Movie Reviews and Previews Taylor Russell: The Breakout Star of TIFF 2019 Waves is a film that many thought would win the coveted TIFF Grolsch People's Choice Award, but in spite of not placing, it remains a film festival phenomenon, and growing sleeper hit. When TIFF added an extra screening of the film on Saturday morning due to overwhelming demand, By Joanna • Sep 16, 2019 04:04 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Parasite: First Place, Third Place… and Oscar place? Parasite, the latest film from South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, won the Palme d’Or in Cannes back in May and was just named the second runner-up for the TIFF People’s Choice Award. Between Jojo Rabbit and Parasite, the TIFF crowd broke weird this year, because Parasite is F-CKING By Sarah • Sep 16, 2019 03:38 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Radioactive closes TIFF Marie Curie is one of those figures who, it seems, should have a million projects ongoing at any moment, but does not. Like how can we have nine Robin Hood movies in development, and NOTHING about Marie Curie? She’s only one of the most important scientists of the modern By Sarah • Sep 16, 2019 03:14 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Charlie Hunnam at the Joker party Charlie Hunnam was at TIFF for two films last week, True History of the Kelly Gang and Jungleland, premiering last Tuesday and Wednesday nights respectively. He came in a couple of days early for press and last Monday night he was at the Joker party and I got some gossipy By Lainey • Sep 16, 2019 01:11 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Shia LaBeouf’s Honey Boy: the child actor who became a movie star Shia LaBeouf wrote Honey Boy based on his own childhood as a young star, and plays his own father, here renamed “James”. The film is directed by Alma Har’el, making her feature film debut. Two things about Honey Boy are true: Shia LaBeouf is probably being too hard on By Sarah • Sep 13, 2019 05:12 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Lucy in the Sky: a diaper-free disorienting astronaut love triangle The new Natalie Portman film Lucy in the Sky is not the simmering astronaut love triangle movie you're probably expecting to see. Instead, it's a disorienting look at life after space, raising a question of how "rocket lag" can permanently alter your desires and By Joanna • Sep 13, 2019 04:28 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews TIFF Review: Dolemite Is My Name Eddie Murphy returns to acting after a three year hiatus with Dolemite Is My Name, a biopic of Dolemite creator Rudy Ray Moore. Like every other biopic I’ve seen at TIFF this year, Dolemite is standard, run-of-the-mill biographical stuff, taking no real risks and doing nothing particularly inventive with By Sarah • Sep 13, 2019 03:36 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Harriet the Superhero Kasi Lemmons’ first feature film since 2013’s Black Nativity is Harriet, a long overdue biopic of abolitionist, underground railroad conductor, and Union spy Harriet Tubman. It is amazing to me that it is twenty-goddamn-nineteen and we are only just now getting the first feature film about Harriet Tubman. There By Sarah • Sep 12, 2019 04:28 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews The Laundromat of smugness So far, The Laundromat is my biggest TIFF disappointment. I was looking forward to this film for a few reasons, but only one of them proved out—Meryl Streep’s bucket hat is very jaunty, indeed. Every other element of the film is either miscalculated or confusing. The Laundromat is By Sarah • Sep 12, 2019 02:53 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Renee Zellweger: Ovations and Tears Renee Zellweger's unapproved-by-Liza-Minnelli Judy Garland London era biopic Judy premiered last night in Toronto to what could be the warmest reception of the festival. Like Just Mercy's eight-minute standing ovation and others for Pain and Glory, Uncut Gems, Waves and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, By Joanna • Sep 11, 2019 05:09 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Men Doing Men Things in Ford v Ferrari Ford v Ferrari, an old-school get-er-done drama in which Men do important Men Things and somehow Change The World with their Men Things, is your dad’s favorite film of the year. It’s a period drama soft-lobbed right down the middle, well-crafted and loaded with good actors. Can’t By Sarah • Sep 11, 2019 04:41 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Knives Out: a great ensemble film and a great murder mystery There are few entertainments as satisfying as a good murder mystery, which is why Knives Out is one of the best films I’ve seen this year—it’s a GREAT murder mystery. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Knives Out is a twisty-turny mystery that nods to everything from By Sarah • Sep 11, 2019 03:20 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Adam Sandler & Antonio Banderas can (and should) challenge Joaquin Phoenix Before the start of Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems at its big TIFF premiere on Monday, somebody shouted out "Oscar for the Sandman!" People laughed nervously and clapped, because they did not know what they were in for from the uncomfortably tense and dark dramedy about a By Joanna • Sep 11, 2019 11:01 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit After playing in the Marvel sandbox, Taika Waititi returns to his natural state, making films with a precise blend of comedy, drama, and pathos. His latest is Jojo Rabbit, in which he becomes the latest filmmaker to satirize Hitler since Charlie Chaplin first did it in 1940s in The Great By Sarah • Sep 10, 2019 05:01 pm
BFFs Bradley Cooper’s side-part shows up for Joaquin Phoenix Bradley Cooper was not on the list of expected attendees at last night’s TIFF premiere of Joker, which just won the Golden Lion in Venice and is now an Oscar contender in several categories, including Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. There are many layers to this Bradley Cooper relationship By Lainey • Sep 10, 2019 03:46 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood…to cry More like A Beautiful Day to CRY. Based on Tom Junod’s 1998 profile of Fred Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is not really a traditional biopic. We don’t walk through the years of Fred Rogers’ life, we meet him at a very specific moment, and experience By Sarah • Sep 10, 2019 01:36 pm
