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The 14th annual Doors Open presented by Great Gulf offers residents and visitors an opportunity to take a peek behind the doors of nearly 150 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city on Saturday May 25 and Sunday May 26, 2013. 

The Fox is open only on Saturday May 25 from 10 AM - 4 PM (the last admittance is 3:30 PM). 

The Fox is an experience not to be missed! Visitors get a behind the scenes look at this beautiful old theatre. Guided tours on the half hour will include the projection booth. Each visitor will receive a bag of free popcorn!

We look forward to welcoming you!

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

On Oct. 5, 1988, after 15 hard years under a dictatorship, the Chilean public voted No — as in, Enough already — in a historic national plebiscite that removed Gen. Augusto Pinochet from power. Pablo Larraín's superb, Oscar-nominated, fact-based drama, No, explores the power of popular dissent, and the coordinated persuasions of media, marketing, and targeted advertising in shaping the word no to invigorate a populace pessimistically conditioned to think that nothing will ever change for the good.

Gael García Bernal is typically soulful as a (fictional) adman who devises the effective and unexpectedly upbeat campaign, even while his agency boss (Alfredo Castro) works for Team Yes. One other nice touch: The movie — the third in a trilogy of powerful political dramas from Larraín, including Tony Manero and Post Mortem — uses period detail, archival footage, and '80s-era technology to create an excellently authentic, bleached, crummy-looking document of a great democratic accomplishment.  - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

On Oct. 5, 1988, after 15 hard years under a dictatorship, the Chilean public voted No — as in, Enough already — in a historic national plebiscite that removed Gen. Augusto Pinochet from power. Pablo Larraín's superb, Oscar-nominated, fact-based drama, No, explores the power of popular dissent, and the coordinated persuasions of media, marketing, and targeted advertising in shaping the word no to invigorate a populace pessimistically conditioned to think that nothing will ever change for the good.

Gael García Bernal is typically soulful as a (fictional) adman who devises the effective and unexpectedly upbeat campaign, even while his agency boss (Alfredo Castro) works for Team Yes. One other nice touch: The movie — the third in a trilogy of powerful political dramas from Larraín, including Tony Manero and Post Mortem — uses period detail, archival footage, and '80s-era technology to create an excellently authentic, bleached, crummy-looking document of a great democratic accomplishment.  - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

On Oct. 5, 1988, after 15 hard years under a dictatorship, the Chilean public voted No — as in, Enough already — in a historic national plebiscite that removed Gen. Augusto Pinochet from power. Pablo Larraín's superb, Oscar-nominated, fact-based drama, No, explores the power of popular dissent, and the coordinated persuasions of media, marketing, and targeted advertising in shaping the word no to invigorate a populace pessimistically conditioned to think that nothing will ever change for the good.

Gael García Bernal is typically soulful as a (fictional) adman who devises the effective and unexpectedly upbeat campaign, even while his agency boss (Alfredo Castro) works for Team Yes. One other nice touch: The movie — the third in a trilogy of powerful political dramas from Larraín, including Tony Manero and Post Mortem — uses period detail, archival footage, and '80s-era technology to create an excellently authentic, bleached, crummy-looking document of a great democratic accomplishment.  - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

On Oct. 5, 1988, after 15 hard years under a dictatorship, the Chilean public voted No — as in, Enough already — in a historic national plebiscite that removed Gen. Augusto Pinochet from power. Pablo Larraín's superb, Oscar-nominated, fact-based drama, No, explores the power of popular dissent, and the coordinated persuasions of media, marketing, and targeted advertising in shaping the word no to invigorate a populace pessimistically conditioned to think that nothing will ever change for the good.

Gael García Bernal is typically soulful as a (fictional) adman who devises the effective and unexpectedly upbeat campaign, even while his agency boss (Alfredo Castro) works for Team Yes. One other nice touch: The movie — the third in a trilogy of powerful political dramas from Larraín, including Tony Manero and Post Mortem — uses period detail, archival footage, and '80s-era technology to create an excellently authentic, bleached, crummy-looking document of a great democratic accomplishment.  - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Rooney Mara stars as Emily, a loyal wife whose husband is (a) about to get out of prison after serving four years for insider trading and (b) played by Channing Tatum. You'd think things would be looking up for Emily, but she's plagued by anxiety and, after impulsively driving her car into a brick wall, ends up in therapy with Dr. Banks (Jude Law). After trying several of the usual antidepressants, Emily ends up on a brand-new medication called Ablixa, which turns out to have tragically consequential (you guessed it) side effects.

