Let's Hope It's Not Their Last...

Last Vegas

(USA, 104 min.)

Dir. John Turteltaub, Writ. Dan Fogelman

Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen.

If the seventy-seven year-old Robert Redford dies tomorrow, he will exit Hollywood on a very high note. Redford’s performance in the current release All is Lost is a career best for the Hollywood icon and it shows what highs an actor can reach when he takes risks long after he has nothing left to prove. Some of Redford’s contemporaries—Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline—might not leave on the same note if they keel over and die, thus leaving Last Vegas as their final mark on the movies. Last Vegas is by no means a terrible film, nor is it the low point in any of the careers of these actors, but it’s hard to appreciate the novelty of seeing these veterans share the screen in such a derivative picture when Redford eclipses them with a one-man feat. Why assemble so many great actors for a project that feels so utterly disposable?

'Labor Day' Trailer

We have a trailer for Labor Day! Jason Reitman's adaptation of the novel by Joyce Maynard is a true departure from his body of work, and arguably his best film yet. This exciting new look at Labor Day hints at the dark tone that Reitman handles so delicately--and expertly--and it showcases the excellent performances by Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, and Gattlin Griffith that are sure to be remembered as some of the year's best. I caught Labor Day when it premiered at TIFF in September, giving the film 5 stars (review here) and naming it 'Best of the Fest'. Chances are mighty good that Mr. Reitman will have a high seat on the list for the best films of the year, too.

UPDATE: A second trailer was released later today. It's different and offers some of that great 'peach pie scene', so I've posted it after the jump.

Labor Day opens December 25th. (Can't wait to see it again!)

The Old Man and the Cinema

All is Lost

(USA, 106 min.)

Written and directed by J.C. Chandor

Starring: Robert Redford

Robert Redford stars in All is Lost, an eOne release.

It’s a shame I already used the line “does for water what Gravity does for air” whilst reviewing Jennifer Baichwal’s Watermark, for the likeness seems far more fitting for J.C. Chandor’s All is Lost. Haste makes waste. All is Lost truly is the Gravity of the roaring ocean. The rolling waves are as beautiful and ominous as the expansive nothingness of outer space in Cuarón’s VFX blockbuster. All is Lost, like Gravity, is a riveting survival tale among the elements.

Talking Oscars: The Supporting Races

Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor and Meryl Streep star in August: Osage County
Photo: Claire Folger © 2013 The Weinstein Company. All Rights Reserved.

2013 has been a decent year for movies so far, but it’s been an even greater year for performances. This year could, or should we say will, see a similar logjam that squeezes someone out of recognition. Just look at August: Osage County, which could easily score four acting nominations or none at all. Meryl Streep seems firm to be campaigned in the lead category, but the ambiguous placement of Julia Roberts could cancel out Streep if they split the lead vote or bump out Margo Martindale from the supporting race. Martindale seems like she’d be a shoo-in if The Weinstein Company campaigned Roberts in the lead category in which she belongs. Julianne Nicholson seems like a dark horse for August given the competition from the ensemble, but votes for “best in show” seem diverse among the supporting (or “supporting”) players and she could siphon enough votes in a hypothetical situation that made room for anyone who had enough support. A few extra names in the Best Supporting Actress category, for example, would demonstrate the quality of work on display in 2013, as opposed to a ballot that omitted the co-stars of August: Osage County.

There are so many names circulating around the acting categories this year. Here’s a look at the crowded field that could make the four acting races some of the most competitive campaigns in years, beginning with the supporting races:

Indigo is the Wooziest Colour

Mood Indigo (L’écume des jours)

(France/Belgium, 131 min.)

Dir. Michel Gondry, Writ. Michel Gondry & Luc Bossi

Starring: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Omar Sy, Aïssa Maïga, Sacha Bourdos.

If blue is the warmest colour, then what mood is indigo? Indigo might be the wooziest colour thanks to the motion-sickness mania of Michel Gondry’s Mood Indigo. Mood Indigo, Gondry’s adaptation of the novel L’écume des jours (Froth on the Daydream) by Boris Vian, is auteurism run amok. Gondry’s visual flair gets the better of Mood Indigo as his quirky eccentricities become repulsively annoying as the film progresses. Mood Indigo looks as if Jean-Pierre Jeunet smoked some cracked-out hallucinogenic drugs and devoured Tim Burton during a serious case of the munchies. The overdose of zany surrealism is sickening.

