Marriage Story: All-around showcase of great acting, takes no sides in its tender treatment of a break-up
By Karen Gordon
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ReviewJim SlotekMarriage Story, Noah Baumbach, Marriage breakup story, Runner up TIFF People's Choice, Scarlett Johansson, Azhy Robertson, Julie Hagerty, Merritt Wever, The Squid and the Whale, While We’re Young, Frances Ha, awards season movies, Netflix
Waves: Messy, Overwrought Family Drama Demands Emotion but Arouses Antipathy
ReviewWaves, TIFF 2019, Trey Edward Shults, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Sterling K. Brown, Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, Alexa Demie, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Family drama, African-American actors, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Atlantics: Cannes Favourite a Composite of Magical Realism and Romance... like Romeo & Juliet if Juliet Lived
ReviewJim SlotekAtlantics, Mati Diop, Cannes, Dakar, Doomed romance, Claire Mathon, Fatima Al Qadiri., Mame Bineta Sane, Nicole Sougou, Mariama Gassama, Babacar Sylla, Amadou Mbow, Refugee stories
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying!
ReviewJim SlotekFred Rogers, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Won't You Be My Neighbor, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Tom Junod, Esquire magazine, Marielle Heller, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Chris Cooper, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Redemptive movies, The Americans
21 Bridges: Keep things moving and keep shooting - and did we mention the NYPD is corrupt from the top down?
ReviewJim Slotek21 Bridges, Chadwick Boseman, Brian Kirk, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Police action films, Police corruption plots, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James, Liam Neeson, Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons, Serpico
Charlie’s Angels: Silly Reboot Fails to Capture Pizzazz of its Many Precursors
The Good Liar: Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren - together at last - slum it in a cheesy fraud thriller
ReviewJim SlotekThe Good Liar, Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Con-artist films, Nicholas Searle, Bill Condon, Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls, Russell Tovey, Melodramas, Jim Carter
Ford v Ferrari: Boys and their toys offer an experiential jolt in this battle of car giants at Le Mans
ReviewJim SlotekFord v Ferrari, James Mangold, Henry Ford II, Enzo Ferrari, Matt Damon, Rush, Senna, Christian Bale, Le Mans, Racing movies, Ken Miles, Carroll Shelby, Leo Beebe, Josh Lucas
Doctor Sleep: Prosaic callback to The Shining might have worked better without all that baggage
ReviewJim SlotekDoctor Sleep, The Shining sequel, Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Mike Flanagan, Overlook Hotel, Jack Nicholson, Ewan McGregor, Carl Lumbly, Scatman Crothers, Alex Essoe, Shelly Duvall, Rebecca Ferguson), Kyliegh Curran
The Irishman: DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci's best work in years is best seen in the theatre
ReviewJim SlotekMartin Scorsese, The Irishman, Robert De Niro, Frank Sheeran, Jimmy Hoffa, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Goodfellas, Casino, Netflix films, Rodrigo Prieto, Charles Brandt, Steven Zaillian, Russell Bufalino, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Kathrine Narducci, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, Aleksa Palladino, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, Dascha Polanco
Frankie: Stilted Drama As Dysfunctional as the Family at Its Centre
ReviewFrankie, Ira Sachs, TIFF 2019, Isabelle Huppert, Marissa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Drama, Family drama, European
Margaret Atwood: A Word After A Word After A Word is Power - a wide dive, but not a deep one, into the author's life
ReviewJim SlotekMargaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Man Booker prize, Alias Grace, The Testaments, Margaret Atwood: A Word After A Word After A Word Is Power, Peter Raymont, Nancy Lang, Graeme Gibson, Mary Harron, Sarah Polley, Order of the Companions of Honour, Biographical documentaries, PEN International, #MeToo, Stephen Galloway, Hana Gartner
Midway: Minus monsters and aliens, Roland Emmerich puts the boom in naval battle
ReviewJim SlotekMidway, Roland Emmerich, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, Pearl Harbor, Doolittle Raid on Toky, War films, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Admiral Chester Nimitz, Woody Harrelson, Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, Jake Weber, William “Bull” Halsey, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Echhart, Lt. Comm. Jimmy Doolittle, Admiral Yamamoto, Etsushi Toyokawa, Edwin Layton, Patrick Wilson, Dick Best, Ed Skrein, Wade McClusky, Luke Evans
Synonyms: Nadav Lapid's Berlin-winning slap at Israeli machismo and the French superiority complex is outrageous in the best way
Your weekend preview: What to see (and what to skip) in the theatres this weekend
ReviewJim SlotekWeek's movies in review, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Terminator: Dark Fate, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Tim Miller, Deadpool, Natalia Reyes, Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem, Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bruc Willis, Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Erriovo, Cynthia Erivo, Harriet Tubman, Feras Fayyad, The Cave, Syrian Civil War, Synonyms, Israeli movies, Tom Mercier, News from Home: The Films of Chantal Akerman, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Chantal Akerman Retrospective Explores Slow Cinema from Feminist View
Preview, Review, ViewsChantal Akerman, TIFF, Retrospective, TIFF retrospectives, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, European cinema, Slow cinema, New From Home, News From Home: The Films of Chantal Ackerman, Cannes
The Cave: Masterful Doc Exposes the Horrors and Heroes of Syria’s Civil War
Harriet: Historical Biopic on Slave-Turned-Abolitionist Hits the Right Notes
By Karen Gordon
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Terminator: Dark Fate - The franchise calls a 'mulligan' and reclaims some of its original spirit
ReviewJim SlotekTerminator: Dark Fate, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Terminator Genisys, Deadpool, Tim Miller, Reboot sequels, Terminator T-800, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Mackenzie Davis
Motherless Brookyn: Edward Norton's film-noir writing/directing/starring turn is a worthy 'Chinatown East'
ReviewJim SlotekMotherless Brooklyn, Film noir, Chinatown, Edward Norton, Jonathan Lethem, Robert Moses, Alec Baldwin, James Rouse, Tourette Syndrome, Bruce Willis, Thom Yorke, Wynton Marsalis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