Of course, at least a couple of facts in the preceding paragraph turn out not to be true. The screenplay by Scott Z. Burns serves up plenty of twists over the last half of the film, all of them genuinely surprising in the moment but in retrospect decipherable. Soderbergh directs with subtlety, placing clues delicately but firmly along the way; he never cheats by revealing something the audience didn't have a chance to suspect on its own.  - Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian

Rooney Mara stars as Emily, a loyal wife whose husband is (a) about to get out of prison after serving four years for insider trading and (b) played by Channing Tatum. You'd think things would be looking up for Emily, but she's plagued by anxiety and, after impulsively driving her car into a brick wall, ends up in therapy with Dr. Banks (Jude Law). After trying several of the usual antidepressants, Emily ends up on a brand-new medication called Ablixa, which turns out to have tragically consequential (you guessed it) side effects.

Of course, at least a couple of facts in the preceding paragraph turn out not to be true. The screenplay by Scott Z. Burns serves up plenty of twists over the last half of the film, all of them genuinely surprising in the moment but in retrospect decipherable. Soderbergh directs with subtlety, placing clues delicately but firmly along the way; he never cheats by revealing something the audience didn't have a chance to suspect on its own.  - Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Science fiction is always more about the present, and even the past, than it is about the future, which by definition we don't know anything about. That's certainly true of Oblivion, the sly, surprising and visually magnicificent Tom Cruise vehicle. I'm sure some people will see Oblivion as another Philip K Dick rehash, but to my mind director Joseph Kosinski and co-writers Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt have synthesized all these influences into a witty and elegant post-apocalyptic parable that's well suited to our age of asymmetrical warfare and even asymmetircal reality. ~Anderew O'Hehir/Salon

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

The documentary chronicles the months and years of planning that led up to the ship's eventual repatriation to Port McNicoll, Ontario, on June 23rd 2012 - a risky, complex and eventful journey. 

$20 donation at the door

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Science fiction is always more about the present, and even the past, than it is about the future, which by definition we don't know anything about. That's certainly true of Oblivion, the sly, surprising and visually magnicificent Tom Cruise vehicle. I'm sure some people will see Oblivion as another Philip K Dick rehash, but to my mind director Joseph Kosinski and co-writers Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt have synthesized all these influences into a witty and elegant post-apocalyptic parable that's well suited to our age of asymmetrical warfare and even asymmetircal reality. ~Anderew O'Hehir/Salon

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

Free afternoon of family fun at the Fox Theatre! Includes free movie, popcorn and a drink! Brought to you by your community's realtor and mortgage professionals - Wafa Masri and Georgia Stamatakos.

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Science fiction is always more about the present, and even the past, than it is about the future, which by definition we don't know anything about. That's certainly true of Oblivion, the sly, surprising and visually magnicificent Tom Cruise vehicle. I'm sure some people will see Oblivion as another Philip K Dick rehash, but to my mind director Joseph Kosinski and co-writers Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt have synthesized all these influences into a witty and elegant post-apocalyptic parable that's well suited to our age of asymmetrical warfare and even asymmetircal reality. ~Anderew O'Hehir/Salon

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Science fiction is always more about the present, and even the past, than it is about the future, which by definition we don't know anything about. That's certainly true of Oblivion, the sly, surprising and visually magnicificent Tom Cruise vehicle. I'm sure some people will see Oblivion as another Philip K Dick rehash, but to my mind director Joseph Kosinski and co-writers Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt have synthesized all these influences into a witty and elegant post-apocalyptic parable that's well suited to our age of asymmetrical warfare and even asymmetircal reality. ~Anderew O'Hehir/Salon

Anne leaves Estonia to come to Paris as a caretaker for Frida, an elderly Estonian lady who emigrated to France long ago. Anne soon realizes she is not wanted. All Frida wants from life is the attention of Stephan, her younger former lover. Stephane, however, is desperate for Anne to stay and look after Frida, even against the old lady's will. In this conflict of strangers, Anne will find her own way...

Screened with "Chance".

