Our fave part.of the Festival! We get to actually see movies and hello to friends!! Our Day Seven!

•Kaia Gerber and Kate Hudson at TIFF ’24 for SHELL
•Halina Reijn at TIFF ’24 for BABYGIRL
•Edward Burns, Christy Turlington, Juliana Margulies, Morena Baccarin, Ben McKenzie, Gretchen Mol, Benjamin Bratt and Patrick Wilson celebrating MILLERS IN MARRIAGE

…and Elevation Studios END OF BRAT SUMMER Bash!

Highlights here:

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

By Mr. Will Wong

If you loved Michael Gracey‘s THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, there is plenty to love about Robbie Williams’ lively Biopic-Musical BETTER MAN.

While Robbie Williams dominated the Pop world internationally in the early 2000s, often he was a tabloid fixture. The former Take That member went on to achieve superstardom around the world after going solo and this dazzling spectacle manages to balance high energy with Williams‘ personal struggles including being bullied as a boy, his relationship with his father, his failed relationship with Nicole Appleton, to his battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Though presenting as a monkey the entire film, Jonno Davies channels Williams’ essence perfectly and is fantastic nailing the physicality of the role in some ofthe Film’s demanding dance numbers. This decision helps visualize Williams‘ feelings of self-deprecation and inner voices constantly telling him he isn’t worthy.

We did feel the pacing was a bit rushed towards the end as Williams begins to face his demons and work on his relationship with his father, whereas much of the focus is spent on his trouble times. BETTER MAN still is a triumph for this icon and his fans, hitting the right notes late in a big finish and visually looking spectacular.

BETTER MAN screens at TIFF ’24:

Monday, September 9
Roy Thomson Hall
5:30 pm

Tuesday, September 10
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
4:45 pm

Thursday, September 12
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
5:30 pm

Saturday, September 14
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
5:00 pm

Even at the half-way point, the star power still is electric at the Festival! Our Day Six sightings include:

•Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofia Gascon for EMILIA PEREZ

•Robbie Williams at TIFF ’24 for BETTER MAN

•Jason Reitman, Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons, Rachel Sennott, Gabriel LaBelle, Dylan O’Brien, Nicholas Braun, Ella Hunt, Kim Matula, Billy Bryk, Cory Michael Smith and more at TIFF ’24 for SATURDAY NIGHT

Highlights below:

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Official TIFF ’24 selection MEGALOPOLIS gets another new Trailer! The latest from Francis Ford Coppola, is in theatres September 27, 2024 via Cineplex Pictures.

Details:

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel
Synopsis: MEGALOPOLIS is a Roman Epic set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.

About Cineplex Pictures
Cineplex Pictures, a division of Cineplex, is a distributor of a wide range of genre films. Recent titles include Borderlands, The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Queen of My Dreams, The Boy and the Heron, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, SAW X, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and John Wick: Chapter 4.

By Nicholas Porteous

Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and her partner Aaryan (Himesh Patel) want a child. The only problem—they’re living in a dystopian future, the planet is a wreck, and the government has decided any would-be parents must be assessed up front. The criteria for a pass into parenthood is unclear, and the test is designed that way, but the decision is made by assessors, who spend several days observing, testing and judging their subjects. Enter Virginia (Alicia Vikander), a steely-eyed, humourless agent who—when she isn’t probing our leads with questions—takes on the physicality and persona of an extremely difficult child. Throwing food, picking fights, peeing in things that aren’t toilets—it’s all part of The Assessment, which squanders an interesting premise on a questionable group of characters.

It’s difficult to buy into the stakes of the film—whether or not our couple will be granted the right to conceive—because The Assessment doesn’t show any evidence these people actually love—or even like—each other, beyond lip service. There’s no chemistry here, and in fact they spend most of their time becoming less and less invested in each other—not much of a leap from where they begin. The Assessment also features a very troubling depiction of sexual assault, and seems to be implicitly blaming the victim for a crime that’s not their fault in any way. Olsen manages to find an interesting balance between the absurd world she lives in, and the gravity of her desire to bring another human into it. Further evidence she can make anything work. Meanwhile, Patel spends a good deal of his screen time in a big empty virtual room, reciting random numbers and commands that we aren’t supposed to understand in an effort to make digital fur texture feel just right. Vikander makes big swings in every scene, whether she’s pretending to be a kid or a rigid bureaucrat with no bedside manner, but I found her performance too mannered, and it’s impossible to empathize after a scene in the latter half of the Film. My assessment: you already know.

