#TIFF25: “OUT STANDING” REVIEW

Review by Amanda Gilmore Director and Co-Writer Mélanie Charbonneau brings the inspiring story of Sandra Perron, Canada’s first woman infantry officer, to the big screen. Based on Perron’s acclaimed memoir, Charbonneau crafts a Film as fearless as its subject. It depicts a system that simultaneously changed while remaining a hostile environment for women. The script is told through two timelines. One while Perron is at the training facility, ... Read more

#TIFF25: “THE SMASHING MACHINE” REVIEW

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 ... Read more

#TIFF25: “IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT” REVIEW

By David Baldwin Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is a mechanic haunted by his wrongful imprisonment. By chance, he hears a familiar sound at the shop he works at: the squeaking shuffle of a wooden leg. In this case, it belongs to Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi), who has just come into the shop with his family after his car broke down. Vahid is certain Eghbal is actually the intelligence officer nicknamed “Pegleg” who tortured him and his friends in prison. So he ... Read more

#TIFF25: “THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE” REVIEW

By David Baldwin Much like her partner Brady Corbet’s Oscar-winning film The Brutalist before it, Oscar-nominated Director Mona Fastvold’s THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE is a challenging film to nail down succinctly. It is an audacious project revolving around the “speculated retelling” of the story of Ann Lee (Oscar-nominee Amanda Seyfried), who founded the religious movement known as the Shakers in the late 1700s and believed ... Read more

#TIFF25: “BLUE MOON” REVIEW

By Nicholas Porteous It's the evening of the premiere of Oklahoma! and the show is a massive hit--cause for a big celebration among everyone involved. It's also the first show Richard Rogers (Andrew Scott) composed without his lyrical collaborator Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke). Hart can't stand the musical, and opts to head to the afterparty bar before the curtain call. He'll be the first one there and the last to leave. Blue Moon is a classic Richard Linklater joint, which ... Read more

#TIFF25: DAY FIVE HIGHLIGHTS – DWAYNE JOHNSON, EMILY BLUNT, SCARLETT JOHANSSON, JUNE SQUIBB, JACOB ELORDI, OSCAR ISAAC, MIA GOTH, AMANDA SEYFRIED, LEWIS PULLMAN AND MORE

tiff50 day five is perhaps the most star-studded yet, taking the festival right to the summit! premieres for some of the festival's most-anticipated titles: frankenstein, the testament of ann lee, eleanor the great, and the smashing machine all took place! some of our day five highlights: •amanda seyfried and lewis pullman at tiff for the testament of ann lee •noah jupe at tiff for & sons •lily james at tiff for swiped •lee byung-hun at tiff for no other ... Read more

#TIFF25: “ETERNITY” REVIEW

By Nicholas Porteous Larry (Miles Teller) wakes up in a bizarrely rules-oriented afterlife, having choked to death on a pretzel as a senior citizen. About a week later, his wife of many decades, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), joins him. They're ready to spend eternity together. The only problem: it turns out her first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who died in the Korean War, has been waiting for her this whole time, she's got a week to pick her eternal partner. Eternity takes an age-old what ... Read more

#TIFF25: “HAMNET” REVIEW

By Nicholas Porteous In Hamnet, Chloe Zhao enlivens an enduring masterpiece with a beautiful work of speculative fiction surrounding the real-life origins of Shakespeare's Hamlet, adapted from a novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It's a dark and dramatic counterpart to Shakespeare in Love, working backwards from the classic text (and the very little we know of Shakespeare's life) to uncover a primal story of how we process our pain through art. In this case, it's about a marriage, immeasurably ... Read more

#TIFF25: DAY FOUR SIGHTINGS – ANGELINA JOLIE, DUSTIN HOFFMAN, KERRY CONDON, JUNE SQUIBB, LEO WOODALL, RAMI MALEK, WAGNER MOURA AND MORE

we don't believe we've finally made it through the first weekend of TIFF, but make no mistake, we're still reaching for the peak! tiff50 monday is expected to be the biggest day of the festival with both FRANKENSTEIN and THE SMASHING MACHINE set to bow. some highlights from day four: •kerry condon at tiff for train dreams •dustin hoffman and leo woodall at tiff for tuner •alyvia alyn lind at tiff for wayward •toni collette at tiff for wayward •sarah gadon at tiff ... Read more

#TIFF25: “MOTOR CITY” Review

By David Baldwin Detroit, 1977. Blue collar ex-con John Miller (Alan Ritchson, sporting a ridiculous blonde wig for far too long) is in love with Sophia (Shailene Woodley). Unfortunately for him, she is the ex-girlfriend of local gangster Reynolds (Ben Foster), who has John framed and thrown back into jail for drug possession.  That is the set-up for MOTOR CITY and you can guess (minus a few twists and a bogus ending) where it goes ... Read more