Toronto Heats Up

For this batch of Toronto reviews, I’m mostly dispensing with plot synopses because I already recently summarized these movies in the fall forecast. If you enjoy your LiC regurgitated story blurbs, let me know and perhaps they’ll return with the next round.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Variety’s John Anderson liked it a little but called it “a scrubbed-up, somnambulistic night tour of teen-hipster Manhattan. This is the kind of sparsely plotted comedy that depends on compelling characters, but it stars two young actors defined by ironic detachment.”

Cinematical’s James Rocchi was a little bit more charmed by it saying “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist combines the shaggy-dog sprawl of an early John Hughes film with the blunt talk and softly-rounded feelings of the Apatow comedies, and if it did not have leads as charismatic and tonally correct as Cera and Dennings, it would be very close to dead in the water; however, since it does, it isn’t.”

The Secret Life of Bees. THR’s Michael Rechtshaffen liked the performances in this Civil Rights-era ensemble about a young girl (Dakota Fanning) on the road following the death of her mother. Rechtshaffen says the film “really takes flight on the wings of its powerhouse, female-centric cast headed up by Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and, especially, Sophie Okonedo.”

Screen Daily’s Allan Hunter liked it too, but he’s a little less kind. Says Hunter, “The mixture of personal heartache and social history is handled with tender loving care, but is so sentimental and sermonising that it risks feeling more like a school lesson or a Sunday church service than a must-see movie.”

Next, THR’s Kirk Honeycutt throws in his two cents on The Brothers Bloom. He was not impressed. “[Rian] Johnson gives no real definition to any of his characters, either in real or in con life, and the con games themselves, seen from the point of view of the perpetrators, seem like the inside of a watch — all soulless mechanics.”

Appaloosa. Screen Daily’s Mike Goodridge says the Ed Harris directed Western starring himself and Viggo Mortensen is “a gentle, warmly human and quietly compelling western with a wry sense of humour and some engaging performances from a group of fine actors.” Because of the performances by star names, he suspects it will outdraw other recent Westerns at the box office.

Meanwhile from Los Angeles, In Contention’s Kristopher Tapley expresses disappointment in what was, for him, a much anticipated film: “Lifted from the pages of a Robert Parker novel painstakingly simple in its narrative approach, Ed Harris’s adaptation suffers in its admittedly commendable insistence to be faithful to the source. The result is a stilted narrative with vague characterizations and otherwise awkward interaction.”

Finally, more reviews of Burn After Reading are coming in. A light skimming by me reveals that Cinematical’s Kim Voynar and Variety’s Anne Thompson both liked it quite a bit. To find out more than that, you’ll have to click the links.

Filed under: Buzz, Film Festivals
Tags: Alicia Keys, Appaloosa, Burn After Reading, Dakota Fanning, Ed Harris, Jennifer Hudson, Kat Dennings, Michael Cera, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Queen Latifah, Rian Johnson, Sophie Okonedo, The Brothers Bloom, The Secret Life of Bees, Viggo Mortensen
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