For tickets: scarboroughfilmfestival.com/festival/tickets

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Algeria region of the high flatland. As Islamist groups continue to spread terror, Rashid, a young Jihadist, leaves the mountains to return to his village. In keeping with the law "of pardon and national harmony", he has to surrender to the police and give up his weapon. He thus receives amnesty and becomes a "repenti". But the law cannot erase his crimes and for Rashid it is the beginning of a one-way journey of violence, secrets and manipulation.

Screened with "Little Miss Jihad".

For tickets: scarboroughfilmfestival.com/festival/tickets

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Once upon a time, there was a storyteller. In a lonely railway station in Kolkata, where he spoke to trains. He wanted to tell a story. Inside the darkness of his mind, his story unfolds a kaleidoscope of fantasy. Once upon a time there was a prince who was banished with his mother to a dark and distant prison palace. Here he grows up, without hope, without a future, with his mother drowning herself in alcohol. Realizing the extent of the prince's despair, a friend invokes the Oracle. A mysterious figure, the Oracle passes on a message of liberation. The prince realizes that he is indeed a prisoner of his mind. He makes a decision, to leave in search for an adventure.

Tickets: scarboroughfilmfestival.com/festival/tickets

The apple of a young man’s eye doesn’t fall too far from the (family) tree in Renoir. This handsomely mounted historical drama concerns the desirous triangle between the great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his live-in teenage model Andrée Heuschling, and his son Jean, who recovered from a battlefield injury in the First World War to become one of the most important French filmmakers of all time. The idea that two generations of great artistry would be inspired in two very different media by the same tempestuous, temperamental young woman is poetic, but Gilles Bourdos’s film is more conventional than its mould-breaking subjects deserve.- Adam Nayman, The Globe & Mail

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

Nader and Stefano: one is Egyptian but was born in Rome, the other is Italian and is his best friend. Nader's girlfriend Brigitte is Italian too, but that's exactly why the boy's parents oppose their love. Ali Blue Eyes tells of a week in the life of an adolescent boy who tries to disobey the values of his family. Precariously balanced between being Arab or Italian, Nader, courageous and in love, will have to endure solitude, the streets, cold, hunger, fear and the loss of friendship, the attempt to regain his own identity. 

Screens with: "Laughing Out Loud". 

For tickets: scarboroughfilmfestival.com/festival/tickets

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

A thoughtful look at the lives of a group of New Yorkers whose struggles bring them together in unexpected ways, the film weaves together six stories of love and  heartbreak in an emotionally complex experience. Greg (Robert Pivec) lives in the shadow of his wife's death, drinking his way through his listless days at work while his oldest daughter, Natalie (Victoria Maria), plays surrogate mother to her brother, Justin (Kyle Donnery). Jason (Steve Sherman), meanwhile, is a directionless twenty-something who plays the sadsack foil to his more optimistic roommate, Tim (Ryan O'Callaghan) and his girlfriend, Sarah (Samantha Streilitz). When a chance encounter brings Natalie and Jason together, their lives begin to follow a different path. 

Screens with: "Mermaid"

For tickets: scarboroughfilmfestival.ca/festival/tickets

Arash is an Iranian academic who lives in the West. He returns to Iran to teach in Shiraz, a city far from Tehran where his mother lives. Drawn into a series of domestic and financial dramas, he faces a country that is now alien to him. Following the death of his father and the discovery of what his "respectable family" has become, he is forced to make choices.

Screened with: "Lonesome Town" and "Magic Lantern".

For tickets: scarboroughfilmfestival.ca/festival/tickets

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

“42” begins in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to integrate the team. Insisting to his nervous associates that dollars aren’t black or white, only green, Rickey begins scouting for a player who not only will help the team win, but also has the character to withstand the backlash that will ensue.

He settles on Robinson, a gifted athlete from California with an impressive record in the Negro leagues. When Robinson asks Rickey if he’s looking for a player without the guts to fight back, Rickey famously replies that he’s looking for “a player with the guts not to fight back.”

The film’s most gratifying sequences are on the field, when Robinson is silencing his critics with the sheer beauty and athleticism of his playing, and when his teammates -- who early in his career petitioned to have him removed -- can be seen gradually coming around, as if waking from a particularly toxic trance. By the time Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) famously puts his arm around Robinson during a game in Cincinnati, “42” has taken on cumulative, undeniable momentum, not just as classically rousing entertainment but as a quintessential story of American aspiration. Ann Hornaday-Washington Post

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

Maggie Smith plays Jean Horton, a haughty former opera diva who arrives one day at Beecham House, a beautifully appointed, humanely run facility populated by lovable eccentrics (many endearingly played by actual retired musicians and singers).

