By John H. Foote Hollywood took a major hit yesterday with the cancellation of three major films, one of then an Oscar front runner directed by an industry giant. Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated remake of the Oscar winning film and Broadway smash West Side Story has been postponed an entire year, pushed back to 2021.…
It is with profound regret and deep sadness that we announce the passing of Nick Maylor, one of our original writers and the producer of our podcast at Foote and Friends on Film. Nick passed away last week. Nick encountered John H. Foote as a student at the Toronto Film School, where Nick was often seen…
By John H. Foote At the end of it all, I would be lying if I said I had the slightest enjoyment of TIFF this year. I missed the energy of the cavernous, crowded Scotiabank Theatre or the spacious, still new Lightbox, the many busy conversations in the audiences before each film, other critics picking…
By John H. Foote (*) Place your brain on pause for this one, put your suspension of disbelief on high, (for as long as you can), be willing to go along with every goofy plot device, especially the narrative, and just go along for the ride. Start picking at the plot, you might never stop,…
By John H. Foote (****) We were in New York City in the summer of 2010 for a week, my wife and daughters. Sherri was doing very well after chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and though filled with energy, she would be gone in less than two years. As our cab weaved through the busy streets…
By John H. Foote (**) This gritty, tough love look at a relationship between a father and son who are strangers to each other has some strong acting within, but the truth is I screened it this morning and not given it a thought until I had to write this. Normally, if I have seen…
By John H. Foote (****) What is she like, this grave, serious, often stern 16-year old who was TIME Magazine’s Newsmaker of the Year in 2019, and brought piercing attention to climate change? Who was this girl, this Greta Thunberg? In this extraordinary documentary we are given remarkable access into her life, her home, see…
By John H. Foote (***) Based on the true stories of Jaden Bell and his father Joe, portrayed with infinite sadness by Mark Wahlberg, this deeply heartbreaking film, so aching with profound honesty and loss, is a powerful experience. Jaden Bell was a gay teenager who was bullied relentlessly by the students at his high…
By John H. Foote (**) Sold to Netflix on day three of TIFF, I found this a tough watch which begins with a visceral, uncompromising home birth with a midwife that goes horribly wrong which is a hyper realistic sequence. The film is acted with blistering power by the astonishing Vanessa Kirby and the ever…
By John H. Foote (?) Another film I have heard much about by reading the reviews from other festivals but again Elevation has bullied the festival into. No press and industry screenings, meaning the studio controls who sees the film, banning (yes, I said that) those they are withholding the film from. So I cannot…