Blog: Big Thoughts From A Small Mind

I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) A few weeks back I mentioned that The Visitor , now on video, was one those hidden gems of 2008 that I feared most people would miss. Well lets hope the same thing does not happen to I've Loved You So Long. The film is currently in theatres so be sure you do whatever you can to track it down. Estranged for 15 years, the two Fontaine sisters are reunited [...]

Happy-Go-Lucky Happy-Go-Lucky is one of those films that will either entertain and/or drive you mad depending on your view. Directed by Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies), the film focuses on Poppy (Sally Hawkins), a free-spirited elementary school teacher who always sees the glass as half full. After her bike is stolen, Poppy decides to take up driving lessons. Enter Scott (Eddie Marsan), Poppy's hypersensitive driving instructor. Scott believes in order and structure, which is a direct contrast to Poppy's extroverted personality. As the two meet [...]

Quantum of Solace Literally picking up five minutes after Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace finds our beloved secret agent, James Bond, looking to avenge the death of his love. While interrogating the mysterious Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), Bond quickly learns that something far bigger than he expected is at play. A powerful organization, named Quantum, appears to have been operating in secret for a long time. While following a series of thin leads, Bond stumbles onto Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), an environmentalist who has an unusual interest in acquiring [...]

Rachel Getting Married Someone once told me that funerals and weddings bring out the worst in families. The latter is especially true in Jonathan Demme's latest film, "Rachel Getting Married". Fresh off a lengthy stint in rehab, Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns home for her sister's, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), wedding. Despite the initial pleasantries, the presence of Kym clearly causes tension amongst the family. Despite her father's (Bill Irwin) best efforts to maintain the peace, Kym's unstable nature only helps to fan the flames that have been [...]

Death Race When does a "B-movie" stop being a "B-movie"? When is it just a bad film? What about the ones that are so bad they are good? These questions have crossed my mind a lot in the last few years. Most recently with Paul W.S. Anderson's latest video game opus…err cult remake, "Death Race". Based on the Roger Corman produced cult classic, "Death Race 2000", this version is set in the dystopian future of 2012 were economic crisis has ravaged the world. The only [...]

The Secret Life of Bees Secrets are abound in "The Secret Life of Bees" the film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel of the same name. It seems everyone in this film has something to hide. Yet the greatest secret of all is how painfully slow the latter half of this film is. Set in the racially charged south of 1964, Lily (Dakota Fanning) lives on a peach farm with her abusive father (Paul Bettany) and caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). Lily is haunted by a vague, [...]

The Visitor Every year there are a few great films that seem to go under the radar of many filmgoers. There are various reasons for this: they are not shown in your local multiplexes, they do not have any big name stars, there are no over-the-top effects, etc. Yet when given the chance these small, but special, films have the ability to completely blow you away. "The Visitor" is one of these films. A small hidden gem that is far more powerful than ninety percent of [...]

Now that my post film festival hiatus is complete time to get back to business… Saw V Let me start off by saying I walked into "Saw V" without seeing "Saw IV". Not that it really mattered, having seen the first three films I pretty much knew what to expect….or at least so I thought. Like many in the fairly packed theatre, I was expecting to see people getting tortured in horrific, and outlandishly elaborate, ways. This is a horror film after all. [...]

Part 1 (including JCVD, RocknRolla, etc.) Part 2 (including Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, New York I Love You, etc.) Part 3 (including Flash of Genius, The Wrestler, etc.) Slumdog Millionaire A curious thing happened at the beginning of this screen. While introducing his latest film, Slumdog Millionaire, director Danny Boyle tried his hardest to down play the movie. Trying to curb the hype that was brewing after the first screening, [...]

Part 1 (Featuring JCVD, RocknRolla, etc.) Part 2 (Featuring Nick and Norah's Infinite Playist, Ashes of Time Redux, etc.) Flash of Genius In this David versus Goliath tale, Greg Kinnear plays professor Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. Based on real events, the film documents how Kearns was the first person to successfully master the device; beating out many of the major car companies' top engineers. Kearns brought his invention to the Ford Motor Company with [...]

