Review: Downton Abbey’s fairy tale continues to fester
Movie Review: Downton Abbey
Julian Fellowes created a perfect little universe inside a crystal ball, then filled it with the suggestion of outside elements — a pinch of painted sand and glitter that he can agitate to conjure a snowstorm of conflict. The new feature film stays inside the gorgeous snow globe as a Royal Visit shakes up the Crawley family, and sets the stage for the next century -- as well as a continuing film franchise.
Tiff 2019 finds its controversy in Jojo Rabbit
A young boy in Nazi Germany turns for moral guidance to a fantasy figure of Adolf Hitler in this satire that has sharply divided critics
By Jay Stone
TORONTO — Film festivals need movies that people can argue about, and the Toronto film festival has been blessed with a good one: Jojo Rabbit, a comedy set in Nazi Germany. Some people, including half of the representatives of Ex-Press.com, argue that it’s juvenile, and in bad taste, and — worst of all — not funny. Others, including the other half of Ex-Press.com staff, think it’s bold, original and filled with laughs.
And we’re not the only ones. The aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes gives it a favourable rating in the 70s, but the opinions are wildly divergent, from raves (“a triumph. A film of sophisticated brilliance and humour:” Jason Gorber, HighDef Digest) to pans (“conventional, lazy and incredibly irresponsible filmmaking:” Jordan Ruimy, World of Reel.)
Personally, I ...
The Goldfinch fails to adapt but Donna Tartt’s DNA survives
Movies: #TIFF19 - The Goldfinch
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about survival divided audiences in print form as it fragmented in the final act. John Crowley’s visually satisfying, but dramatically disappointing, movie version falls prey to the same problems in its bid to fit too much into the frame.
Hustlers strips systemic sexism down to the boner
#TIFF19: Hustlers Movie Review
A team of smart pole dancers fleeced the wolves of Wall Street by exploiting their natural resources, but this female revenge story based on a New York magazine piece doesn’t grab at easy conclusions. Director Lorene Scafaria teases out the hard reality of gender inequality, one lap dance at a time.
The movies of TIFF 2019, but not all of them
You don't always get to see a whole movie at a film festival, but sometimes what you do see is enough, Jay Stone discovers
By Jay Stone
TORONTO — Another thing that happens at film festivals is that you don’t see a whole movie because maybe you had to leave to get to another theatre for an even more important film, or because it’s late and you have to get some sleep or you’ll pass out, or because it’s late and you do pass out right there in the cinema and the nice lady next to you has to poke you in the ribs because it turns out you were snoring. You can actually follow a movie this way — often you hear enough dialogue that you dream it — unless it’s a foreign film, in which case you jerk yourself awake and you’re not sure where you are and it takes a few seconds for your eyes to focus enough to read the subtitles.
This is part of the reason that professional film criticism is a young person’s game, or at least an awake person’s ...
#TIFF19 Going to the dogs, cats and bunny rabbits
Movies: #TIFF19
Animals may only occupy the frame for a few moments at at time, but their presence can define an entire character and slant audience reaction in subconscious ways. Critic Katherine Monk does a head count of the creatures great and small appearing at TIFF19.
