News

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne

Priest – Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q

Movie of the Week

Priest

The Stars: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q

The Plot: A priest (Bettany) disobeys church law in order to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece.

The Buzz: I’ve got to be honest, I think this film looks horrible. It’s ‘Movie of the Week’ strictly as a path of least resistance. If I happen to have any regular readers out there, they’re certain to know that I’m not going anywhere near Bridesmaids, not even with a blindfold, and so Priest suddenly shines with promise — relatively speaking of course.

Priest continues director Scott Charles Stewart’s working affair with Paul Bettany (whom last teamed together on the unimpressive Legion). Bettany bugs me a bunch, anyone else? I’ve just never taken him well,...

Starring: Jean-Claude Donda, Edith Rankin

Director: Sylvain Chomet

The Scoop: French animator Chomet, who wowed with "The Triplets of Belleville" in 2003, is back with this character piece. Set in 1950s Scotland, it's the story of a fading magician whose career is being eclipsed by new forms of entertainment like rock music. When he visits a tiny rural outpost, he meets a young girl who becomes convinced he is a real magic user and their relationship reinvigorates him.

Special Features: Commentary, making-of featurette

Rated PG, 80 min. | Watch the trailer...

Originally written by the late French actor/director Jaques Tati in 1956 in an attempt to reconcile with his daughter, The Illusionist (2010) had lain dormant for almost fifty years before eventually finding its way to director Sylvian Chomet’s desk following the release of Belleville Rendezvous (2003).

Although Chomet kept in close contact with Tati’s caretakers, the film has his very distinctive style stamped all over it. Like Belleville Rendezvous there is very little dialogue, Chomet choosing for his characters to express themselves visually and this allows the viewer to take pleasure in the film’s wonderful animation. Combined with a simple but heartfelt soundtrack, The Illusionist is an honest account of the importance of companionship during the darker times of one’s life. The result is a beautiful and poignant film of which Tati would have been proud.

Starting in Paris in the late 1950s, the story follows Tatischeff (Jean-Claude Donda...

Sad and beautiful, that's The Illusionist in a nutshell. This animated movie is not geared toward small children -- it's from the same filmmaker who brought us The Triplets of Belleville, Sylvain Chomet. But where his previous film was riotous and joyful and just plain insane at times, The Illusionist is quieter, more structured and not afraid to venture into melodrama. It may not be upbeat, but that doesn't mean it was disappointing, at all.

The Illusionist originates from a script by the late French actor/filmmaker Jacques Tati. If you've seen The Triplets of Belleville, you know Chomet is a big fan of Tati -- there are a few Tati references sprinkled throughout the film, and the humor matches some of Tati's more chaotic comedy. But Tati's standard "M. Hulot" character also had a more dramatic side, which prevails in this movie.

Dialogue is minimal, the characters barely have names,...

Title: The Illusionist (2011) Director: Sylvain Chomet Starring: Jean-Claude Donda (voice), Eilidh Rankin (voice) Oscar nominee, “The Illusionist,” is a delightfully somber 80 minutes. It may be the saddest story seen in the last six months. And Fyi, this guy has seen “Blue Valentine,” “Biutiful” and “Another Year.” The old-school hand drawn animation was the perfect platform for this tale. Using modern CGI and/or live performers would have completely missed the intended tone this flick was shooting for. Our story is simple. Set in the time of the late ‘50 and early 60’s in Europe, a traveling stage performer - a magician - is always on [...]...

Quickcard Review

The Illusionist

Directed by: Sylvain Chomet

Cast: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin

Running Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Rating: PG

Release Date: January 14, 2011 (Chicago)

Plot: A talented magician (Donda) struggles to find work while becoming friends with a young girl (Rankin) who snuck away from her village.

Who’S It For? Fans of Jacques Tati will be delighted to see his original story brought to life, but those who can get lost in animation that doesn’t have spunky characters or even dialogue for that matter will enjoy themselves.

Overall

The Illusionist is a piece of art hand-drawn with undeniable charm from the unique style of director Sylvain Chomet, but its a movie truly made by the man given an “Original Story” credit – Jacques Tati. The classic French director’s original concept does more than just provide the tale with a course of events, it provides the soul that Chomet’s...

