… we salute you! But you should know your movie has a little competition this weekend …
“Adventureland“: Greg Mottola’s knowing coming-of-age picture takes us back to that particularly horrible moment when you realize that everyone else at your job is as bored and aimless as you feel, that the girl you like doesn’t like you back enough, and that this could be is the rest of your life right here. It’s a comedy.
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil“: They loved it at Hot Docs, and at festivals around the world; now, finally, Sacha Gervasi’s shaggy rockumentary comes home to Toronto for a proper commercial engagement. The band will even be at the AMC Yonge and Dundas tonight for the evening screenings! What, you’ve got something better to do?
“Cloud 9“: Andreas Dresen’s mechanical drama plays out a love triangle with a twist: All the characters are senior citizens, and they have a great deal of on-screen sex. So it’s a novelty love triangle! Susan didn’t go for it, either.
“Fanboys“: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, this might have been a good movie … before it fell into the hands of the evil Weinstein empire and was purged of all charm. The review starts about two-thirds of the way into the linked piece. We tried something a little different this week.
“Fast & Furious”: Is it wrong that I kinda want to see this? I mean, the first two films were crap, but “Tokyo Drift” had a zippy visual energy that I’d hoped director Justin Lin would be able to replicate in his latest run at the franchise. And then Adam put his foot on that hope, and crushed it.
“The Pool“: There’s a distinctly Kipling-meets-O. Henry vibe to Chris Smith’s modest little drama about a young man (Venkatesh Chavan) entranced by a wealthy family’s swimming pool, but I thought including that detail in my review might put people off. I don’t know when “literary” became a pejorative, but that’s just the way it is.
“Sin Nombre“:The first half of Cary Fukunaga’s Central American chase thriller is a well-crafted ride; the second half’s a train wreck, which a surprising number of film critics and festival audiences were willing to overlook. What can I say? I’m terminally honest. (And so is Adam.)
That’s plenty, surely … unless you felt like catching something at Cinefranco or Images or the Toronto Tibet Film Festival. Me, I’ve already moved on to the next wave. Pray for me, would you?
…and thank you for riding the Ghoster Coaster.