blogTO | Posts by Chandra

This Week in Film: Carnage, We Bought a Zoo, and what's new on DVD and Blu Ray

Chandra Menard — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:53:41 EST

This Week in Film rounds up noteworthy new releases in theatres, as well as key DVD / Blu-Ray releases, festivals, and other cinema-related events happening in Toronto.

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5 films to see at the 2011 Reel Asian Film Festival

Chandra Menard — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:27:05 EDT

The Toronto Reel Asian International Festival opens its 15th edition next Tuesday, November 8th with the Canadian premiere of Lover's Discourse, four overlapping love stories set in Hong Kong. On through to November 13th in Toronto, and then for another week in Richmond Hill, the festival has booked a solid run of screenings, panels, installations, events, and appearances from Canadian and international artists.

The great thing about this year's lineup is the diversity of the screenings and the strength of the in-between films that didn't get "gala" or "centerpiece" billing. It's my third year covering Reel Asian and this has been the best batch of films so far. If you can, check out these five gems from the Far East.

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Bollywood blitz hits Toronto for IIFA 2011

Chandra Menard — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:35:54 EDT

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) handed out trophies to its movie megastars on Saturday night, right here in Toronto. They're like a touring version of the Indian Oscars, but for the South Asian diaspora and Bollywood fans all over the world. And, they are a huge show.

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5 Films to watch at the Toronto Romanian Film Festival

Chandra Menard — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:21:48 EDT

Watch a lot of foreign films and you'll notice that Romania's been pumping out a healthy crop of festival hits in recent years. Catch the latest at the 4th edition of the Toronto Romanian Film Festival, hitting the Bloor Cinema and Innis Theatre this weekend (Friday, May 20th to Sunday, May 22nd). Romania's "New Wave" filmmakers will have new works showcased, along with high profile films from emerging directors.

While it might be wee bit of a struggle to watch a set of slow-moving, minimalistic, ordinary life tales in a block together (like I did this past weekend), here are five films running at this year's festival - and worthy of your eye time.

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Hot Docs 2011 Preview, Part 1

Chandra Menard — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:44:17 EDT

Hot Docs is North America's largest documentary film festival and it's coming up on April 28th with a terrific lineup of close to 200 films. For 2011, Hot Docs has decided to expand and will be showing movies in new neighbourhoods, with venues like The Revue (Roncesvalles) and the Fox Theatre (The Beaches) in the mix. This year, programmers have booked us a profile of Toronto filmmaker Alan Zweig's career, a spotlight on Italian works, and a set called B-Sides of overlooked and underappreciated docs.

Got your picks sorted out yet? A bunch of us here got an early peek at some of the docs screening in this year's festival, and we'll be rounding up our best bets in the coming weeks. Here's a look at some of the docs we've seen so far.

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Bertolucci retro heats up the TIFF Cinematheque winter season

Chandra Menard — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:36:51 EST

They're calling the series Fashion, Fascists and F**king: The Films of Bernardo Bertolucci and it's running at the TIFF Lightbox from January 6th to 23rd. This is good movie-watching news for two reasons. One, it's a complete retrospective of the Italian filmmaker's sexy and politically charged oeuvre and it's in Toronto direct from a run at the MoMA in New York last month. Two, awards season is upon us and the Cineplexes will keep re-screening the same old batch of Oscar contenders until everyone finally breaks down and sees The King's Speech.

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The top 10 Toronto documentaries of 2010

Chandra Menard — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:14:07 EST

The top 10 Toronto documentaries of 2010 wasn't an easy one to put together, I tell ya. Experts were consulted (Hot Docs, NFB, a DOC discussion group), the stellar list of titles had to be tracked down, and then a somewhat biased judging panel consisting myself and a few blogTO writers and editors weighed in. Here are the best 2010 documentaries that tell a story about Toronto or Torontonians.

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The top 10 Toronto film stories of 2010

Chandra Menard — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:48:55 EST

As 2010 comes to a close, in addition to looking back on the year in Toronto film, I'll be busy playing with my new Blu-ray player and Netflix subscription. So will this sweet home entertainment system keep me from going out to see films? Nah. For all the doom and gloom written about the inevitable end of movie theatres, the biggest news for Toronto cineastes this year is that a whole lot more unique and independent screens have opened than closed.

