Christine Estima

Inside Lara Roxx

Hot Docs interview: Mia Donovan, director of ‘Inside Lara Roxx’

In the spring of 2004, 21-year-old Lara Roxx left her hometown of Montreal and headed to L.A to try to make tons of cash in the adult entertainment industry. Within two months of working in this industry she contracted the most virulent form of HIV while performing sex in front of the camera. Inside Lara Roxx, a documentary premiering at this year’s Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, is about the adult movie industry and its impact on a young life.

Review: ‘Capitalism : A Love Story’

Anyone who is familiar with director/writer/activist Michael Moore‘s documentary film style is probably well aware of what he is for and what he is against. Luckily for the sake of Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore hasn’t forgotten what he’s against either and this doc is meticulously focussed on portraying the excesses and greed of the uber-rich and the banks that led to the stock market collapse.

Review: ‘Coco Avant Chanel’

Two films concerning the life and times of legendary French fashion designer Coco Chanel are being released this year. While one focuses on her mid-career affair with composer Igor Stravinsky, Coco Avant Chanel, however, centres on her early struggle, fighting tooth and nail to make a life for herself independently in a time when a woman’s security came either from marriage or prostitution.

TIFF ’09 capsule reviews, including ‘An Education’, ‘Cairo Time’, ‘Bright Star’

Critically-acclaimed stars and over-exposed starlets have descended on Hollywood North for the largest public film festival in the world, and the hype surrounding this year’s TIFF selections is in full force. From another political thriller from George Clooney (Men Who Stare At Goats), and Jennifer’s Body, a Megan Fox vehicle which adds to the commercial-tweenification of horror films, to Mariah Carey’s Oscar-buzz performance in Precious, there are in fact too many must-see films for this one reviewer to see. But there are some rather quiet TIFF selections, not concerned at all with hype, which undoubtedly very few film critics will bother reviewing. That’s where I come in!

Review: ‘New In Town’

When Renee Zellweger first caught our attention, she was making decent film choices – Empire Records, Jerry Maguire, Chicago, and of course Bridget Jones Diary. But lately she’s been making odd rom-com choices (Down With Love, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason) that have me questioning her Oscar win. New In Town would be her latest effort in making us believe she’s a comedic actress with impeccable timing.