The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off on September 8 and our resident film reviewer Dino-Ray Ramos hit the ground running, catching over a dozen screenings of some of this year’s most talked aboot titles at TIFF.
Film Reviews
A place to find all of our film reviews.
The Academy Award-winning actress is set for a wave of nominations with this astonishingly nuanced portrayal of the former First Lady. There have been many “Jackies” in TV and film, but none like Natalie Portman’s.
Damien Chazelle’s movie musical La La Land balances levity and humor with auteur-grade filmmaking for an incredibly enchanting movie-going experience that will put a twinkle in your eye and a spring in your step.
Helmed by Wolf Creek director Greg McLean and written by Guardians of the Galaxy maestro James Gunn, the blood spattering thriller is a sick, twisted, and ridiculous joyride of murderous insanity.
In the J.A. Bayona-directed A Monster Calls, there’s a little boy and a gigantic talking tree, so it must be a Spielbergian good time, right? Well, not really. The word “monster” in the title may be misleading as this film isn’t as fantastical as one might think.
The film festival hit transcends the typical gay narrative with a rich and poignant story that takes us on a gay black man’s journey of self-discovery, pain, as well as what it means to give and receive love.
From the trailer alone, Lion, a story about a man searching for his family after being tragically separated from them for 25 years, is poised to be a tearjerker. After attending the World Premiere at TIFF, I can guarantee that it is not only a tearjerker, but a film that will bring out everyone’s ugliest cry.
The Oscar-nominated actor owns Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, a finely executed and surprisingly stirring sci-fi pic that takes the typical alien invasion film in a refreshingly different direction.
Amirpour’s follow up to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has provocative elements and a talented cast, but ends up being more shock and awe than anything else.
Intimate and told with incredible grace, the film further proves Kelly Reichardt’s uniquely naturalistic filmmaking skills with four subdued, yet compelling performances from four astonishing actors.
Tom Ford’s follow-up to A Single Man silences any doubts that the fashion designer-turned-filmmaker’s debut was a fluke. Nocturnal Animals fires on all cylinders when it comes to style, storytelling, and Ford’s vision – one that is becoming increasingly inimitable.
Making its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Philip Roth novel of the same name is ambitious but falls far from the hype surrounding it.
When you combine two clueless gangs and one major gun deal there’s a lot that could go wrong. And all of that is illustrated in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, a gunfight comedy that lights up the screen with one of the most epic — and ridiculous — gunfights ever.
Taking a different route from his fantastical and thrilling fare, director Jeff Nichols effortlessly grounds his latest film based on the struggles of the real-life interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving with delicate care, subdued emotion, and powerful storytelling.
With Denzel Washington leading the septet, this reboot has all the wares of a typical Western for nostalgia’s sake but leans heavily on its star power and explosive action to carry it through its 133-minute run time. It’s entertaining, but at the same time, mechanical.
The feature film debut from Luke Scott may be predictable, but with its finely executed fits of bloody violence and top-notch stars, it’s a wildly enjoyable piece of sci-fi goodness for the masses.
Kubo and the Two Strings raises the bar for Laika movies, bursting at the seams with gorgeous animation, terrific writing, and wonderful weirdness. Most importantly, Kubo packs several emotional punches that make this latest outing one of Laika’s most heartfelt yet.
Although director Timur Bekmambetov put forth a valiant effort in his retooling of Ben-Hur, he failed to create an adequate remake of the 1959 classic starring Charlton Heston let alone a substantial modern epic.
It’s hard to believe that a raunchy, R-rated animated film about talking sausages and food from the mind of Seth Rogen could make insightful observations about religion, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and mob mentality – and yet Sausage Party does just that.
This weekend opens Florence Foster Jenkins, aka Meryl Streep’s obligatory Oscar performance. While the actor continues to prove while she is the queen, she does so with a movie that sings mildly better than the character that she plays.
What seems to be an innocent dramedy starring the hilariously awkward guy from Silicon Valley ends up hits you head on with a traumatizing event in the first five minutes that, in its own special way, paves a path for an endearing off-center film about male bonding.
By creating an original story where a child learns about the story of The Little Prince, it props the book up and asks the audience to listen to one of its most memorable lines: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” By watching this film with one’s heart, there are boundless moments to enjoy and cherish.
Once in a while, the stars align and no matter how adamant you are about remakes, one comes along and takes a classic to an emotional level that can even melt the heart of the most cynical of cynics. Disney’s reimagining of Pete’s Dragon is exactly that.
If it’s true that cats have nine lives, maybe they won’t mind sparing part of one of them to watch this film. For us humans who only live once, however, even the short 87-minutes of this movie feels like too much precious time wasted.
Suicide Squad could have been the movie that shifted the DCEU in an amazing direction, but instead, it takes one step forward and two steps back in its progress. It’s an incoherent spectacle but one that’s only moderately disappointing as the movie still manages to deliver an adequate amount of entertainment.
What could have easily been an unnecessary Soccer Moms Gone Wild, turns out to be a hilarious F-bomb-ridden love letter and heartfelt dedication to moms who have unconditional love for their a-hole sons, resentful daughters and moronic husbands.
Everyone’s favorite amnesiac assassin is back and this time, it’s personal. No, really, it is personal. Jason Bourne cuts deep into the titular character’s past, awakening some daddy issues and giving a much-needed injection of adrenaline to the franchise’s fifth installment after the very forgettable Bourne Legacy.
After years of sporadic seasons and rumors of a feature, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is finally here – and it’s just as fantastic as its title suggests.
Twenty years after its release, Trainspotting hasn’t aged a day. We take a look at the Danny Boyle’s iconic tale of angst, rebellion, addiction and redemption.
Based on a short film, Lights Out should conjure up scares that would make for an entertaining summer horror flick but ends up having the entertainment value of a haunted house in an elementary school cafeteria.
