Rating: NNNNN
DAWN OF THE DEAD (Zack Snyder) remakes George Romero’s infamous horror flick about the flesh-eating undead, starring Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames. See review online at www.nowtoronto.com. 110 min.
Opens Mar 19 at 401 & Morningside, 5 Drive-In Oakville, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Elgin Mills, First Markham Place, Grande – Steeles, Interchange 30, Paramount, Queensway, Rainbow Fairview, Rainbow Woodbine, Silver City Newmarket, SilverCity North York, SilverCity Richmond Hill, SilverCity Yorkdale, Silvercity Yonge, Varsity, Winston Churchill.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Michel Gondry) – See review, page 75. 108 min. NNNN (JH)
Opens Mar 19 at 401 & Morningside, Bayview, Beach Cinemas, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Cumberland, Eglinton Town Centre, First Markham Place, Grande – Steeles, Grande – Yonge, Kennedy Commons, Paramount, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, SilverCity Mississauga, SilverCity Newmarket, SilverCity Richmond Hill, Silver city Yonge.
FATHER AND SON (Michel Boujenah) is a French commercial entertainment with a Canadian co-production twist. Philippe Noiret stars as the patriarch of three grown sons who don’t get along – two of them haven’t spoken in years. So he fakes a grave illness and persuades them to come along on a trip so he can see the whales in the St. Lawrence River before he dies. They laugh, they cry, they squabble, they bond, with a Quebec backdrop. It’s enjoyable claptrap, but not worth disrupting your schedule to see. You sit through it with the eerie feeling that you’ve seen it before, about a dozen times, from at least half a dozen countries. 98 min. NNN (JH)
Opens Mar 19 at Carlton.
GOOD BYE, LENIN! (Wolfgang Becker) was a huge hit in Germany, which really ought to mean more here than it does. This is a sharp comedy with deep emotional roots. Just before the Berlin Wall falls, a proud East German mother falls into a coma. Months later she awakes fragile and forgetful, so her son protects her from the new capitalist reality with an elaborate bubble of East German kitsch, complete with ugly clothes, bad coffee and taped newscasts. It’s a great premise, but what makes it work is Becker’s eye for the telling detail, and superb work from Katrin Sass as the mother. Even if you don’t long for Spreewald pickles and Trabant sedans, it’s a hell of a story. See interview, page 75. 118 min. NNNN (CB)
Opens Mar 19 at Cumberland.
TAKING LIVES (DJ Caruso) stars Angelina Jolie as a special FBI agent imported by Canadian police to catch a serial killer who takes on the identity of each new victim. See review online at www.nowtoronto. com. 122 min. Opens Mar 19 at 401 & Morningside, 5 Drive-In Oakville, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Elgin Mills, First Markham Place, Grande – Steeles, Paramount, Queens way, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Newmarket, SilverCity North York, SilverCity Richmond Hill, SilverCity Yorkdale, Silvercity Yonge, Varsity, Winston Churchill.
