End of Watch (2012) – David Ayer

First off, let’s get this out of the way… the onscreen friendship and chemistry of Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena is absolutely fantastic. The pair are absolutely fantastic together as a pair of friends who serve together in the LAPD. The film is predominantly shot to look and feel like a documentary; Brian Taylor (Gyllenhaal)…

Toronto After Dark 2016: War On Everyone – John Micheal McDonagh

My time with the 2016 Toronto After Dark film festival got underway last night with the exceptional, brash, bold, politically incorrect, devastatingly hilarious War On Everyone. I think the only thing I would have changed about it is the name, everything else, totally worked for me. Now, as a caveat, part of the enjoyment of…

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…