Unaware of her impending arrival are her decent, buttoned-down ex-husband (Tom Courtenay) and two other former colleagues: a lecherous, profane charmer (Billy Connolly) and a sweet-natured bubblehead (Pauline Collins). While the former spouses sort out old betrayals and resentments, the residents are in the midst of preparations for Beecham's annual fundraising event, which needs to succeed to keep the place open another year. Can the reluctant Jean be convinced to join her erstwhile stage mates in a facility-saving gala performance? Mark Mohan-Portland Oregonian

Maggie Smith plays Jean Horton, a haughty former opera diva who arrives one day at Beecham House, a beautifully appointed, humanely run facility populated by lovable eccentrics (many endearingly played by actual retired musicians and singers).

Unaware of her impending arrival are her decent, buttoned-down ex-husband (Tom Courtenay) and two other former colleagues: a lecherous, profane charmer (Billy Connolly) and a sweet-natured bubblehead (Pauline Collins). While the former spouses sort out old betrayals and resentments, the residents are in the midst of preparations for Beecham's annual fundraising event, which needs to succeed to keep the place open another year. Can the reluctant Jean be convinced to join her erstwhile stage mates in a facility-saving gala performance? Mark Mohan-Portland Oregonian

As Dave Lovelace, a boozy soul-music savant who stumbles across a sister act of aboriginal singers shyly covering a Merle Haggard tune at a small-time outback talent show, O'Dowd gooses The Sapphires from a slight — and slightly clichéd — Down Under import to a Commitments-style crowd-pleaser.Set in 1968 Australia, a time when the indigenous aborigines were fighting for the same rights that black protesters were demanding in America, The Sapphires is a film with a lot on its mind. After a sequins-and-go-go-boots Supremes makeover, Dave books the group for the only gig they can score: entertaining U.S. troops in Vietnam. Chris Nashawaty-Entertainment Weekly

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The Muppets' enjoyable third feature (1984) has Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the gang storming New York in search of a producer who's willing to give them a shot on Broadway. Their big chance is put in jeopardy when Kermit gets amnesia after being hit by a car and comes to think he's an advertising executive. Despite the predictable mix of humor, musical numbers, and celebrity cameos (Art Carney, Liza Minnelli, Gregory Hines, Joan Rivers, etc), the movie is breezily fun and every bit as entertaining as its predecessors.- Reece Pendleton

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The Muppets' enjoyable third feature (1984) has Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the gang storming New York in search of a producer who's willing to give them a shot on Broadway. Their big chance is put in jeopardy when Kermit gets amnesia after being hit by a car and comes to think he's an advertising executive. Despite the predictable mix of humor, musical numbers, and celebrity cameos (Art Carney, Liza Minnelli, Gregory Hines, Joan Rivers, etc), the movie is breezily fun and every bit as entertaining as its predecessors.- Reece Pendleton

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

The top-notch adventure tale “Kon-Tiki” is an old-fashioned entertainment, complete with a lead who physically recalls Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

In the years following World War II, Norwegian scientist and writer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) seeks a project to make his name as an explorer . To determine that Polynesia was settled by Peruvian travelers, Heyerdahl builds a raft true to the ones pre-Columbian wayfarers used some 1,500 years earlier.

With his crew of five, Heyerdahl braves the South Seas for more than 100 days. Heat, storms and sharks test them — and the balsa-wood craft only had a radio transmitter and hand-cranked generator for modern equipment. But as directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg show, Heyerdahl’s team of Swedes and Norwegians met the challenge and made history. They also set the stage for future exploration, a spirit that arguably led all the way to the modern era’s space program. Joe Neumaier,  New York Daily News

