#REVIEW: “THEIR FINEST”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Their Finest is full of great subtle performances and an earnest story.
The Film is set in London in 1940. The men are off at fighting in WWII and the women are needed in the work force. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) gets asked to work as a screenwriter on a British propaganda film to give it “a woman’s touch”. The propaganda film is about the Brits’ role in the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France. As Cole works on the script ...
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#REVIEW: “SONG TO SONG”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
“Any experience is better than no experience” feels almost like warning when Rooney Mara’s Faye whispers the words in Song to Song’s opening minutes. From carefully constructed cutaways to the cunning use of unsung cameos, every minute of a Terrence Malick Movie is painstakingly put together to create an event for the audience. Film connoisseurs either love or hate Malick and will argue their side vehemently: each claiming the auteur Director ...
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#REVIEW: “GOING IN STYLE”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
In 1979, Martin Brest made a movie starting George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg about three friends who decide to rob a bank. The Movie played at the Venice Film Festival and was considered a mild success. The opportunity to appeal to an older demographic proved too much to resist so naturally, Going in Style needed to be remade for a modern audience.
Joe (Michael Caine), Willie (Morgan Freeman) and Albert (Alan Arkin) worked at the same ...
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#REVIEW: “SMURFS 3: THE LOST VILLAGE”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
It’s always a fun time with The Smurfs and this time some girl Smurfs get in on the action.
Smurfs 3: The Lost Village follows Smurfette (Demi Lovato) and her quest in finding who she is. When she gets captured by the evil wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson) she accidentally give him information on a lost village of Smurfs in the forbidden forest. In order to right her wrong, herself, Clumsy (Jack McBrayer), Brainy (Danny Pudi) and Hefty (Joe ...
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#REVIEW: “GIFTED”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Gifted is a prime example of how good a Movie can be when the focus is on the characters and story.
Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is raising his young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) after her mathematician mother passed away. Mary begins showing signs of a child prodigy at a very young age but Frank wants Mary to live a normal life as a child. So instead of enrolling her in a gifted school he enrolls her in a regular public school. Frank’s dream of Mary ...
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#REVIEW: “GHOST IN THE SHELL”
Review by Jonathan Godfrey for Mr. Will Wong
In 1989, Masamune Shirow released his seminal manga (comic book), Ghost in the Shell. Set in the 21st century, the book followed a clandestine task-force known as Public Security Section 9. In 1995, this cyberpunk story was adapted by Mamoru Oshii as an anime (animated movie) with the same name. Despite its departures from the original, Oshii’s film went on to inspire a generation, and is considered by many as the definitional Ghost in the ...
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#REVIEW: “THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
The Zookeeper’s Wife is an extraordinary tale made all the more incredible by being based on a true story. In the late 1930s, Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) run the popular Warsaw Zoo in Poland. When the Nazis invade the country in September 1939, many of the animals are killed or taken away. The zoo is shut down, and the German troops begin using the grounds for farming. While the Żabińskis reluctantly ...
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#REVIEW: “THE BOSS BABY”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The Boss Baby is a surprisingly hilarious Animated Feature that will also make both kids and adults laugh.
The Film is told from the point of view of a wildly imaginative 7-year-old boy named Tim. He tells the story of the day a baby gets delivered to his home from a taxi — being labeled his brother. But this isn't any baby, this is Boss Baby (Alec Baldwin). He wears a suit, carries a briefcase and doesn't take orders from anyone. The sibling ...
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#REVIEW: “OBIT”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Nearly a year after its international premiere at Hot Docs, Obit is finally returning to Toronto. Documentarian Vanessa Gould profiles current and former obituary writers at The New York Times as they explore the challenges and immense research that goes into writing these news stories.
It may sound ghastly, but Obit is fascinating from beginning to end. As a student of journalism, I marveled at this celebration of obituary writing as an art form. ...
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#REVIEW: “LIFE”
By David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
In the near future, the crew on the International Space Station successfully catch a returning space probe containing a sample from Mars. They study it and find a specimen that proves there is life beyond Earth. As the study continues however, the specimen, nicknamed Calvin, begins to grow stronger and more intelligent. Quite suddenly it becomes hostile, threatening the lives of the crew and potentially the entire human race.
While it cribs and homages ...
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