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| EFC STATS |
| Movies Listed: |
30756 |
| Total Ratings: |
246674 |
| Total Reviews: |
27662 |
![[158980349 Hits]](/cgi-bin/gd.cgi?158980349)
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| FOREIGNER, THE (2017) |
"Doesn't actually NEED Jackie Chan, but benefits greatly by his presence."
Jay Seaver says... "That "The Foreigner" could likely function almost as well without his title character is either its main weakness or what makes it interesting: It's a fine IRA thriller with a potentially game-changing wild card, and though it does not play that card quite as often as it might, that very fact can sometimes keep the audience off-balance as much as it provides expected thrills." (more)
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| TOM OF FINLAND |
"A fine if too staid portrait of a porn artist."
Rob Gonsalves says... "Touko Laaksonen, better known as the fetish artist Tom of Finland, liked to draw what aroused him: beefy men in uniform, or leather, or leather uniform." (more)
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| HAPPY DEATH DAY |
"A silly slasher that knows exactly what it's doing."
Jay Seaver says... "There's an old-man part of me that is inclined to grumble about how "Happy Death Day" never really spends a whole lot of time on the whys of its time-loop plot, chalking it up to kids raised on video games just taking the idea of multiple lives for granted (at least, until realizing that the people actually making the movie are a generation older and grew up playing the same Atari 2600s I did). That's the part of this particular movie the audience has to just go with, but when you put that aside, there's still a fun scary movie underneath, one that arguably hides its clever construction well enough to come off as enjoyably dumb fun." (more)
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| 78/52: HITCHCOCK'S SHOWER SCENE |
"78 set-ups, 52 cuts, 1 classic scene."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2017 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: Do we really need an entire 90-minute documentary on the shower scene in "Psycho"? No, but then again, we don't need a lot of things that turn out to be pretty interesting, and "Psycho" was a pivotal moment in film history, with the shower scene one that absolutely everybody who has seen it remembers. You could spend a lot more than this time breaking it down - Hitchcock did take a full week to shoot that minute or so of film, after all, and then there was editing and music and all that, so there was thought put into it, and unpacking what seem like thought processes is usually worth doing." (more)
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| BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 |
"Ouch"
Peter Sobczynski says... "“Brawl in Cell Block 99” is a film that feels like what might have resulted if the screenplay for a violent prison potboiler written for American-International Pictures circa 1973 had somehow landed in the hands of the late Stanley Kubrick, who not only chose to direct it himself but elected to apply to it the same kind of formal precision and measured pacing that he employed on “Barry Lyndon.” Not surprisingly, the end result is pretty weird indeed as the disparate elements almost seem to be deliberately working against each other at times and even those who are able to reconcile those extremes may still be put off by its extended running time. And yet, while I am not entirely certain that I enjoyed it in any traditional sense, it does contain some undeniable points of interest and it is better than it probably has any right to be when all is said and done." (more)
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| BLADE RUNNER 2049 |
"Time to live."
Rob Gonsalves says... "There’s a lot to say about "Blade Runner 2049," the long-gestating sequel to the 1982 cult classic, but here’s my initial thought: see it, don’t see it, but know that something like this — a downbeat, two-hour-and-forty-four-minute, expensive (anywhere from $150 to $185 million), R-rated work of art — will not come along again any time soon. (Especially because its opening-weekend take was “only” $31 million, which is thought to be disastrous.)" (more)
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| CITY OF ROCK |
"Good things happen when you hit the "Rock" button."
Jay Seaver says... "As enjoyably goofy as I found Chengpeng "Da Peng" Dong's first film ("Jian Bing Man", aka "Pancake Man"), it didn't quite prepare me for how charmingly silly and sweet "City of Rock" would be. It's the most familiar rock & roll movie plot ever (mismatched band has to put on a show to save their inspiration from a greedy developer), but the jokes are good, the music is catchy, and the cast is awfully easy to like. You don't necessarily need to innovate if you do all that well." (more)
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| CHASING THE DRAGON |
"Big stars, legendary criminals."
Jay Seaver says... "A large part of the buzz I saw on "Chasing the Dragon" was that it featured Donnie Yen in a role that was more "acting" than "action", but even though we know he's playing a character called "Crippled Ho", rest assured, he does a fair amount of punching and kicking in the first act. The rest of the film has a similar sort of stated ambition that ultimately delivers more conventional results, but given that the expected result is a Hong Kong crime movie with plenty of fistfighting and gunplay, that's not a bad fallback." (more)
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VIFF 2017 INTERVIEW: MEET BEAU DICK - MAKER OF MONSTERS DIRECTOR NATALIE BOLL
by Jason Whyte |
| ""MEET BEAU DICK - MAKER OF MONSTERS is a rare and intimate look into the life of one of Canada's legendary artists Beau Dick. The film takes you through his past experiences, the people and places that shaped himself as an artist, community leader, and activist." Director Natalie Boll on MEET BEAU DICK which screens at the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival." (more) |
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VIFF 2017 INTERVIEW: MAINELAND DIRECTOR MIAO WANG
by Jason Whyte |
| ""MAINELAND is a coming of age film that follows a boy and a girl from China's wealthy elite as they settle into a boarding school in a small town in Maine. They are part of the enormous wave of "parachute students" who are sent alone to a boarding school in a foreign country. The film weaves between verite scenes and lyrical cinematic sequences. While told through personal stories and anchored in the universal theme of growing up as awkward teenagers in high school, the film illuminates many larger timely and relevant contexts such as China slash U.S. relations, education, and immigration." Director Miao Wang on MAINELAND which screens at the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival." (more) |
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'THIS IS OHIO. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BREWSKI IN YOUR HAND YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE WEARING A DRESS.'
- Jason Dean, Heathers
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