It’s time to start thinking about your plans for TIFF 17! We now know about a quarter of the films scheduled to come to town in September and already we’re excited for Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie, Jake Gyllenhaal, George Clooney, Tatiana Maslany, Elle Fanning, Julianne Moore, Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Halle Berry, Tom Holland, Alicia Vikander and hopefully Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip. Let’s take a look at Georgie Boy’s Suburbicon. By the way its been reported that George Clooney has the most attractive face in the world, reaching 92% accuracy according to the ‘Greek golden ratio of beauty. But we digress:
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William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth set in rural England, 1865 is unlike any other period piece about a young girl living in wealth in rural England 1830. This is a chilling, exhilarating masterpiece in which such a woman (Florence Pugh) is sold to a cruel man and his son by her father, along with a parcel of land. Her new family keeps her under lock and key literally and figuratively in repression and fear. She is under virtual house arrest. She’s thinking about how to escape when opportunity arises in the form of a Spanish labourer – they have a torrid affair that sets off something dark in her. She doesn’t care if they are found out; she is now a rapacious warrior exacting vengeance. Never saw such an ambitious, deadly woman in a film in that time period who answers treachery with treachery. She and Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth has much in common but the film is actually based on Nikolai Leskov’s novella “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk”.
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David Leitch’ Atomic Blonde stars Charlize Theron, James McAvoy and John Goodman, Toby Jones and the up and coming Sofia Boutella, an A-list cast. But this is a specific kind of a film, graphically violent, so be warned. Theron is an MI6 agent and skilful fighter who can use a stiletto pretty well to save her life. She is the best of the best of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, a cutthroat amoral agent, who does whatever it takes to get the job done. This time she’s sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the death of a fellow agent, who happened to be her former lover. Don’t bet the farm on this one.
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The Emoji Movie was not screened for critics. I can’t help you. 🙁
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RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World is on now at the Ted Rogers Theatre, from Rezolution Pictures International, an Aboriginal-owned film and television production company based in Montreal. It’s a fascinating music history doc about the rockers we listened to and who shaped our rock music worldview but didn’t realise were First Nations Canadian and American artists. Included are like Jimi Hendrix, Robbie Robertson, Buffy Ste. Marie, Link Wray, drummer Jesse Ed Davis, early radio star Mildred Bailey, John Trudell and many more with commentary by indigenous and non-indigenous stars that cross every genre of music over the last century.
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Kelsey Grammer’s back and he’s not nice! Amazon’s Original Series The Last Tycoon with Matt Bomer and Lily Collins brings F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Hollywood novel to glittering life over nine one hour episodes. The tycoon, studio mogul Monroe Stahr is based on MGM boy wonder Irving Thalberg, deeply artistically inclined but living in a money-driven environment run by an all-powerful boss modeled on the all-powerful moguls of the golden age of Hollywood. Tinsel Town in the thirties was a study in contrasts as Europe inched closer to another great war; Nazis rose up and the great Depression hit as the film industry glittered and sparkled in its finery. Real life events are explored like Germany’s ban on films it deemed anti-Hitler during the war and how that changed Hollywood – for a while. Watch the pilot episode online at Amazon.com/The-Last-Tycoon before the full season’s remaining eight episodes air on July 28. Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Beals and our own Saul Rubinek co-star featuring a top of the line crew on art design, and Pulitzer-winning Fitzgerald scholar A. Scott Berg serves as consulting producer.
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Sundance Now is now in Canada! Robert Redford’s annual film festival and year round film incubator offers an impressive streaming service crammed with a stellar roster of films, documentary and narrative, and series. Imaginative programming events are curated by Ira Glass, Susan Sarandon, Jonathan Demme, Bruce McDonald, Danny Glover and the Duplass Brothers and many others. Sundance offers its picks from other festivals – Cannes, SXSW, Toronto’s Hot Docs – and its Uniquely Themed Collections featuring categories Unlikely Love, Sun’s Out, Guns Out, Rock, Punk, Grunge, Black Live on Film, LGBTQ, Politicians: Heroes and Villains, American New Wave and Canada 150! It’s a wonderful resource, a cineaste’s dream. Soon, we’ll take a look at Sundance’ Canada 150 collection – a real doozy. http://bmpr.ca/2tFYuGQ and or https://www.youtube.com/user/SundanceNow
“He look good for a seven-figure fighter. He look good for an eight-figure fighter. But I’m a nine-figure fighter.” – Floyd Mayweather.
“He could have rode off into the sunset at 49-0. Instead, this is my first time in a boxing ring and in six weeks, I run boxing.” – Conor McGregor
CraveTV presents All Access: Mayweather Vs. Mcgregor from SHOWTIME Sports, a four-part series chronicling the lead up to the August 26 blockbuster pay-per-view fight between boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and UFC
superstar Conor McGregor. It starts Sunday, July 30 and runs until August 20. Fans can delve into the lives and training camps of the outspoken and charismatic champions, as they prepare mentally and physically for the bout. Join them in Las Vegas and Dublin, Ireland and on a four-city press tour including Toronto. From LA faceoff to the final stop London, it’s all fight in Los Angeles it’s all Mayweather and McGregor all the time.
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by @annebrodie
BFCA BTJA AWFJ TFCA FIPRESCI