Oh, right, it’s Friday and there are movies upon us. Let’s get to ’em!
“Big Boys Gone Bananas!*”: Fredrik Gertten’s look at the disinformation campaign mounted by Big Fruit against his 2009 documentary “Bananas” was quite popular at Hot Docs — which is where Susan saw it.
“A Bottle in the Gaza Sea“: Fresh from opening the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Thierry Bienisti’s plea for Middle Eastern understanding gets a theatrical run. The view of Israel as a polyglot nation with as many languages as many political positions is an interesting angle, but the rest of it’s pretty familiar.
“China Heavyweight“: Another Hot Docs title, Yung Chang’s artful look at rural Chinese teens who sign on with a boxing trainer in the hopes of escaping their villages, begins its own commercial run. Still not totally sold on it, though.
“Dark Shadows“: Tim Burton runs Dan Curtis’ supremely cheesy supernatural soap through his distinctive Gothic sensibility, loses interest about two-thirds of the way through and stands around shrugging while the whole thing falls apart. But we do get to watch Johnny Depp stare down a troll doll, so there’s that.
“Edwin Boyd”: Scott Speedman finally demonstrates some range as a WWII vet turned showboating Toronto bank robber in Nathan Morlando’s impressive true-crime thriller, which is as much about PTSD as it is a study of the perpetual Canadian inferiority complex. Phil liked it, too.
“Sound of My Voice“: Brit Marling, who co-wrote and starred in the intriguing lo-fi sci-fi drama “Another Earth”, is once again at the center of a modestly budgeted, carefully constructed and altogether compelling genre effort. It’s already proving divisive, but that’s okay; it’s supposed to be.
There, you’re set. Unless you were just going to see “The Avengers” again this weekend … which I would totally understand.