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…
(**) By John H. Foote Again a performance is the driving force of this biopic dealing with hellion war correspondent Marie Colvin. Famously killed in action in Syria, Colvin was a fearless woman, one of a kind. More and more we are seeing great female performances, they are dominating the Oscar race at the moment,…
(**) By John H. Foote Michael Moore’s style, I find abrasive, exploitive and sometimes cruel. What he did to poor Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine (2003) was nasty. He blindsided a clearly confused actor suffering with Alzheimer’s and did nothing to endear himself to audiences in doing so. Still his film won an Oscar…
By John H. Foote THE HATE U GIVE (***) Imagine you are a beautiful, soulful 15 year old girl. Imagine going out for a drive with a friend you have known all your life. Clearly he loves you and you have deep feelings for him. He kisses you, and you pull away telling him you…
By John H. Foote HER SMELL (**) Elisabeth Moss is an actress who has arrived yet still continues to grow and stun with her work. I have been watching her since her days as Zoey Bartlett, daughter of the President on TV’s brilliant The West Wing, through to her sublime work on A Handmaid’s Tale,…
By John H. Foote Most of my time at TIFF is spent in screening rooms with other film critics from around the globe. Some I have gotten to know over the years and we see each other once a year, swap films we liked and did not, and move on, nodding to one another between…
By John H. Foote FIRST MAN (****) To be clear, this is one for the ages. A soaring testament to what mankind is capable of when they work for the common good. The timing is perfect because America needs to feel good about something again. There have been great films about the American space program…
By Nick Maylor (***) Vox Lux is an exploration of tragedy, both societal and personal. Raffey Cassidy stars as Celeste, a teen who witnesses (and is a surviving victim of) a school mass shooting. Using her time in rehabilitation to learn her way around a keyboard with the help of her sister Eleanor (Stacy Martin),…
By John H. Foote WHITE BOY RICK (***) Detroit has always looked and seemed dirty to me, not a great place to visit. When going south of the border, we have always breezed through the city fast, as it just never felt safe, or offered anything I was interested in. My Red Wings play there,…