Toronto 2025: 'Normal' Review

Bob Odenkirk has recently remade himself into an unlikely action hero. But Normal makes me wonder if this pivot has serious limitations. My review is here. 

Toronto 2014: 'Tokyo Tribe' Review

I haven't done a Midnight Madness screening at Toronto in a while. I got back on the proverbial horse for Sion Sono's Tokyo Tribe. I was not a fan, although its rambunctious energy can be a hoot. (I can imagine what my father will say to me after he reads this review: "I don't think your parents will be seeing that movie.") I reviewed the hip-hop musical-cum-gangland epic for Screen International.

toronto film festival 2010, from worst to best

I'm back from the 2010 edition of the Toronto Film Festival. So many movies to see and too little time, but here's my ranking from worst to best of what I caught (with links to reviews where applicable). By the way, I'm including films I saw prior to the festival that were part of the Toronto lineup...

Bunraku
Super
The First Grader
Stone
Jack Goes Boating
Sarah's Key
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Easy A
Buried
Ceremony
Vanishing on 7th Street
John Carpenter's The Ward
127 Hours
The Big Picture
Waiting for "Superman"
Meek's Cutoff
Boxing Gym
Blue Valentine
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Bottom Line: I have a lot of films to catch up with now.

'john carpenter's the ward' review - toronto film festival

Wonderfully old-fashioned in all the right ways, John Carpenter's The Ward is a lot of fun. It appears that everyone at last night's midnight premiere who didn't like the movie immediately took to Twitter to register their disappointment. Me, I had a blast.

'vanishing on 7th street' review - toronto film festival

Brad Anderson is back in horror/thriller mode with Vanishing on 7th Street. Some of the character stuff is a bit lumpy, but the filmmaker has done a good job of rethinking the zombie movie without the zombies. Kinda. My review explains all, hopefully.

'bunraku' review - toronto film festival

I'm covering several of the Midnight Madness films at this year's Toronto Film Festival. It's something I've discovered I really enjoy -- I don't get to experience midnight screenings much anymore, and the energy of the crowd at the Ryerson reconnects me with what I loved about a certain type of moviegoing in my youth.

Anyway, I say all that to mention that I've thus far been pretty disappointed with the selections for this year. Super was overly familiar, and Bunraku is a rather empty experience -- it's not nearly as cool as it thinks it is. You can read my review to see what I mean in more detail.

'super' review - toronto film festival

Writer-director James Gunn follows up Slither with Super, a painfully familiar tale of an ordinary guy (played by Rainn Wilson) who decides to become a costumed superhero. Wilson and Ellen Page give good performances, but the highlight of the film may very well be the animated opening-credits sequence. My review is up at Screen International.

'solomon kane' review

If you like sword-and-sorcerer films, may I suggest Solomon Kane. The Kane character was created by the same man who gave us Conan the Barbarian. Yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about. My review is up at Screen International.

'daybreakers' review

I thought the Spierig brothers' first film, the zombie-horror flick Undead, was pretty mediocre. They step up their game significantly with Daybreakers. I saw it in Toronto, and here's my review.

'Ong Bak 2' Review

The first Ong Bak was absolutely tremendous -- one of the great martial-arts films of the last 10 years. How's the sequel? My review of Ong Bak 2: The Beginning is up at Screen International.