One of the rare contemporary films that really is about something, The Company You Keep mixes identity, action and politics to tell a gripping story about what happened to those 1970s antiwar protestors called the Weather Underground (labeled Weathermen by the press) who turned into radical terrorists by blowing up government buildings. They broke laws, endangered lives, fled from prosecution, went into hiding and reinvented themselves. And they are still around, wanted by the FBI, living normal lives under assumed names. News stories occasionally surface in which one of them is nailed in some secret small-town hideaway and brought to justice. But this is not only a story about 13 Weathermen who killed a security guard in a botched Michigan bank robbery 30 years ago. It is also about one member of the accused who wasn’t even present that day, a solid citizen who is forced to go underground again to prove his innocence. In a role tailored to fit his integrity and liberal conscience, Mr. Redford has never been better. Rex Reed, New York Observer

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

One of the rare contemporary films that really is about something, The Company You Keep mixes identity, action and politics to tell a gripping story about what happened to those 1970s antiwar protestors called the Weather Underground (labeled Weathermen by the press) who turned into radical terrorists by blowing up government buildings. They broke laws, endangered lives, fled from prosecution, went into hiding and reinvented themselves. And they are still around, wanted by the FBI, living normal lives under assumed names. News stories occasionally surface in which one of them is nailed in some secret small-town hideaway and brought to justice. But this is not only a story about 13 Weathermen who killed a security guard in a botched Michigan bank robbery 30 years ago. It is also about one member of the accused who wasn’t even present that day, a solid citizen who is forced to go underground again to prove his innocence. In a role tailored to fit his integrity and liberal conscience, Mr. Redford has never been better. Rex Reed, New York Observer

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

One of the rare contemporary films that really is about something, The Company You Keep mixes identity, action and politics to tell a gripping story about what happened to those 1970s antiwar protestors called the Weather Underground (labeled Weathermen by the press) who turned into radical terrorists by blowing up government buildings. They broke laws, endangered lives, fled from prosecution, went into hiding and reinvented themselves. And they are still around, wanted by the FBI, living normal lives under assumed names. News stories occasionally surface in which one of them is nailed in some secret small-town hideaway and brought to justice. But this is not only a story about 13 Weathermen who killed a security guard in a botched Michigan bank robbery 30 years ago. It is also about one member of the accused who wasn’t even present that day, a solid citizen who is forced to go underground again to prove his innocence. In a role tailored to fit his integrity and liberal conscience, Mr. Redford has never been better. Rex Reed, New York Observer

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

One of the rare contemporary films that really is about something, The Company You Keep mixes identity, action and politics to tell a gripping story about what happened to those 1970s antiwar protestors called the Weather Underground (labeled Weathermen by the press) who turned into radical terrorists by blowing up government buildings. They broke laws, endangered lives, fled from prosecution, went into hiding and reinvented themselves. And they are still around, wanted by the FBI, living normal lives under assumed names. News stories occasionally surface in which one of them is nailed in some secret small-town hideaway and brought to justice. But this is not only a story about 13 Weathermen who killed a security guard in a botched Michigan bank robbery 30 years ago. It is also about one member of the accused who wasn’t even present that day, a solid citizen who is forced to go underground again to prove his innocence. In a role tailored to fit his integrity and liberal conscience, Mr. Redford has never been better. Rex Reed, New York Observer

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

One of the rare contemporary films that really is about something, The Company You Keep mixes identity, action and politics to tell a gripping story about what happened to those 1970s antiwar protestors called the Weather Underground (labeled Weathermen by the press) who turned into radical terrorists by blowing up government buildings. They broke laws, endangered lives, fled from prosecution, went into hiding and reinvented themselves. And they are still around, wanted by the FBI, living normal lives under assumed names. News stories occasionally surface in which one of them is nailed in some secret small-town hideaway and brought to justice. But this is not only a story about 13 Weathermen who killed a security guard in a botched Michigan bank robbery 30 years ago. It is also about one member of the accused who wasn’t even present that day, a solid citizen who is forced to go underground again to prove his innocence. In a role tailored to fit his integrity and liberal conscience, Mr. Redford has never been better. Rex Reed, New York Observer

One of the rare contemporary films that really is about something, The Company You Keep mixes identity, action and politics to tell a gripping story about what happened to those 1970s antiwar protestors called the Weather Underground (labeled Weathermen by the press) who turned into radical terrorists by blowing up government buildings. They broke laws, endangered lives, fled from prosecution, went into hiding and reinvented themselves. And they are still around, wanted by the FBI, living normal lives under assumed names. News stories occasionally surface in which one of them is nailed in some secret small-town hideaway and brought to justice. But this is not only a story about 13 Weathermen who killed a security guard in a botched Michigan bank robbery 30 years ago. It is also about one member of the accused who wasn’t even present that day, a solid citizen who is forced to go underground again to prove his innocence. In a role tailored to fit his integrity and liberal conscience, Mr. Redford has never been better. Rex Reed, New York Observer

