#TIFF17: “BATTLE OF THE SEXES”

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, written by Academy Award-winning Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy and co-produced by Academy Award-winning Filmmaker Danny Boyle, the Sports Drama based around 1973's high-profile tennis match pitting former World No. 1s Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) and Billie Jean King (Emma Stone), recreates the paths each player took to the highly-touted match. The event would on a grander scale be a significant moment in women's liberation with doubts being cast ... Read more

#TIFF17: “THE BREADWINNER”

Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon has received two Oscar nominations due in part to their unique hand-drawn style. In their latest Feature, The Breadwinner, they’ve moved their setting from Ireland to Afghanistan but retained all the magic of their previous films. When the Taliban throw her father in jail, 12-year-old Parvana is forced to disguise herself as a boy to earn money for her family. One day in the marketplace, Parvana meets-up with an ... Read more

#TIFF17: “BRAD’S STATUS”

Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong The Film follows Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) who brings his teenaged son (Austin Abrams) to tour colleges which triggers his mid-life crisis. He starts comparing his life to those of his wealthy, successful friends and struggles with finding happiness in his comfortable suburban life. With Brad’s Status, Writer/Director Mike White makes this mid-life crisis story different from others by inserting Brad’s narration, which helps express the Film’s ... Read more

#TIFF17: “SUBURBICON”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong From Director George Clooney and Writers Joel and Ethan Coen, the anticipation for Suburbicon was through the roof. Unfortunately the anticipation got the best of this Film and it falls flat. What should’ve been a Film that goes out of the park ends up as a foul that no one can catch. The Movie focuses on Rose (Julianne Moore), Gardner (Matt Damon) and their son Nicky (Noah Jupe). They live in a small suburban neighbourhood in the 1950s-era and the ... Read more

#TIFF17: “MARY SHELLEY”

Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong Many people credit the birth of horror to the book Frankenstein. What is often forgotten, however, is the Author of that genre-defining Book: Mary Shelley. In this eponymously-titled Movie, modern audiences are given a brief look into the life of this important literary figure. When Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Elle Fanning) meets Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth) she has no idea the poet she has fallen in with is married, and by the time she does ... Read more

#TIFF17: DAY THREE SIGHTINGS – JESSICA CHASTAIN, AARON SORKIN, STANLEY TUCCI, EMMA THOMPSON, GRETA GERWIG + MORE!

TIFF '17 officially is switching into high gear as the starpower begins to pour over Toronto this weekend. Unlike previous years, we still are seeing a lot of action spilling into next Monday and Tuesday. Greta Gerwig is getting tons of buzz for her work in autobiographical LADYBIRD, which she directs. We spotted the super-gracious Gerwig and Laurie Metcalf whom you remember from Sitcom Roseanne. Star Saoirse Ronan unfortunately couldn't make it in this year despite being ... Read more

#TIFF17: “THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong Yorgos Lanthimos made a big name for himself with 2015’s The Lobster, he now returns to TIFF with his newest Film The Killing of a Sacred Deer and takes creepy and sinister to a new level. The Film is something truly disturbing and gut wrenching, so strap yourself in for one hell of a ride. The Film focuses on surgeon Steven (Colin Farrell) who takes Martin (Barry Keoghan) under his wing. At first everything seems relatively normal, despite the ... Read more

#TIFF17: “LADY BIRD”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is a rebel and outsider. She is in her last year of Catholic high school and insists people call her Lady Bird. She dreams of escaping her family in Sacramento, but her grades need a massive improvement. Lady Bird is a delight from start to finish. It taps into the same adolescent angst as TIFF '16 Closing Night Film The Edge of Seventeen, but feels a little more introspective and nostalgic – no doubt due to ... Read more

#TIFF17: “STRONGER”

Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong The Boston Marathon bombing of April 2013 impacted many people but perhaps few so drastically as Jeff Bauman. Director David Gordon Green’s latest effort Stronger, follows Bauman on his path toward recovery and redemption. Hailing from the working-class suburb of Chelmsford, Jeff (Jake Gyllenhaal) was standing near the marathon’s finish line ready to cheer on his on-again/off-again girlfriend Erin (Canadian Tatiana Maslany). Moments before ... Read more

#TIFF17: “MOLLY’S GAME”

Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong Former Olympic hopeful Molly Bloom was always the smartest woman at the table. Molly ran poker games on both coasts and made millions catering to rich, elite men who thought nothing of losing six figures in a single night. Filmed in Toronto, Molly’s Game asks us to feel empathy for a woman whom Writer/Director Aaron Sorkin clearly feels none. As the Movie opens, Molly (Jessica Chastain hiding under thickly applied make-up) is being arrested by ... Read more