[VIFF 2019] REVIEW: 'A Hidden Life' is so pretty you forget there's a story

The main criticism – like all the other Malick films -- is its length. In the right mood A Hidden Life can be a truly enjoyable watch, but it’s about a half-hour to one hour too long to hold your attention span with such a thin narrative, though it will certainly be Malick’s most well-received since The Tree of Life.

Film, New ReleasesJason ChenOctober 3, 2019a hidden life, terrence malick, august diehl, valerie pachner, austria, drama, 2019, world war ii, review, movies, filmComment

REVIEW: ‘Ad Astra’ rockets us into a remarkable but flawed future

In a context where space travel is this much more attainable, the story of a hero astronaut pursuing his father, a rogue scientist, to the edge of human experience is entirely logical. As some of the dangers and technological hurdles inherent in deep space travel are removed, it opens the door to a deeply affecting narrative that weighs commitment to a mission against the responsibilities to a family.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowOctober 2, 2019ad astra, james gray, brad pitt, tommy lee jones, liv tyler, ruth negga, donald sutherland, space, outer space, movies, film, review, 2019Comment

[VIFF 2019] REVIEW: 'Just Mercy' is just good enough

That’s about the extent Just Mercy is willing to go as far as a critique of America’s justice system, otherwise it’s a fine legal drama that plays like so many other of them do. Based on a true story, Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan, a young black lawyer who studied at Harvard and has started his own practice, the Equal Justice Initiative, in 1980’s Alabama.

FilmJason ChenOctober 1, 2019just mercy, destin daniel cretton, brie larson, michael b jordan, jamie foxx, crime, civil rights, justice, drama, movies, film, review, viff, 2019Comment

[VIFF 2019] REVIEW: An unwelcome 'Guest of Honour'

The audience is forced to sit through this convoluted tale and half-baked ideas about loss and revenge, conveyed by a multitude of characters with baffling motivations. It’s difficult to encapsulate what each of the characters represent because they spin in all sorts of directions and their motivations seemingly change from scene to scene.

FilmJason ChenSeptember 29, 2019guest of honour, viff, 2019, atom egoyan, david thewlis, luke wilson, review, movies, filmComment

[TIFF 2019] REVIEW: ‘Lucy in the Sky’ blows up on the launch pad

But in Hawley’s hands, the proceedings are a little bit too experimental to help us develop compassion for Lucy (Natalie Portman). By the time the movie wraps up, Lucy has fallen incredibly far - blasting her former lover in the eyes with insect spray and fleeing the cops in an airport parking garage - but her story is only unintentionally funny, instead of moving.

FilmRobert SnowSeptember 29, 2019lucy in the sky, 2019, natalie portman, noah hawley, jon hamm, zazie beetz, dan stevens, space, sci-fi, movies, film, review, tiffComment

[VIFF 2019] REVIEW: 'Anne at 13,000 Ft.' shakes and tilts, but still doesn't move very much

Radwanski succeeds in building the intensity, but where it falls short is Anne’s curious lack of transformation. She’s not very different from when we first meet her, and her behavior and subsequent breakdown asks more questions than it answers.

FilmJason ChenSeptember 28, 2019anne at 13000 ft, deragh campbell, kazik radwanski, viff, 2019, drama, movies, film, reviewComment

[TIFF 2019] REVIEW: 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood', or Episode 913 of the beloved show

It's charming, but at the end of it all we know nothing more about Pittsburgh, Mr. Rogers or his show that we don't already know. (I had a similar critique of Won't You Be My Neighbor?). In this regard the film feels disappointing, because it's only after the credits roll that we realize we sat through a 107-minute episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

[TIFF 2019] REVIEW: No real feeling to 'Saturday Fiction'

Exposition is generally frowned upon, but in a film featuring double agents, double crosses and a multitude of characters and languages, it lacks a scene that explains everything to the viewer. Perhaps we've been dumbed down by clear struggles between good vs. bad in the superhero genre, but Lou Ye's black-and-white film noir fails to really tie a neat ribbon around its convoluted plot and too-mysterious femme fatale

FilmJason ChenSeptember 18, 2019chinese, shanghai, gong li, li gong, lou ye, spy, espionage, film, movies, review, tiff, 2019Comment

[TIFF 2019] REVIEW: ‘Uncut Gems’ unleashes cosmic chaos in the Diamond District

Everywhere Howard goes is a riot of emotion and crosstalk: boasts and deals are made, and (less frequently) apologies are offered. Just as you need a lot of pressure and energy to ignite a star, or to form a gemstone, it’s clear that you need something similar (albeit on a more human scale) to survive in Howard’s world.

FilmRobert SnowSeptember 14, 2019uncut gems, adam sandler, 2019, josh safdie, benny safdie, safdie brothers, crime, judd hirsch, lakeith stanfield, the weeknd, kevin garnett, movies, film, review, tiffComment

[TIFF 2019] REVIEW: ‘Black Conflux’ zooms in on loneliness

Few emerging filmmakers are quite as confident as Dorsey with how she isolates visuals and sounds, like an insect crawling along the ground while high-school-aged girls chat about boys, or the almost unsettling amplification of the sounds of people chewing or drinking. It’s a technique that suggests the film wants to take a detailed, magnified look at hard-to-spot details in everyday life; a method that echoes the feeling that drives the two main characters: pervasive, almost crippling loneliness.

FilmRobert SnowSeptember 11, 2019newfoundland, black conflux, tiff, tiff 2019, ella ballantine, nicole dorsey, ryan mcdonald, 2019, movies, review, dramaComment

REVIEW: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ should have started from scratch

Bafflingly, the question posed by the film’s title doesn’t really come into force until halfway through. And various storytelling devices intended to tame the movie’s shaggy bits, like voiceover by the protagonist’s daughter and flashback exposition-dumps, are too inconsistently applied to keep anything in check.

REVIEW: ‘Driven’ runs on Lee Pace’s calibrated performance

As the car magnate, Pace is the core attraction. After playing a similarly intimidating genius named Joe MacMillan on AMC’s retro tech-industry series Halt and Catch Fire, DeLorean feels like a natural choice for the actor.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowAugust 16, 2019lee pace, driven, jason sudeikis, corey stoll, judy greer, erin moriarty, cars, delorean, dmc, drama, comedyComment

REVIEW: Like delivery pizza, 'Hobbs & Shaw' somehow hits the spot

Here’s five reasons the movie rules and five reasons it sucked.

REVIEW: 'Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood', when Tarantino makes a superhero movie

Somewhere inside, the filmmaker believes that his beloved analog Hollywood could have been rescued by a man of action like Cliff. While we’re encouraged to get to know Robbie’s depiction of Tate and root for her, she’s more of an icon for the period of time that Tarantino so carefully recreates here, and preserves in other ventures like his New Beverly Cinema in the real-life L.A.

REVIEW: 'The Farewell': Say hello to the Asian-American experience

The struggle is real; not only is she hounded by questions about her private life (“are you married yet?”), she also has to put on a brave face to keep the family secret because – as her own family members keep pointing out – she’s far too emotional to be able to hide anything. It’s a low-key shot at “western” values that place more emphasis on being open and free-speaking, compared to stoicism as the more widely-accepted ideal in most Asian cultures.

Film, New ReleasesJason ChenJuly 30, 2019the farewell, lulu wang, awkwafina, drama, asia, china, family, 2019, movies, film, reviewComment

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