'Midnight's Children' Tops DGC Awards

Deepa Mehta on the shoot of Midnight's Children

There was a well-deserved upset at the Directors' Guild of Canada awards tonight when Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children scored the prize for Best Feature Film. The award comes as a surprise since Midnight's Children faced stiff competition from Canadian Screen Award winner/Canada's Oscar nominee Rebelle and from Michael McGowan's Still Mine, which tied Mama for the most nominations overall. McGowan won the award for Best Director--a prize for which Mehta wasn't even nominated--while Rebelle walked away with the award for Best Production Design. (A curious prize since the film takes place mostly outdoors.) Midnight's Children's Best Film prize is well earned, though, as the film, adapted from the novel by Salman Rushdie, was the best dramatic film Canada had to offer last year. Also among the night's winners was Sarah Polley's documentary Stories We Tell, which continues Polley's winning streak as Stories heads into its second year on the awards circuit as it enters the race for the Academy Awards. The DGC awards were hosted by Sean Cullen and broadcast online tonight. 

The film and major TV winners are as follows:

BEST FEATURE FILM
Presented by Platinum Sponsor, Technicolor
★Midnight's Children

uOttawa Human Rights Film Fest Review: 'My Destiny'

My Destiny (Dimmi che destino avrò)

(Italy, 80 min.)

Dir. Peter Marcias, Writ. Gianni Loy

Starring: Salvatore Cantalupo, Luli Bitri

A decent lesson in fundamental human rights cannot save the well-intentioned My Destiny (Dimmi che destino avrò) from missing the mark. This noble effort by screenwriter Gianni Loy and director Peter Marcias offers a respectable and passionate attempt to bridge understanding between outsiders and their surrounding communities. My Destiny, however much one deems it a sincere message movie, simply doesn’t deliver as compelling a human drama as its premise might have allowed.

You Have Been Bad

The Counselor

(USA/UK, 117 min.)

Dir. Ridley Scott, Writ. Cormac McCarthy

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt.

Cormac McCarthy and Ridley Scott drop a collective Lincoln log with The Counselor. An insufferably talky and speech-laden movie, The Counselor mirrors last year’s dialogue-heavy Lincoln in that it might be better suited for the stage. The shocking thing about The Counselor, unlike the finely scripted Lincoln, is that the chatty writing, frankly, stinks.

uOttawa Human Rights Film Fest Review: 'Wajma: An Afghan Love Story'

Wajma: An Afghan Love Story

(Afghanistan/France, 85 min.)

Written and directed by Barmak Akram

Starring: Wajma Bahar, Mustafa Abdulsatar, Haji Gul Asar, Brehna Bahar

Did you see Wadjda earlier this month? It might be easy to confuse Wajma with Wadjda given the similarities of their titles. Moreover, a quick glance at the synopsis of either film might not help distinguish Wajma from Wadjda. Both films derive their titles from the names of the heroines that drive their stories. Both films offer timely dramatizations of the subjection of women in the Middle East, but the treatment of the subject matter couldn’t differ more greatly from film to film.

Human Rights Film Fest Review: 'Mohammed to Maya'

Mohammed to Maya

(USA, 74 min.)

Dir. Jeff Roy

Feat. Maya Jafer, Jeff Roy

“I’m a complete human being today for the first time in my life,” says Maya (née Mohammed) as she wakes up to the first day of her new life following sex reassignment surgery in Thailand. Mohammed to Maya, an extension of director Jeff Roy's award-winning short Rites of Passage, first introduces the audience to Maya as she arrives in Thailand to complete the transition for which she has been preparing both physically, mentally, and spiritually for two years. Maya is a bubbly character with a large screen presence, and her passionate account of her transformative journey fuels this insightful and heartfelt documentary.

University of Ottawa Human Rights Film Festival Review: 'Missing'

Missing

(1982, USA, 122 min.)

