Movie Reviews 507 results

Jay Stone and Katherine Monk. Definitive reviews. Trusted critics.

4Score

The Florida Project on the edges of Disney

Movie Review: The Florida Project A single mother and her precociously savvy daughter scratch out a living in a $38-a-night motel beside Disney World in this gritty look at American life near the bottom
3.5Score

Goodbye Christopher Robin, Hello Heartbreaker

Movie Review: Goodbye Christopher Robin Simon Curtis takes us back to 100 Acre Wood where we can explore the semi-melancholy landscape that gave birth to A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and a particularly troubled father-son relationship
3.5Score

No Light, But Lots of Thrills At the End of the Tunnel

#VIFF17 Capsule Movie Review - At the End of the Tunnel Director Rodrigo Grande and lead actor Leonardo Sbaraglia strip Hitchcock down to the studs in this clever thriller that throws the viewer down a moral staircase
4Score

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Will Blow Your Mind

#VIFF17 Capsule Movie Review - Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Alexandra Dean's new documentary reveals the iconic beauty's intelligence as well as her patent for 'frequency hopping' -- technology now widely used in cell phones, GPS and Wifi
4Score

Blade Runner 2049 Functions on Memory More than Feelings

Movie review: Blade Runner 2049 Denis Villeneuve recreates the moral vacancy that defined Ridley Scott's masterpiece through his textured frames, but even with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling in lead roles, the movie lacks an emotional connection
2.5Score

Mother! Rips TIFF Audiences Apart with Creative Labour Pains

Movies: TIFF17 Darren Aronofsky's latest is a dark swan dive to the depths of the artistic process that could be read as brilliant biblical allegory or a self-absorbed bid at vindicating failure By Katherine Monk TORONTO (September 10, 2017) - Oh, mother! The creative process can be a real bitch. Just ask Darren Aronofsky. The director of the Oscar-winning Black Swan returned to the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest film, mother! And already, it’s dividing audience opinion. A laborious metaphor about the act of making art, the film stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a handsome couple renovating an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. He’s a successful writer struggling with a blank page. She is the young muse, fixing and mending broken walls, looking to restore the house to its former glory after a fire burned it to the ground. The only thing left is a diamond-like stone with a mysterious glow that he carefully places on a ...

mother! is a lot of bother!

Darren Aronofsky's new movie is a biblical allegory about the invasion of a rural Eden by the vandals of the world. Or perhaps it's not about anything much at all By Jay Stone   TORONTO — In 2006, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky — best known at the time for his disturbing drama Requiem For A Dream — made the absurd cosmic love story The Fountain. It was about a couple chasing one another through the time and space of an irritating cosmos of spiritual set design, and it starred Rachel Weisz, then the director’s romantic partner.   They have since split, and Aronofsky is now dating Jennifer Lawrence, the star of his new movie, mother! After redeeming himself with such films as The Wrestler and Black Swan, he has returned to the murky business of making grand metaphorical showcases for his new love. mother! is another epic of self-regard, this time about nothing less than Creation itself, and the horrors that are visited upon poor Jennifer Lawrence. It has ...
3.5Score

Patti Cake$ Bakes Familiar But Tasty Formula

Movie Review: Patti Cake$ Geremy Jasper cooks up Hollywood's sweetest formula in his debut feature about a young woman from New Jersey who craves to make it big in the rap game
2.5Score

Only Living Boy in New York Feels Like Woody Allen Lite

Movie Review: The Only Living Boy in New York Marc Webb returns to the world of oddball romance in an underwhelming Woody Allen wannabe that features a dependable A-list cast including Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, Cynthia Nixon and Kate Beckinsale
3.5Score

Good Time Bares Pattinson’s Thespian Teeth

Movie Review: Good Time Robert Pattinson doesn't need fangs to sink his teeth into the role of a perpetual loser trying to be his brother's keeper in Josh and Benny Safdie's gritty indie that keeps you guessing