Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is the latest entry in the found footage horror franchise. The basic concept is pretty simple. A demon cult has spent decades trying to raise a supernatural force, apparently using young girls as mediums. They’ve conjured up a spirit that manifests itself to the girls as a friend named Tobi, and now they’re on to the final phase of their plan, whatever that is. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NN
Jem and the Holograms adapts the outrageous 80s cartoon about girls who flick on their rock star personas with Allspark-like holographic technology by replacing its whimsical fantasy with social media. The relationship between Jerrica Benton and her empowered alter ego Jem (same girl with more makeup and confidence) is treated like the way we posture on Instagram. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NN
The Last Witch Hunter is a movie in constant conflict with how ridiculous it is, and how enjoyable it could be. It’s a dopey fantasy adventure starring Vin Diesel as Kaulder, an immortal warrior who maintains the delicate balance of power between humans and witches in present-day New York City. (He was cursed by the Witch Queen with eternal life during the Black Plague – which, it turns out, was her attempt to wipe humanity off the planet.) (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NN
A Christmas Horror Story is a series of amusing, loosely interconnected stories about ghosts, changelings and holiday devil Krampus (Rob Archer) who terrorize residents of Bailey Downs on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, a badass Santa (George Buza) deals with an outbreak of zombie elves at the North Pole and a drunken radio DJ (a low-key but still funny William Shatner) tries to get more information about a hostage standoff at the local mall. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NNNN
Tab Hunter Confidential delves into the life of 50s matinee idol Hunter, who was marketed as the boy next door during Hollywood’s studio system period while he kept his homosexuality (and relationships with Tony Perkins and figure skater Ronald Robertson) private. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NNNN
Northern Soul tracks an angry young teen (Elliot James Langridge) who gives up on education and embraces club life in 1974 Lancashire just as the eponymous pop phenomenon – built on obscure American singles from labels like Stax rather than Motown – was at its peak. There’s not much of a plot, but writer/director Constantine is much more interested in recreating the texture and energy of the moment, and on that level Northern Soul absolutely succeeds. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NNNN
My Internship In Canada returns to the antic, slightly goofy tone of writer/director Falardeau’s (Monsieur Lazhar, The Good Lie) earlier C’est Pas Moi, Je Le Jure! in this comedy about fictional Quebec MP Steve Guibord (Patrick Huard), who holds the deciding vote on whether Canada should enter an unspecified war on the other side of the world. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NNNN
Chameleon follows Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Ghana’s foremost investigative journalist, as he researches a series of exposés – busting an abortion provider who insists on having sex with his patients, freeing women forced into prostitution, rescuing children from an abusive religious cult. He brings police and government officials into his probes to ensure his targets don’t just disappear when he catches them in the act. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating:NNNN
Rock the Kasbah stars Bill Murray as a burnt-out rock promoter stranded in Afghanistan who decides to manage the first female performer (Leem Lubany) on the nationwide hit Afghan Star. But that element of the plot doesn’t even appear until an hour into this feeble, shapeless comedy, which Levinson and screenwriter Mitch Glazer seem convinced is a cutting political satire about America’s overreach in the war on terror. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NN
Remember is basically a linear version of Memento, with Christopher Plummer as a widower suffering from dementia who – with the help of a fellow nursing-home resident (Martin Landau) – sets out to find and kill a Nazi war criminal who escaped to North America after the war. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NN
Room features an absolutely amazing performance from Brie Larson as a young woman who’s spent seven years – five of them with her young son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay) – in the total isolation of a small room. Larson’s recessed, almost elemental performance communicates bone-deep trauma and profound resilience. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating:NNNN
The Mask holds a place in Canadian history as our first horror feature and our first 3D release. Those things will always be true, but after half a century director Roffman’s 1961 B-movie – newly restored by TIFF and the 3-D Film Archive – is of historical interest only. It’s a silly, generic programmer about a well-meaning psychiatrist (Paul Stevens) who’s the newest victim of an ancient mask that’s already driven a patient to a violent end by unlocking something primitive and horrible in the wearer. (Read full review here).
Opens October 23. See listings.
Rating: NN