Dir. Costa-Gavras, Writ. Costa-Gavras, Donald Stewart

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, John Shea, Melanie Mayron, Charles Cioffi, Janice Rule.

It only seems fitting to launch a Human Rights Film Festival with a landmark human rights film. Cost-Gavras’s excellent 1982 political thriller Missing remains an immensely gripping and relevant film as it kicks off the first University of Ottawa Human Rights Film Festival, held in collaboration with the Canadian Film Institute. Missing was rightly deemed a masterpiece upon release, as it scooped the Palme d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival (unanimously) as well as Best Actor honours for Jack Lemmon. It then went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture, Best Actor (Lemmon), Best Actress (Sissy Spacek), and Best Adapted Screenplay, the latter of which won the prize for Costa-Gavras and Donald Stewart. The hardware Missing collected during its initial run, however, isn’t quite as notable as the legacy the film enjoys today.

The Colour of Love?

Blue is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle: chapitres 1 et 2)

(France, 179 min.)

Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche, Writ. Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix

Starring: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Léa Seydoux

Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue Is the Warmest Color.

Blue is the warmest colour, but this sensuous love epic is one hot film. Blue is the Warmest Color is certainly a top commodity after its sensational run at major film festivals, which began with a unanimous coup of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes Prize elicited just as much buzz amongst art-house aficionados as did the controversial sex scenes that made headlines earlier in the festival. The crux of Blue’s Palme win is that the Cannes jury, headed by Steven Spielberg, confidently gave the prize to the film’s two stars, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, in addition to director Abdellatif Kechiche. Cannes, the penultimate auteur film festival, thus trumped the boldness of the racy French flick that was the festival’s own thunder. Spielberg et al gave the right verdict, though, for the casting is the heart of Blue of the Warmest Color. The performances by Exarchopoulos and Seydoux are stirring revelations.

Regurgitated Reportage

The Fifth Estate

(USA/UK/Belgium, 128 min.)

Dir. Bill Condon, Writ. Josh Singer

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Moritz Bleibtreu, Carice Van Houten, Peter Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney.

The clergy is the First Estate. The nobles are the Second. The common people are the Third; and the mainstream press is the Fourth Estate. What, then, is the Fifth Estate?

'Empire of Dirt' Trailer

Lena (Cara Gee) in Empire of Dirt.
Photo by Jason Jenkins. Courtesy of Mongrel Media.

A trailer has landed for Peter Stebbins' Empire of Dirt. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September where it earned a special citation from the Canadian film jury for its compelling story of three women reconciling the ghosts of the past. The film features a trio of strong performances from Cara Gee, Shay Eyre, and Jennifer Podemski (who also produced the film) as the mothers and daughter of this multi-generational tale. (Gee easily gives the best performance in any Canadian film I've seen this year.) I reviewed Empire of Dirt during the festival and found much to praise about it, especially the performances, although it might be the first of all the TIFF films I saw that I want to revisit. (The final screening of a four film day is often difficult.) Empire of Dirt opens in select cities November 22nd. The ByTowne tweeted that they're playing it in December, so please check back for exact dates and come see it with me then.

The Enlightened Screen: 'Understanding Bliss'

Understanding Bliss

(Canada, 80 min.)

Dir. William D. MacGillivray, Writ. William D. MacGillivray, Kathryn Cochran

Starring: Catherine Grant, Bryan Hennessey

Screening as part of the Canadian Film Institute’s series “The Enlightened Screen”, William D. MacGillivray’s 1990 feature Understanding Bliss treats audiences to the kind of introspective independent Canadian cinema the series serves to spotlight. Understanding Bliss, MacGillivray’s last dramatic film prior to Hard Drive (which screened at the CFI last night), engages audiences in the director’s mediations upon identity and how one’s sense of self is shaped via an engagement with place, space, art, and technology. Understanding Bliss is an innovative exercise in film form and a self-reflexive portrait of how art defines both the individual and the community.

