December 15, 2017

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

Reviews and features by: Peter Howell (PH), Liam Lacey (LL), Chris Knight (CK), Barry Hertz (BH), Jason Gorber (JG), Norm Wilner (NW), Gilbert Seah (GS), Radheyan Simonpillai (RS), Jim Slotek (JS), and Glenn Sumi.

Opening this Week

Call Me By Your Name (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

“[Guadagnino] has created his masterpiece with Call Me by Your Name, which saves its most powerful moments for the final ones” — PH, who interviewed star Timothée Chalamet on his ballooning career

“While the two younger men have been sidestepping their feelings for the previous two hours, Stuhlbarg’s professor reveals his own inner life in one scene, and it’s devastating” — Glenn Sumi

“Disgustingly beautiful – the film is all good-looking on the outside and feeling like a fairy tale, neglecting the downers of coming out as gay” — GS

“The film is awash in sensual sounds, from the buzzing insects and birdsong of its rural setting, to an unforgettable scene involving a moist peach” — CK

“Unlike most movie romances, there are no external obstacles to their inevitable bittersweet affair, just each other’s initial resistance. Both play at romance with women, none of whom really seem to hold any of this against them” — JS

Ferdinand (dir. Carlos Saldanha)

“Everything comes together nicely in the final act, pitting Ferdinand against his antagonists but refusing to compromise his principles. The movie finds just the right ways to make him heroic” — RS

“It’s no Coco, but it makes its mark, based on the ever popular book with more humour and laughs” — GS

“The book has not been out of print in the 81 years since it was first published. As to this new release, it’s unlikely to have the same lifespan. Watching it, I smelled something, and it wasn’t flowers” — CK

“Easily stealing the show though is Kate McKinnon’s Lupe, a supposed “calming goat”, with rolling eyes, a lopsided under-bite and lots of bad advice” — LL

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (dir. Rian Johnson)

“The Last Jedi is every bit the franchise blockbuster that studio Disney requires it to be, it’s also very much the embraceable and sustainable story we hoped it would be” — PH

“This is the first Star Wars movie made by an artist instead of a craftsman, and it leaves us on the verge of something new. I’m very, very excited to see what that might be” — NW

“This is what distinguishes this episode from the rest – it is the funniest” — GS

“If this instalment doesn’t quite deliver the same adrenaline rush as The Force Awakens, that may be because the human body can only take so much of that neurotransmitter at a time. Much as I love the Star Wars galaxy, I fear the day is fast approaching when we reach peak Force” — CK

“Make no mistake, the narrative is going forward, however much it resembles the old one, with a plethora of great space battles that resemble dogfights in old war films” — JS

“It’s a film of boldness and ambition, and even if it doesn’t always live up to what it’s striving to communicate it’s to be applauded by taking seriously its mission of expanding what’s come before while doing justice to the best of the past” — JG

“No porgs are available for comment” — BH on the insanity of Disney / Star Wars marketing, including his thoughts on the Disney / Fox merger

The Golden Globes are closer than ever to irrelevancy

BH on the recent nominations and how backwards they are

On the leading edge of speedy cinema

PH counters the idea that making movies quickly is something only seen in younger filmmakers