Hour Community » Screens

The Avengers

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Not so surprisingly, one of the most enjoyable things about The Avengers is the dynamic between de facto leader Captain America (Chris Evans), wiseass genius billionaire Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), fellow brilliant scientist Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and "the other guy" (Hulk), grandiloquent demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth), plus badass S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). And once Earth’s Mightiest Heroes stop fighting each other and figure out how to work as a team to stop Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his army of Chitauri aliens, we’re in for an absolutely astonishing, brilliantly shot and cut, truly epic, special FX-heavy 3D action climax. This is, simply put, the best superhero flick ever made.

Habemus Papam

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

This sumptuous Cannes 2011 selection takes us behind the doors of the Vatican during a papal conclave. It’s fascinating to get such access, even through the prism of fiction, and Nanni Moretti finds ample drama and humour in the proceedings, which don’t go as planned in his film. Moments before being introduced to the world, the new Pope (Michel Piccoli) cries out that he can’t do it, which is easy to relate to – who has never felt crushed by doubt and anguish in the face of great change and new responsibilities? It also leads to amusing situations, as the Church high-ups suddenly find themselves twiddling their thumbs, their precious ritual derailed. Habemus Papam stumbles a bit in the third act, but it remains a compelling watch, notably thanks to the extraordinary Piccoli.

Living in the Material World

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

After tackling Bob Dylan in No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese sets out to tell the story of George Harrison via abundant archival footage, photographs and audio recordings, much of it previously unseen or unheard, which are assembled with a great sense of storytelling and flow. Also featuring interviews with the late musician’s family and friends, the film explores Harrison’s solo career, beginning with the creation of the amazing All Things Must Pass. It also offers a surprisingly fresh look at the Beatles years by focusing on Harrison and showing how he tended to be the quieter, wiser, more spiritual member of the band, yet could also be funny or get angry. He was a complex individual, with his flaws and his contradictions, like any other human being.

The Hat Goes Wild

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

In this thoroughly worthless feature, a group of Montreal teenagers go on a canoe trip in the Quebec backwoods and somehow get stuck in a violent mess involving a large amount of illegal drugs, all of which is immortalized by the camera carried by one of them. Coming off like a godawful student film version of a slasher flick (even though there is no slasher), The Hat Goes Wild features a cast of loathsome characters making a series of spectacularly dumb decisions. The screenplay offers nothing but juvenile bullshit, pseudo-philosophical platitudes and contrived exposition, the acting is rotten (even the usually solid Normand D’Amour embarrasses himself) and the production values are poor even by found-footage film standards.

Damsels in Distress

Joseph Belanger — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

A group of sorority girls decide to take on depression and suicide prevention whilst grooming the fraternity riffraff into respectable young men in Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress, his first film since 1998′s The Last Days of Disco. It isn’t long before the boys resort to their baser needs though, causing the ladies to need their own therapy. The ensemble cast, led by Greta Gerwig and Adam Brody, are all delightful. True to Stillman’s form, everyone speaks with great enunciation and elaborate vocabulary, yet the tone remains light and whimsical. Damsels in Distress is a dry, witty satire that pokes fun at the foolishness behind intellectualizing emotions, and while it may be too highbrow for some, it will surely be a guilty pleasure for others.

Young and Wild

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Despite her evangelical, thou-shalt-not-fornicate upbringing (or maybe because of it?), 17-year-old Daniela (Alicia Rodríguez) indulges in various sexual adventures and fantasies, all of which she writes about in her blog. Chilean filmmaker Marialy Rivas neatly conveys this via crude, witty voiceover narration and flashes of the images, photos and porno clips the teenager posts online along with her diary entries. This makes for a rather dynamic, enjoyable watch, but Young and Wild (Joven y alocada) eventually grows a bit more rom-com conventional, even though the romantic triangle Daniela gets into involves a boy (Felipe Pinto) as well as a girl (María Gracia Omegna) who awakens "Sailor Moon horniness" (!) in her.

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope

Joseph Belanger — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Once a year, legions of enthusiasts of all things geeky and niche make their way from far and wide to San Diego, California, for the only Comic-Con that truly matters. Their passion is untamed and is usually expressed in elaborate dress and costume. This parade of excess and devotion has been captured and also honoured in Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, the latest from infamous documentarian Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold). Suffice it to say that if you don’t get the Star Wars reference in the title, this film is not for you. For everyone else though, Spurlock has crafted a touching and cheeky look at how the convention and its fans have changed over the years.

Another Silence

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

After suffering a personal tragedy, a rogue Toronto cop (Marie-Josée Croze) goes all the way to Argentina to track down the young thug (Ignacio Rogers) who shattered her existence. A self-serious B-movie, Another Silence is a slow, moody, quiet affair punctuated by brief bursts of violence. It’s elevated somewhat by the intense, haunted performance by Croze, the majestic landscapes of Argentina’s Jujuy province, the great score by Yves Desrosiers and the use of Lhasa de Sela’s What Kind of Heart as an emotional linchpin. But in the end, this sophomore effort from Santiago Amigorena (A Few Days in September) remains a rather generic revenge story marred by poor writing and an uneven supporting cast.

Bully

Joseph Belanger — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

While the act of bullying may seem to some like a convenient and fashionable talking point for the liberal media, it is in fact a real problem in schools around the globe, and Lee Hirsch’s documentary gives the cause the real face it so desperately needed. Hirsch focuses his attentions on a handful of young people, all different ages and from different walks of life, who have all been bullied and still live the experience regularly. While there isn’t too much bullying caught on tape, the effect on these innocent teenagers is heartbreaking. Bully will have you crying within five minutes of its start and wanting to make the world a better place by the time it’s done.

Bestiaire

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

This might be Denis Côté’s most radical feature to date. A meditative… or rather, ruminative series of long static shots of various animals, Bestiaire will try many viewers’ patience, but I found it oddly captivating, thanks to the thoughtful shot composition and immersive sound design. This is like an anti-nature documentary in the way it observes animals not in their natural environment but in enclosures (the film was shot at Parc Safari, mostly during the off-season), where they roam around aimlessly or just stand there, sometimes staring straight into the camera. It often feels gloomy, even disturbing, to see these majestic wild beasts like that, even though Côté says his film takes a neutral stance.