The Menu is a remarkable thriller sauteed with a little comedy to deliver a confection that may not meet with delight with all moviegoers’ palettes, but if you’ve got a cynical streak, especially as it leans towards societal behaviours and elitism, this one will be met with a chef’s kiss. The story follows a group…
Tag: funny
Rushmore (1998) – Wes Anderson
As much as I tried, though it was a long time ago, Bottle Rocket, Anderson’s first feature film, never really clicked for me. I realized there were good things in it, but for some reason it didn’t work for me. But it may be time for a rewatch considering how much I’ve enjoyed the rest…
TAD 2022: International Shorts Program
Festival directors and Scotiabank Theatre invites After Dark fans to attend the International Shorts Progam this afternoon. Take in an offering of strange and unusual entries from around the world that will bemuse, beguile and befuddle. Bug Bites, directed by Daniel DelPurgatori is a bizarre little short about what we are led to believe, initially…
TAD 2022: H4Z4RD dir. Jonas Govaerts
Noah (Dimitri Thiviaos) is about to have a very bad day in H4Z4RD an energetic action film from Belgium that boasts a really dark sense of humour and serves as the second film in Toronto After Dark’s opening lineup, having its Canadian Premiere. Driven by a Euro-pop-techno beat, we catch up with Noah, who loves…
Mean Girls (2004) – Blu-Ray Steelbook Review
Paramount Pictures delivers a fun new edition of Mean Girls on blu-ray, in a collectible steelbook designed to look like the film’s Burn Book. Mean Girls, which has since inspired a stage musical, is still a delightful, and incredibly funny film written by Tina Fey, about high school and specifically teenage girls, their cliques and…
Tiff ’22: The Banshees of Inisherin
A canticle of attrition laced with verses of humour and pathos, The Banshees of Inisherin from writer-director Martin McDonagh is a perfect composition. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson star as Padraic and Colm. They’ve been drinking mates for years until in April of 1923, Colm decides he doesn’t want to be friends with Padraic anymore….
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (2022) – Megan Bannen
I’ll be honest, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, available now from Orbit Books hit me like a sucker punch. I didn’t know what I expected from this whimsical, playful tale, but what I did not expect was a genre mash-up that at its heart (or Hart) riffed on the classic tale told in Shop…
Red Notice (2021) – Rawson Marshall Thurber
Despite being weighed down in tons of green screen work, Red Notice, actually serves as a solid piece of popcorn entertainment. There’s a story about three golden eggs originally belonging to Cleopatra, but most of it is trappings for action beats, and for Gal Gadot to look absolutely stunning, and bring her acting chops into…
Fringe (2008) – The Same Old Story, and The Ghost Network
The second episode of Fringe first aired on 16 September, 2008. Written by J.J. Abrams, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman this episode continued pushing the ideas of body horror first seen in the pilot episode. This time an unfortunate woman sleeps with the wrong man and within moments becomes pregnant, and within minutes delivers a…
All Monsters Attack (1969) – Ishiro Honda
This entry in the Godzilla serries is unique, in that the majority of it takes place in the imagination of a young boy, Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki). A latchkey kid, like a lot of us growing up in the 70s and 80s, Ichiro is a quiet kid (with Godzilla toys in the closet), who isn’t quite…
The Mind Reels 