Writers:
Chase Palmer (screenplay), Cary Fukunaga (screenplay) |
Stars:
Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard
IT is the much anticipated new horror film based on the 1986 Stephen King of the same name. Any novel by King turns out to be a box-office hit. IT expects to do the same and not only that, but to boost the 2017 box-office from its awful slump in recent months. IT was first adapted in a 1990 series, but many like myself have never see it.
The basic story involves seven children, with stuttering Bill being the main one, all terrorized by a killer dancing clown called Pennywise. Their town of Derry, Maine have experienced disappearing children in the past. One of the kids researched that these events occur once every 27 years. It is later revealed that Pennywise comes out to eat children. The kids have to say together in order to defeat the monster.
The film never compromises the horror – which is both emotional and physical. IT is clearly a film for adults but with both adult and childhood horror. Besides the real terror of the dancing clown, there is the notion that the terror is also imagined. When the terrorized kids stick together, Pennywise is defenceless. The film also emphasizes the terror of being alone.
As a result of the un-compromised horror, the film turns out to be quite nasty. The nastiness includes:
– poor young Georgie at the start of the film losing an entire arm
– pedophilia with Beverly terrorized sexually by her father
– bullying taken to the limit with the bullies using a knife to cut up a victim and a vicious fight of rock throwing lots of blood splattering a son killing his father with a switchblade
With a story involving a total of 7 kids, it is expected and it does happen, that not all the stories are completely told. The main kid, Bill, for example has a few minutes with his parents who are then absent throughout the rest of the film .
IT though set in Maine (as in many of King’s stories) was shot in the Riverdale neighbourhood of Toronto and also around Oshawa and Port Hope. Canadians will definitely recognize their typical built neighbourhoods, with the streets and storm drains, like the one shown early in the film when Georgie first meets the killer clown.
Despite the film’s flaws, director Andy Muschietti (MAMA) effectively piles the horrors on. His display of emotional and physical terror is well balanced. The horror and shock effects are quite good. The film is definitely many steps ahead of recent horror films like ANNABELLE CREATION.
The film running at 135 minutes, is long for a horror movie which normally runs 90 minutes. Thought the film is scary in most parts, the film drags in the middle. At the end of the film, the credits ‘Chapter 1’ appear, which means a sequel is for sure already in the making. The second instalment should be good if it is at least good as this one.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: WESTERN (Germany/Bulgaria/Austria 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:
Writer:
Stars:
Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek,Syuleyman Alilov Letifov
Likely called WESTERN because the characters in this Cannes hit travel to new frontiers like the classic John Ford and Howard Hawks westerns. A group of German construction workers labouring in the Bulgarian countryside to earn more money but trouble arrives in unexpected ways.
They raise their German flag proudly at the site. One of the workers tease the local girls swimming in the river. The locals take offence and old war resentment arises.
The workers and the locals have a problem of communication because of language The film is a bit hard to follow as one wonders which language is actual spoken and who can communicate. Nothing much happens.
Europeans particularly Germans would be able to appreciate this difficult diim more than North Americans.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: MARLINA: THE MURDERER IN FOUR ACTS (Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/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:
Stars:
Egy Fedly, Dea Panendra, Yoga Pratama
Marlina (Marsha Timothy), recently widowed is unable to pay her husband’s funeral services. A troupe of ugly and unforgiving men use this excuse to take her livestock and have their way with her.
But they are not prepared for the fury of this woman, in this revenge fantasy where women are warriors and will take no shit. Marlina poisons them with a soto ayam (local chicken soup dish) dinner and beheads Markus, the head of the gang, as she is riding him.
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak), titled THE Robbery,
The Journey, The Killing and The Birth is a slow moving, arty though no less engaging piece of storytelling that will grab one from start to end. Humour is deadpan and always present as Marlina takes a bus with the head of Markus to make a report at the nearest police station. She meets a pregnant neighbour who also has man trouble.
