‘Grandma’ Review: Bad Granny
‘Grandma’ was a project conceived to highlight the distinct talents of Lily Tomlin and is worth watching exclusively for her performance. She commands the screen and walks all over any actor who dares join her. It̵...
‘Pawn Sacrifice’ Review: Quit Searching, They Found B
The tale of mentally ill chess genius Bobby Fischer has endured for many years over many films. Yet somehow no ever delivered the full-on bio-pic treatment before now. It’s odd given that Fischer managed to make chess an int...
‘The Green Inferno’ Review: Tasty Cannibal Horror, So
Here’s something you don’t see every day, a contemporary cannibal horror flick. There was a time when these things were cranked out regularly by the renegade Italian horror industry and represented the depths of their ...
‘The Intern’ Review: Interminable and Inconceivable
Stale, safe and manipulative, ‘The Intern’ is the cinematic equivalent of an exhausted sigh from a collection of filmmakers and actors who just don’t seem to care about what they’re doing. It’s a movi...
‘Scream Queens’ Pilot Recap: “You Represent Eve
Producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have a new series together, and I suppose the lazy comparison to make is that it’s like a cross between their previous collaborations ‘Glee’ and ‘American Horror Story...
TIFF Journal: ‘The Family Fang’
A few years ago, Jason Bateman tried his hand at directing and did such a good job mounting the bad behavior comedy ‘Bad Words‘ that no one made fun of him for it. Now Bateman has returned with a far more ambitious dar...
TIFF Journal: ‘February’
The first feature by Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins) is a fairly conventional horror yarn bent and contorted until it starts to feel like something fresh. It’s a lesson in narrative construction that proves even old ...
TIFF Journal: ‘Hellions’
Cult Canuck filmmaker Bruce McDonald made an unexpected late career shift into horror seven years ago with ‘Pontypool’, and it worked out so well that many hoped he’d get back into that spooktacular saddle. Thank...
‘The Strain’ 2.11 Recap: “You’re Not Dest
With so many new series premiering right now, I really need ‘The Strain’ to be over. Although I’ve committed to seeing at least this season out, the show is simply not holding my attention anymore, even when this...
‘Gotham’ 2.01 Recap: “Sometimes the Right Way I
After a first season that was often uneven but generally a pleasant surprise, Fox’s Batman prequel series ‘Gotham’ returned this week for another go. With the subtitle ‘Rise of the Villains’, the new ...
‘Limitless’ Pilot Recap: “You’re Not Smar
The promo ads for CBS’ new adaptation of the hit 2011 movie ‘Limitless’ have loudly and proudly trumpeted the return of three-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper to network television. Does it really surprise anyon...
TIFF Journal: ‘Baskin’
The filmmaking output from Turkey isn’t normally described a wild, graphic or intense. Generally speaking, those folks fall onto the subtler side of the spectrum when it comes to their filmmaking. Or at least that was true u...