Film Festival

Toronto Film Festival 2024 Reviews: “Saturday Night” & “Conclave”

Posted September 21, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  SATURDAY NIGHT (Columbia/Sony – Sept 27):  It’s easy to imagine a film about Saturday Night Live making a statement about the cultural, political and financial impact of the show, or recounting its long journey from being a shout of youthful abandon to one of the last remaining pillars of traditional broadcast television.  That isn’t the […]

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Archive

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: Sarah Polley’s “Take This Waltz”

Posted September 11, 2011 by Mitch Salem

> In just her second feature film as a director (her first was 2006’s Oscar-nominated Away From Her), Sarah Polley demonstrates that she’s already a filmmaker with rare grace and sensuality in TAKE THIS WALTZ, which premiered tonight at the Toronto Film Festival.  Blessed with yet another superb lead performance by Michelle Williams, Polley’s film […]

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Articles

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Lay the Favorite”

Posted January 23, 2012 by Mitch Salem

> The fundamental problem with LAY THE FAVORITE, Stephen Frears’ new film that premiered last night at Sundance, is that it’s made by people who seem to have little if any interest in gambling. And since this is a movie about the thrill and especially the business of gambling, that means they don’t have any […]

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Film Festival

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “The Company You Keep”

Posted September 9, 2012 by Mitch Salem

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 and All the President’s Men.  Laudably, in this latter portion of his career, he’s continued to be one of the […]

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Film Festival

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE 2013: “Toy’s House”

Posted January 26, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  TOY’S HOUSE is a delightful Sundance surprise, a fresh take on adolescent boys coming of age.  The conceit of Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ film, written by Chris Galletta, is that Joe Toy (Nick Robinson), his best friend Patrick (Gabriel Basso), and a very strange tagalong named Biaggio (Moises Arias) don’t just run away, they literally find an […]

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Film Festival

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “The Last of Robin Hood”

Posted September 12, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD is an odd miss, a sliver of movie history that seems to have all the right elements but never quite jells.  The title refers to Errol Flynn, legendary swashbuckling star of The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, The Dawn Patrol and many other classic Hollywood adventures, and it’s hard to […]

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Current Release

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto 2014 Review: “St. Vincent”

Posted September 5, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  ST. VINCENT (Weinstein) – Opens October 24 – Worth A Ticket Bill Murray has perfected the persona of the grouchy, reluctant hero.  The image has even attached itself to him professionally:  although he’s not close to being even semi-retired (ST. VINCENT, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and opens next month, will be […]

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Current Release

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Capsule Reviews

Posted September 20, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  A week at the Toronto Film Festival added up to 24 screenings–a decent pace, but not an outstanding one.  Blame some vagaries of the festival’s scheduling, and a baseline decision that Midnight Madness was too much midnight and maybe even too much madness.  The potential awards contenders I wasn’t able to get to included […]

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