Midnight in Paris (2011)

Woody rejects nostalgia in this future classic

By Trevor Dobbin

If there are two things certain to happen once every year, it is the occurrence of a given person's birthday and the release of a Woody Allen film. Allen, who has now directed 42 feature-length films over his 45 years as a film director, releases them in a typically annual fashion—the last year he didn’t release a film was 1981....

New Year’s Eve is overrated, much like the holiday it celebrates

Gerry Marshall’s new film relies on big stars to carry it

By John Michael Bennett

I know that, for quite a few people, there is a lot that goes into New Year’s Eve celebrations. New clothes, your favourite alcohol, and making sure you’re at just the right spot when the clock strikes midnight are just a few steps of the planning process. All of this preparation is the perfect way to set yourself up for...

A quick look at January's cinema line-up

2012 set to kick off the year with some very exciting movies

By Michael Cook

As another year begins, we find ourselves in the midst of the always interesting, if not perplexing, Oscar season. January has a reputation of being a slow month for motion pictures, so here are a handful of this month’s releases that deserve your attention.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets a pass

Wonderfully executed, but lacking true emotion

By Lesley Chard

he much anticipated Hollywood film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been receiving overall pleasant reviews. Both Daniel Craig’s performance as Mikael Bomkvist and Rooney Mara’s performance as Lisbeth Salander were a faithful representation of the characters first introduced in Stieg Larsson’s novel.

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Boy journalist gets new look for old antics

By Jessie Small

The Adventures of Tintin. Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook, Daniel Mays, Gad Elmaleh, and Joe Starr. Paramount Pictures. 1hr 41 min. Rated PG.

Searching for WMD in the Bronze Age

Bold attempt into revisionist myth-telling

By Oliver Xia

Watching Immortals is equivalent to visiting an ultra-violent art museum where graphic and gory images are presented as art. The film's orgy of carnage and mayhem, drenched in digital bloodshed, is visually mesmerizing, yet it feels cold and distant, like a visit to a museum. The whole movie feels that way as well, making one feel like a dispassionate observer...

Red State

Funny man's debut in horror is a surprising though distinctive success

By Trevor Dobbin

Hero to pop culture geeks and frat boys everywhere, the always vocal Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), who has of late been gaining more media attention for his Twitter antics than for his actual work, has recently released his tenth and most divisive feature length film: Red State.

Cinematic equivalent of junk food

Disposable piece of entertainment for the bored

By Oliver Xia

Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Three Musketeers has been adapted countless times into various cinematic incarnations. Each adaptation reflects the general artistic trend at the time of its release. Recently, there has been a trend of making a historical film more badass by incorporating anachronistic elements into the movie’s time period.

The Big Year no big deal

A fabulous idea fails to live up to its potential

By Erin Maxwell

The Big Year. Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Jim Parsons, Rashida Jones, Dianne Wiest, and Rosamund Pike. 20th Century Fox. 101 mins. Rated PG.

Laughing with a heavy heart

50/50 brings a fresh perspective to living with cancer

By Katie Noseworthy

It’s not often you can laugh at a movie about cancer; however, 50/50 attempts to offer audiences a new cinematic perspective of the disease with a mix of humour and emotion, bringing a sense of reality to the ordeal.

Mixing art with mayhem

Goofy art house action film disguised as crime thriller

By Oliver Xia

Once in a while, a film comes along that defies the conventions set forth by its genre and attempts to do something eccentric and experimental. Drive is one such example.

The help outsmarts the hate

Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars

By Erin Maxwell

With Emma Stone as the bright young Eugenie (Skeeter), Viola Davis as the careworn maid Aibileen, and Octavia Spencer as Minny, The Help is a heart-wrenching, thought-inducing film throughout the course of which these three women bravely undertake to write a book exposing the awful reality of being a black maid in a racist town.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

By Andy Veilleux

The filmmaker does a good job with making the audience uneasy about which side to take. Do you side with Caesar and the primate, with the humans, or with Rodman, who becomes a bit of a neutral party.

Hobo stops begging, demands change

B movie provides laughs and gore

By Selina Pinto

Hobo With A Shotgun. Starring Rutger Hauer, Gregory Smith, Molly Dunsworth, and Robb Wells. Alliance Films, 86 mins. Rated R. Based in a town overrun with crime and bad cops, Hobo With A Shotgun follows an unnamed hobo (Rutger Hauer) who dreams of starting his own lawn mowing business. His dreams are halted when he arrives in the unnamed, corrupt...

The first insightful film of the year

Girl power, as stylishly idealized by Zack Snyder

By Oliver Xia

Sucker Punch. Starring Emily Browning, Oscar Isaac, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, and Vanessa Hudgens. Warner Bros. Pictures, 120 mins. Rated PG-13. Even though marketers are promoting it as a team of scantily clad young women ass-kicking in different time periods with a videogame setting, Sucker Punch is meant to be a tale about women using what they’re exploited for in...