A stylish but violent film proving Surya as a fantastic storyteller. The film is set on an island in East Indonesia shot in Malay.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO (USA 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:
Stars:
Lady Gaga, Florence Welch, Donatella Versace
GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO is director Chris Moukarbel’s attempt at a revealing documentary of the inside workings of Lady Gaga. This is a Netflix Original Documentary.
The film shows the star at her home, during rehearsals, and a few performances, the highlight being performance for the Superbowl 51 half time show.
Stefani Joanne Germanotta as she is known offstage, basically does her thing, and the audience sees a normal human being at work, though she does live the good life with prized canines and a beautiful house. Unfortunately, the film offers little insight on the artist that the audience does not already already know.
In fact, the film is quite boring for a doc on such a lively person. Lady Gaga takes a cheap shot at Madonna at the beginning of her movie. In her defence (as she said in the press conference), she claims that she was unaware that her Madonna comment was inserted in the doc. Lady Gaga makes a strong point on the power of music at the Press Conference.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5JyeRdXQ-0
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: LE GRAND MECHANT RENARD ET AUTRES CONTES (THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES) (France 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.
Directors:
Writers:
French dessin anime at its best! Filmmaker, animator and cartoonist Benjamin Renner (ERNEST & CELESTINE) adapts his own comic strips for this trio of laugh-out-loud farm animal adventures. The film opens with the cartoon characters opening a 3-act stage play.
The players are not ready as they cannot find the baby and the tree prop appears in front of the opening curtain. Very funny and inventive and primes the audience for more of the best to come. There are a total of three animated stories.
In “A Baby to Deliver,” Rabbit, Duck, and their wise but easily annoyed friend Pig are tasked by Stork with returning a human baby to its parents in Avignon. In “The Big Bad Fox,” a fox lacking the smarts to catch a hen is persuaded by a wolf to steal her eggs, hoping to eat them when they hatch.
In the final act “The Perfect Christmas,” In the final act, Rabbit and Duck are playing in the snow in the lead-up to the holiday season when they believe they accidentally killed Santa Claus. To fix their mistake, they decide to take his place, delivering presents to everyone with very funny consequences.
All three are entertaining, even for adults with my favourite being the first for its goofiness and introduction to Renner’s characters.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QkSzpNGW8
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: JOURNEY’S END (UK 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.
RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End is the seminal British play about WW1. Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, variously awaiting their fate.Director:
Writers:
Simon Reade (screenplay), R.C. Sherriff
Stars:
Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany, Asa Butterfield
JOURNEY’S END about soldiers (Officers and enlisted men) during an offensive in the trenches during the First World War is a story that is already too familiar to us.
Still, it is a story that needs repeating, to remind the world of the futility of war and that orders coming down from the top brass would ultimately be executed often to the death by the men of lower ranks, who has loved ones and families back home.
JOURNEY’S END is based on the 1928 play and filmed two years later by James Whale which starred Sir Lawrence Olivier as Cpt. Stanhope now played brilliantly convincingly by Sam Catlin.
Things get real only when the audience can put a face to the goings-on. The face in this case belongs to green 2LT Laleigh (Asa Butterfeld) who wishes to join the battalion of his old school mate Cpt Stanhope who used to be his house monitor and good friend of him and his sister.
The narrow trenches emphasizes the claustrophobia of the location complete with mud rats though only one is shown) and worms oozing out from the mud during a meal. To Dibb’s and the production designer’s credit, the film never feels like a play.
The message is clear that that human beings are the ones fighting the war, and there are casualties on both sides as the end credits remind both sides of the millions that have dies in WWI.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: STRONGER (USA 2016)
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:
John Pollono (screenplay), Jeff Bauman (based on the book “Stronger” by)
Stars:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson
STRONGER looks at the Boston marathon from the point of view of a victim. And a really bad victim at that – one that has lost both his legs in the middle of the bomb explosion.
To the film’s credit, the film is an adaptation of the memoir by Jeff Bauman, recounting his struggles to adjust after losing his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. So, it is a true story, rather than one base on true events. But unfortunately the film wallows in self pity.