'Miraculum' Teaser

A teaser trailer has landed for the upcoming Canadian film Miraculum, which is one of the films I’m most looking forward to seeing in the coming months. Les Films Séville released the brief teaser recently and it gives just a quick taste of the epic scale of tragedy this film tells. Miraculum is the latest film from director Podz (aka Daniel Grou), whose powerful L’affaire Dumont was a Best Picture nominee at the Canadian Screen Awards this year. Miraculum stars a roster of Québécois talents, most notably Xavier Dolan and his I Killed My Mother / Les amours imaginaires co-star Anne Dorval. Also starring in the multi-narrative ensemble film are Marilyn Castonguay (L’affaire Dumont), Gilbert Sicotte (Le vendeur), Julien Poulin (Camion) Jean-Nicholas Verrault (Maelstrom), Gabriel Sabourin (who also wrote the film’s screenplay), and Louise Turcot. The film is expected to be released in 2014 from Les Films Séville (exact date TBA) so we’ll keep you posted on this highly anticipated film. (Synopsis after the jump.)

Wadjda's Spirit

Wadjda

(Saudi Arabia/Germany, 97 min.)

Written and directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour

Starring: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd, Sultan Al Assad

Waad Mohammed as Wadjda and Reem Abdullah as Mother.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Wadjda might be one of the most important films screening in a theatre near you. Wadjda is directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour in her feature debut and, more significantly, it is the first feature film from Saudi Arabia. This fact is momentous, but it feels doubly relevant if one considers the story and subject matter of Wadjda itself. The film tells of a young girl named Wadjda growing up in the city Riyadh and learning the dos and don’ts of being a young girl in a male-controlled Muslim culture. Wadjda looks at religion, culture, and tradition through the eyes of an innocent and the film provides a perspective to which viewers have rarely been granted access before. The film seems to give the patriarchal society a fair portrayal, but its even-handed approach subtly challenges the social and political conservatism that creates gaps in equality and opportunity between genders. Wadjda is a necessary and significant film.

Sex, Sunsets, and Spite for Bloggers

The Right Kind of Wrong

(Canada, 97 min.)

Dir. Jeremiah Chechik, Writ. Megan Martin

Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Sara Canning, Ryan McPartin, Kristen Hager, Will Sasso, and Catherine O’Hara.

Leo (Ryan Kwanten) and Snow the cat in The Right Kind of Wrong.
Photo by:  Sabrina Lantos

“Writing a blog doesn’t make you a writer,” says Leo Palamino when his ex-wife Julie (Kristen Hager) appears on TV to chat about her blog with Maria Menounos. Kristen, a grade-A cuss, started a blog called Why You Suck during her marriage with Leo and shared with the world her feelings over her husband’s failings. Leo has every right to feel jaded, although his reaction seems more like wounded pride. Neither Leo nor Kristen, though, can seem to let anything go.

A Don and a Dime

Don Jon

(USA, 90 min.)

Written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore

Hey, girl, do you like movies? Don Jon likes movies. Not, like, girly movies—the kinds where chicks drive off into the sunset with Channing Tatum and live happily ever. Jon likes girly movies—the kind with bouncy chicks and happy endings.

"Maybe in America."

Captain Phillips

(USA, 134 min.)

Dir. Paul Greengrass, Writ. Billy Ray

Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali.

Tom Hanks stars in Columbia Pictures' Captain Phillips. 
Photo: Jasin Boland. © 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

“Maybe in America. Maybe in America,” drawls Muse (Barkhad Abdi) the pirate captain as he trains a gun on his hostage, American Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks), who is trying to persuade the Somali that there must be more to life than fishing and kidnapping people. “Maybe in America.” The line is of memorable significance in the decidedly American Captain Phillips, helmed by Brit director Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum) and scripted by Billy Ray (The Hunger Games). There’s an undercurrent of critique that only rises to the surface of this seaward thriller thanks to Muse’s provocative musing. It’s mostly superficial rhetoric, though, amidst Captain Phillips’s true-life saga of gung-ho heroism and idealism in the face of adversity.

'Watermark': Raise a Glass to Water

Watermark

(Canada, 90 min.)

