The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) – Stephen King

Stephen King’s fantastic epic adventure gets underway with this stellar, yet surprising short entry into what will be a massive tome, The Gunslinger. Starting with the iconic line. “the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed” one can’t help but be swept up in the epic western style fantasy.  The Man…

Thelma & Louise (1991) – Ridley Scott

My return to the Romance and Melodrama section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book brings me this Ridley Scott classic from the early nineties that pairs Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon in an all-star extravaganza that details the adventures of a pair of best friends as they plan a bit of…

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1993/1995) – Masks of Evil

Indy’s (Sean Patrick Flanery) adventures continue this week, as his time with French Intelligence during the Great War continues, and brings him face to face with some real evil. The movie combines two episodes, and changes the canon order of when they originally happened to facilitate a comprehensive story. Istanbul, September 1918 Airing on 17…

Scarface (1983) – Brian De Palma

A story of greed wiping out any trace of humanity, and the dark side of the immigrant story, Brian De Palma’s update of the classic gangster 1932 film remains a staple of the genre as I return to the Thriller & Crime section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film. Al Pacino plays…

Secrets of a Soul (1926) – G.W. Pabst

The next film in the What Else to Watch category for the fantastic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as featured in the massive The Movie Book from DK Books is the 1926 silent film, Secrets of a Soul. A dark and moody film, taken from events in real life, the story follows a husband, Martin…

Crash (2004) – Paul Haggis

  Walking away with the Academy Awards for Best Picture (controversially – as Brokeback Mountain was the presumptive winner), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, writer/director Paul Haggis’ tale of a cross-section of denizens of Los Angeles, tied together by race, loss and redemption come together in Crash, my next recommendation from the Great Movies…

Fringe Toronto: Caws and Effect

Being presented at the Factory Theatre is this singularly stunning piece combining music, masks, puppetry and layered projections. Chloe Ziner and Jessica Gabriel, known collectively as Mind of a Snail Puppet Company, from Vancouver, provided one of the most unique and beautiful shows on offer at this year’s festival. Assuming the personalities of two crows,…

Hot Docs 2015: The Queen of Silence – Agnieszka Zwiefka

Screening today at the ROM theatre at 7pm, is this beautiful, joyous and heartbreaking film… With an objective eye, Zwiefka plunges into the reality of an illegal, tiny Roma slum on the outskirts of a Polish suburb. Families struggle to survive, living in their shanty town, their children dumpster-diving for clothes and toys, while their parents…