Caligula: The Ultimate Cut is deservedly being treated as an event. This restoration of the provocative 1980 swords-and-sandals historical drama is currently being screened in 4K Ultra High Definition at select theatres as part of an exclusive roadshow. The movie is the epitome of a re-imagining; a perfected cut that scraps all of the footage from the box office hit in exchange for a shot list of different angles and takes, as well as using…
Golda kicks off a season of “Oscar bait”, movies that try very hard to make an impression towards the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As much as Guy Nattiv’s film may have been conceived from a good place, with the movie’s heavy use of make-up and prosthetics to transform Oscar-winner Helen Mirren into Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, it’s hard for viewers to dismiss this possible pandering.
The best thing about Hobbs & Shaw, the first feature-length spin-off in the Fast & Furious series, is that anyone can watch it. It does a good job standing on its own legs and distancing itself from its popular franchise; allowing everyone to pick up on the same page. But perhaps in an attempt to give its spin-off series a safe start, Hobbs & Shaw is as typical as action movies come – Hollywood buys…
By: Jessica Goddard Paolo Virzì’s geriatric road trip flick wastes the legendary talents of Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren on some of the most unfortunate forced sentimentality and rushed melodrama I’ve seen in years. Despite a promising premise, this adaption of Michael Zadoorian’s novel of the same name is more often cringeworthy than sincere.
By: Mark Barber Jay Roach’s Trumbo resembles so many “awards season” films. It’s a mildly politicized, star-studded historical drama that wants you to think it’s more important than it is. Ultimately, Trumbo lacks ambition and relevance, and feels little more than a weak attempt to pander to Academy voters.
By: Addison Wylie The most impressive attribute about Monsters University, besides its wit and vibrant animation, is its choice to not use nostalgia as a crutch to help connect movie goers – young and old – to the characters they loved in Pixar’s predecessor. Instead, the film uses two main tactics Monsters Inc. utilized to develop excitement and compassion. Those two ingredients are imagination and heart. The campus life of Mike Wazowski and James P….