The Final Take with Parker Mott

Jeff Buckley (Badgely) tributing his father and releasing his voice to the world.

We all know the saying “like father, like son”, but it’s hard to imagine the pressures of being the son who had to be “like” Tim Buckley, the late musician whose legacy left an indelible mark on the folk music scene and also produced 9 studio albums, 8 live albums, and innumerable compilations. The son was Jeff Buckley, a skinny, pallid, and rumply-haired musician who in his early career was recognized for uncannily resembling his father. (continue reading…)

P.K. (Gage Munroe) locks and loads "I Declare War".

I Declare War is a no-holds-barred coming-of-age drama that is more than just dipped in the realm of fantasy. It exists, almost wholly, through the eyes and in the minds of several feral youngsters as they compete in a game of war in the woods (shot in Orange Valley, Scarborough over the course of 20 days). Yes, this is “Canadian” soil but directors Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson aren’t – ‘scuse the stereotype – making any apologies. (continue reading…)

Ryan Gosling is stoic-faced in the raw-as-a-bone "The Place Beyond the Pines".

The Place Beyond the Pines is an affecting conceit, a 140-minute triptych that spans multiple generations in order to arrive at an intractable moral dilemma. Despite the gravitas, the film resonates more for its epic scale than crushing realizations and truths. It is director Derek Cianfrance’s opportunity to demonstrate his craft and ability to manufacture important themes into a film of novel proportions. He makes us of that. (continue reading…)

Matt Damon propositions fracking to Pennsylvania townspeople in the very good "Promised Land".

Promised Land is destined to be coined that “fracking movie” the way Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master is the “Scientology movie”. Those titles are kind of loose, commercial epithets for two films that, overall, use their touchy subjects more as backdrops to convincing character-driven dramas. My guess is that the writers of Promised Land – actors John Krasinski and Matt Damon – are against hydraulic fracturing but the film merely addresses that environmental concern rather than bludgeoning it in. (continue reading…)

James Bond adjusts hie tie and gets back to the action in "Skyfall".

The James Bond movies exist outside of time within an awesome space. The films are anything but a reminder of our mortality, as here is an agent who cannot age or get shot. He beds every femme fatale in his path, wins every gun battle singlehandedly, and sips (shaken-not-stirred) martinis on exotic beaches while casually outsmarting his opponents. There’s the everyman and then there is Bond: the male empowerment of sex, strength, and adventurous intrigue. (continue reading…)

Paranormal Activity 4 (95m) – ***
V/H/S (115m) – **1/2 

The found-footage genre dates all the way back to 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust by Italian filmmaker Ruggero Deodato, a film that was put under much controversy for its strikingly vivid human death scenes and actual acts of animal cruelty. The movie is still banned in several countries, but in Canada or U.S. you can probably find it in the basement of your local mom-and-pop video store. (continue reading…)

The animal-like Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) smirks in "The Master", the new film by PTA some critics are already calling an "American classic".

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” is about cults the way his last film the decade’s best “There Will Be Blood” was about oil. Those specific subjects are upstaged by a taut and ambiguous character study between two very different men, both in thought and demeanor, who exploit each other to achieve what they deem a higher purpose: in “Blood” it was, in many of its shades, greed. “The Master” is about greed to some extent (the greed of knowledge), but it is centred more on the desperate and borderline sociopathic measures two rivals/allies take to elude the demons of their past.

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Rating: 14A – Coarse Language
Run Time: 104 minutes 

Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan in "Ruby Sparks".

Writers can be so fickle. One day they are in a flow, the next their favourite computer key is ‘backspace’. Often, their insecurities dominate the creativity, with them thinking most of the time they are not capable of their passion and life pursuit. I admire writers like Stephen King and John Grisham, who seem to have novels published every week. But truth be told: creativity is like sun in autumn – it comes in and out. Some writers deny the existence of writer’s block. They’re liars. (continue reading…)

Rating: R
Run Time: 115 minutes

Rachel Weisz and Jude Law are distraught lovers in "360".

360 begins with a paradox: “if there’s a fork in the road, take it.” But to where, when all the paths are unjustifiably similar? This ambiguity wafts over 360, as it tries to find a way across its characters. Cultures and human identities clash in a shrinking world. Fates and lives overlap inevitably. Perhaps unknowingly, we are in a constant dynamic of coming together. (continue reading…)

Rating: PG – Violence, Language May Offend, Not Recommended for Young Children
Run Time: 165 minutes

Batman returns after 8 years in the cave in "The Dark Knight Rises".

Before this review, I want to express my deepest condolences to those harmed by the tragic events that occurred at the Century 16 cinema in Aurora, Colorado. My heart goes out to the families, friends, and victims of this horrid crime. Movie theatres should be for our joy and entertainment, and that this promise has been fatally broken is sad and unforgivable. (continue reading…)