The Assessment screens at TIFF ‘24:

Friday September 13th at 2:00 PM at Scotiabank

Saturday September 14th at 2:45 PM at Scotiabank

Hard to believe we are already at the halfway point of TIFF ’24! Just checking-in quickly on some more sightings! Yet another epic day with huge stars!

•Francis Ford Coppola, Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Grace Vanderwaal and Giancarlo Esposito for MEGALOPOLIS
•Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascon for EMILIA PEREZ
•Jennifer Coolidge and Ed Harris for RIFF RAFF
•Hyun Bin and Lee Dong-wook for HARBIN
•Fernanda Torres for I’M STILL HERE
•Juanes for PIMPINERO
•Caleb Landry-Jones and Harry Melling for HARVEST

Some highlights:

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

By Nicholas Porteous

Brady Corbet’s ginormous, 215-minute period epic The Brutalist tells the story of Laszlo Toth--played Adrien Brody, who is phenomenal in the role. Toth was a legendary architect who escaped the holocaust and literally cemented his legacy with a series of glorious buildings. One might imagine the hyperextended 3.5+ hour runtime would have to begin at the very beginning–Toth in the womb or thereabouts, but Corbet opens instead with his arrival in New York. A rebirth, of sorts. Starting from zero, and building his way to greatness largely via a complicated relationship with a wealthy patron, Harry Lee Van Buren, played with great vigour by Guy Pearce.

The Brutalist has quite a reputation. It’s poised to win The Golden Bear in Berlin, and is already considered a strong contender for best picture at the Oscars. The word “masterpiece” has come up more than once. Let me try to temper your expectations before they get impossibly high: The Brutalist is a great movie with a stunning performance at its center, and without saying too much, a less satisfying final act. It’s constructed very much in parallel with Toth’s architectural philosophy–sturdy and bold, simple yet elegant. There are countless scenes that play out in more or less one shot that are undeniably “Best Actor” clip heroin for Brody, and I say this without a shred of irony. Corbet‘s Screenplay leans heavily on Brody’s performance to convey a world of history and pain that we never see, and Brody completely enveloped me in that history, often with his eyes alone. It’s truly stunning stuff. The arguable flaw in the design of The Brutalist is that its audience is also expected to connect the dots and make leaps into how Toth’s experiences in Europe, which–again–we never see–influenced his art. Corbet presumes a familiarity with Toth that I doubt most will bring into the movie–myself included. It’s only at the very, very end that we’re treated to some perspective on his contributions to the world, and the culmination of this sprawling story feels a bit out of nowhere–at least relative to the amount of time spent building towards it.

Overall, The Brutalist is so impressive it barely feels its extreme length (thanks partly to a built-in intermission. YES. BRING THEM BACK!) It is very much worth a big chunk of your day, and will probably be nominated at the very least for some key awards. Just don’t expect a full-on religious awakening.

The Brutalist screens at TIFF ’24:

Tuesday, September 10th at 8:00 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Thursday, September 12th at 8:00 PM at TIFF Lightbox

By Amanda Gilmore

Director Luca Guadagnino returns to TIFF with this beautiful tale of how desire and love can become addictive and lead to obsession in this adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel of the same name.

Burroughs’ work is known to be unadaptable. So rather than do a straight adaptation, Queer is a film about the man himself. We’re first introduced to Lee (Daniel Craig) in Mexico while searching for men to take to bed. But his repeated flings come to a halt when he meets Allerton (Drew Starkey). He quickly finds himself enamoured by Allerton and wants to always have him by his side.

Queer is a mesmerizing journey through love, addiction, and obsession. These heavy, beautiful themes are executed with precision thanks to Guadagnino’s excellent pacing and steady direction, along with the insurmountable performances from Craig and Starkey. The two have vibrant chemistry and give everything they have to their characters. Craig revels in Lee’s addictive personality that leads to a need to control. And Starkey delivers a star-making performance.

The Film’s hypnotic music by legendary musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and the dreamy Cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is the icing on top of these indelible performances. In the third chapter, Guadagnino brings surrealist imagery to finalize this love affair. This will work for some and not others. But none can deny the beauty of it all.

