Author: Jason Gorber

Talking the Razzies on CTV

Appeared on CTV News Channel tonight to talk about this year’s slates of “Razzies”, or “worst film”, which included my (beloved) BATTLESHIP. Click image above to watch the video

BATTLESHIP for Best Picture of 2012

We live in a time when winking, snarky, sardonic Cinema has become the norm, when things like subtext and subterfuge gloss over what are more often than not simply action movies gone wrong. We’ve seen pixels fighting pixels, groups of Avengers not really avenging anything, a rising Dark Knight that some found risible, all while […]

Best of 2012 on CTV News Channel

An evening spent celebrating some of the highlights of 2012, and a couple of stinkers, including one that while released in late December 2011 still stank up the entire year. Flash required, may not work on some mobile devices…

Talking Holiday Movies on CTV

Taking a slightly different tack that the normal calls to It’s a Wonderful Life or Elf,  here’s my list of Holiday movies for 2012.  Flash required, may not work on some mobile devices…  

Talking The Apocalypse on News957 Radio

Had the pleasure to talk with Scott Simpson about Apocalypse movies, including some of my favourites (Last Night, Tank Girl) and some less-thans (here’s looking at you, Day After Tomorrow). [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/72091044″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

On HOBBITS and High Frame Rates

Had a great chat with CBC stalwart Eli Glasner about the vagaries of frame rates in Peter Jackson’s latest Tolkienian opus (flash required). Here’s the text from their site: Questioning The Hobbit’s faster frame rate technology Will audiences flock to or flee from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in HFR 3D? Peter Jackson has been making […]

CBC Interview on AS IT HAPPENS: The Ridiculous RED DAWN Redux

Another CBC gig, this one discussing the pretty incredible circumstances surrounding the RED DAWN redux, including the decision to make the “bad guys” North Korean instead of Chinese. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/68629579″ params=”color=ff0000&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Special thanks to Carol Off, Jeff Douglas, Sara Martin and especially Producer Ben Edwards for helping to make this […]

Live Television Interview – Talking STAR WARS…again!

Had another early morning media call, this time a visit to the CTV News Channel set for a sit down conversation about Disney, Star Wars, and the future of the franchise. Thanks to Jacqueline Milczarek and Dan Matheson for being so welcoming, to the technical crew and back stage staff that were friendly and encouraging, […]

On STAR WARS: CBC’s “The Current” Interview

Anna Maria Tremanti, Spencer Kornhaber (entertainment editor of Atlantic magazine ), Joe Utichi (The Guardian, Yahoo), and I discuss the latest big news about Disney buying Lucasfilm, and the announcement of Episodes VII, VIII and IX Flash player below – unlikely to work with some mobile devices.

ARGO and the “Truthiness” Doctrine

Argo is a delightful throwback film, echoing the kind of “political intrigue” style that was commonplace during the Nixon administration. The fact that Argo shares many characteristics with the likes of The Ides of March might be no mere coincidence. Forgetting the obvious point, that George Clooney is listed as a producer on both works, […]

TIFF 2012 in Capsule Form

ABCs OF DEATH – B- Like any anthology film, there’s good bits, decent bits, and awful bits. Luckily, you just have to sit back and wait for another letter to come up in, um, “cue”, and it all gets either better (or worse). FULL REVIEW THE ACT OF KILLING – A+ Stunning, unforgettable film about […]

70mm, 4K, and THE MASTER’s Split Personality

Ever since Paul Thomas Anderson announced that he’d be shooting The Master for large format celluloid presentation, many of us have been drooling at the prospect of a modern, epic 70mm masterpiece slipping out of Hollywood. It’s been 16 years since anyone had the chutzpah to shoot a feature film on 65mm neg (Kenneth Branagh’s […]

A LIAR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY – THE UNTRUE STORY OF MONTY PYTHON’S GRAHAM CHAPMAN

Graham Chapman has been dead for almost a quarter century, but that hasn’t stopped him from starring in a brand new film. If that weren’t notable enough, this work is also the closest we’ll probably ever get to a legitimate Monty Python Reunion. Back even earlier, Chapman wrote (well, co-wrote) his so-called “Liars Autobiography”, a […]

