2015 Toronto International Film Festival (First Batch)

After the long line up of amazing summer movies, fall is coming, and we will have some award race with those fall film festival. TIFF has announced their first list. TIFF 2015 is going back to its Canadian roots for its 40th birthday, opening the festival with Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallée's Demolition. After critical successes such as Wild and Dallas Buyers Club, Vallée will kick off the festival with Demolition, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

Gyllenhaal is just one of the A-list stars who have become fan favourites at the festival, returning to Toronto year after year. After her Oscar-winning turn in Still Alice, Julianne Moore will walk the red carpet again for Freeheld, a movie she starts in alongside Canadian Ellen Page. The film focuses on the real-life love story and fight for justice by two New Jersey women and is likely to be especially poignant in a year where same-sex marriage became legal in the United States.

Two Nights Stand - Review (2014)

This movie wasn't good or bad, it was just okay. For starters, it was awkward watching a movie about 20-somethings having sex, when they looked 16 or younger.It takes guts to make a movie based on dialogues and only dialogues. Before Midnight ,Before Sunset and Before Sunrise is a brave attempt in following the trend. Two Night Stand was almost there but loses the battle thanks to over-the-top performance and weak screenplay.

The major bad thing about this is that the movie feels overly romantic that the comedies don't feel funny. The screenplay just doesn't seem to develop or build up any thing that can really crack a laugh. There's virtually no practical joke or slapstick anywhere in this movie. This makes the romance, already quite a well developed part, stand out even more. Actually the romance parts feel more dominant that it kind of make the comedy part feels like it's just some kind of color variation to the story.

The Equalizer - Review (2014)

"If you love Denzel Washington you will love this movie" but seriously. who doesn't love him? espcially in action movie. He always nails it.

And The Equalizer is undeniably fun. It's one of those thrillers that begins moody and atmospheric, and then decides it would be more fun to see how many people can be dispatched with nail guns. As Teri, Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick Ass, Carrie) forgoes the sarcastic strategy Jodie Foster used as a teenage hooker in Scorsese's Taxi Driver. Teri is arguably much more frightened of her violent handlers, and is less given to false bravado as result. And even though her character really amounts to little more than a glorified supporting part after she is sent away, she is a great deal of fun to watch, and she holds her own more than capably against Denzel Washington. The habit of extended cameos in The Equalizer is even more extreme in the case of Melissa Leo as Robert's former CIA contact, who pops up to give a vital piece of information on the evil mobster, and to tentatively tiptoe around the subject of his wife, while offering a small measure of comfort.

The acting was great, both from the protagonist and the antagonist. Not that the acting had to be that great because this was an action movie after all, but it's always better when the actors give a good performance. The directing and cinematography was wonderful too. The director, Antoine Fuqua, who also directed Training Day, masterfully worked the action scenes with well timed slow motion and soundless shots. Even the musical score for the climax was enough to draw you in.

The entire movie boils down to Denzel Washington playing Robert McCall, a retired agent that has incredible skills. He played the quintessential hit man/assassin. The film gives a satisfying climax and the action is well choreographed.

Anyway if you are uncomfortable with on-screen gruesome violent fights, then in that case it's probably not advisable to watch this film. However, please keep in mind that these people (the mafia characters the actors portrayed) are not considered as humans, but merciless scumbags. They treat women as nothing other than sexual objects for money, willing to kill anyone without hesitation or remorse, thinking they're high and mighty and forcibly exert authority and influence over others. In the film, McCall gave them a choice beforehand, but they choose to belittle him instead. So, violence was necessary and they've got exactly what they deserve. To be honest, I don't feel sorry for them at all. THAT IS THE PART I HATE THE MOST ABOUT THIS MOVIE.

This is not the best Denzel movie, but you should watch it. I highly recommend it.

My Rating : 7.5/10
IMDB : 7.6/10
Metarcritics : 57/100
Rotten Tomatoes : 61%

What If - Review (2013)

I want to watch some light movie with a lot of romance and comedy. So I chose to watch What if. I love Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe So, I was squeeing when I watched this movie lol

Daniel Radcliffe plays the lead role in this film that seeks to find whether men and women can be platonic friends. The woman in question is played by Zoe Kazan. The film is set between Toronto and Dublin - yes Toronto, which usually impersonates various US cities in movies with limited budgets.

Stewing over a recent breakup, Wallace (Radcliffe) works at a textbook company while living in his sister's attic (an improvement over the cupboard under the stairs, at least). He's primed for romance when he encounters Chantry (Kazan), spewing whimsy and animated sketches in her wake. Sparks fly only to be put out when Chantry mentions her boyfriend and asks if they can just be friends.

TIFF Winners 2014

Yesterday the winners were announced. So far it looks  pretty good with the Imitation Games winning the Toronto People Choice award. TIFF is where audiences can see the best of last January’s Sundance film festival: imports include Infinitely Polar Bear with Mark Ruffalo; Whiplash, which won the U.S grand jury prize and audience award; and Lynn Shelton’s Laggies. This is also the first chance for many to catch Cannes film festival prize-winners Winter Sleep (Palme d’Or), Foxcatcher (best director for Bennett Miller), Leviathan (best screenplay), Maps to the Stars (by David Cronenberg; best actress for Julianne Moore), Mr. Turner (best actor for Timothy Spall) and the two films that tied for the jury prize, Mommy by Montreal’s Xavier Dolan and Goodbye to Language by Jean-Luc Godard.

The Imitation Game is the winner. A biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch as an ingenious British codebreaker and computer-science pioneer Alan Turing has won the top prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Director Morten Tyldum’s “The Imitation Game” claimed the coveted Grolsch People’s Choice Award at a Sunday morning brunch, held annually to mark the end of the 11-day movie marathon. The film, which also stars Oscar nominee Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode, beat out first runner-up “Learning to Drive” — a dramedy about the unlikely friendship between Patricia Clarkson’s newly separated book editor and her driving instructor, played by Ben Kingsley — and second runner-up “St. Vincent,” which stars Bill Murray as the cantankerous caretaker of a young boy. The crowd-pleasing “The Imitation Game,” however, simply proved too compelling in a tough-to-predict year in which there was no clear front-runner for the festival’s top award.

This is the full list winner.