Review: Restoring Tomorrow
Part personal reflection and partially a work of advocacy, Aaron Wolf’s documentary Restoring Tomorrow looks at a world famous synagogue that’s trying to save itself from cultural irrelevance and extinction.
Review: Studio 54
Matt Tyrnauer’s look back at one of the glitziest, decadent, more than borderline illicit, and short lived nightclubs, Studio 54, is a comprehensive and objective look at an NYC cultural phenomenon that burned bright and burned out quickly under the weight of poor decisions.
Review: The Kindergarten Teacher
Writer-director Sara Colengelo’s remake of Nadav Lapid’s 2014 Israeli drama The Kindergarten Teacher is a delicately, but darkly crafted morality tale that’s elevated to even further greatness and nuance thanks to an exceptional leading performance from the always reliable Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Review: Bigger
A hokey, inauthentic biopic of one of the biggest names in bodybuilding and fitness, George Gallo’s frequently risible and always unfortunate Bigger has a pair of unique leading performances and very little else worth talking about.
Review: Bad Times at the El Royale
Writer-director Drew Goddard’s talky, delicately constructed, but dangerously overstuffed 60s set suspense mystery Bad Times at the El Royale is an overlong, but curiously still underdeveloped bit of entertainment that wins one over through the sheer force of the performances contained within it and a handful of good ideas.
Review: The Hate U Give
An impassioned, emotional, and vital look at a young person of colour growing up in America, George Tillman Jr.s’ The Hate U Give isn’t a perfect piece of cinematic activism or even a narratively balanced bit of storytelling, but it’s still perfect in all the ways that matter most.
Review: First Man
A personal, terrestrial, and sometimes even bracingly experimental look at the historical race to reach the moon, Damien Chazelle’s First Man is a technically dazzling and dramatically satisfying work from one of this generation’s finest filmmakers.
Review: Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
More of the same only considerably less, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween does away with most of the ingenuity and fun of its predecessor in favour of a limp rehash of the first movie’s high spots that are delivered with half the ingenuity and half the energy.
Toronto After Dark Review: Tigers Are Not Afraid
The 2018 Toronto After Dark Festival kicks off this week (and runs through to October ) with a screening of one of the best foreign films of the year, writer-director Issa López haunting, violent, and resoundingly timely modern fairy tale Tigers Are Not Afraid.
Review: All About Nina
All About Nina is a mediocre, unsurprising look at the darkness lurking in the hearts and minds of many stand-up comics that’s elevated considerably by a note-perfect and blistering leading performance and one timely scene that’s one of the year’s best stand alone moments.