Letterboxd — Your life in film

"It’s important to revisit a story every once in a while. The way our lives bring upon new changes every day, it’s entirely possible that we could see something in a story we never saw before. What’s that saying about those that don’t learn from history? Whether a story is a fictional yarn or a historical document, it can illuminate, and can even come with added context after the passing of time.

It’s this added context that adds great value to their telling – and retelling...."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/startrekintodarkness/

" “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”

For all I know, it’s a line my teacher tried to make me take notice of the first time. What I do know, is that it’s a line Baz Luhrmann has taken to heart as he attempted to adapt the great American novel...

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/greatgatsby/

"Audiences have spent five years with Tony Stark. We’ve watched him rise, watched him evolve, watched him fall, and now watched him stare down the demons that he has created for himself. While he’s every bit as snarky and sly as the man we first met in a Humvee, he has also gained some humanity, if not any bit of humility. The creative team at Marvel have found a way to keep his fights fresh, and keep us caring about a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist..."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/ironman3/

"From the outset, with its handsome look and its driving score, the film seems to know all the angles. It has done its homework and knows how to get the job done. But while it may know how to pull off the big score, it never does. Instead, it continues to misdirect our attention and smile while it picks our pocket for loose change..."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/trance/

"It puts us in that moment where visions feel like memories, and for a moment we're disoriented. It's all so real that it's easy to remain mad at those that crossed you in the dream, or take pause with the ones that showed you affection. As we fully wake up, and begin to move, we become more and more sure of where we are and what is true, but in those first seconds, we're susceptible to anything and everything.

Any film can tell you a story: UPSTREAM COLOR makes you feel it."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/upstreamcolor/

"42 doesn’t want to show Jackie getting to the end of those three years and finally speaking up – and speaking up with anger. It doesn’t want to show Jackie losing his starting spot and his output beginning to fade as every athlete’s output does. And it doesn’t want to show Jackie quietly retiring which scuttled Brooklyn’s idea to trade him.

42 wants Jackie Robinson regarded an unassailable hero, and if there is any athlete in sports history that deserves that role, it’s him."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/42/

"...it reflects some actual absurdities in our society. Ignoring those points, and letting SPRING BREAKERS play out without recognizing its fever dream qualities is setting one’s self up for a rough ride. The film is not looking to provide commentary beyond the point that spring break is a petty and silly – and it chooses to comment with a high degree of self-awareness. Coming away from the movie, one might think that spring break an activity that should have been put out of its misery years ago..."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/springbreakers/

"I don’t think its a co-incidence that the film finds its heart when Alan Arkin shows up. Of all the characters in the film, Arkin’s Rance Halloway seems to most understand both the sly deception and the wondrous joy present in any magic act.

I can’t help but believe that if the script had found a way to bring him into the story sooner and with greater presence, that he would create a counterweight to all the silliness on display..."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/incredibleburtwonderstone/

"The desire to add to canon must be rather irresistible. Much of the heavy-lifting has already been done: characters have been well fleshed-out and whole worlds have been created. To build on top of such ideas feels like getting a running start at a difficult jump. That, however, is the siren song that lures the artist in. Once they get there, they realize the difficult position they’ve been put in. Those characters and those worlds they are building upon? They’re well-known and well-loved.

If anything is going to become as well-known and well-loved, it had better be outstanding..."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/ozthegreatandpowerful/

" The film does so much so effortlessly, and does so with true beauty and joy. It's a testament to what is good in this world, and the rewards that can be found within ourselves. There are many other films that stir many other feelings within me, but none that make me want to be a better person the way that THE IRON GIANT does. That's true inspiration."

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/anotherdayirongiant/

"The story reminds us of the way a parent is a model for God. As a child begins to grow, the parent is all-knowing – a light like the abstract image of a flame that breaks up the chapters of this film. However, as the child ages, they begin to question their faith. Like a sheep that decides to stray from the shepherd, they start to think that mom and dad don’t know everything after all.

Then where are they supposed to go for guidance?"

Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/treeoflife/