In telling a true story of about hapless thugs who are the embodiment of Michael Bay fans, the director has made the most fiendishly enjoyable movie of his career. Embracing the spirit of self-parody, Mark Walhberg is back in "Boogie Nights"-mode as Daniel Lugo, a dumb-but-ambitious personal trainer at a gym in Miami. Spouting catch-phrases from his self-help guru (Ken Jeong), Daniel concots a scheme to pump up his bank account without breaking a sweat. He targets flabby customer Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) for a kidnapping and shakedown.

The character-driven vehicle has a sardonically funny script to complement the run-and-gun visuals. As a decontruction of the American dream, Pain & Gain won't win any points for finesse, but the satire packs plenty of muscle. ~Joe Williams, St Louis Post-Dispatch

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

Gosling plays Luke, a stunt motorcycle rider, a two-bit carny Evel Knievel. As the tattooed, towheaded Luke passes through Schenectady, N.Y., he makes an effort to reconnect with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling. He learns that in his absence, she gave birth to their infant son, Jason. He decides to give up his itinerant existence, settle nearby and provide for his son, influenced by his own experience with an absentee dad.

Luke lands a low-paying job as a mechanic. After some convincing from his shady boss (Ben Mendelsohn), he agrees to take part in a scheme to rob local banks, with his adrenaline-fueled ability to race off on his motorcycle being a key component.

Things inevitably go awry. A thrilling pursuit leads to Luke's life intersecting dramatically with that of Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie police officer. Each character derails the other in strikingly different ways. Claudia Puig-USA Today

In telling a true story of about hapless thugs who are the embodiment of Michael Bay fans, the director has made the most fiendishly enjoyable movie of his career. Embracing the spirit of self-parody, Mark Walhberg is back in "Boogie Nights"-mode as Daniel Lugo, a dumb-but-ambitious personal trainer at a gym in Miami. Spouting catch-phrases from his self-help guru (Ken Jeong), Daniel concots a scheme to pump up his bank account without breaking a sweat. He targets flabby customer Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) for a kidnapping and shakedown.

The character-driven vehicle has a sardonically funny script to complement the run-and-gun visuals. As a decontruction of the American dream, Pain & Gain won't win any points for finesse, but the satire packs plenty of muscle. ~Joe Williams, St Louis Post-Dispatch

An inside look at the lives of professional shark divers on the road, doing what they do best; chasing sharks and having fun. Along the way they face the harsh and exciting realities of this sport; ocean storms, aggressive sharks, close quarters, and the startling discovery of their beloved sharks being brutally killed - with a first ever, up-close look at shark fisherman. 

Summer of the Sharks was made to help promote eco-activism by showing a positive side to sharks and showing what's happening to them rather than "preaching" from an interview stand point. The road trip was a simple idea; dive the best shark spots in the world, and live out their own endless summer. 

Screening with: "Scars"; "Only Child"; "The Common Sense Rebellion". 

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Still Mine is based on the true-life story of Craig Morrison, an 89-year old farmer who suddenly finds himself fighting two battles. Not only is his wife's dimensia presenting a variety of challenges, but Craig is confronted by a fusspot building inspector who is determined to stop him from building a new house on his own property, one that will better provide for his wife's needs and comfort. 

Although in many ways a small story, Still Mine is a solid triumph for serious cinema. It's the best film yet from veteran Canadian director Michael McGowan (Still Life, One Week), who deftly counterpoints the threat posed by the exasperating building inspector with the much more dire challenges presented by a marriage that has run smoothly for decades but has now hit an obstacle that has changed everything. Most of all, Mine is a marvelous love story: unsentimental, well observed, and rooted in these two unique people whose lives have been shaped by the particularities of being New Brunswick farmers. ~ Robert Moyes, Monday Magazine

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Emmy-nominated and multiple-award-winning filmmakers Josh Thomas and and National Geographic's J.J. Kelley have made a name for themselves traveling across Alaska's vast and remote stretches of wilderness. They thrived where few would dare to venture. In a fish out of water tale, the two adventurers take their survival skills to a natural wonder, which hosts a population of 400 million. From the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, where it empties into the Indian Ocean and enduring the impossible, J.J. and Josh attempt to travel the length of the planet's most populated, holy and polluted river - India's Ganges River. 

