Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Shot around Kuala Lumpur, the capital of West Malaysia in Mandarin, English, Malay and a bit of Cantonese, all these languages of which are spoken by the people there, SHUTTLE LIFE is family drama.
Teenage son, Zi (Jack Tan) is living in a small flat with his mentally ill mother (Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang in a very unglamorous and admirable role) and younger sister. He has low education, not completed his high school ‘A’ Levels nor a proper job. He hangs out with friends that drink and break into cars for odd change.
He shuttles around on his bike trying to make ends meet for is mother and little sitter. But a bike accident on his sister’s birthday causing her death with him unable to retrieve her body leads him to his limit.
SHUTTLE LIFE is a film with no happy ending but one that offers audiences on the lives of many who are stuck with poverty and unhappiness. Tan’s uncompromising film is scary, well-shot and unfortunately very real.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYYzxBhn-OE
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: C’EST LA VIE (LE SENS DE LA FETE) (France 2017) ***
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Directors:
Stars:
Gilles Lellouche, Suzanne Clément, Jean-Paul Rouve
Directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano can best be remembered for their bubbly comedy LES UNTOUCHABLES.
The target this time is an extravagant wedding at a chateau where all the servers have (and forced to wear) valet costumes including white wigs. The story is told from the point of view of the the wedding caterer manager, Max (Jean Pierre Bacri) a battle-weary veteran of the wedding-planning racket.
This gig turns out to be a hell of a fête, involving stuffy period costumes for the caterers, a vain, hyper- sensitive singer who thinks he’s a Gallic James Brown, and a morose, micromanaging groom determined to make Max’s night as miserable as possible.
His personal life also comes into chaos as Joisette (Xavier Dolan regular Suzanne Clément), seems to have written him off, coolly going about her professional duties while openly flirting with a much younger server. This is an ensemble work, like Robert Altman’s THE WEDDING, but more commercial, more French but less of a biting satire.
The comedic set-ups are funny enough, most of them working and keeping the audience happy with laugh-out loud humour.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE CHINA HUSTLE (USA 2017) ***1/2
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Writer:
Produced by Alex Gibney who directed ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM about the last 2008 stock market crash, THE CHINA HUSTLE could be considered a sequel as well as warning to all stock traders.
As in his previous film, THE CHINA HUSTLE is an unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story, though this time the target being the Chinese companies listed on the American stock market. The film opens with the main subject, whistleblower Dan David confessing: “There are no good guys in this story, including me.”
After the 2008 stock market crash, David — like almost everyone else in finance — was looking for ways to make big gains quickly. China became an appealing target. Hundreds of Chinese companies entered the US stock market through reverse takeovers with American companies. They boasted tremendous growth, had little oversight, and created a stock-market feeding frenzy. It seemed too good to be true and it was.
The film follows the same pattern as EVRON, interviewing the whistleblowers, with the subject of fraudulence revealed and angering the audience to boiling point.
Again, he has on camera, the poor unsuspecting investors, usually the retirees who have lost all if not a fair portion of their hard earned savings. The film is not as tight or strong as ENRON, bout it is till an engaging informative documentary. All investors should put this doc down as a must-see!
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE HOUSE BY THE SEA (LA VILLA) (France 2017)
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Writers:
Robert Guédiguian (screenplay), Serge Valletti(screenplay)
Stars:
Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan
Robert Guédiguian’s films always make it to TIFF but never get shown otherwise. Those familiar with him can expect more of the same though his latest is a bit of a disappointment not for want of trying.
Three grown children gathered at the picturesque villa of their dying father in Marseille (where most of his films are set) reflect on where they are, who they have become, and what they have inherited.
His political stand as a committed leftist and former Communist can be observed clearly in many scenes where his characters verbally express their dissatisfaction on certain issues like the military and the refugee situation. His wife Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin are two of the elderly characters who manage to attract younger suiters.
