I’m heading deep into the TIFF pre-screening cycle, so this week’s roundup will be one of them six-word-review dealies.
“And If We All Lived Together?”: Wait, Jane Fonda is a senior? [Susan]
“The Awakening“: An Old Dark House, slightly modernized.
“The Expendables 2”: That’s some really unhealthy bulging, guys. [Phil]
“Fortunate Son“: A personal documentary that never ignites.
“The Odd Life of Timothy Green“: What the hell, damn plant guy?
“ParaNorman“: Go see this. GO SEE THIS.
“Painted Skin: The Resurrection”: There’s a bird demon in it! [John]
“Sparkle”: Whitney’s last movie, apparently not great. [Rad]
There’s also a ton of other stuff happening around town — limited releases and such, which are addressed in this week’s web column. And then there’s the sad news that the Toronto Underground Cinema will be closing down next month, to which I can only say: This is why we can’t have nice things.
Timothy Green sounds like it would make a fascinating double-bill with David Lynch’s early short film The Grandmother, in which an abused boy plants a seed and grows his idealized nana. Lynch’s vision was a little less family-friendly than this, I should say.
The fact that you say this movie has a subplot about a pencil factory (like Lynch’s Eraserhead), I find especially bizarre.
It’s very weird. I talked to Hedges at length, and he didn’t mention Lynch once — given the sort of stories he chooses to tell, I’d be surprised if Hedges is even a fan. Maybe Ahmet Zappa, who conceived of the story, saw the short once upon a time and it lodged in his subconscious, bubbling up years later in a radically different interpretation.
In any case, THIS movie’s terrible.