Ian Hodder
The Proposal
2009 (Anne Fletcher) PG, 108 min
Starring: Betty White, Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock
A high-power publisher with a dominatrix’s management style, Margaret (Bullock) has everything under control. Well, everything except her immigration status. Facing deportation from New York to her native Toronto, Margaret announces her marriage engagement to put-upon assistant Andrew (Reynolds, a real-life Canadian). Seeing as he loathes his boss, Andrew is taken aback by the impromptu announcement, but soon realizes he can exploit the situation for professional advantage. OK, so the romantic ending isn’t in doubt, but even critics unexcited by The Proposal’s workaday plot were enthusiastic about the lead actors’ comedic sparks: “The chemical energy between Bullock and Reynolds is fresh and irresistible,” Lisa Schwarzbaum writes in Entertainment Weekly. And kudos to Bullock for playing a Canadian with backbone.
-Ian HodderWatch the Trailer
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
2009 (Carlos Saldanha) PG, 87 min
Starring: Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Ray Romano
In their third outing, our prehistoric pals are facing life’s big questions. Diego the saber-tooth tiger (voiced by Leary) worries he’s too domesticated. Scratte the acorn-obsessed squirrel craves female companionship, while mammoths Manny (Romano) and Ellie (Latifah) await their first offspring. Meanwhile, Sid the sloth (Leguizamo) wonders how to start a family of his own. Answer: Steal some dinosaur eggs and raise the resulting creatures. And thus begins the interaction between mammalian cast and, apologies to the geologic community, dinosaurs. Sid’s T. rex babies lead the gang into a tropical world beneath the ice, with primordial animals, carnivorous plants and a jungle landscape that shows off the computer animators’ talents. As the characters sling jokes and slapstick, they just might conquer their life crises.
-Ian HodderWatch the Trailer
Beaches of Agnes
2008 (Agnès Varda) 14A, 109 min
Starring: Agnes Varda
In French with English subtitles
"Perhaps the only filmmaker who has both won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and strolled around an art exhibition while costumed as a potato" is how The New York Times recently described Agnès Varda. This is a woman you gotta meet, and you can do so through her autobiographical documentary. Now 81, Varda is a French filmmaker of Left Bank Cinema, a similar movement to New Wave. In other words, linear plots and logic progression are not her forte. Instead, the inventive Beaches of Agnès unfolds like a memory, pausing to revisit places and people (notably Varda’s late husband, director Jacques Demy) and to revisit treasures gathered on life's journey. Set on her beloved beaches of Belgium, France and California, Varda infuses her self-portrait with humour, creativity and openness.
-Ian HodderWatch the Trailer
The Stoning of Soraya M.
2008 (Cyrus Nowrasteh) 14A, 116 min
Starring: Jim Caviezel, Mohzan Marno, Shohreh Aghdashloo
In Persian and English with English subtitles
When a journalist (Caviezel) gets stranded in small-town Iran, he encounters a local woman named Zahra (Aghdashloo, Oscar-nominated for 2003’s House of Sand and Fog). She tells him a terrible, true story: Her niece Soraya (Marno) was stoned to death, after her husband fabricated adultery charges. In truth, he wanted Soraya dead so he could marry a 14-year-old girl. Critics have compared The Stoning of Soraya, with its ultra-dramatic tone and graphic depiction of capital punishment, to The Passion of the Christ (which also starred Caviezel). Not always easy to watch, the film was nonetheless runner-up to Slumdog Millionaire for the audience award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. “A powerful, shocking piece,” says The Hollywood Reporter. “Strong and clear and unforgettable.”
-Ian HodderWatch the Trailer
