December 1, 2017

Welcome to TFCA Friday, a weekly round-up of film reviews and articles by TFCA critics.

Reviews and features by: Peter Howell (PH), Gilbert Seah (GS), Radheyan Simonpillai (RS), Norm Wilner (NW), and Glenn Sumi.

Opening this Week

Another WolfCop (dir. Lowell Dean)

“The movie can leave you browbeaten, in the same way that most Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell vehicles do, but that makes it easy for Jonathan Cherry to enter a scene and drop a finely timed crack that at the very least will make you smile” — RS

Big Time (dir. Kaspar Astrup Schröder)

“A solid, serviceable profile of Danish star architect – or “starchitect” – Bjorke Ingels as he and his firm, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), go global and begin to reach the heights of that grand, punning title” — Glenn Sumi

“The feeling of exhilaration occasionally rubs off as the audience witnesses the man’s work” — GS

The Disaster Artist (dir. James Franco)

“The old alchemist’s trick of turning lead into gold has nothing on The Disaster Artist, a film that masters the trickier feat of transforming trash into art” — PH, featuring an interview with Dave Franco

“Whether or not you actually like The Room is irrelevant; The Disaster Artist is its own giddy thing, and you don’t have to force yourself to laugh” — NW

“A shallow biography of Tommy Wiseau providing no new insight of the man, but it does provide some solid laughs” — GS

Radius (dir. Caroline Labrèche, Steeve Léonard)

“The movie’s compelling, what-the-hell mood drains away into a series of disappointed shrugs with the occasional disbelieving snort” — NW

“The barren landscape not only shows the nothingness of a large part of Manitoba but reflects where the film is heading” — GS

Suck It Up (dir. Jordan Canning)

“True to life in how it shows two different personalities struggling to engage with each other. It’s well acted, but as so often happens with Canadian films, the landscape is the greater part of the story” — PH

“It’s weirdly charming for a movie so steeped in pain and death, with terrific work from both leads and a nice supporting turn from Great Great Great’s Dan Beirne as a kind-hearted artist who falls into Faye and Ronnie’s decaying orbit. Don’t miss out” — NW

Sweet Virginia (dir. Jamie M. Dagg)

“There are good and bad people but few clear indictors in Sweet Virginia, which still bears the name of an early script that had the story set in Appalachia. It’s hard to suss out motivations; it’s even harder to guess who is carrying the heaviest burden of guilt” — PH

“Dagg just lets it all breathe, building tension as people kill time in diners and motel rooms, hinting that something terrible is coming but not telling us how or when. That’s exactly what this material needs” — NW

“The odd coincidences never end up turning for the better—but for the worse. It is a pessimistic  look at life in a town that sees no light” — GS

Wexford Plaza (dir. Joyce Wong)

“It’s so well put together, it’s hard to believe this is Wong’s first feature” — PH

“Wong and her cinematographer, Maya Bankovic, cook up beautiful ways to make Scarborough look narrow and isolated with no avenues for escape. Betty’s security booth, emanating a sickly yellow glow in the middle of a vast, empty parking lot, pretty much captures the mood of the whole film” — RS