Author Archive
 

 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “The Impossible”

    THE IMPOSSIBLE – Worth A Ticket – A Tsunami Film With Both Spectacle and Emotion Director Juan Antonio Bayona has done a spectacular job of re-creating the 2004 Asian tsunami in THE IMPOSSIBLE. Staged...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “At Any Price”

With the notable exception of Friday Night Lights, Hollywood has rarely even attempted a serious depiction of life in the American heartland in recent years.  More often, the center of the country is a setting for stories of ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Thanks For Sharing”

Stuart Blumberg’s first film as a director (his screenwriting credits include The Kids Are All Right), THANKS FOR SHARING, never quite manages to solve its own central problem:  how to make a sensitive and funny (and not...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “The Company You Keep”

As soon as Robert Redford had enough clout to start generating his own movies, he began starring in and often producing some of the best politically-themed films of the 1970s, including The Candidate, Three Days of the Condor�...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Argo”

At this point, with 3 first-rate films to his name, it’s time to stop remarking on how surprising it is that Ben Affleck is a major American filmmaker and just accept that he is one.  His latest, ARGO, is his best yet, ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Much Ado About Nothing”

One of the most charming things about Joss Whedon’s new film of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, unveiled today at the Toronto Film Festival, is that it’s not out to prove anything. Its actors are garbed in modern dress, and...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Anna Karenina”

  ANNA KARENINA – Watch It At Home – Beautiful But Overconceptualized Version of the Tolstoy Classic Joe Wright was introduced to the world with his film of Pride and Prejudice, and it seems like he’s b...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Frances Ha” & “Imogene”

  One of the things that happens at film festivals is that as you see many films in back-to-back proximity, mini-trends start to emerge, at least in the mind, and pictures that were made entirely separately, and which may ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY EARLY FRIDAY BOXOFFICE REPORT – 9/7/12

  Expectations that this would be a dreadful weekend at the boxoffice are already being proved true.  The “big” opening of the week, THE WORDS (CBS) couldn’t even beat last week’s horror cheapie ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “On the Road”

  ON THE ROAD – Worth A Ticket – Kerouac’s Classic Is Beautiful and Atmospheric But Lacks Urgency ON THE ROAD, as a novel and now as a film adaptation, is so enmeshed with the mythology of the real-life p...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Dredd”

DREDD, which kicked off the merrily disreputable Midnight Madness program at the Toronto Film Festival last night, isn’t much, but no one can say the director Pete Travis wasted his 3D budget. Things are constantly hoveri...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S TUESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 9/4/12

Viewers have the same lack of interest in the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION that they did in the Republicans. FOX:  Without the burden of convention coverage, and with its HELL’S KITCHEN/MASTERCHEF double-bill at 2.5/2....
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Grimm” On Mondays Isn’t the “New Normal” Anymore

  Remember this morning when we were remarking on the confusing NBC promos last night that made it sound like GRIMM wouldn’t be airing again on Mondays, when it was scheduled for another Monday broadcast next week? ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: Festival Preview

  The Toronto International Film Festival is, of the major North American festivals, by far the most pleasant to attend.  Its line-up of films and clout are matched only by Sundance’s, and it substitutes balmy 70 de...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED’S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 9/3/12

No one watches TV on Labor Day. NBC:  The post-Olympics scheduling experiment reached its nadir, as STARS EARN STRIPES hit a new low 0.9 in its finale, and GRIMM‘s 1.4 was down 0.2 from last week and just even with its n...
by Mitch Salem