Part 1 (featuring JCVD and RocknRolla) Lost Song Winner of the "Toronto-City Award" for best Canadian feature-length film, "Lost Song" is a startling glimpse at how postpartum depression can destroy a marriage. Pierre and Marie move out to the countryside after the birth of their still to be named child. Despite Pierre's mother being in the cottage next door, there is a noticeable level of tension between the couple. As the days go by, the isolation becomes more present [...]

Another year at TIFF is in the books, and now time to get down to the recap. I am still going through film festival detox so I will be posting my thoughts in segments. Plus the only thing more time consuming than watching 32 films , is writing about those 32 films. Edison & Leo The first full-length stop motion animated film in Canadian history, is definitely a visual delight. Yet do not go into this film expecting entertainment on the [...]

Despite being in the last box of the "ticket lottery system", I still managed to get a good chunk of the films I wanted to see (e.g. Ashes of Time Redux, Youssou Ndour, etc.) Thursday September 4, 2008 7:45 pm Edison & Leo Friday September 5, 2008 9:00 am Achilles and the Tortoise 11:45 am RocknRolla 3:15 pm JCVD Saturday September 6, 2008 [...]

The full list of films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (a.k.a. TIFF) was released this week. During the festival, I will try my best to update this blog with reviews of the films I see. I will do a full recap, of all 30 plus films, at the end of the festival. The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 4 to 13. For more info on the festival, be sure to stop by there website (listed in the side bar) Tropic Thunder [...]

The full list of films at this year's Toronto Film Festival (a.k.a. TIFF) will be released in a week (Tuesday August 26, 2008 to be exact). During the festival I will try my best to update this blog with reviews of the films I see. I will do a full recap at the end of the festival. The Toronto Film Festival runs from September 4 to 13. For more info on the festival, be sure to stop by the TIFF website (listed in the side bar links) Tropic Thunder [...]

Pineapple Express Pineapple Express is the latest of many, and I mean many, films to get the Judd Apatow stamp of approval. Written by (and I uses that word loosely) and staring Seth Rogen, the film follows Dale (Rogen) and his pot-dealer Saul (James Franco) as they try to evade a ruthless drug czar (Gary Cole) and his partner (Rosie Perez) who just so happens to be a crooked cop. That pretty much sums up the movie in a nutshell. The plot is ridiculously thin, and some [...]

Now that The Dark Knight had solidified itself as the king of this summer's blockbusters. I figured I would catch up on some of the other summer offerings that I missed… The Happening I have a friend who was feature in one of our prominent local newspaper earlier this year for his study on the effects of "too much praise in the workplace." The study basically showed that productivity actually slowed down when workers received constant praise. What does this have to do with [...]

Young People F***ing This film has been immersed in controversy since its debut at last year Toronto International Film Festival. The majority of the uproar centers around the films racy title rather than its content. Granted it is really is hard, no pun intended, to sell a title like Young People F***ing (YPF) anywhere outside of a adult movie store. Yet if you are willing to get past the blunt title you will be rewarded with a humourous look at the complexities of relationships for people in [...]

The Dark Knight and Hancock Although they are vastly different films, there are two very important facts Hollywood can learn just by sitting through a double bill of "The Dark Knight" and "Hancock". The first is that no matter what the studio executives think "origin stories" are not needed when making a superhero movie. Especially when you are making a film of about an already well-known comic book character (i.e. Superman, Spider Man, Batman, etc.) Even the most casual movie watcher could tell you that Peter Parker [...]

Hellboy II: The Golden Army "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" marks the fourth film in a blockbuster season that can easily be called "The Summer of the Superheroes". This sequel follows Hellboy and his paranormal fighting team as they try to stop a rogue prince from unleashing an ancient Golden Army. The Golden Army consists of hundreds of indestructible mechanical soldiers that were locked away when mankind made a truce with the forest creatures. As if the Golden Army was not enough to deal with, Hellboy (Ron [...]