Category: Movies

3 for FRIDAY: Fast and Furious 6, Epic and Picture Day

Categories: Movies

Tags: Epic, Fast and Furious 6, Picture Day

Eli Glasner takes a quick look at three new films: Picture Day with rising star Tatiana Maslany, the audaciously entertaining Fast and Furious 6 and a nature-themed cartoon for the kids called Epic.

FILM REVIEW: The Hangover Part 3

Categories: Movies

Tags: The Hangover Part 3, wolf pack

In a final outing with the wolf pack, the joke's on us, says Eli Glasner. The Hangover Part 3 is a strangely serious and laugh-free sequel in the popular, offensive and raunchy series.

Pushing Chinese stars beyond gimmicky roles

Categories: Movies

Tags: actresses, beautiful vases, china, chinese cheesecake, gimmick, hollywood, movies

Li Bingbing is the latest comely Chinese face joining a major Hollywood movie, in this case, a fourth Transformers. With Hollywood eager to tap into China's massive movie audience, it's now de rigueur to score a popular Chinese actress for tentpole blockbusters. But Chinese fans want more than gimmicky roles for their homegrown stars and nonsensical versions screened in China alone.

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.

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.

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.