Monthly Archives: September 2012

New movie screens open at London’s Barbican Centre

By Ray Bennett The Barbican Centre in London has opened two new cinemas and announced a six-week programme of movies across five strands including one that covers the seven deadly sins. The new venues, which are at street level on Beech Street, … Continue reading

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TIFF: ‘Silver Linings’ wins People’s Choice Award

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – David O. Russell’s comedy “Silver Linings Playbook” starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence has won the People’s Choice Award at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Previous winners of the award include “The King’s … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – For anyone with a memory, it’s hard to think of the CIA as the good guys but they are in Ben Affleck’s gripping thriller “Argo”, which tells of the retrieval from Tehran of a group … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Juan Antonio Bayona’s ‘The Impossible’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Based on a true story about a Spanish family caught up in the ferocious 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, “The Impossible” is terrifying and moving with best-ever performances by stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘The Master’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Paul Thomas Anderson’s complex and accomplished film “The Master” addresses the conflict between the puritan and hedonist traditions of the United States as it adjusts to its new potential and place in the world after … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Neil Jordan’s ‘Byzantium’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – It’s brave of Irish film director Neil Jordan to take on a fresh vampire story given how crowded the market is for the undead but in “Byzantium” he has turned out a good old fashioned … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Bill Murray in ‘Hyde Park On Hudson’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – At a time when political invective has reached new lows with the media complicit in its extremes, “Hyde Park On Hudson” tells of a time when politics and the press were handled with the greatest … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Robert Redford’s ‘The Company You Keep’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Robert Redford returns to political intrigue and newspapers in “The Company You Keep”, which tells of a group of radical activists who have evaded the law for decades under assumed identities and who now face … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: David O. Russell’s ‘Silver Linings Playbook’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – So many things could go wrong in a comedy drama about mental illness that it’s a credit to writer/director David O. Russell and an excellent cast that “Silver Linings Playbook” is such a winning success. … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Tom Hanks in ‘Cloud Atlas’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – It’s big and bold and sometimes a bit silly but the film that Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer have made of David Mitchell’s ambitious novel “Cloud Atlas” is seldom less than gripping. The … Continue reading

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