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The film is both charming and challenging, and has at least two scenes that were a visual delight.
Read More![[VIFF 2021] REVIEW: 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain' is low voltage drama](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1634316671821-1H1DZQVK89WAG2O9SGYR/The+Electrical+Life+1.jpg)
Even an A-list cast can’t save the film from becoming a cliched fable about an eccentric polymath, which glosses over some of the issues that plagued the life and legacy of the real Louis Wain.
Read More![[VIFF 2021] REVIEW: A droning 'Benediction'](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1634316133783-2KWOKJDFYMRG5GMIYWMV/Benediction+1.jpeg)
Benediction escapes most of the traps in a straightforward biopic – we don’t really see the events that turn Sassoon into a vocal critic of the war, nor do we see many scenes of him writing out poems. That can be a good thing, but what’s left behind are a smattering of sometimes incoherent scenes and little connective tissue.
Read More![[VIFF 2021] REVIEW: 'Red Rocket' takes off quickly but fizzles at the end](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1634096956600-DRJTYR52YPVY2IWB4HO0/Red+Rocket+.jpg)
It’s pretty amazing how Baker manages to find all these local people to act in his projects. Rex, a former adult film actor and all-round thespian, is perfectly cast in this role, and without his manic hand waving and fast talking, Red Rocket barely gets off the ground.
Read More![[VIFF 2021] REVIEW: 'One Second' demands your time](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1633697091056-Y3A68S6SE972KNN1ATNP/One+Second.jpeg)
It’s nice to get a reprieve from some of China’s big-budget films laden with special effects. Zhang’s films had grown to be more commercial than ever, reaching an unforgettable low point with The Great Wall (2016), but One Second is definitely worth your time
Read More![[VIFF 2021] REVIEW: 'Official Competition' produces a worthy competitor but not a winner](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1633638905825-5NY8V0FO05CV1TZP2NT3/Official-Competition+1.jpg)
Sometimes, a film executes its message so flawlessly it works against itself. The film becomes an example of what it is trying to satirize, and I think that’s what ultimately makes Official Competition grating when the credits roll.
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It took Scarlett Johansson seven appearances in other MCU films before her titular character received her own standalone film – through no fault of her own – and while we should applaud it because it’s a well-acted and well-produced film, know that it also doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the library.
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The most frustrating part, however, is Snyder’s refusal to ever delve deeper into the universe he creates. We see this in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, where he clearly has an entire library of stories and whole universes planned out, and he ever so subtly hints at them.
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I had trouble sitting through this film without getting frustrated and throwing up my arms in disgust. It was far too simplistic, and too often I’m wondering why Julianne Moore, Brian Tyree Henry and Tracy Letts (who wrote the screenplay) were so underused
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He’s a world-class solder, a quick thinker with a quicker trigger and the ability to process minutiae really fast and spit it out as exposition to the audience. He’s fun to watch but difficult to relate to, and at the end gets lost in a massive library of action heroes who we remember by the name of the actor who portrayed them and not the character themselves.
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There’s emotional weight to the action and the characters (Taslim and Sanada were both good, despite having their faces covered for half the film) and it gave you a sense of hope (which ended up being false) that this was going to be a video-game movie that was self-aware and had a chance to be good.
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Setting the film in 1984 was just an excuse to cut a synth-heavy trailer (music we never got in the film, by the way) and let Pine make stupid jokes about fanny packs. Even if we forgive Diana – who’s supposedly the embodiment of moral good – for overlooking the fact that her wish temporarily traps a living soul in limbo and other such ramifications in a Freaky Friday swap, it’s debatable how much Steve’s character moves Diana or the story forward.
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That’s the inherent struggle within Disney and Star Wars; innovation can lead to good – sometimes great – ideas, but the cost is potentially alienating those who prefer things to stay constant or those too afraid to try new things.
Read More![[VIFF 2020] REVIEW: Hands up for 'Another Round'](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1601775639342-TRTHSE1EHLQ5AEMKMDYT/AnotherRound_still+1.jpg)
Thankfully, there’s no hammer-over-the-head moment that blasts what the four buddies have done, but their overindulgence does extract a fairly heavy cost. Credit goes to Vinterberg, who finds the right balance in showing how drinking can reduce barriers and bring people together, but also how much destruction it can cause.
Read More![[VIFF 2020] REVIEW: 'Falling' sends you into the abyss but never quite pulls you back out](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5856d460197aea66c1dc96bf/1601775184576-REE6DTFE5XVCPD5X4RWH/Falling_still.jpg)
Even though John and Willis have a big cathartic fight that leads to an emotional embrace, it doesn’t feel like there’s a higher level of understanding between the two characters to be attained. Mortensen the director is reaching for this one moment where a strained father-son relationship could be understood, but that moment never quite comes.
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