The Buzz

Horror tale Haunting Melissa targets app audiences

Categories: Featured, Movies, Social Media

Tags: app, content, digital, Haunting Melissa, horror, story

If you're seeking the weather, the news or a pic of what your buddy had for lunch, there are apps for that. What about an original, Hollywood-calibre ghost story from a producer of The Ring and Mulholland Drive? Now, there's an app for that, too. Haunting Melissa ventures into the burgeoning realm of digital storytelling as a traditional ghost story with a modern twist -- namely a tale that unfolds through an iOS app.

FILM REVIEW: Star Trek Into Darkness

Categories: Movies

Tags: Bruce Greenwood, Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams, John Cho, Star Trek, Zachary Quinto

Future Star Wars director J.J. Abrams beams back into the world of Star Trek with the sequel Into Darkness. The new journey offers a mix of the fun and the familiar, anchored by the warm relationships of the classic characters.
Ricky Gervais brings back David Brent, Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumped and Sarah Silverman says 'This better be funny' as comedians line up to take part in YouTube Comedy Week. The online event, running May 19-25, features both stars and emerging talent and is just the start of YouTube's plan to grab eyeballs.

FILM REVIEW: Blackbird

Categories: Movies

Tags: Alexia Fast, Blackbird, bullying, Connor Jessup, Jason Buxton

The bullying drama Blackbird made waves upon its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. Exploring bullies, teen killers and a young man caught in a cycle of fear and isolation, Jason Buxton has made a powerful, surprising film, says Eli Glasner.

Yo dawg! Original Idol judge Randy jumps ship

Categories: Music, Television

Tags: American Idol, Randy Jackson, singing contest

Amid American Idol's plummeting ratings and rumours of a massive revamp for the one-time TV ratings giant, O.G. judge Randy Jackson has announced he's taking his leave from the televised singing contest.

Lip-sync battle: Fallon vs. Krasinski

Categories: Television

Tags: John Krasinski, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, lip-sync

Jimmy Fallon channels Melissa Manchester, while John Krasinski covers Katy Perry as the two funny men turn lip-syncing into a piece of hilarity.

Julie Payette on Hollywood's space stories

Categories: Movies

Tags: Apollo 13, astronaut, Julie Payette, space movies, TIFF Lightbox

When Hollywood sends gritty miners to alien planets or blue collar oil-rig workers into space, it doesn't bother Julie Payette. "It's when the laws of physics are completely broken... then I'm a bit of a critic," laughed the Canadian astronaut, who is in Toronto to watch and discuss the film Apollo 13 at TIFF Lightbox.

Iron Man: a hero for our times?

Categories: Movies

Tags: Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr., superhero

From a clean-cut Superman to a dark and brooding Batman, it seems that each generation gets a cinematic superhero reflecting the era. Now that a pompous billionaire playboy-turned-saviour is busting box office records in Iron Man 3, Eli Glasner ponders what this says about us today.

Hot Docs explores New Wave in Russian documentary

Categories: Movies

Tags: Anton Seregin, Denis Klebleev, Hot Docs, Juri Rechinsky, Russian filmmakers

A new generation of Russian filmmakers turned up at Toronto's Hot Docs festival this year. They grew up in the years of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and they focus on the personal stories of a society in flux -- from the protestors on the streets of Moscow to the down and not-quite-outs of Kiev.

FILM REVIEW: Iron Man 3

Categories: Movies

Tags: comic book, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr.

What do you do after saving the world? That's the question posed in Iron Man 3, the newest superhero instalment following the blockbuster crossover The Avengers. Eli Glasner takes a look at the new film and the power boost it gets from a caustic new director.

The return of Harmony Korine

Categories: Movies

Tags: Harmony Korine, pop culture, Spring Breakers, Twitter

After two decades of provocative, edgy creations that left him on mainstream culture's  sidelines, filmmaker Harmony Korine's distinctive language -- short bursts of imagery, fragmented narrative and repetition, as seen in his latest film Spring Breakers -- seems to be resonating with the Twitter generation.