Year: 2016

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: WITHOUT NAME (Ireland 2016) ***

festreviews 2016 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

without_name_poster.jpgWITHOUT NAME (Ireland 2016) ***
Directed by Lorcan Finnegan

Starring: Alan McKenna, Niamh Algar, James Browne

Review by Gilbert Seah

Low budget and rather slow moving suspense thriller by first time director Lorcan Finnegan is a moody atmospheric piece set in a dense forest where some secret lies. A land surveyor, Eric (Alan McKenna) is in the throes of a midlife crisis.

His marriage is fractured and his son barely acknowledges him, so he’s more than willing to get away from his family when a mysterious client sends him on a prolonged survey excursion in a dense forest.

By the time his research assistant, Olivia (Niamh Algar), arrives at the remote cottage where he is staying, Eric has become disturbed and beguiled by the woodlands that surround him.

Barely glimpsed silhouettes haunt him among the trees, but he is never able to catch up with them. Trouble really starts when Eric takes too many mushrooms and hallucinates, unable to differentiate reality and fantasy.

The film takes a while to get its footing, with a lot of false scares. The climax also requires the audience to put two and two together. But Finnegan’s no-nonsense film succeeds as a creepy piece about creepy people.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd4K6qICqC8

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TIFF 2016 Movie Review: UNA (UK 2016) ***|

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

una_poster.jpgUNA (UK 2016) ***|
Directed by Benedict Andrews

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn

Review by Gilbert Seah

Though UNA is based on the David Harrower play and directed by stage director Benedict Andrews, the film does not feel like a play. But it does remind one of the plot of Mamet’s OLEANA, a two handler where a student accuses her professor of sexual assault.

In UNA, Rooney Mara plays Una, and Ben Mendelsohn is Ray, the neighbour who sexually assaulted her when she was 13.

A decade later, Una tracks Ray, now married with a pre-teen daughter, down in search of answers — but she doesn’t find the ones she’s searching for. The reason given is that she has fallen in love with her assailant.

The film is a bit slow moving with a lot of brooding by the players. The film also does not provide all the answers leaving the audience to fill in the blanks, which I assume is the purpose of the film.

Not entirely satisfying as a psychological thriller or mystery thriller but performances are super including Riz Ahmed’s in the support in role of Scott. Ray’s employee caught up in the drama.

Trailer: http://www.movie-trailer.co.uk/trailers/2016/una/

Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: SEARCHERS (Canada 2016) ***

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

searchers_poster.jpgSEARCHERS (Canada 2016) ***
Directed by Zacharias Kunuk

Starring: Benjamin Kunuk, Karen Ivalu, Jonah Qunaq

Review by Gilbert Seah

Director Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) returns with this Arctic epic inspired by the classic John Ford western, THE SEARCHERS. though it feels at times like an Inuit version of TAKEN.

An Inuit woman is kidnapped by her own people. A family is torn apart in the vast spaces of the cold barren landscape of the Arctic, when marauding men desperate for conquest break into an igloo with intent to kidnap.

When the husband returns to find his home ransacked, he vows revenge TAKEN style. The husband (with his son) track the kidnappers and finally rescue the wife and daughter. There is not an intricate plot with a twist but it is an absorbing film nonetheless. On wonders how they got the camera and other equipment up there in the cold.

True Canadian filmmaking by the First Nations. The audience gets a dose of Inuit culture as a bonus.

Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

Happy Birthday: David Copperfield

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

davidcopperfield.jpgDavid Copperfield

Born: September 16, 1956 in Metuchen, New Jersey, USA

(on working with Claudia Schiffer in his magic shows) I really love having Claudia with me in my shows. She’s a great performer and a real natural with the illusions. And she’s really trusting too – It’s not every woman who’ll trust someone like me enough to let me strap her to a guillotine and chop her head off. But the best thing about having her in my shows is that I can say that I spend my evenings sawing the most beautiful woman in the world in half.

Happy Birthday: Kurt Fuller

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kurtfuller.jpgKurt Fuller

Born: September 16, 1953 in San Francisco, California, USA

Married to: Jessica Hendra (24 December 1993 – present) (2 children)

(on No Holds Barred) An early job, and I still knew nothing about acting. I was a terrible actor, and that’s why I got the job: I would allow myself to be so bad that I lowered and got down to WWF standards. I’m sort of this insane Donald Trump-like head of the network, and I was working with Hulk Hogan. I have nothing bad to say about Hulk Hogan. In fact, compared to what I have seen in the press and all the high jinks of his life, I didn’t see any of that coming, man. He was just a businessman who worked out, you know?

