Katherine Monk 399 results

Katherine Monk is a former movie critic with The Vancouver Sun and Postmedia News, as well as co-founder of The Ex-Press. She still watches a lot of movies. She can be heard talking about them on CBC Radio, and you can read what she thinks about them here, exclusively in The Ex-Press.

4Score

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Will Blow Your Mind

#VIFF17 Capsule Movie Review - Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Alexandra Dean's new documentary reveals the iconic beauty's intelligence as well as her patent for 'frequency hopping' -- technology now widely used in cell phones, GPS and Wifi
3.5Score

Victoria and Abdul: We Are Amused… and Moved

Movie Review: Victoria and Abdul Judi Dench brings humour and human frailty to the iconic image of Queen Victoria in a surprisingly intimate take on friendship from director Stephen Frears  
4Score

Blade Runner 2049 Functions on Memory More than Feelings

Movie review: Blade Runner 2049 Denis Villeneuve recreates the moral vacancy that defined Ridley Scott's masterpiece through his textured frames, but even with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling in lead roles, the movie lacks an emotional connection
3Score

American Made a Tragedy in Denial

Movie Review - American Made Tom Cruise and Doug Liman fabricate an entertaining ride around an Iran-Contra history lesson, but without a moral compass or emotional stabilizers, the story of fallen pilot Barry Seal doesn't land
4Score

Battle of the Sexes: Bring it On

Movie review: Battle of the Sexes Emma Stone and Steve Carell serve and volley into Oscar contention in Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's detailed recreation of a tennis match that made history and an event that redefined pop culture
2Score

Kingsman: Golden Circle a Misogynist Swirl

Movie Review: Kingsman — The Golden Circle Director Matthew Vaughn loses the satirical dimensions of the graphic novel in this second live-action adaptation of Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons's sendup of the gentleman spy archetype, and not even the A-list cast of Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges can save this vulgar parade of obscenity

Mike White Updates Status Consciousness

Movies: TIFF17 The writer-director of Brad's Status is an indie darling, but he says he still wrestles with insecurity and ego issues because we live in a world of false comparisons By Katherine Monk TORONTO — “I think you have your epiphany, and then you forget about it,” says Mike White. “Then you remember it again. And you forget it again. It’s like you are inching toward wisdom. Or circling the drain.” White seems to be doing all of the above, all the time, because his mind seems to radiate ideas. He creates tangent lines mid-sentence, leaving orbit, only to fall back to earth, chained by the full force of gravity. It’s his ability to levitate and fall with giddy aplomb that makes his voice so unique and his characters so memorable, whether it’s Selma Hayek as massage therapist and healer in Beatriz at Dinner, Laura Dern as a recovering executive experimenting with faith in Enlightened, or the entirely childlike Chuck, from the indie landmark Chuck & ...

The Motive Moves in Mysterious Ways

Movies: TIFF17 Capsule Reviews Javier Gutierrez stars as a notary struggling to write the great novel without success until he starts eavesdropping on his neighbours in Manuel Martin Cuenca's darkly comic exploration of the writerly quest By Katherine Monk The writerly process is a running theme here at the Toronto International Film Festival. Darren Aronofsky’s mother! and Haifaa Al Mansour’s Mary Shellery may be the headliners, but hiding in the background is a little film called The Motive (El Autor), a Spanish film about a notary struggling to write the great novel. A dark comedy that has an ability to offer a string of surprises out of left field, The Motive stars Javier Gutierrez as Alvaro, the number cruncher with great expectations. He lives in a beautiful flat in Seville with his wife (Maria Leon) — a sexy and successful writer in her own right. Everyone loves her work, but Alvaro thinks she writes crowd-pleasing pap. He craves substance — writing with real ...

Time-travelling in Uptight Toronto

Movies - TIFF17 Katherine Monk goes back to the future and catches up with the past in a day that includes a haunted Jim Carrey, a brush with the Khmer Rouge, a chilling take on the Chinese stock market and a moving visit to a psychiatric ward in Bille August's 55 Steps By Katherine Monk TORONTO (September 12, 2017) — Today, I was a time-traveller. I started in the mid-1980s in San Francisco, fast-forwarded to 1990 to pay a visit to the Man in the Moon, spent some time dodging the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia circa 1975, then took a break at the modern-day New York Public Library before entering 19th century London to hang out with Mary Shelley and Lord Byron. By nightfall, I was entering a very uncertain future as I headed to China and realized the entire global economy was a house of cards about to be undone by a game of three-card monty using Mah Jong tiles. It can all be a little overwhelming. Fortunately, I took notes: 8:45 am: I prepare myself for 55 Steps by ...

Battle of the Sexes Rages On

Movies: TIFF17 Stories about strong women continue to struggle for popular approval while movies about middle-aged men absorbed in their own search for success are celebrated for brave storytelling By Katherine Monk TORONTO (September 11, 2017) — Battle of the Sexes is the title of one of the bigger buzz movies at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, but four days into this exhaustive and exhausting celebration of cinema, it may as well be a central theme. On one side, the festival is showcasing films featuring strong women with the courage to pursue their dreams. On the other, it’s awash in the insecurities of middle-aged men terrified by the prospect of being forgotten. Or, worse yet, being altogether average. Maybe it was just the course of my day that kicked off with the press and industry screening for Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton’s take on the famous 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. I thoroughly enjoyed their period ...