Title: The Illusionist Directed By: Sylvain Chomet Voice Cast: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin It’s nice to find a filmmaker with good intentions, but there’s just so far the intent alone can get you. Writer-director Sylvain Chomet aims to conjure up quite a degree of emotion in his nearly dialogue-less, animated 80 minute film, and while he comes close to making a powerful impact, winds up falling flat thanks to a key facet missing from his movie - entertainment. Life is rough for The Illusionist in Paris in 1956. Nothing he pulls out of his sleeve or his hat can draw a crowd quite like the rising rock bands. The theater is packed [...]...

See 6 new clips from Sony Pictures Classics' animated foreign film "The Illusionist" (a.k.a. "L'illusionniste"). Sylvain Chomet directs as well as writing the adaptation, from the original screenplay by Jacques Tati. The film opens on December 25th and features the voice talents of Jean-Claude Donda, Edith Rankin, Jil Aigrot, Didier Gustin, Frédéric Lebon and Tom Urie. "The Illusionist" is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers. With emerging rock stars stealing his thunder in the late 1950s, he is forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatres, at garden parties and in bars and cafés. Then, while performing in a village pub off the west coast of Scotland, he encounters Alice, an innocent young girl, who will change his life forever...

Mother (15)

(Bong Joon-ho, 2009, S Korea) Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Ku, Yoon Jae-Moon. 130 mins

After his mutant tadpole movie The Host, Bong brings us another Korean monster: a middle-aged herbalist with a will of steel and some serious overprotection issues. Her simple-minded son has been fitted up for a schoolgirl's murder, and in a society of inept cops, exploitative lawyers and generally corrupt townsfolk, only mommie dearest believes he's innocent – and sets out to prove it. It's a mystery thriller to make Hitchcock proud, and a delectably warped parable of blood running thicker than water.

The Expendables (15)

(Sylvester Stallone, 2010, Us) Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li. 104 mins

Now that the 80s beefcake reunion has actually happened, does anyone care? Probably enough to make this a guilty-pleasure night out, and that's all it really asks for. With a last surge of testosterone coursing through their wrinkled physiques, our senior...

Every year, the Toronto International Film Festival showcases some of the year’s most exciting and must-see movies, and 2010 isn’t going to be any different. Fifty films showing at this year’s festival have been announced and I’m (unsurprisingly) bitter-as-hell that I’m not going to be there. Films making their various premieres (World, North American, etc.) include Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go (image above), and Ben Affleck’s The Town. While the line-up includes plenty of films that have already premiered at other festivals (including Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, Julian Schnabel’s Miral, and Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe), it will be the first time they’ll be showing up on our quaint little 9.5 million square mile-continent.

Hit the jump for a list of all 50 films. The 2010 Toronto International Film...

Here comes the 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, and the line-up thus far of Galas and Special Presentations (that is code for High Profile Films) is looking quite stellar. In this first taster, there are new films from Kim Ji-Woon, Andrew Lau (and not even in the Midnight Madness portion, those films have not been announced yet!) Stephen Frears, Mark Romanek, Darren Aronfosky, Michael Winterbottom, Sylvain Chomet, Mike Leigh, François Ozon, Tran Anh Hung, Guillaume Canet, John Cameron Mitchell, Danis Tanovic, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Julian Schnabel and Im Sang-Soo. Please sirs, I want some more! 

No signs of Terrence Malick yet, but fingers crossed!

Full Press Release from Tiff:

"On the occasion of our 35th anniversary, we are thrilled to announce this selection of important and notable films," says Piers Handling, Director and CEO of Tiff. "The richness and diversity of this year's Galas and Special...

The Toronto International Film Festival will be celebrating its 35th year this September and it has announced today the first batch of big premieres. Some highlights include Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan, Robert Redford‘s The Conspirator, John Madden‘s The Debt, Tom Hooper‘s The King’s Speech, and Mark Romanek‘s Never Let Me Go. Check out the initial line-up below.

Galas

The Bang Bang Club. Steven Silver, Canada/South Africa World Premiere The Bang Bang Club was the name given to four young photographers, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva, whose photographs captured the final bloody days of white rule in South Africa and the final demise of apartheid. The film tells the remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of these young men – and the extraordinary extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures. The film stars Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch,...

This is the Pure Movies review of L'illusionniste from day one at Edinburgh Film Festival. The film is directed by Sylvain Chomet, written by Jacques Tati and stars Jean-Claude Donda. Sylvain Chomet, the director of Academy Award nominated Belleville Rendez-Vous has written a letter to the city he fell in love with. Having moved to Edinburgh after visiting the city’s film festival in 2003, he now delivers a story that touches deep into your emotion, drawn in sumptuous 2D and shows us that there is more to animation than Pixar and Disn...