Instant reactions to movies playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is in full swing from September 5-15 with celebrities and films flooding downtown.
Category: Reviews
Demi Moore triumphs in body horror satire The Substance
At long last, someone is brave enough to answer the question of whether there is anything grosser than watching Dennis Quaid eat shrimp.
Will & Harper, an illuminating cross-country road trip of discovery
Comedy superstar Will Farrell joins his recently-transitioned friend for an illuminating cross-country road trip of strikingly honest conversations and open-hearted discovery.
I Am Still followed Jungkook of BTS as he embarked on his first solo project
Jungkook (JK) may be a member of arguably one of the most famous bands that exists today, BTS, but over the last couple years he’s also been making headlines under his own name. JK set his sights on solo work last year following in the footsteps of his fellow bandmates who have all dropped at least a single of their own if not full-length work. With the pending release of his all-English album Golden and planned stint in the South Korean military looming (a requirement for all Korean men), 2023 was a chaotic time for the up-and-coming artist. Between April and November, he recorded tracks, filmed music videos, released the record and went on a quick promotional tour. No wonder “I’m tired” was a phrase he uttered throughout the film. I Am Still has him reflecting on that time both in interviews and unreleased footage as he rushed head-first through the process.
Transformers One is a lesson in history and believing in ourselves
The animated film Transformers One throws us back to a time when Optimus Prime, going by the name of Orion Pax, is but a mere miner working in the belly of Cybertron: the planet that all ‘bots call home. With the disappearance of the great Matrix of Leadership which coincided with the death of the Primes who had been protecting Cybertron from aliens who wanted to steal the precious Energon… the death of all but one: Sentinel Prime. Now Sentinel is on a mission to find the Matrix of Leadership to return the world to its former glory and peace to all Cybertronians.
TIFF 2024: Nightbitch
Amy Adams is phenomenal as an artist who set her career aside to raise an adorable child; she sells the madness of isolation as her identity attempts to reclaim itself with hallucinations (maybe) that she’s turning into a dog.
TIFF 2024: On Swift Horses
I suppose it’s kinda cool that the hottest young stars in Hollywood now establish their cred by the rite of passage of playing gay. In Daniel Minahan’s adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, at least Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar Jones avoid tragic weepy stereotypes in this handsome literary take on queer identities in the 1950s American West.
TIFF 2024: The Life of Chuck
Told in three acts in reverse, Mike Flanagan has made a lovely little Stephen King adaptation about how Tom Hiddleston came to be an exceptional dancer who contains multitudes.
TIFF 2024: Eden
Ron Howard dives into the dark scheming heart of humanity in recounting a true story of self-promotional Galapagos settlers in the 1930s.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Michael Keaton is the hardest-working spirit in the afterlife
I loved the expansive world-building Burton and his team put together. There were some cool visual effects and some running gags that were quite funny. I laughed hard whenever the late Charles Deetz was on screen. I also really liked the storyline between Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega. Still, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice throws a lot of proverbial spaghetti at the proverbial wall and quite a bit of it sticks because a lot of it was thrown.