Dir. Jennifer Baichwal & Edward Burtynsky, Writ. Jennifer Baichwal

Colorado River Delta #2, Near San Felipe, Baja, Mexico 2011.
©Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto /
Howard Greenberg & Bryce Wolkowitz, New York

The scientists say that the amount of water on Earth measures something in the league of 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons. That sounds like a lot. Figures like that encourage Homer Simpson-like rationalizations of “Water, water everywhere, let’s all have a drink.” With so much water to go around, humans can consume as they please, right?

The Enlightened Screen: William D. MacGillivray

MacGillivray directs Laura Wiggins while shooting Hard Drive.

Of all the anticipated films I was most surprised/disappointed to see absent from the Canadian line-up at TIFF this year, William D. MacGillivray’s Hard Drive might be it. The film, however, did have a preview screening at the Atlantic Film Festival in September, which only seems fitting since MacGillivray is a pioneer among independent filmmaking in Atlantic Canada. MacGillivray and Hard Drive will make their way to Ottawa next week as part of The Canadian Film Institute’s Canadian film series “The Enlightened Screen.

Two Strangers and a Grocery Store

Arthur Newman

(USA, 93 min.)

Dir. Dante Ariola, Writ. Becky Johnston

Starring: Colin Firth, Emily Blunt

Arthur Newman has the distinct honour of being the first film I ever rented from the machine at the grocery store. It’s not a bad deal at $1.50 a night. It also seems like a pathetic, Arthur Newman-y thing to do. There’s just something about the transaction that connotes one’s life as hopeless.

'A Short History of the 'Highrise'

Feel like visiting a morgue in the days leading up to Halloween? Well, today I visited one thanks to the interactive multimedia series, “A Short History of the Highrise.” The series takes users inside the New York Times’ photo archive known as “The Morgue.” A Short History of the Highrise” is a collaboration between the New York Times’ Op-Docs (the Times’ editorial department’s forum for short, opinionated documentaries) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

Dorming in the Digital Age

Dean Slater: Resident Advisor

(USA, 83 min.)

Dir. Colin Sander, Writ. Christian Sander, Colin Sander, Scott Sander

Starring: Mitchell Jarvis, Nick Renaud, Glenn McCuen, Jimmy Wong, Nathalia Ramos, Sharon Hinnendael, Italia Ricci, Christopher Grove.

Freshman flicks often seem so exaggerated and out to lunch. Not much shocks this reviewer, though, when it comes to campus-set comedies since my freshman year at Queen’s coincided with Homecoming 2005. Fret not, readers. I was a good (re: lame) frosh and was probably at the movies when the car was set on fire. It’s refreshing, though, to see an amusing college comedy like Dean Slater: Resident Advisor that seems to get the anxieties of the first year at school without being too over the top.

OIFF Review: 'Penthouse North'

Penthouse North

(USA/Canada, 86 min.)

Dir. Joseph Ruben, Writ. David Loughrey

Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Michael Keaton, Barry Sloane, Shadow the Cat

Forget Meryl Streep, Ottawa is the real chameleon when it comes to disappearing in various roles. Like Meryl, Ottawa can slip into any guise with some make-up, an accent, and a little elbow grease. Meryl’s roles have ranged from Sophie’s Choice to Mamma Mia! while the National Capital has played everything from Pennsylvania (House at the End of the Street) to Montreal (The Maiden Danced to Death). Now, the city gets a dual role as New York City and, wait for it, Afghanistan in the bargain bin thriller Penthouse North. The transformation of the former setting isn’t Streeply seamless, though, as the exterior scenes of Penthouse North play out in a generic, placeless city that doesn’t look or feel anything like New York. The film is has its flaws, yet it is nevertheless a respectable example of what local talents can do. Penthouse North is not a particularly good film overall, but one can’t deny that the Ottawa’s portrayal of Afghanistan is far more convincing than Michelle Monaghan’s portrayal of blindness is.

OIFF Review: 'Fire in the Blood'

Fire in the Blood

(USA, 84 min.)

