TIFF: Gerwig's Lovely "Lady Bird"

by Chris Feil

One of the most heartening things about Greta Gerwig’s directorial arrival Lady Bird is how naturally it feels like an extension of her previous acting work. The film is modest, unpretentious in its intelligent character study of a high school senior facing the near-adulthood pressures of the end of high school and living in a poor family. Christine, redubbing herself Lady Bird, is just at the beginning of her own reinvention and the other one that the world has waiting for her whether she likes it or not.

Click to read more ...

Difficult People S3 E5-6: Golden Toilets, Jane Krakowski, and Gay Get Out

Chris and Spencer are back for more Difficult People! In "Cindarestylox," Marilyn asks Julie to freeze her eggs, Julie indulges in some Botox (to fit on a golden toilet seat, naturally), and Billy teaches an acting class for adolescents. 

CHRIS: The Ramble has been transformed into an outdoor yoga studio?! Is nothing sacred anymore!

SPENCER: And yet that Leather Queen who climbs out of the tree still wages the war against the women! Love that whole bit where people are telling our pal Julie to smile. Now that is real. 

C: So Billy starts teaching acting classes to help pay for his Madonna standup tickets. Strangely, Madonna as a standup comic was a joke that didn't work for me - watch any interview with her and she's an excellent shadestress! She'd make a decent insult comic.

S: Do you remember that one short clip where a fan brought her flowers and she mocked him for it? I mean… the shade is insurmountable, but it is equally hilarious... 

Click to read more ...

Box office charts, Or, 'this is why we can't have nice things'

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 15th-17th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
mother!	BEACH RATS
1. IT $60 (cum. $218.7) REVIEW	1.🔺BEACH RATS  $320k on 67 screens* REVIEW
2.🔺AMERICAN ASSASSIN $14.8 new	2.  DO IT LIKE AN HOMBRE  $125k  on 226 screens (cum. $2.3)
3.🔺mother! $7.5 new REVIEW	3.🔺BRAD'S STATUS   $100k on 4 screens new REVIEW
4. HOME AGAIN  $5.3 (cum. $17.1)	4. 🔺 COLUMBUS $89k (cum. $637K) on 62 screens

As you've probably heard box office for 2017 is way down, the lowest in several years overall. I've read numerous reports blaming this on Hollywood's overreliance on event movies and franchises and the like but here's a depressing theory: I don't actually think that's the problem...

Click to read more ...

Third Actress' the Charm for Lisbeth Salander?

by Murtada

Claire Foy is confirmed to be the new Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel, The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Rumours have been flying about Foy playing the part since the spring, but it has now become official. Foy will become the third actress to play the iconic part of the tattooed pierced hacker. The film will team Foy with director Fede Alvarez, who helmed 2016’s Don’t Breathe. The plan is to release in October of next year.

Of course one can’t process this news without thinking of Rooney Mara. When news of this reboot was first reported last November, she announced her interest...

Click to read more ...

TIFF Horror x3

by Chris Feil

Amid screening global cinema and the odd Oscar contender or two, I was able to cram in some horror films to my TIFF lineup. The festival is so large that it doesn’t just limit its horror entries into the genre-centric Midnight Madness program. My sampling was not only a mini European tour, but also a trip through different genre tropes: the French extremity of Revenge, a gothic ghost story with The Lodgers, and a surprising psychological chiller with Thelma.

Click to read more ...