On Screen

Smart reviews for the visually obsessed. On Screen features film reviews and festival coverage, spotlighting cinematic craft, storytelling and standout performances.

  • Review: ‘Last Knights’ puts everything into the last act (Includes first-hand account)

    People’s fascination with the medieval era can be traced to long before George R. R. Martin penned the Westeros odyssey in the now widely popular Game of Thrones series. The many stories surrounding King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table captured people’s imaginations and have been translated into countless films and books. The period offers so many opportunities for tales of love, bravery, allegiance and war. Last Knights are a dying breed whose fierce loyalty knows no limits.

  • Review: ‘Woman in Gold’ depicts a single victory of stunning consequence (Includes first-hand account)

    After a war ends, its effects ripple through several generations as survivors attempt to reclaim a sense of normalcy and their struggles are imprinted on their children. Their experiences become a part of history, taught in classes and read in books; but there is still a human aspect that demands reparations. The repercussions of WWII has persisted for more than half a century as families and supporters continue to seek justice for wrongs committed. One of the most publicized is the attempts to recoup personal property confiscated/stolen by the Nazis, which includes priceless works of art “recovered” after the war by museums and private collectors — many pieces still remain unaccounted for as well. Woman in Gold is the story of a woman who wants to be reunited with a portrait of her aunt, but doing so involves removing it from an Austrian museum.

  • Review: ‘Furious 7’ gives fans everything they want and then some (Includes first-hand account)

    When the first film premiered in 2001, there was a lot of uncertainty whether The Fast and the Furious would launch a successful franchise — a theory the second film did not do much to refute as it focused on only one-half of the dynamic duo that propelled the original. Though none of the early characters appear in the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift breathed new life into the franchise. The fourth film‘s reunion unleashed a can of NOS and it hasn’t slowed down since. In Furious 7, the story is looping in on itself and doing everything required of a successful series.

  • Review: Closing films at Human Rights Watch Fest about improving life (Includes first-hand account)

    Film is a powerful medium that can induce, inspire, instruct and inform. Consequently, it is an ideal means to reach a wide-ranging audience about important issues. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival embraces motion pictures’ intellectual capacity to recount extraordinary stories of struggle, survival and hope from around the world. Showcasing cinema at the forefront of the movement, the event aims to draw attention to international human rights violations through fearless films from countries including Canada, Indonesia, Sudan, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Palestine, Guatemala, the United States and Hungary.

  • Review: ‘It Follows’ is horror at its best (Includes first-hand account)

    Teenagers are bombarded with contradictory ideas when it comes to sex. On the one hand, they are emerging in a hypersexualized environment that asserts it’s fun, it sells and it’s everywhere so it’s not a big deal. Conversely, messages about abstinence, crime and social shaming support the opposite view that sex is private and has severe consequences, particularly for women. The brilliance of indie film, It Follows, is it personifies these pressures to create a terrifying horror movie.

  • Review: ‘Late Night Double Feature’ loves its monstrous characters (Includes first-hand account)

    While the modest revival of Grindhouse horror has not achieved the popularity it held in its heyday, there is still enough of an interest for filmmakers to create new contributions to the genre. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are probably the most prominent providers in recent years, but there has been a steady production of new pictures dealing with sex, violence and bizarre subjects. Late Night Double Feature is the latest addition to embrace this spirit.

  • Review: ‘The Riot Club’ inspires conversation, but is it the right one? (Includes first-hand account)

    With all the indignation currently directed at white men in power and people of privilege around the world, it’s interesting to view a movie that exemplifies all the qualities despised in the advantageous. This film particularly takes aim at the old boys clubs and secret societies that purportedly allow and encourage disrespectful behaviour because their members have the resources to “make it go away.” The Riot Club begins as a group of boys united by their love of women and trouble, but gradually turns ugly as their above average station in life becomes a weapon against the less fortunate.

  • Review: ‘Home’ relies on funny characters to alleviate predictable story (Includes first-hand account)

    The world (and apparently the universe) is full of people who don’t fit in and are, therefore, excluded and/or ignored by their peers. It seems like no matter how many are there to say it’s okay to be different, there are dozens more shouting the opposite. But not being like everyone else can have its advantages too. In Home, an alien’s specialness is what eventually elevates him to hero status.

  • Review: ‘Tracers’ uses parkour to enhance the film’s appeal (Includes first-hand account)

    There seem to be increasingly fewer ideas to keep chase and heist movies fresh. The elaborate planning of Ocean’s Eleven and high-speed pursuits through crowded city streets are becoming clichéd and uninspired. However by incorporating new physical disciplines, a conventional plot can be raised to new, more energetic levels. Tracers uses parkour to enhance its otherwise traditional narrative.

  • Review: ‘Backcountry’ uses nature’s monster to provide its scares (Includes first-hand account)

    Mother Nature and wild animals can be as unpredictable as they are deadly. Confronting either without experience or the right equipment is more than ill-advised — it’s dangerous. The Boy Scouts’ motto is “always be prepared” for good reason; because anything less can be a death sentence. A couple discovers just how treacherous the wild can be in Backcountry.

  • Review: ‘The Gunman’ follows the beaten path rather than carve its own (Includes first-hand account)

    “Someone is trying to kill me and I need to find out who it is.” This sentence generally leads to gunfights, bloodshed and a pile of bodies that includes at least one of the speaker’s associates. So it is with this subgenre of the action movie, which has its own conventions and list of recurring actors that includes Liam Neeson, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis and Matt Damon. The Gunman stars Sean Penn as its moving target and doesn’t venture far from the tried-and-true formula.

  • Review: ‘Insurgent’ doesn’t stand alone, but it’s on solid ground (Includes first-hand account)

    There are certain themes films based on young adult novels have in common with the main one being the concept of a “chosen one.” The idea of being inherently and irreplaceably special is presented with rising frequency. No longer is success reliant on the efforts and importance of a group, but rather the sacrifices and triumphs of a single individual. This notion was hinted at in Divergent, though the protagonist was not the only one of her kind. In Insurgent, the whisper increases in volume until there’s no doubt the future of their civilisation rests on her shoulders alone.