Category: REVIEWS

An emerging political scandal in Toronto in 2013 seen through the eyes of young staffers at city hall and a local newspaper.

Ricky Tollman’s independent feature Run This Town is one that has great ambitions. A large portion of it plays out similarly Adam McKay’s The Big Short in that it is full of quick-cut editing styles and feels like a black comedy documentary more than anything else. The style on display here, while not unique and somewhat tired at this point, did work well for the type of movie that Tollman was going for. Sadly, the technical elements on display here are some of the strongest aspects of Run This Town.

That’s not to say that the film doesn’t have anything going for it besides its in your face editing, because it does. For the first act, the script does set up some genuine tension and intrigue with its politically charged story centered around former Toronto mayor Rob Ford (Damian Lewis). We don’t really see him that much in the movie as Tollman tries to save his appearances for the right sequences. While the story is in relation to Ford, at its core, this film is about this group of young journalists that get caught in the messy web of a humongous scandal.

For the most part, the lead characters that we follow don’t get a whole lot of development along the way. They don’t even have arcs. They can only be interesting once the film’s second act kicks into place, as that is the section of the movie in which these people feel like they need to take action with this scandal. They feel like it is their responsibility to do something about it.

The person that feels the strongest about this story and wants to get it out there the most is Bram Shriver (Ben Platt), who works for an entertainment company called The Record. As an employee there, he feels like he doesn’t have a lot of room to grow. He feels like he isn’t sure if he wants to keep doing what he is doing there because all his job lets him do is publish top ten list articles, such as the “Top 10 Best Burgers in Toronto”. While he appreciates the work that they give him, he knows deep down inside that he can do much more than write articles like that. He wants to be taken a bit more seriously. He knows that he is capable of writing much more than just top ten articles. Watching his story unfold was easily one of the best elements about the film.

Speaking of Bram, he is played with a sense of raw power by Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk). Platt feels intentionally reserved and quiet as the character, but feels totally invigorating and enthralling whenever he needs to be. Looking at his acting on display here was quite intriguing, as it felt like at any moment, he could explode and reach his breaking point. It was fascinating.

I really wish I could say that the rest of the movie was as fascinating as Platt’s performance (and all of the other performances, too). What makes this film greatly suffer is, unfortunately, its screenplay. Clocking in at ninety nine minutes, Run This Town feels significantly shorter than it should have been. The script throws so many philosophical ideas and themes towards us and tries to see if it will all stick. It doesn’t. They only chose to focus on some of the most surface-level themes, where there should’ve been focusing on the other plotlines they teased along the way.

It’s story is told in a disappointingly sloppy way and, for a long while, it feels like it is never going to go anywhere. There are simply way too many scenes of characters talking to one another without ever progressing the plot along. The first act feels like a set-up for the following two acts, which is totally fine. The problem is that the following acts don’t do a good enough job of resolving the conflict that was set up earlier.

As a result, we have a movie that feels half-baked and lackluster in the grand scheme of things. If the script had spent more time trying to develop the characters a little better and focused more on making this story feel more juicy and deep-cutting, it could have been a greatly entertaining drama.

Run This Town ultimately doesn’t go anywhere with its underwhelming and bland script that doesn’t quite handle its ideas in a satisfying way.

After staging his own suicide, a crazed scientist named Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) uses his power to become invisible to stalk and terrorize his ex-girlfriend Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss). When the police refuse to believe her story, she decides to take matters into her own hands and fight back.

Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man serves as a retelling of the classic story of the same name by legendary science fiction and horror author H. G. Wells, and has often been retold in the feature film format as well. The one that you are probably the most familiar with is the 1933 version directed by James Whale. It is widely regarded as one of the most influential horror movies of all time thanks to its creepy thrills and excellent adaptation of Wells’ original story.

But as great as that 1933 film was, Whannell’s adaptation of this story will go down as the definitive edition. It is an extraordinarily inventive, expertly crafted masterclass of horror with one of the most gripping and enthralling screenplays that the genre has to offer in this day and age.

On the surface, The Invisible Man comes across as a fully fledged horror movie. It’s even how it has been marketed in all of the trailers, posters, and other promotional material. But going into the theatre expecting traditional horror would be a gargantuan mistake, as this is a psychological thriller in every way. It’s a story about a woman who feels unheard and disregarded by everybody around her after getting terrorized by this unseen force, and along the way, we get to go on a thought-provoking journey with her.

It’s all thanks to the superb screenplay by Whannell. This is not his first outing in the genre either. Far from it, actually. In the past, he has penned the scripts for several films in the Saw franchise, Insidious, and Dead Silence. He has only recently dipped his toe into the directing field, with him helming Insidious: Chapter 3 and Upgrade just a couple of years ago.

This is without a doubt his finest work to date. With every passing scene, he finds incredibly genius ways to divert viewers’ expectations and constantly leaves you guessing what will happen next. This is something that is so rare for the genre nowadays. A bunch of horror movies are extremely predictable and feel stale. It can be genuinely tricky to find new things to do creatively, yet Whannell has found a way to craft a highly grounded film about revenge, family, and being heard, all while telling an incredibly thrilling story that will surely delight those looking for adrenaline.

As the film progresses, we constantly feel on edge. It truthfully felt as if the titular villain could have shown up at any moment to hurt our protagonist, and a lot of this tension is created due to the absolutely stellar sound design. This is a crucial element in horror. Using sound in an effective way works in spades, which is one of the reasons why A Quiet Place was so riveting. Both The Invisible Man and A Quiet Place feel extremely suspenseful and silent for a large portion of the running time. They are so quiet, in fact, that it makes us feel like we can no longer breathe because we are constantly waiting for something to happen. But then, right when we least expect it, we may hear something loud of subtle that gives us a shock. Using the right sounds when audiences least expect it can go a long way, and The Invisible Man does that brilliantly.

The sound design is also finely complimented with some of the most impressive cinematography in the past year. Stefan Duscio (Upgrade, Jungle) served as the film’s director of photography and finds ways to set up the camera in bone-chillingly effective ways. He uses a ton of wide shots, which makes the audience feel as if the Invisible Man is lurking in every scene, but we just can’t see him.

All of these great technical elements come together to make a visually stunning movie on every level. But all of that aside, what stands out as exceptional here is Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia. This is not only the greatest performance she has ever given in a film, but it is downright Oscar worthy. The Academy will surely not nominate her for anything, due to this being a horror movie, but she really deserves recognition for this role.

She portrays Cecilia with an extreme sense of vitality and emotion, and stands out as above the echelon. Watching her onscreen is a movie in and of itself. She is truly encapsulating here. In addition to this, her character is one that is greatly unpredictable and invigorating to follow.

Throughout the course of two hours, we learn plenty of information about her and her past life with Adrian. We know that he was incredibly abusive to her when they were together, and she felt like she was constantly on a leash. She felt as if she did not have any freedom whatsoever. Watching Cecilia finally attempt to break free from this pain was emotionally moving and exciting. Her character development and overall arc was incredibly powerful to see unfold.

Aside from Moss, all of the other actors do fantastic jobs in their roles as well. None of the others feel sidelined, either. They all feel like they are playing integral roles in the overarching story. A story that was equal parts spellbinding and shocking. If Whannell wants to continue making movies like this, there would be absolutely no complaining from me.

Inventive and brilliantly suspenseful, The Invisible Man is a masterclass of horror, and further cements Leigh Whannell as one of the genre’s most exciting voices.

A troubled young woman named Abby (Tuppence Middleton) returns to her hometown of Niagara Falls, where the memory of a long-ago kidnapping quickly ensnares her.

Albert Shin’s latest feature film Disappearance at Clifton Hill starts off with a bang. A creepy opening lets us in on an unnerving scene. A young child is with her family in the Niagara Falls area taking pictures with one another. So far, so normal right? However, right out of the corner of her eye, she sees what she suspects is a kidnapping. During her adult life, she has not really been able to shake this incident from her memory. She feels almost as if it is her responsibility to uncover this mystery that may or may not have happened all these years ago.

The way the opening of the film sets up the rest of the story along the way was done in a great and brilliant way. Unfortunately, as impressively crafted and acted as Disappearance at Clifton Hill is, it ultimately fizzles out as a disappointingly bland and generic mystery thriller that suffers from its incoherent screenplay and uninspired storytelling.

Shin co-wrote the script for the film with James Schultz, and while they do set up some genuinely creepy and disturbing scenes, the vast majority of these plotlines don’t go anywhere all that exciting or intriguing. Furthermore, it takes an incredibly long time for them to get going too. The first thirty minutes of this movie are there to set things up and get viewers interested. The problem is that it not only makes it hard to revisit the film a second time, but it gets a bit frustrating on the initial viewing. A large portion of the first thirty minutes is expository dialogue being spoken by a few characters and pointless sequences that could have either been significantly trimmed down or removed from the film as a whole.

However, as the second act draws to a close and the third act starts up, Disappearance at Clifton Hill‘s entertainment value picks up tremendously. From there, we actually get to learn a lot about the aforementioned kidnapping, and it is by far the most enjoyable part of this picture. As entertaining and often satisfying as it is, it doesn’t really have that much of an emotional impact or shock value due to the rest of the movie beforehand being relatively dull and uninspired. A lot of the story feels similar to other, better mystery shows like Twin Peaks and The X-Files.

If there is one thing to praise here, it is absolutely the acting on display from the whole cast. They all bring their A-game to the movie and there truly is not a weak link among the entire ensemble. While some of them don’t really get a lot to do sadly, seeing their great performances on display was a treat. Out of them all, the standout is easily Middleton as lead protagonist Abby. She portrays her with a great sense of vitality and she feels remarkably raw throughout.

In addition, the film contains a delightfully creepy score from Alex Sowinsky and Leland Whitty. It is their music that kicks off the entire thing and they carry greatly unnerving tunes throughout the entire running time. Their musical score was accompanied with some stellar cinematography by Catherine Lutes as well.

As a whole though, this was an underwhelming movie that felt like a missed opportunity in a ton of areas. With a better screenplay, this could have been one of the first great movies of the year, but sadly, Disappearance at Clifton Hill suffers from an incoherent and uninspired script even if it boasts great performances and stellar technical achievements.

What a struggle it has been to get The Invisible Man back onto the big screen. Not only was the last Invisible Man film Paul Verhoeven’s shockingly underwhelming Hollowman, but the character has been attached to at least two Universal Pictures failed cinematic universes. There was the atrocious I Frankenstein, the boring Dracula Untold and the awful Tom Cruise led The Mummy – all with the goal of starting a new monster series for the classic Universal properties.

The only reason I was looking forward to this one was because the reliably enjoyable Blum House was producing it and Leigh Whannell blew me away with the fantastic Upgrade. So how does the film fair after all this complication?

Very loosely based on the H. G. Wells novel, The Invisible Man follows Kate Moss as a woman who has escaped an abusive relationship. When she hears that her violent ex has apparently committed suicide and left her a ton of inheritance money, it looks like her life is back on track. However, when strange things start happening – subtle at first but increasingly more erratic – she finds that her ex is not only alive and well, he has found a way to be invisible and is using this ability to torment her. Being more abused than ever and finding herself to be more isolated, it’s only a matter of time before she breaks down for good. Unless she can stop him.

It is too early to tell right now, but I feel that this film will go down as one of the greatest remakes of all time. It does for The Invisible Man what John Carpenter did for The Thing and David Cronenberg did for The Fly. Leigh Whannell promises to be one of the best directors working today, and I look forward to whatever he makes next – or at least I would were it not an Escape From New York project (we’ll see on that one). I feel like everything in this film was masterful.

I will not go on without praising Kate Moss. Her performance is so understated and yet absolutely perfect. She feels like a woman wanting to get back on her feet and find a way to move past the abuse she has been subjected to for years, yet this one man is keeping that from happening. It’s heartbreaking and makes this film feel like an underdog story – you root for her ever step of the way.

And she is matched by a great villain. The Invisible Man himself is a very silent character, but words are unnecessary. He has a plan, and we can tell he has one even though we have no idea what the next step is until it’s too late. It makes him as terrifying as any horror villain before him, and in many cases more so.

Whannell’s directing is superb. There are countless long shots or panning shots with huge empty spaces in them. You find yourself scanning the whole screen – you know that you will not see him, you can’t, but you are looking for any sign of him. His breath, something move as he rubs against it, even the faintest sound. It’s using the camera against you, in a way that makes the experience tense and terrifying. Made even more so by the fact that we have no idea which scenes he is present in and which he is not for the most part. 

I loved the films lived in sets and the score was delightfully eerie as well. While I will not spoil it, I thought that how the Invisible Man was, well, invisible in this film was refreshing and smart, certainly better than the other adaptations – much less silly. The script is very strong as well, with perfect pacing, great dialogue and some terrific set pieces and twists. I will say that I did have my gripes with it.

The main two were that, while the film puts a fair bit of focus on security cameras at times, there are points where the protagonist’s innocents can be proven by people looking at the footage. It’s something that you have to accept is just happening for the film to work – and it does work, it’s just a bit weird. And then there is the issue of ‘how did he get here so fast?’. There’s one moment when a character drives miles away, with no way that she was followed, and the Invisible Man still shows up for a moment. But these are just gripes, they don’t spoil the overall film.

It’s just too good a film to pass up. I’d call it the best horror film since The Babadook. I put it on par with Upgrade – the two are very different films from the same talented director. It’s nice to see a horror film this big be slow and methodical. When it finally goes for the throat towards the end, it feels earned. It’s the reward, made sweeter by the respect the film pays it audience. Ironically, The Invisible Man is a must see film.

Marcel Duchamp: The art of the possible is an illuminative account of the origin and legacy of the “Father of conceptualism” Marcel Duchamp. An inspiration to an enormous variety of artists, it wouldn’t be difficult to find people to speak about his impact, but director Matthew Taylor excels in gathering top-tier voices to illustrate the point.

Artists (Marina Abramovic), musicians (David Bowie), and filmmakers (Michel Gondry) alike cite Duchamp as the foundation for their respective practices. 

Associated with myriad art movements including Dada, Cubism, and Conceptualism, Duchamp is known for creating paintings, sculpture and film. It is fitting, therefore, that Matthew Taylor is himself a multi-disciplinary artist.

Taking on the establishment of his day, Duchamp likens art to religion “It is irrelevant” he says, with too much emphasis on places of worship and not enough on intent. The key to his philosophy is found in a succinct statement: “I don’t believe in art. I believe in artists.”  

It’s clear to see throughout Taylor’s documentary what a profound effect Duchamp had on the people around him. Even decades after his death, his stepson Paul Matisse (Grandson of Henri) is visibly upset at recalling his funeral. 

Marcel Duchamp: The art of the possible is a chronological account. At 86 minutes, it is thorough but does drag a little in places. It’s heavy on the talking heads historians, and although their monologues are thoroughly informative, their enthusiasm fails to transfer to the audience.

https://vimeo.com/343677744

But stick with it—the pace picks back up once Duchamp makes it to New York.

Matthew Taylor’s documentary is more than a potted history for art students. It is an excellent source for anyone interested in visual culture, 20th Century history, or rejecting the establishment.