The film does not successfully combine the dysfunctional family, love relationships and refugee statements.
Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt3wVETIfWs
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 05
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Nick Adams
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
“Thoughts and Prayers”
In this highly political episode, gun ownership, street harassment, and mass shootings are all on the table for discussion. In a way, “Thoughts and Prayers” is an airing of America’s dirty laundry when it comes to our problems with gun violence, and with women’s safety. After accidentally causing comprehensive gun control to pass in the California senate in lieu of societal changes that benefit women’s autonomy, Diane sums it up perfectly with the assertion that Americans “hate women more than they love guns.”
The only problem rattling around with this episode comes down to Bojack’s forced relationship with his estranged abusive mother, Beatrice, who is now suffering from dementia. Hollyhock’s continued insistence that Bojack cares for his mother in her old age is highly problematic. It’s been established that Bojack was the victim of severe emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his mother. Being old and sick doesn’t excuse literal decades of child abuse, and it’s hard to feel any sympathy for Beatrice with that in mind.
Having the background about Bojack’s grandmother’s lobotomy gives us more perspective in regards to Bea’s cruelty towards her son, but it doesn’t excuse her behavior. Normally in the Bojack Horseman universe, there’s a strong theme of “you reap what you sow,” which is why Bojack turning the other cheek feels out of place for his character, and out of place for this series.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 04
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Joanna Calo
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
“Commence Fracking”
It seems like Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter’s relationship has been on the rocks pretty much ever since they’ve been together, but they’ve never come so close to splitting up as they are now. It’s always super weird to see sex scenes between the human and animal characters of this show, but there’s something fundamentally uncomfortable about watching shirtless Mr. Peanutbutter furiously laying pipe in his wife.
Hollyhock is still on the quest to find her birth mother, but that’s another issue in the whole people and animals in relationships thing. Can two different species actually reproduce in the Bojack Horseman universe? If Hollyhock is a horse, doesn’t that mean her mother has to also be a horse? If not, then Princess Carolyn’s quest to conceive with her mouse boyfriend isn’t going to end well.
The long-lost daughter angle is very much a cliché, but I’m interested in riding it out to see where this goes. Frankly, I’m not entirely convinced that Hollyhock is genuinely Bojack’s daughter, so there might be more to this situation than meets the eye.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 03
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Elijah Aron |1 more credit »
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
Review by Mary Cox
“Hooray! Todd Episode!”
Asexuality is something that hasn’t really been addressed in any mainstream form of media up until this point in time. There’s a lot of controversy about what asexuality really is, or how to define it as an orientation. In spite of this, Bojack Horseman is actually doing a great job with handling Todd’s exploration of his sexuality, and with depicting asexuals as normal human beings who aren’t the result of malfunctioning biology or dysfunctional personalities.
Again, there’s an issue with congruence of ideas in this episode. The undercurrent of Todd seeking to prioritize his own self-care, while also trying to manage his personal and professional relationships almost comes together. However, between Mr. Peanutbutter’s campaign, Princess Carolyn’s struggle to conceive, and Bojack’s long-lost daughter, there’s just so much happening this season that even in a literal “Todd Episode,” there’s no real room to focus on the inner-life of this character.
It seems like because the show has become less and less Bojack-centric that there’s now a serious lack of focus and structure. Bojack Horseman has never really been an ensemble show, and transferring it over to that structural format is an interesting experiment. Despite the efforts to keep the series fresh and original, right now, it doesn’t seem like Bojack Horseman is a show with a host of concurrent and carefully structured plot lines. Instead, we have a great big bunch of loose and hanging threads that are more tangled than tied together.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 02
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Kate Purdy
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
Review by Mary Cox
“The Old Sugarman Place”
Bojack is back! The second episode of this series sits somewhat uncomfortably for me. “The Old Sugarman Place” seems to be jumping back a little from the weight and drama of the previous season, but it’s right now, it feels the direction of the show is kind of still in limbo. Bojack Horseman is half-in and half-out of being a serious drama.
