By John H. Foote (****) The last great film Jane Campion made was the exquisite The Piano (1993), which made her just the second woman nominated for a Best Director Oscar. The Piano received universal acclaim and was the only challenger as the year’s finest film to Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List. It has been…
By John H. Foote (****) “Attica was fear …” – former inmate The first time I heard the word “Attica”, it was from Al Pacino as Sonny in the superb Sidney Lumet film Dog Day Afternoon (1975). In the scene, he is grandstanding in front of the bank he and his partner are robbing, as…
By John H. Foote (**) Why did I get the nagging feeling I was watching an after school special? Throughout Dear Evan Hansen, based on the Tony Award winning musical, I had this constant sense I was watching a kids level After School Special with major movie stars sprinkled throughout the film for mainstream appeal.…
By John H. Foote TIFF officially opens today in Toronto, the annual celebration of cinema from around the globe. As always, I am excited to be covering the festival, though for the first time in three decades of attending and writing about the films, I am admitting to some disappointment. For weeks now, as the…
By John H. Foote The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has long been the major launching pad of the year’s Oscar challengers, studios bring their films here in hopes of gaining that all important fall “buzz” that could lead them to that golden circle on the evening of the Academy Awards. Not this year though.…