The Double (Richard Ayoade) is based on the Dostoevsky story about a meek office drone unhinged by the arrival of a successful, articulate man who looks exactly like him – but Ayoade’s follow-up to Submarine owes an equal debt to the collected works of Franz Kafka, Terry Gilliam and Roman Polanski. Still, The Double finds its own bizarre tone about 15 minutes in and never looks back. Arch, weird and very, very funny, it’s like watching an entire Bulgarian film festival in a single sitting. Jesse Eisenberg’s dual performance plays like a solo show of his breakout film Roger Dodger, and Mia Wasikowska – who seems to be everywhere this year – is nicely spiky as a co-worker who becomes the object of both men’s affection. Clearly aware that this is his one shot to tell this sort of story, Ayoade fills The Double with tiny, perfect comic vignettes and terrific cameos by virtually everyone with whom he’s ever worked. Paddy Considine has never been better. 93 min.
Rating: NNNN (NW)
Opens Jun 13 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. See here for times.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dean DeBlois) follows the Kung Fu Panda 2 template, expanding the world of the original by introducing a new villain and a new element of the hero’s backstory. Though we sometimes see the gears grinding on some of those elements – especially the shouty baddie, overplayed by Djimon Hounsou – they do what they’re supposed to do, extending the story and adding new problems rather than just rehashing the conflicts of the first movie. The insistence on a larger canvas does nudge Dragon 2 away from its greatest strength, which is the relationship between Jay Baruchel’s Hiccup and Toothless, the mute but amazingly expressive dragon who’s got even more of a personality than he had the first time around. That’s where the pure, unfettered joy is, and the movie is at its best when it just leans into that. Seriously, How To Train Your Dragon 3 can just be two hours of Toothless diving into snow drifts. 102 min.
Rating: NNNN (NW)
Opens Jun 13 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande – Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
Burt’s Buzz (Jody Shapiro) feels like the most cynical corporate video ever made, taking an hour and a half to tell us what could be conveyed in a single sentence: Burt Shavitz, iconic co-founder of the Burt’s Bees empire, is ambivalent about his success. Recognized around the world thanks to his image emblazoned on every Burt’s Bees product, the 76-year-old would rather live unbothered in his little Maine house, but he’s forever being dragged out for public appearances. Director Shapiro follows him and his minders as he prepares, somewhat grudgingly, for a trip to Taiwan. Insight into the man never arrives he doesn’t like talking about himself or about how his ex-partner bought him out of the business, or what arrangements were made to keep him as operation’s public face. An hour in – after various corporate appearances and multiple full-screen product close-ups – Shapiro touches on that, but only superficially. 88 min.
Rating: NN (NW)
Opens Jun 13 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. See here for times.
Silent Retreat (Tricia Lee) starts out well, establishing an eerie mood as troubled Janey (Chelsea Jenish) arrives at a remote juvenile rehabilitation centre where the treatment involves the complete absence of communication, verbal or otherwise. The film’s first movement is nicely unsettling, as Janey explores her surroundings, clashes with her authoritarian overseer (Robert Nolan) and starts wondering what’s in the creepy cabin – and why everyone’s so afraid of the woods. But once Corey Brown’s screenplay starts doling out answers, Silent Retreat slides into fairly conventional horror beats, short-changing the character development for easy shocks, cheap gore and at least one sequence that really should have been reconsidered during the development stage. There’s real talent here, both in front of the camera and behind it, but it doesn’t quite gel the way it needs to. 95 min.
Rating: NN (NW)
Opens Jun 13 at Carlton Cinema. See here for times.
WolfCop (Lowell Dean) announces its campy aspirations, and entire plot, in its title. Aiming for so-bad-it’s-good status, this derivative effort gets stuck in moderately bad. Instead of non-actors monotonously flubbing their lines, a very capable Leo Fafard slums it as Deputy Sheriff Lou, an alcoholic in a perpetual hangover who wakes up to the full moon after a satanic ritual turns him into the titular lycanthrope. The makeup department has fun with the transformation scenes, with buckets of blood, torn flesh and swollen genitals that come in handy when WolfCop makes time for some cross-species fornication. Such sight gags are good for a smirk in a film where the comedy orbits the ticklish concept without getting much mileage beyond that. 79 min.
Rating: NN (RS)
Opens Jun 13 at Scotiabank Theatre. See here for times.
All Cheerleaders Die (Lucky McKee, Chris Sivertson) is a bloody mess – and not in a good way. After a cheerleader acquaintance dies in an accident, outsider Maddy (Caitlin Stasey) seeks vengeance on the dead girl’s friends in the squad and football team. Maddy’s plans go awry, however, when her clingy Wiccan ex-girlfriend (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) enters the scene and begins – how to put it? – getting her rocks off. Directors McKee and Siverston mix genres liberally and reference any number of campy high school flicks. But they have no idea how to construct a movie. Maddy’s intentions are never clear – we don’t even know if she liked her dead friend. And while the young, nubile actors are attractive and up for anything, they’re completely interchangeable, which makes it hard to care as they get picked off. Some plot developments are simply incomprehensible. On the plus side, the blood looks pretty real. 90 min.
Rating: N (GS)
Opens Jun 13 at Carlton Cinema. See here for times.
22 Jump Street (Phil Lord, Christopher Miller) is a comedy sequel featuring odd couple Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as cops who infiltrate a college. Screened after press time – see review June 13 at nowtoronto.com/movies. 112 min.
Opens Jun 13 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande – Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy is a high-def broadcast of the successful recent touring production of Uhry’s play about an elderly Southern Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur, starring Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones. 90 min.
Opens Jun 14 at Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Courtney Park 16, Queensway, SilverCity Yonge, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
Game Of Thrones – Live Finale is a live screening in high-def of the season finale of the HBO series.
Opens Jun 15 at Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
National Theater Live: A Small Family Business is a high-def broadcast of a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy about entrepreneurial greed. 175 min.
Opens Jun 12 at Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Courtney Park 16, Queensway, SilverCity Yonge, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
