Movies
The Raid: Redemption
The fact that The Raid is all premise a SWAT team gets trapped in a building in the Jakarta slums with an army of ruthless gangsters and no plot doesnt change the fact that this is the most bracing Asian action film since Ong Bak and makes The
Payback
OFFICIAL SELECTION, SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2012 Director Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes) adapts Margaret Atwoods treatise on the fiscal and philosophical realities of debt drawing on examples that range from a blood feud in Albania to the incarceration of Conrad Black. A thoughtful and compelling meditation on global interconnectivity and
On the Ice
OTTAWA PREMIERE | BEST DEBUT FEATURE, BERLIN INTL FILM FESTIVAL 2011 Three teenage friends leave on a seal-hunting trip. Only two come back. Thats the deceptively simple set up for this this uncommonly involving thriller (Roger Ebert) set in in the native Inupiat community of Barrow, Alaska. Cold as ice
The Lady
Luc Besson (The Professional) takes a break from producing action films to direct this biopic of Burmese democracy advocated Aung San Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Tracking both the political and personal prices she paid for her activism including long separations from her husband and children
Keyhole
OTTAWA PREMIERE | OFFICIAL SELECTION, TIFF 2011 It should come a no surprise that Guy Maddins new film a noir-inspired tale of gangsters on the run is not a straight-ahead caper film. Rather, its a claustrophobic, Homeric odyssey into the depths of memory, family and mortality that is
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Jiro Ono is 85 years old. His restaurant is located in a Tokyo subway station. It seats 10, and serves only sushi. A meal runs US$300, and theres a three-month waiting list for a reservation. This is yours. Inherently fascinating as a character study, [this doc] reveals the heroism in
The Island President
OTTAWA PREMIERE | PEOPLES CHOICE, BEST DOCUMENTARY, TIFF 2011 Having brought democracy to his homeland, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives now faces an even greater challenge: rising waters caused by global warming threaten to literally sink his low-lying nation. Following him to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference, Shenk’s doc
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
MAYFAIRS 80TH BIRTHDAY FUNDRAISER | 8 GREAT DECADES: THE 80S We continue our celebration of the Mayfairs 80th birthday with your picks for the best films of the 80s. The Ark of the Covenant. The Holy Grail. And some glowing rocks? Temple of Doom may lack a cool artifact,
The Hunter
A haunted, solitary mercenary (Willem Dafoe at his craggiest) is hired to track down the Tasmanian Tiger, a creature believed extinct for nearly a century. On the hunt, he rediscovers his own believed-extinct humanity, and the film grows from a simple tale of man versus beast to a complicated parable
The Hunger Games
Are the odds in favour of a good time if you come see the big-screen adaptation of The Hunger Games? The consensus is yes: It has epic spectacle, yearning romance, suspense that won’t quit and a shining star in Jennifer Lawrence, who gives us a female warrior worth cheering. (Rolling