Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack, and Carol Kane in a film with a script by Nora Ephron? It may not have ended up a complete winner, but damn if I didn’t find it charming, and watching Martin pretend to be a member of an Italian crime family who is part of the Witness Relocation…
Tag: charming
City on Fire (1987) – Ringo Lam
Chow Yun-Fat is Ko Chow, an undercover cop caught in a City on Fire in Ringo Lam’s iconic piece of Hong Kong cinema. Ready to leave his undercover life behind, Chow is persuaded by Inspector Lau (Yueh Sun) to take on on last case. When an undercover cop ends up dead, Chow has to infiltrate…
My Old Ass (2024) – Megan Park
Aubrey Plaza makes a few welcome appearances in this well-crafted coming-of-age tale that wonders what you would ask your older self if you were able. And would you make different choices because of the answers. Written and directed by Megan Park, this movie beautifully Canadian, shot up on Lake Muskoka, and making a number of…
Get Smart (1967) – It Takes One to Know One, Someone Down Here Hates Me, and Cutback at Control
Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) has his hands full this week in It Takes One to Know One. Written by Gary Clarke, this episode first debuted on 7 January, 1967. Max is trying to stop a female KAOS agent, Octavia (Gayle Hunnicut). She’s been taking out the number two man, and the subsequent replacements at CONTROL….
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) – Matt Shakman
Marvel brings their first family into the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It’s charming, and has some solid casting, but it never really has the impact that this iconic team deserves. And that may be due to superhero fatigue. Marvel and Disney have upped the audience of dosage of superheroes that everything feels…
The Great Train Robbery (1978) – Micheal Crichton
Michael Crichton writes and directs The Great Train Robbery and invites Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down along for the ride. Not quite a romp, the film is definitely an entertaining heist film, resting easily on Connery’s charm, and Sutherland turning in a wonderfully goofy performance. It’s England, in the 1850s. Connery plays Pierce,…
White Lightning (1973) – Joseph Sargent
Burt Reynolds stars as Gator McClusky, who feels like he may be a more rough and tumble relative of the Bandit. And speaking of Smokey & the Bandit, Hal Needham, who went on to direct that classic film, served as the second unit director on this film. Gator is in prison, and he’s a model…
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…
They Call Me Trinity (1970) – Enzo Barboni
They Call Me Trinity is a spaghetti western that riffs slightly on the classic Seven Samurai story, but is filled with lots of comedic moments, and is led by a pair of charming actors, Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer. It gently pokes fun at the tropes of the genre, plays to them, and enjoys them,…
Magnetosphere (2024) – Nicola Rose
Magnetosphere is a delightfully charming family-friendly feature that celebrates the pangs of first loves, the acceptance of one’s self, and living with a beautiful, but sometimes troubling condition, synesthesia, which causes her to see sounds, hear colours, and more. Maggie (Shayelin Martin) is thirteen, and she and her family are settling into Sault Ste. Marie….
The Mind Reels 