By Melissa Houghton Day Two KEY PREMIERES: Honey Boy, Untouchable, Leaving Neverland, The Farewell, Ask Dr. Ruth, Late Night, Where’s My Roy Cohn? WHAT’S THE BUZZ? Untouchable, Troop Zero, The Brink, The Farewell, Leaving Neverland, Native Son, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Late Night, After the Wedding, Velvet Buzzsaw (coming to Netflix on February…
By Melissa Houghton Day One Opening remarks from the Founder of Sundance Institute: “Having done this for, God it’s 34 years now since the festival started, I think we’re at a point where I can move on to a different place.” – Robert Redford KEY PREMIERES: After the Wedding, an adaptation of Susanne Bier’s Academy…
By Melissa Houghton If you’re like me, I still haven’t seen all the December ‘18 or January ‘19 movie releases on my list. Life got in the way. Yet in two days, I’ll be heading to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to volunteer for seven of the 11 days of festival; seven days is…
By John H. Foote Never did I appreciate Rex Harrison for his talent. He talked his songs, could not dance and barely got by as an actor. That Oscar for My Fair Lady (1964) was brought to him given the tide of goodwill that came to George Cukors film. Harrison did nothing for me, and…
By John H. Foote This film, which I saw at TIFF really does deserve a big screen release, which Netflix backed out of. It seems they are also second guessing the promised big screen release of Roma, expected to be a major Oscar player. Needless to say without big screenplay, the Oscars will evaporate. What…
By John H. Foote THE HATE U GIVE (***) Before I get into the body of this review I must acknowledge and thank Tricia Williams, an old friend from college, where we both studied acting. Trish was good, making a career or it, while I followed my heart to film criticism, always addicted to movies.…
By John H. Foote After TIFF ended last year, there was no question Gary Oldman was on the path to the Oscar for Best Actor for his acclaimed performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (2017). Frankly, I was not impressed with the performance, I could not decide if it was Oldman doing the work…
By Nick Maylor This year’s Toronto International Film Festival saw a slew of great films and welcome surprises. I did not get to see everything I was interested in but with an impressive selection of screenings, I walked away in awe of two major films that are guaranteed to be a massive presence come awards…
By John H. Foote In a huge swelling of love, Green Book has been named the People’s Choice Award Winner at TIFF. The surprise winning film was adored by all who saw it, a beautiful, compassionate, warm often very funny film about the unlikely friendship between a tough bouncer and a gifted musician. Hired to…
By John H. Foote By day eight the normally jam packed concourse area of the huge Scotiabank Cinemas looks empty, only a few press remain, catching the films we have not yet seen. The screenings, previously at capacity are now half or less filled as the festival winds down. Always top heavy, that first weekend…