The film tells the true story of tragedy and rebirth. Runner Erin Hurley (Tatiana Maslany) was still a mile away from the finish line when the bombs went off. Her boyfriend, Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal), however, was right there. He is rushed into surgery, but his legs must be amputated. The bombing’s immediate aftermath provides Jeff with an unexpected sense of purpose as he had seen one of the terrorists responsible for the blasts.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Malsany and Miranda Richardson (as Jeff;s mother) deliver excellent performances despite the film’s flaws. If the film turned out better, they night have been up for acting Oscars. One can only wish the film would have been a better one instead of one wallowing is self pity.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6MN0QfQx7I
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE CHILDREN ACT (UK 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:
Writer:
Stars:
Fionn Whitehead, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci
THE CHILDREN ACT, based on the Booker prize winning novel by Ian McEwan and adapted by him, is a part courtroom drama part marriage crisis involving a London high court Judge, a super-efficient no-nonsense Fiona Maye (Twice Oscar Winner Emma Thompson).
As her marriage founders, she is taking on the ruling of a case involving a Jehovah Witness boy, Adam Henry (Fionn Whitehead). He is in hospital, and in need of a blood transfusion, which he refuses on religious grounds. His parents (Ben Chaplin and Eileen Walsh) feel the same.
Her ruling of the case will not be revealed in this review (for the sake of spoiling a key plot point) but it is safe to say that Maye makes an exception to the rule by making a personal visit to the hospital to speak to Adam before ruling on the case. THE CHILDREN ACT questions the audience’s stand on the morality issue, but not so much as the drama of the film.
The film also ends, quite brilliantly with an open instead of a closed ending as in the book Regardless, THE CHILDREN ACT is a meticulously crafted film, extreme well acted and written.
Trailer: (unavailable at time of writing)
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE RITUAL (UK 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:
Joe Barton, Adam Nevill (novel)
Stars:
Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali |
THE RITUAL is supposed to be a psychological thriller. Brucker who directed the film from a script co-written by him and by Joe Barton based on the novel by Adam Nevill knows how to bring on the scares and audience anticipation.
It all begins with a group of friends planning a holiday as a reunion get-together. Hence no wives or girlfriend and no romantic distractions. Lots of male talk, and fortunately no sexist jokes are included. Vegas? They eventually settle on hiking in the North of Sweden. Why? It is hard to rationalize what men do.
THE RITUAL actually works quite well during the first half. Director Bruckner puts good use of the forest to invoke the biggest scares. It is the fear of the unknown that terrifies. And there are a lot of unknowns in the film. It is only when the film starts explaining why each incident has occurred that the film begins getting into trouble.
Lots of gore, coming when least expected, good genuine scares (what THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT could have been), good monster special effects and excellent use of location (the Swede woods). Forget about the logic of the plot and Midnight madness fans should be satisfied!
But I would doubt if the fairer sex would like this film.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE SWAN (SVANURRIN) (ICELAND 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:
Asa Hjorleifsdottir (as Ása Helga Hjörleifsdótirr)
Writers:
Guðbergur Bergsson (novel), Asa Hjorleifsdottir (as Ása Helga Hjörleifsdótirr)
Stars:
Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Thor Kristjansson,Katla M. Þorgeirsdóttir
Poor nine-year old Sól (Grima Valsdóttir). She is not having it too good. Sol is sent to live with her aunt in rural Iceland as a punishment for shoplifting and her parents are splitting.
She does not like it at the farm, as in her own words, the place is old and smells weird. Adapted from Guðbergur Bergsson’s celebrated novel, Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir’s film is told from Sol’s point of view.
She is also told by the aunt’s daughter, Asta that there is a swan by the lake in the mountains that will lead people to drown. She also meets a local farmhand.
THE SWAN is a coming-of-age stry of Sol who discovers the more complicated life of adults. A slow moving film that allows the audience to feel with young Sol and to experience the slow but no less dramatic lifestyle at the farm.
THE SWAN is a portion of Sol’s coming-of-age, reflected in the maturity of Iceland.
