on an adventure to save her island in Moana. Moana Waialiki (Auli’i Cravalho) is the heir to a tribe on the Polynesian island of Motunui. Despite her interest in the ocean, Moana’s father Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison) prevents her from going past the reef. However, as the crops get spoiled …
Viceland presents the television series nirvanna the band the show, based on the original webseries of the same name by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol. Matt and Jay are two members of a band, whose ultimate goal is to get a gig at the Rivoli club in Toronto. The two come up with a number of elaborate …
A lonely self-help author finds a connection with an anomaly of a woman in Anomalisa. Self help author Michael Stone (David Thewlis) has traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to promote his latest book at a hotel customer service convention. However, Michael is an incredibly lonely man, who perceives everyone (Tom Noonan) as exactly the same. However, …
Rob Marshall (Chicago) directs this big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. A baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) live in a village and are desperate for a child. The couple are confronted by a witch (Meryl Streep), who tells them that they can’t have kids because …
Seven years after his breakthrough film Once, Irish director John Carney returns with another musical drama set in New York City. Dan Mulligan (Mark Ruffalo) is a disgraced record executive, who stumbles upon an acoustic performance by singer-songwriter Greta (Keira Knightley). An English ex-patriot, Greta is struggling with her recent break-up with her rock star …
Alexander is a teenage boy with autism, who has just finished school and is preparing to head out to live on his own. Following his 18th birthday, Alexander goes on a trip to Barcelona with his older brother Sebastian. As they head off to attend a game by FC Barcelona, the two brothers bond, as …
Best known for their 1995 hit song “Common People,” British rock band Pulp stopped playing around 2001-02. With frontman Jarvis Cocker wanting to give the band a happy ending, they reunited for a tour of the UK in 2012. Pulp: a Film about Life, Death & Supermarkets follows the band as they prepare to play …
Following their 2011 comeback, the Muppets return for a world tour and heist hijinks. Not knowing how to proceed after their reunion, the Muppets are approached by Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais), who offers to be their manager for a new world tour. However, in reality Dominic is in league with the criminal mastermind Constantine, who …
Playing as part of the Canada’s Top Ten line-up, as well as opening this week for its regular release, Gabrielle is a coming-of-age story about a young woman’s desire to live a normal life, despite her mental disability. Gabrielle (Gabrielle Marion-Rivard) is a young women with William’s Syndrome, who sings in a choir with other …
From Up on Poppy Hill is the latest film released by Japan’s Studio Ghibli. This is the second film by Goro Miyazaki, who is the son of famed anime director Hayao Miyazaki, who co-wrote the film. The film focuses on Umi and Shun, who are students in 1964 Yokohama. Their school’s historic “Latin Quarter” clubhouse …
I missed the Spanish comedy Ghost Graduation when it originally played last fall, as part of TIFF 2012, so I was happy when the film was brought back as part of the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival for Youth. The film is described as “The Breakfast Club meets Ghostbusters” and I thought that the film …
I have been hearing a lot of comparisons between this film and Liam Neeson’s surprise 2008 hit Taken. However, while they are both films that feature Neeson in a genre he is not usually known for, they are two different types of film. While the term is probably overused, the best description of Unknown would be …
Earlier this year when I was talking about Semi-Pro, I stated that I thought Will Ferrel’s routine was getting old. After seeing Step Brothers, I still have yet to be convinced otherwise. Before I say anything else, I should state that I thought Step Brothers was an incredibly funny movie. However, it was also an …
This year’s holiday season is jam packed with films I’d like to see, so here is the third film I’ve seen within a week’s timespan (with at least one or two more planned before the end of the holidays). This has been a killer year for producer/director Judd Apatow, whose films Knocked Up and Superbad …