Category Archives: TIFF Toronto International Film Festival

TIFF FILM REVIEW: Jon Stewart’s ‘Rosewater’

Posted on September 12, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – U.S. comedian Jon Stewart took leave from “The Daily Show” to write and direct “Rosewater” and he has turned out an intelligent and gripping story about a newsman who is incarcerated in Iran as a … Continue reading →

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘Nightcrawler’

Posted on September 10, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – From his first appearance – cadaverous, unblinking and unctuous – Jake Gyllenhaal holds your attention in Dan Gilroy’s disturbing thriller “Nightcrawler” as a nocturnal creature that has emerged from under a rock fully formed as … Continue reading →

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Gemma Arterton in ‘Gemma Bovery’

Posted on September 10, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Anne Fontaine’s “Gemma Bovery” is a witty Gallic fable with a sting in its tail that combines a celebration of glorious femininity with merciless mockery of men who are beguiled by it. Gemma Arterton stars … Continue reading →

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TIFF Film Review: ‘Pawn Sacrifice’

Posted on September 7, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Fast-paced editing, pumped-up music and an assortment of visual textures and styles serve to make a world chess tournament exciting for the uninitiated in Edward Zwick’s sprightly drama “Pawn Sacrifice”. The director, who has made … Continue reading →

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TIFF 2014: A tale of three Equalizers

Posted on September 7, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett File under “it’s a small world”: I’m at my old pal Ron Base’s place in Milton for a Sunday brunch chatting with another guest, Hans Gerhardt, who ran the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto when it was … Continue reading →

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Here’s the original ‘Equalizer’, Edward Woodward

Posted on September 7, 2014 by admin

As Denzel Washington steps into the shoes of Robert McCall in “The Equalizer”, here’s what the original TV Equalizer told me about it in 1986. Edward Woodward died in 2009 aged 79. Hey, instigator! Hypnotizer! Extricator! No matter what you call him, … Continue reading →

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Tom Hardy in ‘The Drop’

Posted on September 7, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett London-born actor Tom Hardy cements his increased movie stardom as a slow-burning tough-guy on the fringes of organised crime in Michaël R. Roskam’s vivid Brooklyn-based noir tale “The Drop”. “Nobody sees you coming, do they,” a cop … Continue reading →

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Jason Reitman’s ‘Men, Women & Children’

Posted on September 6, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett Jason Reitman’s disdainful anthropological film “Men, Women & Children” looks at a small American town and sees only simple-minded, sex-obsessed parents and children who have never heard one word about the marvels of the internet, only its … Continue reading →

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Al Pacino in ‘The Humbling’

Posted on September 5, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett Barry Levinson’s “The Humbling”, starring Al Pacino as an actor past his prime, is an example of how a lousy novel can sometimes make a good movie. Philip Roth’s pretentious and sexist 2009 novel tells of an … Continue reading →

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Downey Jr. and Duvall in ‘The Judge’

Posted on September 5, 2014 by admin

By Ray Bennett Robert Downey Jr. stakes a claim as a serious actor in David Dobkin’s family and courtroom drama “The Judge” and thanks largely to past master Robert Duvall he makes it. It’s a familiar tale. The two stars … Continue reading →

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