Canadian Must-Sees: Le Déclin de l’empire Américain conquered Canada
Denys Arcand's chatty examination of a group of middle-aged intellectuals brought a hint of Woody Allen to the wilds of the Canadian film landscape, eclipsing linguistic politics with sex, and successfully reframing the next generation's existential crisis as more of a personal concern than a nationalist struggle
LE DÉCLIN DE L’EMPIRE AMÉRICAIN (1986) 5/5 Directed by: Denys Arcand Starring: Dominique Michel, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal, Geneviève Rioux, Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard, Yves Jacques, Gabriel Arcand. Running time: 101 minutes MPAA Rating; Restricted A veritable classic, and the first film to truly establish Canada on the populist film map, Le déclin de l'empire américain is a satirical, and undeniably poignant, look at a group of self-absorbed University of Montreal professors who have analyzed their world and themselves into a state of emotional numbness. Over the course of the Oscar-nominated movie, which opens with one ...
Canadian Must-Sees: Le Déclin de l'empire Américain conquered Canada
Denys Arcand's chatty examination of a group of middle-aged intellectuals brought a hint of Woody Allen to the wilds of the Canadian film landscape, eclipsing linguistic politics with sex, and successfully reframing the next generation's existential crisis as more of a personal concern than a nationalist struggle
LE DÉCLIN DE L’EMPIRE AMÉRICAIN (1986) 5/5 Directed by: Denys Arcand Starring: Dominique Michel, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal, Geneviève Rioux, Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard, Yves Jacques, Gabriel Arcand. Running time: 101 minutes MPAA Rating; Restricted A veritable classic, and the first film to truly establish Canada on the populist film map, Le déclin de l'empire américain is a satirical, and undeniably poignant, look at a group of self-absorbed University of Montreal professors who have analyzed their world and themselves into a state of emotional numbness. Over the course of the Oscar-nominated movie, which opens with one history professor ...
Diary of a Teenage Girl rewrites coming-of-age ritual
Marielle Heller's adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner's graphic novel isn't just a refreshing female take on the coming-of-age ritual, it's a rich piece of comic drama thanks to standout performances from breakout star Bel Powley and the ever-fearless Kristen Wiig
Movie review: A reason to cry U.N.C.L.E.
The film version of the 1960s TV show stars a couple of bland leading men involved in a second-rate espionage thriller notable mostly for its cool costumes, writes Jay Stone
Movie review: Fantastic Four? More like a one
Movie review: Fantastic Four
The 'reboot' of the superhero story has cheesy special effects, bland characters and a lot of murky motivations. The result is an adventure that's far from fantastic. THE EX-PRESS, August 10, 2015
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The Gift you weren’t expecting
Aussie actor Joel Edgerton creates a kooky mixture of thoughtful psychodrama and cheesy horror in this interesting examination of the ghosts that haunt us from high school
The Gift you weren't expecting
Aussie actor Joel Edgerton creates a kooky mixture of thoughtful psychodrama and cheesy horror in this interesting examination of the ghosts that haunt us from high school
Canadian Must-Sees: Cinema Verité Defines a Real Moment
Late, and undeniably great, documentary director Peter Wintonick not only chronicled the rise of a new cinematic day in non-fiction film, he traced its roots all the way back to the New World and the camera work of Michel Brault
CINEMA VERITE: DEFINING THE MOMENT 4/5 Directed by: Peter Wintonick Running time: 102 minutes A documentary about the pivotal shift in documentary film, Cinema Verité follows the evolution of static, institutional non-fiction film into a flowing -- and often shaky -- vehicle of artistic expression. Montreal-based filmmaker Peter Wintonick (Manufacturing Consent) opens this slick yet sedate take on film history with a shot of Terrence Macartney-Filgate -- regarded as the pioneer of the Candid Eye series -- sitting on a Toronto streetcar with a digital camera, filming Wintonick’s crew as they are filming him. It’s a wonderfully reflective image that captures the essence of the self-conscious movement and sets up the history ...
Canadian Must-Sees: The Apprencticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Ted Kotcheff's adaptation of Mordecai Richler's CanLit classic brought a hint of Hollywood to the wilderness of Canadian cinema, blazing a trail for the next generation of storytellers looking to bring a slightly different eye to the Canadian experience
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ (1974) 4/5 Directed by: Ted Kotcheff Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Denholm Elliot, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joe Silver. Running time: 121 minutes One of the first movies I can remember that actually showed me where I lived, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz somehow legitimized the Canadian experience to Canadians -- and somewhat ironically, made a bona fide star out of its American lead in the process. Richard Dreyfuss plays Duddy Kravitz, a character born from the imagination of the late, Montreal-based shit-disturber, Mordecai Richler. Duddy is part weasel, part brass-balled hero, which means we have a love-hate relationship with him throughout the ...
