What with the reboot/sequel bringing comedic laughs back to the theatre, I thought I would take a look at the original The Naked Gun, which followed on the oh-to-short Police Squad! series. Leslie Nielsen is back as Frank Drebin, and if you were worried this movie wouldn’t be funny almost forty years later, you can…
TIFF 25: EPiC – Elvis Presley in Concert dir. Baz Luhrmann
Acclaimed director brings Elvis Presley to the big screen (or the biggest screen if you can see it in IMAX) in a way you’ve never seen before. A look at his Vegas residency concerts, by putting you in a front row seat for the show. With a quick recap of his career the concert film…
TIFF 25: The Furious dir. Kenji Tanigaki
The Furious is a balls-to-the-wall actioner that is outrageously over-the-top but incredibly crowd-pleasing in its violence and action beats. Having said that, the ADR in the film is terrible, and I honestly think the entire film should just be subtitled. The film has a strong enough appeal that I don’t think it needed to have…
TIFF 25: California Schemin’ dir. James McAvoy
I had never heard of Silibil ‘n’ Brains, but knowing this was James McAvoy’s directorial debut I had to check it out. It’s based on a true story, and it’s very entertaining. Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy (Samuel Bottomley) are just a couple of blokes from Dundee, Scotland. They dream big, and those dreams…
TIFF 25: Rental Family dir. Hikari
The Brenaissance continues as Brendan Fraser turns in another fantastic performance, one that leans into his abilities to be both comedic, and deliver great gravitas, often in the same scene. Fraser stars as Phillip, a struggling American actor living in Japan. When he gets a gig as ‘Sad American’ at a funeral, it opens a…
The Pearl of Death (1944) – Roy William Neill
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are deep in it again this week as the take on The Pearl of Death. Using Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Six Napoleons as its basis, this tale ends up being a lot of fun. After Holmes foils Naomi Drake’s (Evelyn Ankers) attempt to steal the famous Borgia…
TIFF 25: Bad Apples dir. Jonatan Etzler
Saoirse Ronan shines as Maria, an elementary school teacher pushed too far in Jonatan Etzler’s darkly funny thriller, Bad Apples. If you’ve read the tagline for the film, do yourself a favour and don’t read anything else about it. Go in with the knowledge that Maria is working to keep her class engaged. She has…
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004) – Episode 2
This is it. The final ninety minutes of Farscape. Is it all going to pay off? Am I going to be happy with how it all ends? Airing on 18 October, 2004, the night after the first part, making it a two night event. Part two of The Peacekeeper Wars was written by series creator…
Huxley (2025) – Ben Mauro
I was very fortunate to chat with Ben Mauro when he appeared at Toronto’s Fan Expo. And I have just finished the first installment in his Huxley saga. Filled with world-building and fantastic art, Mauro takes some familiar science fiction tropes, and incorporates them in a new way. The trade paperback is composed of the…
TIFF 25: The Wizard of the Kremlin dir. Olivier Assayas
Director Olivier Assayas with novelist Emmanuel Carrere adapted Giuliano da Empoli’s novel that shows the machinations of political evil at work. While a work of fiction, it does tie in with actual events, and the lead character, Vadim Baranov, played by Paul Dano, seems to be more than a little similar to Vladislav Surkov. Dano…
The Mind Reels 