In the flashback scenes with Bojack’s grandparents, the recurring “it’s the past, so everyone is sexist” jokes start to wear a little thin. This isn’t because the repeated references to “womb problems” are offensive or in bad taste, but it’s that the jokes are somewhat one note. After the fourth or fifth antiquated riff, this episode starts to somewhat literally beat a dead horse.
Bojack’s grandmother getting lobotomized at the end of the episode is melodramatic and out of place. This scene is clearly supposed to be evocative of Rosemary Kennedy, the younger sister of JFK who was famously lobotomized against her will, but certain tragedies don’t translate when it comes to cartoon horses. Touching on such a dark and serious topic would be okay if it wasn’t just a throwaway moment in a flashback, but the way Bojack Horseman handles this scenario makes the weight and tragedy of the lobotomy somewhat cheap and unnecessary.
Clearly, there exists a balance between comedy and tragedy, and in the past, Bojack Horseman has successfully walked that line. However, things aren’t looking so hot based on how the content of this episode has been handled. There’s a chance that the flashbacks at the Sugarman cabin will have some greater thematic significance later in the season, but I’m not holding my breath.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 01
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator),
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
Review by Mary Cox
“See Mr. Peanutbutter Run”
After last season’s bombshell with the death of Sara Lynn, Bojack Horseman seems to be pivoting away from heavy drama and is returning to more of the lighthearted comedy featured in the first season of the series. Bojack himself is still missing in this episode, but it’s unlikely that he’s going to pull an Agent Cooper and not show up until late in the game.
This season of Bojack Horseman is shaping up to be heavily political, as the California gubernatorial race is pretty obviously taking a page from the 2016 Presidential Election. Mr. Peanutbutter has never really been depicted as a sinister character in the past, but something tells me that drawing a parallel between Peanutbutter and Trump is pretty telling about the direction this season is going to take.
It’s almost impossible to make something now that doesn’t touch on the surreal political climate we’re all desperately trapped inside, but I’m wondering how close to home we’re really going to get here. Can we expect another Cosby episode, where contemporary hot topics like covered-up abuse and sexism in the film industry itself is addressed? Or is this going to be a broader and more general look at the world we now live in?
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: TIM AND ERIC’S BEDTIME STORIES – SEASON 02 – EPISODE 02
Writers:
Tim Heidecker (created by), T
Stars:
Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Isaac Cheung
Review by Mary Cox
“The Duke”
The image of a casino exclusively for scratcher cards is amusing enough, but like all of Wareheim and Heidecker’s work, the point you should consider is the “heart of fear” in this episode. This episode features Ray Wise of Twin Peaks fame, who previously has appeared worked with Eric Wareheim as the starring role in his video for “Wishes” by dream-pop duo Beach House. There’s something about Wise’s natural charisma that lends itself to surrealist media, and his performance, alongside Rhea Perlman and Jorge Garcia, should not be missed.
Bedtime Stories works fundamentally because it plays on our deepest fears and insecurities. On one hand, there’s the surface story about the casino and learning to live with a lie, but that’s not what makes “The Duke” so unsettling. When looking at this narrative specifically from a masculine perspective, this story is very obviously about a fear of cuckoldry and emasculation. Whereas “Baklava” was about the externalized issue of saving someone from themselves, “The Duke” focuses on personal loss of agency via impotence and forced submission.
This is the reason why Bedtime Stories is sometimes described as “hit or miss.” The terror and discomfort doesn’t necessarily “kick in” unless your personal issues and insecurities are up to bat. Even if you’re not afraid of losing your wife to another man, or you’ve never struggled to keep someone’s head above the waters of mental illness or addiction, everyone has some kind of deep-seated anxiety or raw nerve. Give it time. Wareheim and Heidecker will get to you and your issues as well.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
Festival Reviews 