Robert Redford and the American military conspiracy
By Brian D. Johnson - Sunday, September 12, 2010 - 0 Comments
Robin Wright Penn stars as Mary Surrat in Robert Redford's 'The Conspirator'
When Cameron Bailey stepped onstage to introduce Robert Redford at the gala premiere of The Conspirator last night, he pointed out that the Sundance founder has his own festival, and that TIFF is the only other festival he’s graced with his presence. (Take that, Cannes!). The last time Redford came to TIFF was 18 years ago, for A River Runs Through It. The director’s new film is a historical drama about the unjust military trial of Mary Surratt, who was convicted as a conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and became the first woman hanged by the U.S. government. James McAvoy stars as the Frederick Aiken, the novice lawyer who overcomes his skepticism to become her passionate advocate. It soon becomes clear that she’s taking the fall for her son, an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth, who is in hiding. There’s no solid evidence against her, but she’s stripped of her rights and sent to the gallows.
This stagey courtroom drama is a movie on a mission. Redford told the gala audience that he wanted the film to speak for itself, and indeed it does. From the first Abu Graib-like images of hooded prisoners, Redford is clearly saying that this miscarriage of justice was the result of America’s first war on terror. “The world has changed,” says Lincoln’s vengeful secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, who’s played as a smug tyrant by Kevin Kline—I could swear he was channelling Donald Rumsfeld.
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Film Reviews: 'Wanted' and 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'
By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 4:49 PM - 0 Comments
Summertime. The living is easy and the popcorn is high. And the time is right for . . . intelligent design? That’s just my lazy way of introducing two unrelated movies about cult-like crazies who harbour some preposterous conspiracy theories. Neither movie makes much sense. But in the case of Wanted, an action blockbuster starring Angelina Jolie as an über-assassin working for a mystical fraternity, who cares? It’s a wild ride, and Angelina looks and behaves like the scandalous bad girl we want her to be despite all those children and all that charity work. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a documentary polemic arguing that believers in intelligent design (i.e. creationists) are being persecuted by “Big Science” and that theories of Darwinian evolution helped spawn Hitler and the Holocaust. There’s not much action in Expelled, but it made me want to throw things at the screen.
Wanted
Judging by the poster and the trailer, you’d be inclined to think of this as the new Angelina Jolie movie. But as it turns out, Wanted is more like the new James McAvoy movie. The plucky star of Atonement and The Last King of Scotland stars as the story’s protagonist, a downtrodden white-collar weakling named Wesley who is rescued from his nowhere job in an office cubicle and recruited into a secret fraternity of assassins. But hey, you could also call it a Timur Bekmambetov movie. . . Timur who? Continue…
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Video Gallery: Toronto Film Festival 2006
By Jeff Harris - Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 12:03 PM - 0 Comments
Jeff Harris goes behind the scenes
The 2006 festival gallery is choc-o-bloc full of celebrities, including British talent James McAvoy, and everyone’s favourite “Khasakstani” tourist, Borat. Entourage star Adrien Grenier tells us about schmoozing at the fest over wine. And the ever-ambitious autograph hound gets to share a moment with Pierce Brosnan.
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Photo Gallery: Toronto Film Festival 2006
By Jeff Harris - Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 1:51 PM - 0 Comments
Juilette Binoche epitomized the “blonde bombshell” look at Breaking and Entering
premiere, along with…
Juilette Binoche epitomized the “blonde bombshell” look at Breaking and Entering
premiere, along with co-star Jude Law — who had an impish grin for festival paparrazzi. The Dixie Chicks came to town with a hot documentary that followed the backlash after their dig at President George Bush. From Ashton Kutcher to Zach Braff, see all the celebs that invaded Toronto this past September.