Screens with: "Sur La Ligne, Variation No. 2 (On The Line)"

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Still Mine is based on the true-life story of Craig Morrison, an 89-year old farmer who suddenly finds himself fighting two battles. Not only is his wife's dimensia presenting a variety of challenges, but Craig is confronted by a fusspot building inspector who is determined to stop him from building a new house on his own property, one that will better provide for his wife's needs and comfort. 

Although in many ways a small story, Still Mine is a solid triumph for serious cinema. It's the best film yet from veteran Canadian director Michael McGowan (Still Life, One Week), who deftly counterpoints the threat posed by the exasperating building inspector with the much more dire challenges presented by a marriage that has run smoothly for decades but has now hit an obstacle that has changed everything. Most of all, Mine is a marvelous love story: unsentimental, well observed, and rooted in these two unique people whose lives have been shaped by the particularities of being New Brunswick farmers. ~ Robert Moyes, Monday Magazine

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Still Mine is based on the true-life story of Craig Morrison, an 89-year old farmer who suddenly finds himself fighting two battles. Not only is his wife's dimensia presenting a variety of challenges, but Craig is confronted by a fusspot building inspector who is determined to stop him from building a new house on his own property, one that will better provide for his wife's needs and comfort. 

Although in many ways a small story, Still Mine is a solid triumph for serious cinema. It's the best film yet from veteran Canadian director Michael McGowan (Still Life, One Week), who deftly counterpoints the threat posed by the exasperating building inspector with the much more dire challenges presented by a marriage that has run smoothly for decades but has now hit an obstacle that has changed everything. Most of all, Mine is a marvelous love story: unsentimental, well observed, and rooted in these two unique people whose lives have been shaped by the particularities of being New Brunswick farmers. ~ Robert Moyes, Monday Magazine

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Pulling from the same well of revisionist (pre)history as the death-rattling Ice Age franchise, The Croods tracks the title’s family of “crude” cave dwellers, who struggle to stay alive after the elements have claimed their Neanderthal neighbors. Dad Grug (voiced by Cage) is a nervous nelly swathed in a strongman’s musculature, preaching safety first, second, and certainly last; curiosity is strictly a dirty word to him. (The antics-prone Cage is a counterintuitive but inspired choice to voice the shadow-scared Grug.) “Stop looking for things!” he wails at his oldest daughter, Eep (Stone, reliably feisty), who itches to explore the world at large. Soon enough, with the Earth fracturing around them in a continental-drift doomsday scenario, the whole clan is forced to leave the cave’s safe haven and follow Eep into the new world. Kimberley Jones-Austin Chronicle

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

Still Mine is based on the true-life story of Craig Morrison, an 89-year old farmer who suddenly finds himself fighting two battles. Not only is his wife's dimensia presenting a variety of challenges, but Craig is confronted by a fusspot building inspector who is determined to stop him from building a new house on his own property, one that will better provide for his wife's needs and comfort. 

Although in many ways a small story, Still Mine is a solid triumph for serious cinema. It's the best film yet from veteran Canadian director Michael McGowan (Still Life, One Week), who deftly counterpoints the threat posed by the exasperating building inspector with the much more dire challenges presented by a marriage that has run smoothly for decades but has now hit an obstacle that has changed everything. Most of all, Mine is a marvelous love story: unsentimental, well observed, and rooted in these two unique people whose lives have been shaped by the particularities of being New Brunswick farmers. ~ Robert Moyes, Monday Magazine

For starters, Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce are astute enough to know that Gatsby is much less an exercise in realism than a lyrical tone poem. In its style and theme, artifice lies at the very heart of the book, and the director celebrated for his Red Curtain Triology (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is no slouch at artifice. His use of the 3-D camera, common now in action blockbusters but still rare in a drama, reinforces the artful point while also underscoring the script's first surprise, and its only significant departure from the source material.

The climactic plot twists, which strain on the page, definitely shouldn't work on the screen, yet Luhrmann survives them by turning death itself into a stylized act, just the final pas de deux in a thematic ballet. ~ Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail