I'm a published writer, illustrator, and film critic. Cinema has been a passion of mine since my first viewing of Milius' Conan the Barbarian and my film tastes go from experimental to modern blockbuster.
It doesn’t matter how many times we are exposed to the ballet, there’s always an air of mystery about the spectacle. Jody Lee Lipes’s Ballet 422 reveals what goes into mounting these productions from inception to its final fruition.
It’s been a while since I’ve been riled up by a music event and I guess the Grammys this year brought its share of memes and discussions. There was a photo going around the internet about amount of writers it took to write Beyonce’s album while Beck was seen as one man writing band. This brought to mind the fact that many incredible albums have …
There are no words that I can find that can accurately express how much I enjoyed this film. It’s a silly romp of a movie with a ridiculous concept, but if anything that’s what makes What We Do In The Shadows work. It’s a mockumentary about vampires. Bear with me.
Every year moviegoers are treated to CGI-animated blockbuster fare. It’s easy to dismiss it as just the way animated films are done now. However, there’s brilliance and craftmanship in all forms of animation and when it works, it’s perfect. It just so happens that Tomm Moore’s Song Of The Sea.
I heavily dislike it when a film with so much promise on paper, ends up being a bit of a let down in the end. Romania has a complex history and an even more complicated recovery with democracy after the fall of Ceausescu. Roxanne is inspired by real events in debut director Hotea’s life and the lives of modern day Romanians…
It was the 1980s and I used to be a child savant with the TV Guide. After my dad came home from work, he’d sit back on the sofa and ask me what was on the television schedule for the night. I’d tell him exactly what would be on after the news. Our favorite nights were the double bill of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a bill prohibiting the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors.” Under this law, LGBT youth are considered evil, sick, and an abomination. They face constant homophobic slurs and intimidation that is entrenched and licensed in modern Russian society. Elena Klimova, a Russian journalist, started the…
In the summer of 2010 a great flood devastated Romania’s north-east. At least twenty-one people died and many were displaced from their homes. Tudor Cristian Jurgiu sets his debut feature The Japanese Dog in the aftermath of the floods. Costache (Victor Rebengiuc) is an elderly gentleman who lost his wife and his home in the devastation. He goes about his daily errands and tasks…
You’d be surprised what you see in a movie that you haven’t seen again in twenty years. Has it been that long? I recently sat down to watch Ben Stiller’s directorial debut Reality Bites. The plot revolves around recent college graduates and their search for a life outside of school …
I have to admit, in all honesty, that writing about my experience at TIFF’s Stanley Kubrick exhibit was overwhelming. I had a bit of a block in sitting down to write the experience, not because it was earth shattering or anything, but it was the end result after a year of anticipation. It’s like waiting for the …