The Final Take with Parker Mott

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…)

"Head Games".

Documentary filmmaker Steve James makes devastating documentaries about harsh truths. His new documentary Head Games is a rude awakening to a snubbed danger in professional sports: head injuries can cause irreversible brain damage. This is not a recent issue; we learn it has happened for years, but players did not have the information or encouragement by their coaches to seek treatment (they were urged to “play through their injuries”). Head Games pushes this concern out forcefully, suggesting this concussion crisis is not merely a matter of “bad science”. (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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Dreama Walker is the victim of a twisted prank call in "Compliance".

Compliance dramatizes a concept that has always fascinated me: humanity’s tragic will to conform to a perceived higher power. We can do unspeakable things all to yield to authority. Authority, be it political, institutional or judicial, is bestowed with this indisputable power. It controls and indoctrinates. Us lay people can so easily back down to the ‘system’ that we defy our own common sense. Because the authorities are sworn to protect and serve, right? (continue reading…)

Rating: 18A – Coarse Language, Sexual Content, Graphic Violence
Run Time: 104 minutes

Killer Joe (McConaughey) meets with the dimwitted Chris Smith (Hirsch) in Friedkin's vile yet effective "Killer Joe".

Killer Joe is a deep-fried practical joke on humanity. It’s a murder story that doesn’t even have the curtesy of showing the murder and features a scrumptious chicken leg that doesn’t even get eaten. This is an uncompromisingly twisted and disturbing movie, but it is not a thriller. It would be less terrifying if it was. I suppose it can be called a Southern gothic dark comedy, but that still might be oversimplifying things. (continue reading…)

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…)

Rating: 14A – Sexual Content, Substance Abuse
Run Time: 117 minutes
Now playing in limited release (at the Varsity Theatre in Toronto, ON).

The crestfallen face of Trishna (Freida Pinto).

Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna encompasses tragedy from west to east India, all in the spirit of a dispassionate romance. This is a predictable love story, yes, but different in a way that it is not so neatly about a triumph in love. A severe, lingering sadness pervades the screen as a wealthy young businessman named Jay (Riz Ahmed) comes to neglect his affections for the 19 year-old Trishna (Slumdog Millionaire‘s Freida Pinto), an Indian maiden from a poor rural district in Rajasthan. (continue reading…)

Run Time: 81 minutes
Now available on DVD.

Jiro and his sushi.

Eighty five year-old Jiro Ono lives to make sushi. When he dreams, he does the same. Therefore, the title is not a cute exaggeration. This is a heartfelt documentary about sushi as an art, profession, virtue and passion. These themes are told through Jiro, the man behind the world’s finest sushi. (continue reading…)