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TIFF Lightbox hosts Tim Burton's misfits and monsters

Chandra Menard — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:18:49 EST

A 21-foot tall Balloon Boy with multiple eyeballs in the Lightbox's lobby can only mean one thing... Tim Burton is here. TIFF rolled out its proverbial red carpet yesterday to welcome the guy (plus 700 or so of his works) in a redesign of last year's hugely popular MoMA exhibit. After setting near-record numbers in New York City, followed by a stint in Australia, Tim Burton's show opens in Toronto this Friday, November 26.

So, is it worth shelling out $22.75 to get into this thing? In a nutshell, yes.

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5 films to watch at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival

Chandra Menard — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 13:04:45 EDT

The Reel Asian Film Festival is fourteen years old and as fabulous as ever. Mark your calendars (November 9th to November 15th) because this year's lineup is gonna take ticket holders to scenes all over Asia and back, from a snowed-over Chinese bordertown, to the bustling streets of Taipei, to Toronto's west end.

It's been one of those "I'm staying in again tonight" weeks where I got to preview a pile of screeners to see what's on offer at this year's festival... and I'm delighted to say I haven't seen a bad film yet from the Reel Asian 2010 mix.

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TIFF reviews: Monsters, Black Swan, Sarah's Key, Meek's Cutoff, The Sleeping Beauty, I Saw the Devil, In a Better World, Beautiful Boy, Promises Written in Water, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Rio Sex Comedy, Good Neighbours

Chandra Menard — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:46:05 EDT

Today marks the end of this year's TIFF which means this will be the last round-up of film reviews we post from the 2010 festival. There were 339 films screening this year and as much as we tried to see them all, we only managed to view (and review) a fraction of them. Our previous reviews can be found here, here and here. Like our previous reviews, we've sorted this final batch into those we highly recommend, recommend or suggest avoiding.

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A peek inside the TIFF Filmmakers' Lounge

Chandra Menard — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:48:03 EDT

I'm not saying anything surprising here, but a TIFF Press pass is pretty sweet. Sure, the industry screenings could do with a little glitz and guest appearances, but the trade-off is a swipe card that gets you into just about anything: screenings, front row on red carpets, press conferences, industry rooms at the Hyatt, and venues like the swanky new Filmmakers' Lounge.

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TIFF reviews: The Debt, The Trip, A Horrible Way to Die, Submarine, Miral, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, 127 Hours, Another Year, Never Let Me Go, Our Day Will Come, Bad Faith, Leap Year

Chandra Menard — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:51:22 EDT

We're now past the half way mark of this year's film festival and we have another batch of reviews of films we've seen so far. Like our previous posts we've grouped these into those we highly recommend, recommend or suggest avoiding.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The Trip
Michael Winterbottom, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon seem to be a failsafe combination. In this collaboration, Coogan and Brydon go on a road trip together in the English countryside on assignment for The Observer newspaper, sampling fine foods, visiting historic sites, hilariously quibbling and competing along the way. The comedians/actors play semi-fictionalized versions of themselves, much like they did for Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. Gut-busting funny.
Screening Sunday, Sept. 19.

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TIFF reviews: Barney's Version, Let Me In, Lapland Odyssey, Passion Play, The King's Speech, What I Most Want, Deep in the Woods, Easy Money, Erotic Man

Chandra Menard — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:49:12 EDT

We're into day 3 at TIFF and we've got nine more films to report back on. Like our initial round-up, we've grouped these into those we highly recommend, recommend or suggest avoiding.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Barney's Version
The much anticipated Robert Lantos-produced film adaptation of Mordecai Richler's celebrated novel doesn't disappoint. Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti give excellent performances in the roles of Izzy and Barry Panofsky but the real eye opener is Rosamund Pike in the role of Barney's third wife Miriam. The story is well crafted, deftly weaving between flashbacks and modern day with scenes shot on location in Montreal and in Italy. Like any book adaptation there's less material in this two hour plus film but fans of the original still shouldn't leave the theatre disappointed. Need more convincing? Looks the Italians loved in at its world premiere screening at the Venice Film festival last night. (TS)

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A tour of the TIFF Bell Lightbox

Chandra Menard — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:20:14 EDT

In three days, Toronto's newest cultural attraction will officially open at King and John. So while the last exhibit pieces are being mounted and the bustling crew adds a few more finishing touches, TIFF invited media to visit its swanky new Bell Lightbox.

Keen to see more of the soon-to-be movie megahub, this time I went in without a hardhat and with blogTO photographer Dennis Marciniak. We didn't get the sponsors' deluxe champagne tour, but we did get tons of photos, plus a sneak peek at the inaugural Essential Cinema exhibit and post-TIFF 2010 programming.

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