THERMAE ROMAE

The TIFF programme guide breathlessly extolled the success of Thermae Romae in its native country, declaring the film, based on an extremely popular manga, “Japan’s biggest box office hit of the year”. This goes to prove a couple things – sometimes, what the masses choose to be their hit of the summer can be completely […]

ARTIFACT

One one level, Artifact has elements of that that most egregious of self-serving documentaries, the tale of the woeful band fighting against their evil corporate overlord. We start with the band Thirty Seconds to Mars trying to record their latest album, and they’re chafing against the restrictions of a nine-year contract that they’re still beholden […]

FREE ANGELA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS

Let me be completely frank and upfront about this – the world could very much use a fine documentary about Angela Davis. She’s a fascinating woman, extremely intelligent and eloquent. A continental philosopher who rose to a level of prominence within the American political left, her tale is a fascinating one on almost every level, […]

BLANCANIEVES

When an ostensibly “silent” film takes home the best picture Oscar, beating out another film about George Meliés, you know we’re living in a cinematic landscape where everything nostalgic is ripe for revisitation. While some found The Artist contrived, I fell deeply for that film, finding its cheeky mix of fun with melodrama a refreshing […]

Ghost Graduation

One of the most charming, silly and rambunctious films of this year’s festival, Ghost Graduation is an unabashed love letter to the cinema of John Hughes, mixed in with bits of The Frighteners or Ghostbusters for good measure. The film starts, as most should, with the thumping melodrama of Bonnie Tyler’s epic “Total Eclipse of […]

LONDON – THE MODERN BABYLON

By any normal measure, Julien Temple’s film London could easily have been terrible. The conceit, a slew of archive footage interspersed with talking head interviews, is the recipe for loads of horrendous television programmes that serve as filler on the higher numbered cable channels. What’s remarkable about this film is just how effective it is […]

LUNARCY!

Lunarcy! is one of those delightful character piece documentaries, akin to where Errol Morris will go down to some swampy Florida town and meet totally unique, bizarre and obsessive individuals and put them on screen for our edification. Director Simon Ennis’ interest is in those interested in/obsessed with that giant orb that dominates our night […]

THE ICEMAN

Like a stiff mixed drink that doesn’t live up to the quality of its ingredients, The Iceman proves to be an unpalatable, underwhelming crime drama. All the great parts are there – we’ve got a simmering Michael Shannon in a 70s gangster drama, and a true life tale of a mob enforcer thought to have […]

THE ACT OF KILLING

Easily one of this decade’s most important and most harrowing documentaries, The Act of Killing is a shattering take on the nature of evil. The conceit of the documentary is unique to the form – filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer traveled to Indonesia to tell the story of mass murder by having those that perpetuated the killings […]

ABCs of Death

The anthology film, that strange form of film where a number of directors assemble to tell their own take on a given subject, are strange cinematic beasts. On the one hand, they play like mini festivals, a cinematic buffet, or one of those sushi places that have the dishes on a conveyor belt. As an […]

LOOPER

In one of Looper‘s most delicious scenes, two versions of the same lead character are discussing the vagaries of time travel. When asked to explain how the technology works, “old” Joe deadpans a response to deflect the question, stating that to account for time travel paradoxes, “we’re going to be here all day talking about […]

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

The trailer for David O. Russell’s follow up to his Oscar nominated The Fighter, combined with the twee title, makes Silver Linings Playbook to be a horrible film about crazy people in love. Its a credit both to Russell, a fine ensemble cast and dramatically lowered expectations that film proved to be absolutely terrific when […]

THE BAY

When it was announced that Barry Levinson was going to be having a film as part of the TIFF Midnight Madness slate, and that it would be a found footage horror piece about infected water, I admit I wasn’t expecting very much. It’d be easy to dismiss this as both a cash-in on the fad […]

AFTERSHOCK

Playing in the Midnight Madness section to a ravenous audience expecting thrills every reel, the fact that Aftershock takes its sweet-ass time to get going feels like a bold move indeed. At the outset, it appears to be another placid film about how cool it is to go clubbing in Chile. We see wine tours […]

BAD25

It’s not so far into Bad 25 when you realize just what kind of film it’s going to be – exuberant, energizing, even at times elegiac, this is very much a straight ahead celebration of a particularly exceptional recording. For the last two years at TIFF, two extremely compelling documentaries were shown about superstar artists coming to […]