Whether Canadian film-makers Rob Grant and Mike Kovac movie is fact or fiction isn’t the point of their latest cinematic effort. What is important is the film’s subject matter, and the commentary it makes on film, violence in cinema and the responsibility of the film-makers. Opening Friday at the Carlton here in Toronto, Fake Blood,…
Tag: cinema
12 Years a Slave (2013) – Steve McQueen
What kind of species are we that we can enslave our fellows? There are two scenes in McQueen’s masterpiece 12 Years a Slave, that shook me to my core. The first was a scene in which Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon Northup is left to hang, while life goes on around him, and another when Solomon is…
The Godfather (1972) – Francis Ford Coppola
A cinematic classic. A masterpiece. A gold standard in film. All of these descriptions suit Coppola’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s epic novel, The Godfather, perfectly, and it is my next stop in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as I return to the Thriller genre. Having said all of the above it…
The Artist (2011) – Michel Hazanavicius
The multi-Oscar winning film, The Artist is the next film in the What Else to Watch list as I continue my journey through DK Canada’s The Movie Book. Coming in as a recommendation for Chaplin’s City Lights, this film definitely entertains. Taking home Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), Best Director, Best…
The Day of Wrath (1943) – Carl Theodor Dreyer
DK Books’ The Movie Book continues to let me explore the works of Carl Theodor Dreyer, as I dive into the 1943 film, The Day of Wrath. This one is on the What Else to Watch list following my screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc. Just like Arc, there is a lot of…
The Godfather Trilogy – Francis Ford Coppola
Paramount Pictures is celebrating the 45th anniversary with a re-release of the 1972 classic The Godfather, and its two sequels. I have a bit of a sordid history with these films. I’ve never been a fan of crime family stories, I can’t relate to them, and have never understood the hypocrisy that seems inherent in…
Hugo (2011) – Martin Scorsese
I know I raved about Martin Scorsese’s passion project Silence when I watched it a few weeks ago, but every time I watch this magnificent adaptation of Brian Selznick’s novel; a tale of youth, discovery and the love of cinema, I end up citing it as my favourite of his films. Set in Paris, this…
The Impossible Voyage (1904) – Georges Melies
Also known as Whirling the Worlds, Melies next masterpiece is my port of call as I continue exploring the trailblazing work of the French showman, thanks to DK Books’ The Movie Book. Running about twenty minutes, the short uses Jules Verne’s Journey Through the Impossible as its basis. A group of explorers and an inventor…
Silence (2016) – Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese’s beautifully shot passion project, Silence, is unveiled on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures today. Based on the novel by Shusako Endo the film is vibrant and gorgeous, while it plays with some tough questions about religion, faith, cultures and beliefs. Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson share top billing in this film, but…
The Movie Book (2016) – Danny Leigh, Louis Baxter, John Farndon, Kieran Grant and Damon Wise
I always love to take a look at movie books and see what films made the lists contained within. Then I’ll spend an inordinate amount of time ruminating why others were left out. They also tend to add a pile of movies to my viewing queue, and as I’m coming up on the end of…
The Mind Reels 