By John H. Foote By Sunday in previous years most of the big Hollywood films have screened, but this year it seems an effort was made to keep them screening through the second half of the festival. Personally, I think it is terrific. Today started early with Judy, the biopic about the last year in…
By John H. Foote The worst sound in the world is someone with a cold sniffing so hard you just know by the sound whatever horrors in their nostrils are now running down their throat. It really is a disgusting sound. They lack the simple common sense to blow their nose, a much easier sound…
By Nick Maylor (***) As a product of my generation, I have to admit that my only real knowledge of Helen Reddy’s song and anthem “I Am Woman” for most of my life came from this. Unlike many musician biopics like Ray (2005), Walk the Line (2006) and Rocketman (2019), I Am Woman features the…
By John H. Foote The talk of the festival right now is a film only those critics arriving from Venice have seen. Joker premiered at the Venice Film Festival to absolute rave reviews, in particular for the performance of Joaquin Phoenix, and is the hottest ticket here. There are two press screenings at the same…
By Nick Maylor (****) Radioactive is based on the graphic novel Radioactive: Pierre & Marie Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout. This engrossing biopic features yet another stunning performance from Rosamund Pike as the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize, Marie Curie (born Maria Salomea Skłodowska). Curie was a pioneer in developing…
By John H. Foote Have they made a conscious decision at TIFF to make the festival less top heavy? I have always maintained the first five days are the busiest as the major offerings from Hollywood are screened. Not this year. The big films do not start until Monday which gives some smaller films a…
By John H. Foote The day began at eight a.m. Grabbing a coffee and scone at a nearby Second Cup, I made my way to the cinema in the massive Scotiabank Theatre. The home of 80% of press and industry screenings it is a beehive of energy, constant movement and movies, movies, movies. Let’s get…
By John H. Foote Christmas for film critics is how I like to describe the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) though in fact it is so much more. Along with the festivals in Venice and Telluride, happening as we speak, this is the official beginning of awards season in the film industry, as the studios…
By John H. Foote Since 1994 I have attended the annual film festival in Toronto called TIFF. It began in the late seventies as the brainchild of William Marshall as The Festival Of Festivals, grew to be renamed The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and under the zen-like leadership of Piers Handling has become, I…
By John H. Foote What could be the final group of films for TIFF was announced this morning, some nice surprises among them. Two more Galas were added, another sixteen in the Special Presentation series, along with the Contemporary World Cinema, Masters and Wavelength programs. Here are today’s standouts. LUCY IN THE SKY with Natalie…