By John H. Foote (****) The last great film Jane Campion made was the exquisite The Piano (1993), which made her just the second woman nominated for a Best Director Oscar. The Piano received universal acclaim and was the only challenger as the year’s finest film to Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List. It has been…
By John H. Foote (****) “Attica was fear …” – former inmate The first time I heard the word “Attica”, it was from Al Pacino as Sonny in the superb Sidney Lumet film Dog Day Afternoon (1975). In the scene, he is grandstanding in front of the bank he and his partner are robbing, as…
By John H. Foote (**) Why did I get the nagging feeling I was watching an after school special? Throughout Dear Evan Hansen, based on the Tony Award winning musical, I had this constant sense I was watching a kids level After School Special with major movie stars sprinkled throughout the film for mainstream appeal.…
By John H. Foote TIFF officially opens today in Toronto, the annual celebration of cinema from around the globe. As always, I am excited to be covering the festival, though for the first time in three decades of attending and writing about the films, I am admitting to some disappointment. For weeks now, as the…
By John H. Foote The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has long been the major launching pad of the year’s Oscar challengers, studios bring their films here in hopes of gaining that all important fall “buzz” that could lead them to that golden circle on the evening of the Academy Awards. Not this year though.…
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 (**) 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…