In 1972 and 1973 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre here in Toronto, almost everything we know about modern comedy was born. The cast included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber and Dave Thomas. From the seeds planted by this special group being brought together sprang SCTV and SNL, not to mention…
Tag: interviews
TIFF 25: EPiC – Elvis Presley in Concert dir. Baz Luhrmann
Acclaimed director brings Elvis Presley to the big screen (or the biggest screen if you can see it in IMAX) in a way you’ve never seen before. A look at his Vegas residency concerts, by putting you in a front row seat for the show. With a quick recap of his career the concert film…
The Movie Man (2024) – Matt Finlin
Cottage Country. That phrase conjures a specific image for residents of Ontario, Canada. The calls of loons, sitting on boat docks and enjoying the peace of the lakes, an escape from the hubbub of city life; cottage country is a Canadian summer tradition. You wouldn’t expect to find a multiplex amongst the forests, the bears,…
Ghostwatch (1992) – Lesley Manning
Ghostwatch seems like an appropriate film for April Fool’s Day. Seven years before The Blair Witch Project marketed itself as an actual piece of found footage, a documentary, the BBC scarred viewers young and old with their television production of Ghostwatch. Staged like so many other BBC investigative programmes, and despite a brief intro proclaiming…
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – 4K Review
Sony Pictures’ release of their Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 4 brings me another iconic film that was missing from my viewing history, the Robert Benton film, Kramer vs. Kramer. Based on the novel by Avery Corman the film stars Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as the titular Kramers. Hoffman is Ted Kramer,…
Titanic (1997) – 4K
James Cameron’s epic Oscar-winning film, Titanic, finally comes to 4K in time for the holidays, and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) have never looked better. Man has this film come a long way. I remember seeing this on the big screen and marvelling at the spectacle Cameron put on the screen. It was…
TIFF ‘ 23: Mr. Dressup – The Magic of Make-Believe
I’m not crying. You’re crying! Is there anything more Canadian to children who grew up in the 70s/80s/and early90s than Mr. Dressup? I can’t remember a time in my own life when I didn’t know about him, Casey, Finnegan and the Tickle Trunk. In fact I’m sure that at some point I had a stuffed…
TIFF ’23: Summer Qamp
My first documentary of this year’s TIFF was the joyous celebration that is Summer Qamp. The film crew led by director Jennifer Markowitz heads to Camp fYrefly located in, of all places, Alberta. A week-long summer camp for queer, non-binary and trans teens, fYrefly is a safe space for everyone who goes there and allows…
Sharksploitation (2023) – Stephen Scarlata
Sharks. Since Peter Benchley’s iconic 1974 novel, Jaws, they have been a ready-to-use monster for Hollywood moviemakers. With Steven Spielberg’s big-screen adaptation of the novel, sharks became the ‘it thing’ for films. However, they were arguably already on their way to being cast as the baddie thanks to some casting in the 60s Bond films….
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Ultimate Visual History (2017) – Michael Klastorin
I remember the first time I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was 1984, it was my 13th birthday, I had read the fotonovel from the school library, was fascinated by the subject matter (I still am), and though I had seen the rubber toys in grocery stores when the film came out,…
The Mind Reels 