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
2011
dir. Woody Allen
Starring
Owen Wilson
Rachel McAdams		 Wayne's WorldWayne’s World
1992
dir. Penelope Spheeris
starring
Myers
Dana Carvey
Mr WoodcockMr. Woodcock
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Starring
Billy Bob Thornton
Susan Sarandon
Sean William Scott		 MOVIE POSTERPUSHING TIN
1999
dir. Mike Newell
Stars:
John Cusack
Cate Blanchett
airplane

irplane

SUPERHERO MOVIE
dir. Craig Mazin
Starring
Drake Bell
Sara Paxton

 Anger ManagementAnger Management
2003
dir. by Peter Segal
starring
Sandler
Nicholson
TV POSTERBest of GOOD WIFE Season 3
Stars:
Josh Charles
Matt Czuchry		 TV POSTERBest of GOOD WIFE Season 4
Stars:
Archie Panjabi
Christine Baranski
megan foxBest of GOOD WIFE TV Series megan foxBest of GOOD WIFE Season 5

 

Happy Birthday: Ed Begley Jr.

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

edbegleyjr.jpgEd Begley Jr.

Born: September 16, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, USA

Some would call me an environmentalist. I don’t know why. I reuse the water that falls in my backyard in the winter. I reuse the trash and clippings I produce for mulch. I reuse the rain that falls on my roof, and I reuse the sun that shines on my house for energy. I guess you could call me a strategic opportunist as much as an environmentalist.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT SEASON 4 TV SHOW PILOT
2013
Creators: Mitchell Hurwitz		 THIS IS SPINAL TAPThis is Spinal Tap
1984
dir. Rob Reiner
Starring
Michael McKean
Christopher Guest

WHATEVER WORKS Movie PosterWhatever Works
2009
dir. Allen
Starring
Larry David
Evan Rachel Wood
COCKFIGHTER
1974
dir. Monte Hellman
Starring
Warren Oates
Richard B. Shull		 MOVIE POSTERFOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
2006
dir. Christopher Guest
Stars:
Catherine O’Hara
Harry Shearer
Pineapple ExpressPineapple Express
2008
dir. David Gordon Green
Starring
Rogen
James Franco
actorARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Season 2
2004-2005
Stars
Portia de Rossi
Will Arnett		 actorARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Season 3
2005-2006
Stars
Alia Shawka

 

Happy Birthday: Max Minghella

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

maxminghella.jpgMax Minghella

Born: September 16, 1985 in Hampstead, London, England, UK

Max’s maternal grandfather, George Wing Sien Choa, was born in Hong Kong, of three quarters Chinese, and one quarter Indian Jewish, ancestry. George was a prominent otorhinolaryngologist (in simple English, an ear, nose and throat doctor – an ENT). George’s maternal grandfather, Max’s great-great-grandfather Emanuel Raphael Belilios, who was born in Calcutta, was a prominent businessman.

THE DARKEST HOUR
dir. Chris Gorak
Stars:
Emile Hirsch
Olivia Thirlby
THE SOCIAL NETWORKTHE SOCIAL NETWORK
dir. David Fincher
Stars:
Jesse Eisenberg
Andrew Garfield
THE IDES OF MARCH
dir. George Clooney
Stars:
Paul Giamatti
George Clooney
MOVIE POSTERTHE INTERNSHIP
2013
dir. Shawn Levy
Stars:
Owen Wilson
Vince Vaughn		 How to Lose Friends and Alienate PeopleHow to Lose Friends and Alienate People
dir. Robert B. Weide
Starring
Pegg
Jeff Bridges
MOVIE POSTERART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL
2006
dir. Terry Zwigoff
Stars:
Max Minghella
Sophia Myles		 MOVIE POSTERABOUT ALEX
2014
dir. Jesse Zwick
Stars:
Aubrey Plaza
Maggie Grace

 

Happy Birthday: Peter Falk (1927–2011)

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

peterfalk.jpgPeter Falk (1927–2011)

Born: September 16, 1927 in New York City, New York, USA
Died: June 23, 2011 (age 83) in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

[upon losing to Peter Ustinov for the 1961 Oscars] When I hit the seat, I turned to the press agent and said “You’re fired!”. I didn’t want him charging me for another day.

[on Columbo’s appeal] What are you hanging around for? Just one thing. You want to know how he gets caught.

Happy Birthday: Lauren Bacall (1924–2014)

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

laurenbacall.jpgLauren Bacall (1924–2014)

Born: September 16, 1924 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Died: August 12, 2014 (age 89) in New York City, New York, USA

I don’t think being the only child of a single parent helped. I was always a little unsteady in my self-belief. Then there was the Jewish thing. I love being Jewish, I have no problem with it at all. But it did become like a scar, with all these people saying you don’t look it.

The Big Sleep
1946
dir. Howard Hawks
starring
Humphrey Bogart
Lauren Bacall
KEY LARGOKey Largo
1948
dir. John Huston
starring
Humphrey Bogart
Bacall
How to Marry a Millionaire
1953
dir. Jean Negulesco
Starring
Betty Grable
Marilyn Monroe		 MISERYMisery
1990
dir. Rob Reiner
Starring
Kathy Bates
James Caan
MOVIE POSTERTO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
1944
dir. Howard Hawks
Stars:
Humphrey Bogart
Lauren Bacall