A family spends one final weekend together at their Connecticut beach house in Blackbird before saying goodbye to a loved one. It’s never easy to say goodbye to family members when you know they are dying. You don’t know if the next time you’ll see them is going to be the last. This isn’t the case in Blackbird because everyone knows this will be the last time they see Lily (Susan Sarandon). Paul (Sam Neill)…
"Blackbird Mixes Drama With Humor"Author: Danielle Solzman
Danielle Solzman
Writer-director Emma Seligman spoke with Solzy at the Movies during the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival about Shiva Baby. Shiva Baby is holding the Canadian premiere during TIFF right after acquiring a distributor in Utopia. What were the some of the things you were looking for in terms of a distributor? Emma Seligman: I think that was the main focus was always wanting someone that had a track record of supporting independent film and films…
"Toronto 2020: Emma Seligman talks Shiva Baby"
Challenger: The Final Flight is a four-part documentary series that explores both the lead-up and the aftermath of the Challenger explosion. Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, and Dick Scobee were among NASA’s graduating class of 1978. This was the most diverse class as the space program gave way to the 1980s. Unfortunately, their lives would be lost in an accident that could have and should have been prevented. As viewers learn during the program,…
"Challenger: The Final Flight"
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous follows in the spirit of the 2015 Jurassic World film as the new series premieres on Netflix. Imagine being chosen for the opportunity of a life time. If you love dinosaurs, it’ll be sure to be an experience that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. After all, this is Jurassic World that we’re talking about! Darius Bowman is a dinosaur-obsessed teen and an avid reader of Dr. Grant’s work.…
"Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Keeps The Spirit"
Almost Famous, an instant classic from writer-director Cameron Crowe, celebrates its 20th anniversary of its theatrical release in 2000. Cameron Crowe draws on his real-life experiences writing for Rolling Stone to tell this semi-autobiographical story. The things that William Miller (Patrick Fugit) experiences are things that Crowe did in real life. They say to write what you know, right? In any event, William doesn’t exactly have the best home life. His mom (Frances McDormand), recently…
"Almost Famous Celebrates 20th Anniversary"
In her first turn as a feature film director, Oscar-winning actress Regina King hits a home run on the first try with One Night In Miami… A more than brief prologue sets the tone of the film before we ever see the title on screen. One by one, we’re introduced to the major players Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.). The main action…
"Toronto 2020: One Night In Miami…"
David Byrne’s American Utopia is an absolute joy to watch no matter how familiar you are with Byrne or the Talking Heads. Before I go any further with my review, please make sure to watch the concert film to the very end. Thanks to the joys of technology, it took three attempts to watch this concert film. After crashing twice on Thursday morning, I decided to make another attempt in the evening. Rather than continue…
"Toronto 2020: David Byrne’s American Utopia"
J Blakeson’s I Care A Lot blends a mix of comedy and thrills to deliver a satire with another strong performance from actress Rosamund Pike. Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is a legal guardian and is the type who will take advantage of any loophole in the system. If it means paying doctors off to have another ward of the state, so be it. Marla is the type of woman who will rob her clients and…
"Toronto 2020: I Care A Lot"
Akilla’s Escape weaves together two different timelines in Brooklyn and Toronto while tackling social issues that remain in the limelight. During a drug trade-gone-bad, Akilla Brown (Saul Williams) captures a teenage and mute Jamaican boy, Sheppard (Thamela Mpulmwana). His youth comes back to him when Akilla learns that Sheppard is a affiliated with the Garrison Army. It just so happens that Akilla’s grandfather founded the Jamaican crime syndicate. Akilla left the life some time ago…
"Toronto 2020: Akilla’s Escape"
No Ordinary Man isn’t so much a documentary of musician Billy Tipton but a major contribution to the history of trans-masculinity. For me, the most important moment in the film came when activist Jamison Green meets Billy Tipton Jr. It’s during this meeting that Green tells the musician’s son that nobody is alone in going through this. For a long time, Tipton Jr. thought he was the only one with such a history. But again,…
"Toronto 2020: No Ordinary Man"