Rating: NNNNN
(Thom Fitzgerald) has Don McKellar as a gay New York Jewish cellist who appears to die from AIDS complications. But assistant DA Parker Posey suspects an intervention from his cabal of fabulous friends and family, which launches galloping flashbacks. The Event was meant to be filmed in Canada, but it became a New York story when local financing fell through. That dislocation hobbles the film, and the funhouse casting doesn’t help – Sarah Polley and Olympia Dukakis as McKellar’s family! McKellar looks out of his emotional depth, but then this whole film suffers from a painful air of fakery. 114 min. NN (CB) Opens Oct 3 at Bayview, Varsity.
(William Phillips) – See review, 93 min. NNN (CB) Opens Oct 3 at 401 & Morningside, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Elgin Mills, First Markham Place, Grande – Steeles, Grande – Yonge, Paramount, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Newmarket, SilverCity Richmond Hill, SilverCity Yorkdale, Silvercity Yonge, Varsity, Winston Churchill.
(Clint Eastwood) – See review. 137 min. NNNNN (JH) Opens Oct 8 at Paramount.
(Carl Franklin) plays like noir, where the man’s a dupe, the dame’s a devil and the noose keeps tightening around the poor sucker’s neck. Denzel Washington is a Florida cop who trifles with a married woman and pays the price when she turns up dead and all clues point to him. This is Washington’s second crime thriller with director Carl Franklin, and it’s a leaner, tougher movie than Devil In A Blue Dress. There’s a good, tense middle hour here. But the set-up featuring Sanaa Lathan is weak and unconvincing. And the story requires Washington’s character to be first stupid, then crafty. It’s a jarring shift, and anyhow, Washington’s too proud an actor to play stupid. 114 min. NNN (CB) Opens Oct 3 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Courtney Park 16, Docks Drive-in, Eglinton Town Centre, Elgin Mills, First Markham Place, Grande – Steeles, Grande – Yonge, Interchange 30, Paramount, Queensway, Rainbow Fairview, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Newmarket, SilverCity Richmond Hill, SilverCity Yorkdale, Silvercity Yonge, Varsity, Winston Churchill.
(Richard Linklater) is one of those movies about an irresponsible loser who learns valuable life lessons by hanging out with children. Of course, the children are the offspring of driven careerist yuppies, and the irresponsible loser is Jack Black, who gets to fulfill all his Angus Young fantasies, down to the red Gibson SG, by teaching the kids It’s A Long Way To The Top. This is a mainstream wallow with impeccable indie cred, from the director of Waking Life and the screenwriter of The Good Girl, though Linklater tends to get too close to star Black, who mugs as outrageously as anyone this side of Zero Mostel. Much fun, but it could use less talk and more of Joan Cusack as the straitlaced principal with Stevie Nicks fantasies. 108 min. NNN (JH) Opens Oct 3 at 401 & Morningside, 5 Drive-In Oakville, Beach Cinemas, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Elgin Mills, First Markham Place, Grande – Steeles, Paramount, Queensway, Rainbow Fairview, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Mississauga, SilverCity Newmarket, SilverCity North York, SilverCity Richmond Hill, SilverCity Yorkdale, Silvercity Yonge.
