2016 Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto 2016 Review: ‘(Re)Assignment’
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘(Re)Assignment’
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘(Re)Assignment’
It will surprise no one who sees (Re)Assignment to learn that its concept — a remorseless hitman is given forced gender reassignment surgery, then goes on a vengeful killspree as a hitwoman — has been around for decades. There is something decidedly retro about this idea, and not in a good way. The whole notion belongs to an earlier era and its ideas about men and women, and the stuff that doesn’t feel stale feels tacopizza insane, like a film noir adaptation of an EC comic so outrageous even Bill Gaines wouldn’t have published it. (Ironically, director Walter Hill recently released a graphic novel version of (Re)Assignment.)
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘The Girl With All the Gifts’
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘The Girl With All the Gifts’
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘The Girl With All the Gifts’
The girl looks harmless. She has kind eyes and a sweet smile. She speaks politely to the armed guards who come to retrieve her from her prison cell. She’s the start student in her class. But there must be a reason she’s always shackled or a wheelchair, and the prison guards keep assault rifles trained on her at all times.
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘Mascots’
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘Mascots’
Toronto 2016 Review: ‘Mascots’
Sports metaphors seem particularly appropriate in a review of Mascots, so let’s start with this one: Does any comedy director have a deeper bench than Christopher Guest? Some of Guest’s most dependable stars didn’t show up for this film — Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara amongst them — but Mascots still delivers Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Chris O’Dowd, Ed Begley Jr., Bob Balaban, Don Lake, Michael Hitchcock, John Michael Higgins, and Jim Piddock (who also co-wrote the film with Guest). That’s before you add Guest himself, in a small role as Corky St. Clair (his character from Waiting for Guffman) plus newcomers like Zach Woods, Sarah Baker, and Susan Yeagley. There are an obscene number of funny people in this movie.
‘The Magnificent Seven’ Review: Not So Magnificent
‘The Magnificent Seven’ Review: Not So Magnificent
‘The Magnificent Seven’ Review: Not So Magnificent
Awards season may be underway with the official start of the Toronto Film Festival, but the fall of 2016 picks up right where summer left off with Antoine Fuqua’s ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ a loud and frenetic update of an old classic very few people were clamoring for. The question with any remake is why; why a new version and why one now? The movie just made its world premiere as the opening night film of TIFF 2016, and I still don’t have a satisfying answer to that question.
2016 Toronto International Film Festival Preview
2016 Toronto International Film Festival Preview
2016 Toronto International Film Festival Preview
Adios summer, the fall festival season has begun! On the heels of the Venice and Telluride film festivals, the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival kicks off this week with a handful of films we can’t wait to see. The fall festivals are a time when we can finally put the ugly remnants of summer movie season behind us (especially this year), and get a look at the movies that may redeem the year in cinema.
Dev Patel Uses Google Earth to Find His Family in ‘Lion’ Trailer
Dev Patel Uses Google Earth to Find His Family in ‘Lion’ Trailer
Dev Patel Uses Google Earth to Find His Family in ‘Lion’ Trailer
Google Earth is great. I often use it to find that one restaurant I went to on that one street, or for dumb reasons like trying to see if those satellites ever caught me walking outside my apartment. (We’ve all tried it, right?) But Google Earth can also do some actually important things, like help you find your long-lost family.
The ‘Moonlight’ Trailer Teases A Highly Anticipated Fall Movie
The ‘Moonlight’ Trailer Teases A Highly Anticipated Fall Movie
The ‘Moonlight’ Trailer Teases A Highly Anticipated Fall Movie
Eight years ago, a young filmmaker burst onto the scene with an exciting film called Medicine for Melancholy, about a day in the lives of two San Franciscans. Starring Wyatt Cenac, the movie did well on the arthouse circuit and established its director, Barry Jenkins, as an artist to watch. But in the eight years since, Jenkins has remained relatively quiet. He’s worked on some shorts, but Medicine for Melancholy never got a followup until now.