22 Jump Street (2014) – Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

With some sly remarks about sequels, more of the same, but bigger, 22 Jump Street takes Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) to college. Once again, the film walks a fine line between raunchy/silly comedy to delivering a commentary on relationships, bromance, and box-office budgets. When the pair are shipped off to college for…

TIFF 2021: Attica dir. Stanley Nelson

Taking a look at the five day rebellion, and hostage taking in September of 1971 at Attica prison, Nelson’s documentary is a stark, unflinching look at the prison system, the industry of it, the culture and race clash that is inherent in it, and the larger world as a whole. Filled with interviews from those…

Zardoz (1974) – John Boorman

John Boorman wrote, prodiced and directed this sci-fi cult classic that has Sean Connery running around in red underwear and thigh high boots, waving a pistol and his moustache around. With a commentary on class, knowledge, and sex, the film wasn’t a big hit at the time, and sort of settled into the cultutal subconcious,…

Shogun (1980) – Disc 1

Ah the late 70s and early 80s, the age of the television mini-series, an almost forgotten television event, though slowly being rediscovered by the advent of the limited series. It’s slightly different of course, because back then, there were only a few channels available, making a mini-series an event over consecutive nights. Shogun was based…

Parasite (2019) – Blu-Ray Review

Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Editing, Parasite, the exemplary film from writer-director Bong Joon-ho is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Pictures. Perfectly balancing a tale of comedy and drama, we are introduced to two families, and…

The Leopard (1963) – Luchino Visconti

The next film on the What Else to Watch list from DK Canada’s The Movie Book following my screening of Ossessione is this three hour epic starring Burt Lancaster. Lancaster plays Prince Don Fabrizio Salina, the ageing patriarch of a dying dynasty. It’s Sicily in the 1860s and political and social upheavals cause Fabrizio great…

Gosford Park (2001) – Robert Altman

Nine years before Julian Fellowes created Downton Abbey, he wrote Gosford Park from an idea from filmmaker Robert Altman, and it is the next title on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book, following their recommendation of The Rules of the Game. The film balances a mystery, drama, with hints…