A big, blue pearl in space
Earth is ready for its close-up in this latest space project by Toronto writer/director/editor Toni Myers ( Hubble 3D, Space Station 3D).
The IMAX film fills the giant curved screen with some of the most stunning views ever of the planet, including southern Ontario at night and the Great Lakes frozen in winter.
It was shot on hi-def cameras by teams of astronauts travelling to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
But how long will our blue orb continue to sustain life?
It’s a major concern Myers doesn’t shrink from, as she presents alarming images of retreating polar ice caps, expanding deserts and smouldering rain forests.
Global political divisions are also apparent: the long border between India and Pakistan is visible from space, and so is night-shrouded North Korea, almost hidden atop brightly lit South Korea.
Jennifer Lawrence makes a lessthan-inspiring choice as narrator, more of a name than a voice, and the pop songs on the soundtrack — including ditties by Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow and Harry Nilsson — are simply corny.
But astronauts liven up proceedings with glimpses of life aboard the flying recreation room that is the ISS. The biggest kick of all is watching the blue Earth through the Cupola, the observation deck offering the best views in the universe. Also opening: Dennis Hauck’s Too Late, a private-eye drama starring John Hawkes. It’s told in five acts, each a 20-minute unedited shot. At the Royal. Peter Howell “Show us something real!” elder drag queen Mama (Luis Alberto García) tells teen protégé Jesus (Héctor Medina), a hairdresser and aspiring dancer.
It’s a tall order for a shy kid in a make-believe world, a scenario all too familiar from innumerable dramas and comedies.
But Irish director Paddy Breathnach sets and shoots Viva in the vivid streets and clubs of Havana, a city that needs no coaxing to be genuine. And newcomer Medina makes a commanding bow in this redemptive coming-of-ager about a son attempting to please two paternal figures.
One is the aforementioned Mama, who is protective as he is gruff. The other is long-gone Angel (Jorge Perugorría), a drunken ex-con who announces his presence with a fist to the face one night, while Jesus struts on stage. Angel strongly disapproves of his son’s lifestyle and sexual orientation. Viva offers few surprises, but it draws us into the sights and sensations of a fascinating city and the excitement of new talent. Peter Howell This lazily directed and sloppily written heist non-thriller unspools like one of those amusement park distractions where tourists play at being in a movie. There’s lots of faux tough banter, bullets flying everywhere and everything making about as much impact as a cone of candy floss.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is Jack, a golfloving beach bum who occasionally steals stuff. He gets caught up in an armoured car theft of $30 million worth of diamonds, that also draws in his ex-lover (Claire Forlani), his sharpshooting sidekick (Jenna B. Kelly) and a veterinarian girlfriend (Lydia Hull) who thinks he’s a dog lover, not a thief.
Bored yet? You will be after a gaunt Bruce Willis shows up for another cheque-cashing ceremony, this time as a peeved and vengeful crime boss.
A disengaged Willis is painful to watch. He can’t even be bothered pretending to care about what director Max Adams (who co-writes with Paul V. Seetachitt) is up to, so why should we? Peter Howell This intelligent but unfocused English-language debut by Denmark’s Joachim Trier ( Oslo, August 31st) feels like a sort of emotional Rashomon.
After the car-crash death of a mother (Isabelle Huppert) in a male-dominated family, two sons and their father grapple with their dysfunctional family situation, resulting in some reflective, engaging drama.
Flashbacks of multiple maternal roles — mother, wife, war photographer — reveal secrets from the past and challenge the future, in a dramatic narrative Trier wrote with long-time collaborator Eskil Vogt.
Righteous elder son Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg), a new father and knowit-all, figures he’s the one to pull everything together for his fractured clan, even as an impending New York Times article threatens to open old wounds. Jonah will have to face up to some of his own weaknesses.
Eisenberg leads an ensemble cast that also includes Gabriel Byrne, David Strathairn and interesting newcomer Devin Druid. Peter Howell It doesn’t take a big budget and loads of special effects to create a genuinely scary movie. It just takes — as writer/director Jeremy Saulnier ably demonstrates in Green Room — an intriguing premise, a taut, sinewy script and a solid cast. A couple of pit bulls don’t hurt either.
Ahard-up punk band accepts a lastminute gig at a club deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest before an audience of white supremacists.
The punks stumble on a freshly murdered corpse and then find themselves trapped when the club owner (Patrick Stewart) decrees they must die. A bloody, suspenseful struggle follows against a ruthless horde of adversaries.
The cast is great — especially Anton Yelchin as bass player Pat and Imogene Poots as neo-Nazi group Amber — but Stewart’s performance revels in its chilled-to-the-bone authenticity. Bruce DeMara