#REVIEW: “AFTER THE HUNT”
Review by Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong
From the first frame of After the Hunt, it’s clear that Luca Guadagnino intends to play with fire. He invokes Woody Allen with his unmistakable font and minimalist opening credits style, and we’re thrust into the hallowed halls of Yale, where a mixed group of students and professors debate the merit of classic philosophers who surely would have been written off in a modern political context for problematic behaviour.
On its face, this ...
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#REVIEW: “KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The origin of Kiss of the Spider Woman traces back to 1976 with the novel of the same name by Manuel Puig. It was then adapted for the stage by Terrance McNally in 1993, where it became a multiple Tony Award winner. Then in 1985, it was adapted for the big screen, where it won Best Actor for Willian Hurt and became the first independently-produced film to be nominated for Best Picture. So, it’s fair to say that the history of this ...
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#REVIEW: “ANEMONE”
Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong
Daniel Day-Lewis returns for the first time since Phantom Thread (2017) with Anemone, a small-scale drama about a hermit with an unsavoury past, and his brother (Sean Bean)'s solitary mission to reunite him with his estranged son (Samuel Bottomley) and ex-wife (Samantha Morton). The already-messy dynamic between the brothers is even further complicated by Bean taking Day-Lewis' place in the family as both husband and father during his ...
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#REVIEW: “ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER”
By Mr. Will Wong
Visionary Paul Thomas Anderson returns with his latest opus ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, a suspenseful Action-Thriller-Comedy that mirrors the current state of America, as politics have shifted to the right. Told over a deceptively-short 161 minutes, this is a masterclass in acting and storytelling, and a bright spot for Cinema in 2025.
Everyone must pay for their pasts in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. We meet the French 75, a group of violent revolutionaries fighting against a ...
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#REVIEW: “ELEANOR THE GREAT”
By Mr. Will Wong
Acclaimed Actress Scarlett Johansson tries her hand and directing in Dramedy ELEANOR THE GREAT, giving veteran Actress June Squibb a vehicle for recognition with a stellar performance, incredibly at the age of 95.
Hot off its Festival run, including a tiff50 debut, this Film centers on Eleanor (Squibb), who is about to lose her Holocaust-surviving friend Bessie (Ritz Zohar). Feeling alone, with the sense that her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) is looking to admit her to a ...
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#REVIEW: “THE SMASHING MACHINE”
By Mr. Will Wong
Easily one of the hottest tickets at tiff50, Actor/Writer/Director Benny Safdie is coming into awards season with his latest effort, THE SMASHING MACHINE, in an admirable position. The Biopic about Mixed Martial Arts legend Mark Kerr diverts from the typical Sports Drama, giving us a film that more rests its focus on obstacle, resilience, and the emotional costs of success on a grand scale.
We meet Kerr at the top of his game, an undisputed king who fights for big prize money ...
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#REVIEW: “HIM”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
When Jordan Peele’s name is attached to a project, there is a certain level of excitement that it elicits, even if it is just a Producer credit it means something he saw he believed in and had faith in and wanted to back the movie. Whether that means the final cut of the movie lives up to that promise, is a different conversation. In the case of Justin Tipping’s latest, HIM, which he also co-wrote with Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, we get some ...
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#REVIEW: “THE HISTORY OF SOUND”
By Mr. Will Wong
After some positive reception at Cannes earlier this year, Oliver Hermanus' THE HISTORY OF SOUND now surfaces, but despite its polished aesthetic and soothing dulcet tones, it never quite strikes the chord it reaches for.
The queer historical romance centers on Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O'Connor), two young men who form a strong connection over their love for music after World War I. They study at the Boston Music Conservatory, and while the time they are ...
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#REVIEW: “DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE”
By Mr. Will Wong
An era comes to an end. As The Crawley family enter the 1930s, extravagances dwindle, and with that, they must navigate keeping face and embracing their new reality and future. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is grappling with her new status as a divorcée and being shunned by her and her family's peers. Not only this, we have others who may or may not be swooping-in to take advantage of the family in their time of vulnerability.
As the dazzle begins to diminish, Director ...
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#REVIEW: “THE ROSES”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
This adaptation is a reimagining of the 1989 classic film The War of the Roses, based on the Novel by Warren Adler. In this reimagining, life seems easy for the picture-perfect couple of Theo and Ivy (Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman): a loving marriage and great kids. However, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentments soon emerges when Theo's career nosedives and Ivy's own ambitions take off. Theo is an architect whose career ...
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