Tag Archives: TIFF

TIFF FILM REVIEW: Scott Cooper’s ‘Hostiles’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Scott Cooper opens his muscular Western tale “Hostiles” with a horrifying sequence of slaughter and he sustains a palpable level of dread as a group of travellers journey hundreds of miles through some of the … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Molly’s Game’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” assumes that to watch obnoxious rich men play the most boring form of poker is actually entertaining. Its story of a glamorous woman whose attempts to exploit the bad behaviour of … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is so full of surprises that when Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), carries an open bottle of wine across a restaurant toward a table where her ex-husband sits with his pretty young … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Armando Iannucci’s ‘The Death of Stalin’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Having savaged British and American politics on television with “The Thick of It” and “VEEP”, Armando Iannucci turns his wickedly satirical eye on Russia with a perceptive and hilarious depiction of what might have happened … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Darren Aronofsky’s ‘mother!’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” is pure hokum but it is very enjoyable hokum, a tub-thumping thriller with a gorgeous young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) spiralling into all kinds of fiendish and inexplicable horror. It’s completely pointless but, … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Saul Dibb’s ‘Journey’s End’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Saul Dibb’s film version of R.C. Sherriff’s “Journey’s End”, a drama about soldiers at the front line of trench warfare, is a valiant attempt but possibly simply because it is a film, it lacks the … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” is a dazzling piece of cinema, a fairy tale for grownups that celebrates the joys of life amid every day banality with the occasional touch of horror. It … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing” is a science-fiction tale that mixes whimsy with social commentary in constantly surprising ways but with ideas so scattershot that they never adhere as a satisfying drama. His filmmaking is so imaginative, … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Stephen Frears’s ‘Victoria and Abdul’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – That Judy Dench stars as the venerable English queen in “Victoria and Albert” tells you all you need to know about what to expect from another tale of one of the widowed monarch’s odd friendships.

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: George Clooney’s ‘Suburbicon’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Joyless, witless and pointless, “Suburbicon” is a would-be black comedy that is simply murky and not in the least comic. It boasts some big names – director George Clooney, stars Matt Damon and Julianne Moore … Continue reading

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