Written and directed by Dylan Mohan Gray

Narrated by William Hurt

One of the trickiest mistakes to make while reviewing documentaries is to conflate the newsworthiness of the film’s subject with the quality of the film itself. An essential component that separates documentary film from journalism is the blend of an intriguing and/or provocative topic handled with an eye for cinematic storytelling. A good documentary should do more than offer a point-and-shoot approach to a hot topic. It’s just as often the delivery that inspires the audience to take the message beyond the running time of the film.

OIFF Review: 'Much Ado About Knotting'

Much Ado About Knotting

(India, 55 min.)

Written and directed by Geetika Narang Abbasi, Anandana Kapur

Arranged marriage is nothing new to India, but the longstanding tradition in the nation has exploded into a most unusual industry. Matchmakers are no longer old widows visiting potential brides-to-be. Much Ado About Knotting offers a humorous look into the business of arranging marriages that takes an old fashion and gives it a flair of Costco capitalism.

OIFF Review: 'Crook'

Crook

(Canada, 90 min.)

Written and directed by Adrian Langley

Starring: Adam Beach, Leah Gibson, Jon McLaren, Luigi Saracino, Jennilee Murray, Sean Tucker, Matthew Stefiuk, Bill Lake.

Ottawa filmmaker Adrian Langley returns with Crook, a follow-up to his 2011 thriller A Violent State. Crook, like A Violent State, brings a taut and gritty tale of violence to the streets of cold bureaucratic Ottawa. Crook unleashes more bullets in ninety minutes than the city has probably ever seen in its lifetime, but this bloody genre flick offers exactly the kind of calibre that will help people outside the 613 take note of Ottawa’s film scene.

Oscar Predictions: Round 1 - Too Soon?

Diana: A good example for why one shouldn't call the Oscars too soon.

Remember when we thought that the Best Actress race of 2013 would boil down to a biopic smackdown between BFFs Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman? This example demonstrates how, as fun as it is to speculate, one shouldn’t try to predict the Oscars a year in advance. Naomi and Nicole are out, since questions of quality have ejected Diana from her seat and Grace of Monaco has been pushed back until 2014 because, as Harvey Weinstein reports, it simply won’t be ready. Thank goodness, since Best Actress is already crowded and it’s only October. But tasteless Diana jokes prompt a necessary Oscar question: Is it too soon?

Sandra in Space

Gravity

(USA/UK, 93 min.)

Dir. Alfonso Cuarón, Writ. Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

Every little kid dreamed of going to space. We’ve all been Jodie Foster in Contact at some point or another. Jodie got to go there (depending on how one interprets the static), but the final frontier of space is just something one gets to stare at with wonder when positioned at an adequate distance from the light pollution of the city.

Ron Howard Goes 'Vroom Vroom!'

Rush

(USA/Germany/UK, 123 min.)

Dir. Ron Howard, Writ. Peter Morgan

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara.

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl in Rush an eOne Films release.
Photo Credit: Jaap Buitendijk and eOne Films

Vroom Vroom! One Fast and the Furious film was too many, but seven more laps of Rush would be a welcome addition to the multiplex. Ron Howard’s latest pic, which recently opened in theatres after a hot premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, feels as wild and real as racing gets. Thanks to Howard’s solid realization of the sport and a pair of strong performances from leads Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) and Daniel Brühl (Winning Streak) as real-life racing rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda, Rush puts viewers behind the wheel and lets them experience the thrill and intensity of Formula 1 racing.

Contest: Win Tickets to 'Machete Kills' in Ottawa (Closed)

First, he was a character. Then, he got his own trailer. Next, he got a feature. Now, he’s one film away from a franchise. Yes, MACHETE is back in action in Robert Rodriguez’s newest grindhouse epic, Machete Kills, which opens in theatres October 11. Danny Trejo returns as the machete-wielding Mexican who promises to deliver more B-movie mayhem as Machete battles drugs and thugs in the name of justice.

Renoir: An Art-ish Rendering of Two Artists

Renoir

(France, 111 min.)

Dir. Gilles Bourdos, Writ. Gilles Bourdos, Michel Spinosa, Jérôme Tonnerre.

Starring: Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers.

They say that beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. It’s a tricky assessment. Prone to subjective guidelines and convenient rationalizations, declaring something beautiful inevitable shapes how another onlooker might assess it in in turn.