Queer screens at TIFF ’24:

Mon, Sept 9 at 9:45 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Tues, Sept 10 at 3 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Fri, Sept 13 at 9:15 AM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat, Sept 14 at 4 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sun, Sept 15 at 5:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

By Nicholas Porteous

Crimes of the Future, David Cronenberg’s daring and mysterious last work, established “surgery is the new sex”. His follow-up, The Shrouds, posits something along the lines of “death is the new exposition dump”. Vincent Cassel runs a cutting edge graveyard complete with 3D live feeds of all the lucky corpses. With that trademark grey coif, Cassel appears to be doubling for Cronenberg himself. They’re virtually indistinguishable when he’s wearing sunglasses. Cassel is also processing his wife’s passing (while maintaining an odd friendship with her identical sister), and  he’s obsessed with disintegrating bodies. When an unknown group attacks his cemetery, our lead is roped into a world of espionage, conspiracies, and counter-intelligence, unravelling everything he thought he knew about the nature of his business, and the love of his life. It sounds pretty fun, eh? The unfortunate thing about The Shrouds is it’s not nearly as cinematic as that summary might suggest.

Much of the runtime in this peculiar neo-noir involves following Cassel through conflicting dialogues. One character will provide a tip or speculation about the other, contradicted by the next, flipped again by the following. A framework of unreliable narrators and double crosses comes into focus. And I continue to make this all sound way more entertaining than it really is. Cronenberg has always had a knack for hilariously weird and engrossing dialogue, but in spite of a few chuckles and provocations here and there, this movie–which leans so heavily on its interchanges–has the least to offer out of his last few projects, the majority of which this particular critic has loved. There’s way too much explaining and expositing, not enough compelling characterization. The performances are uniformly detached to the point that there’s not much to distinguish the living from the dead. There’s a good chance that’s part of the point, but The Shrouds doesn’t do nearly enough to make me feel invested in deciphering that point. It’s physically and dramatically inert. Being such an obviously personal project, I would say this one’s for Cronenberg obsessives only. But even then, watch your step.

The Shrouds screens at TIFF ’24:

Wednesday, September 11th at 9:30 PM at Roy Thompson Hall

Thursday, September 12th at 2:30 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

By Nicholas Porteous

At their annual summit, the G7 world leaders are tasked with writing a provisional statement in a cozy gazebo in the middle of the woods, but everything goes haywire and they become lost in a forest full of zombies and a giant pulsating brain. Y’know, standard TIFF fare. This is Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson‘s Rumours–a surprisingly vague title for such a specifically wacky film.

“This isn’t Summer Camp” notes the British Prime Minister (Nikki Amuka Bird) as a reminder to our Canadian leader (Roy Dupuis), but you’d be very much forgiven for confusing these elected officials with a gang of unruly teens. As one should expect from Maddin and the Johnsons, these supposed adults are–to put it mildly–very silly. Caught-up in their own personal affairs (mainly surrounding the inescapably troubled but undeniably sexy Canadian Prime Minister), existential angst, and–yes—rumours! Cate Blanchett is exceedingly hilarious as the German Chancellor, alongside a buffoonish Rolando Ravello, representing Italy in a particularly unflattering light of aloofness. Charles Dance gives a solid turn as the American President who wants nothing more than to die–although his unwavering British accent had me scratching my head. The Movie makes a winking reference to the odd choice, but never justifies it in a satisfying way, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Rumours is very funny, and I found myself howling more than once at the evergreen comic premise of world leaders behaving like children, but as a feature there’s not much more to it than that. It’s a well-acted, whimsical, 118-minute sketch. Without any real stakes or a compelling dramatic engine, the movie feels more than a bit meandering as a narrative, and its climax does little to distinguish itself from the rest of the proceedings. Does it have a point beyond “world leaders are, at their core, self-obsessed, goofy children just like you and me and we’re all doomed”? If it does, I didn’t see it. But if you enjoy the madcap fever dreams that Maddin and the Johnsons are known for, and you’re willing to bask in that for two hours–arguably an hour beyond its expiration time–Rumours has that energy in spades.

Rumours screens at TIFF ’24:

Monday, September 9 at 8:30 PM at The Royal Alexandra Theatre

Tuesday, September 10 at 4:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre