When Halloween rings my bell each year, I like to dig out a scary movie or two to get into the spirit of things. I’m not really into serious horror, nothing with too much blood or violence; generally I enjoy stuff that’s more suspenseful, fantastical or creepy. In the past, I’ve rewatched old X-Files episodes…
Category: Movies
Serenity (2005) – Capsule Review
After hours of listening to fan podcasts and rewatching the entire TV series on DVD, there was no way that I wasn’t going to love Serenity. And as a fan hoping for sequels, I’m glad that most reviews and audience response seems to agree. Despite the sci-fi trappings of this movie, it’s the interesting characters…
Corpse Bride (2005) – Capsule Review
Director Tim Burton’s previous voyages to the land of odd (such as Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Ed Wood), have led audiences to expect his films to be completely off-kilter. However, while Corpse Bride obviously skews towards the ghoulish, that is all that really separates it from your average animated romance. There are splashy musical…
The Pleasures of Cinema: Toronto International Film Festival 2005
Over the last few years, the Toronto International Film Festival has become a glamourous celebrity-filled event as Hollywood comes to our fair city to promote its latest films. I’ve only been attending for a couple of years, but for me it’s still more about seeing some interesting movies that might not make it to the…
Fifteen Flicks for Fall
Summer’s coming to a close. Blockbuster season (such as it was) is over. As we gear up for the battle of the Oscar contenders, there are still plenty of awesome offerings that aren’t necessarily all about going for the statuette. Here are my most anticipated films for the rest of the year. By the way,…
Capsule Movie Review: Mean Creek (2004)
“When a small town kid gets beat up by a school bully, his brother and his friends decide to teach the bully a lesson.” It sounds like the plot to an afterschool special. When the prank goes tragically awry, it starts to sounds like a coming-of-age melodrama. I think this film actually comes somewhere in…
Capsule movie review: The Forgotten
This title is so ripe for punning: “If only this terrible movie could be so easily forgotten!” Julianne Moore stars as a mother who is having trouble letting go of the memory of her nine-year-old son, who is presumed dead after his plane went down. She’s constantly looking at photos and videos of him to…