What’s Love Got to Do with It? is one half My Big Fat Greek Wedding and one half…any other romantic comedy you can think of. This tame rom-com is as conventional as they come, which can sometimes be forgiven if the formula is executed with wit. Unfortunately, not only is the filmmaking watered-down but it smothers its own potential.
By: Jeff Ching Mind Leech was the closing film at the Toronto International Spring of Horror & Fantasy Film Festival.
I haven’t kept up with Gerard Butler’s action vehicles since being disappointed by 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen. A grudge hadn’t kept me away from Butler. In fact, his action flicks have looked appealing by the promotional material as I find myself distracted with other titles. After missing this year’s Plane, I didn’t want to miss the boat on his second outing of the year. I sat down for Mission Kandahar with excitement running through my…
By: Danyal Somani In the semi-autobiographical comedy About My Father, co-writer/actor Sebastian Maniscalco portrays a fictionalized version of himself trying to win over his girlfriend’s family in hopes of proposing to her during a Fourth Of July trip. However, when his traditional father Salvo (Robert De Niro) tags along, challenges arise (including class clashes, more eccentric family members, and some interesting pets) making Sebastian’s mission more difficult.
I was having trouble figuring out how to review Insanity because it’s such a personal project. It’s less of a conventional documentary and more of an outlet for filmmaker Wendy Hill-Tout (Marlene) and her family to decompress and reflect on James Bruce Hill-Tout, Wendy’s missing and homeless Schizophrenic brother.
As I reflect on Netflix’s mediocre actioner The Mother, Jennifer Lopez’s career keeps clouding my thoughts.
By: Danyal Somani For her latest assignment, documentary filmmaker Zoe (Lily James) wants to chronicle her childhood friend Kazim (Shazad Latif) and the journey towards his arranged marriage, having Shekhar Kapur’s What’s Love Got to Do with It? explore whether one can actually fall in love through this type of matchmaking rather than a traditional Western “love-marriage”.
Using his previous film, the embellished period thriller Operation Avalanche, as a stepping stone towards his latest feature, Canadian renegade Matt Johnson takes another crack at the biopic genre with BlackBerry. Director Johnson (co-writing with frequent collaborator/producer Matthew Miller) chronicles the rise and fall of the titular game-changing portable device that allowed users online access and exclusive text-based communication.
By: Danyal Somani Book Club: The Next Chapter follows the friends from its predecessor: Vivian (Jane Fonda), Carol (Mary Steenburgen), Diane (Diane Keaton), and Sharon (Candice Bergen). In this next instalment, they travel to Italy for Vivian’s bachelorette party. However, with the sudden inclusion of an old flame (Vincent Ricotta) and a persistent police chief (Giancarlo Giannini), the trip doesn’t go according to plan.
