Flashback Film Festival: The annual centrepiece in Cineplex’s busy slate of retro programming, the Flashback Film Festival proves that home theatre systems are no substitute for big rooms full of fellow fanboys and -girls who laugh, applaud and cheer at all the right times. Formerly known as the Great Digital Film Festival, the event runs all week at several Cineplex locations, including the Scotiabank Theatre. As usual, the lineup is heavy with testosterone-soaked favourites like Pulp Fiction and Fight Club but that’s not the only kind of film on offer. Other subcategories include movies in which Harrison Ford does not play Han Solo or Indiana Jones (Air Force One, The Fugitive, Blade Runner: The Final Cut), brilliantly bombastic science-fiction movies directed by Europeans (Starship Troopers, The Fifth Element), the early hits of Danny Boyle and Ewan McGregor (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting) and cautionary tales about hiring hit men by Joel and Ethan Coen (Blood Simple, Fargo). The Flashback Film Festival runs Feb. 3-9.
Sleepless: A crime drama starring Jamie Foxx already in limited release in the U.S., Sleepless busts into Toronto theatres this weekend. Foxx and T.I. star as corrupt cops in Las Vegas who get into a heap of trouble with the mobsters whose cocaine they just stole — Foxx’s character must make it right if he hopes to rescue his kidnapped son. A remake of the French thriller Sleepless Night, it opens Feb. 3.
MDFF presents Short Stay: The latest noteworthy American indie flick to get a belated Toronto premiere thanks to MDFF, Short Stay is the slow-burn saga of an aimless slacker who finds more purpose in his life (though only a smidgen) when he moves from New Jersey to Philadelphia to sublet a friend’s apartment and take over his job giving walking tours. Writer-director-editor Ted Fendt — who got some warm reviews for his feature debut after its Berlin premiere last year — is in town for a Q&A after the screening at the Royal on Feb. 8.
Isaac Julien’s Who Killed Colin Roach?: Presented as part of an ongoing multi-venue exhibition for the British artist and filmmaker that also includes his artist’s residency at OCAD University and further screenings at the Images Festival in April, ROM shows one of Isaac Julien’s key early works in its Signy and Cléophée Theatre on Feb. 3. Who Killed Colin Roach? is Julien’s provocative documentary about the murky circumstances surrounding the death of a 21-year-old in a London police station in 1982. Poet and journalist Clifton Joseph shares his perspective on the film’s explorations of issues of race, justice and the state after the screening, which is free with an RSVP.
Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back: Having already been released in Asia to coincide with the Chinese New Year — a smart move seeing as it just had the biggest opening day ever for a Chinese title — the sequel to the 2013 fantasy-comedy blockbuster Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons arrives in Toronto this weekend, too. With its mix of broad humour and lavish wuxia action, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back certainly bears the thumbprints of its creators: director Tsui Hark and writer-producer Stephen Chow, whose most recent feature The Mermaid became the highest-grossing Chinese film of all-time. Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Backopens Feb. 3.
In Brief:
- Kardinal Offishall presents a special 35 mm screening of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X with an intro and post-screening discussion at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Feb. 4.
- A recent anthology film whose contributors include Mira Nair, Guillermo Ariaga and Amos Gitai, Words With Gods plays Innis Town Hall for free on Feb. 5 courtesy of the International Diaspora Film Festival and the World Association for Christian Communication.
- The Hot Docs Ted Rogers launches its True Crime Tuesdays series of great crime docs on Feb. 7 with a look at Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line — defence lawyer Clayton Ruby joins host Geoff Pevere for a post-screening discussion.
jandersonesque@gmail.com
jandersonesque@gmail.com
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