(****) “Object remains inbound!” Those aren’t the words you want to hear when a nuclear missile is headed your way. Yet that’s the ominous news that bombards government officials in this very imaginative, pulse-quickening thriller. News that brings astonishment, audacity, mystery, dread and a disarray that’s alarming. In the hands of some directors, the bomb’s […]
The Secret Agent — 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
(****) “I am under a death threat… it’s a dangerous situation.” Marcelo (Wagner Moura, Narcos), a tec research scientist at a university, and all the people he loves, could lose their lives. During Brazil’s infamous military dictatorship in 1977, he and throngs of others are on the run. Fleeing from those who’d kill them to silence […]
The Choral — 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
(***1/2) When they sang in harmony they thought it would be forever. World War I thought otherwise. Audiences who love music, have been in a choir or want to know what it’s like to be left behind when war rages will have a special affinity for this period drama. Others too, as they get to […]
Dead Man’s Wire — 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
(***) He’s pissed. He’s so t-ed off he’s grabbed a gun and a hostage. Someone’s gonna pay for what they did. “This company has done me wrong. I’m gonna let the world know what you’ve done to me.” Screenwriter Austin Kolodney marks his feature film debut with a story that’s a whopper. So crazy it has […]
The Smashing Machine — 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
(***) “Am I going to hurt him befor he hurts me?” That’s what’s on the mind of mixed martial arts (MMA) champion fighter Mark Kerr before every match. He developed that aggressive stance early in life. Born in Toledo, Ohio, to an Irish dad and Puerto Rican mom, as a kid he was a World Wrestling Federation […]
One Battle After Another
(**1/2) The revolution will not be televised. But it’s been made into a movie… They knew what they were doing in the ‘60s. Helping the less fortunate escape arrest. Robbing banks. Sticking it to the man. Rebelling against military authority run amuck. And so, this group of revolutionaries, French 75, fought in the dark and […]
The Lost Bus — 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
(***1/2) It started with a spark, and no one knew how it would end. That’s how the deadliest fire in California history went down on November 18th, 2018, in Butte County, California. A town named Paradise was destroyed, burned to the ground and 85 people died. This based-on-fact story got pulled out of the ashes. They […]
Black Films Help 2025 Toronto International Film Festival Celebrate its 50th Anniversary
As TIFF turned 50 it rolled out the red carpet for 291 films from around the world. Over 11 festive days, features, documentaries and shorts were screened and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of film lovers. Black directors, actors and their films left lasting impressions in unique ways. These are just a few. Hedda (***) […]
Love, Brooklyn
(**1/2) He loves her. He loves her not. She loves him, she loves him not. That’s why they broke up. TV series director turned filmmaker Rachael Holder has love and triads on her mind. That’s got to be the reason she’s teamed with first time screenwriter Paul Zimmerman to tell this romantic, urban dramedy set […]
An Officer and a Spy
(***1/2) Accused, court-martialed and imprisoned. Back in late 1800s France, the Dreyfus Affair was a national scandal. Oddly, some of the trumped-up machinations of that case seem so relevant these days With author/screenwriter Robert Harris (Conclave) on board, alongside veteran writer/director Roman Polanski, anyone looking for thoughtful, tight and illuminating writing gets what they want. […]
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