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As a film reviewer with a mandate to serve Oakville and its neighbouring citizens, I’ve become more and more frustrated by a lack of variety in our local theatres. Movie programming is determined by studio accountants and corporate projections, loading the high-profile, big-budget movies into more theatres to pump box office numbers. Outside of the big cities, this practice freezes out “smaller” pictures that don’t always have large distribution budgets. They may not necessarily be better, but they definitely add diversity, and some are genuinely deserving of larger audiences. I really don’t want to sound like a film snob, but surely a 10-theatre Oakville multiplex has room for more options than running Thor: The Dark World in 4 of its halls.

I caught one such “smaller” movie recently, and if you have the opportunity to get into the city, it’s worth the trouble to seek it out. All is Lost is a riveting survival tale, as much notable for what it portrays as for what it doesn’t.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

12 Years a Slave is a gripping, unflinching look at the horrors of slavery. It’s also one of the best films of the year.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Most people hear the word “pirate” and think of peg legs, parrots and Johnny Depp, but modern piracy is still a serious problem. With cargo freighter crews continually downsized to cut costs, even a small skiff of armed men can successfully board a ship to steal cash from the onboard safe, rob the crew, or even commandeer the vessel.

Captain Phillips is based on the 2009 hijacking of the US-flagged Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates. Despite a few problems, it’s an intense thriller with direction tighter than the confines of a lifeboat.

Though countless photos exist, it’s something most of us will never actually see – the awesome beauty of our beautiful blue Earth from orbit. And even as the title cards at the beginning of director Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity remind us that travelling into space is madness, we’ve all considered what it must be like to hang weightless above the clouds. The movie is a thrilling adventure, with moments of poignant drama.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

2009′s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was an original and very humorous story about an inventor’s machine that goes haywire. The sequel, with its new directors, committee-written script and forumulaic plot, feels like it’s been produced by an equally haywire machine. Luckily, it does throw a lot of funny material at the wall, and more often than not it sticks, so at least the kids should enjoy it.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Prisoners is arguably French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s first “mainstream” Hollywood film – and what a way for the world to get to know him. It’s a nail-biting mystery with an involving moral debate at its centre – how often do we see those two things together?

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Lee Daniels’ The Butler is saddled with its director’s name in the title due to a legal dispute over a similarly-named film from 1916. (Ah, Hollywood!) While it’s an excellent drama, it’s historical setting also proves to be just as cumbersome.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

In recent years, we’ve seen many high-profile financiers exposed as frauds living off their clients’ money. As the media focuses on the trial and conviction of these crooks, one thing that’s often forgotten are their families. It’s easy for us to blame spouses and children for turning a blind eye in order to preserve the lifestyle they’re accustomed to, but what really becomes of them after that lifestyle disappears? Blue Jasmine is writer-director Woody Allen’s story of one such wife, and her struggle to carry on.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

These days, it’s interesting and unusual to find a movie that defies expectations. When this happens, most of the time it’s the result of creative marketing trying too hard to make a film into something it’s not. But occasionally a script and director will take a seemingly-fixed premise in a different direction. Such is the case with We’re the Millers, which has the setup and intention of a raunch-fest but instead becomes a light, even endearing comedy. Depending on your expectations, that will please some and upset others.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Whether caused by zombies, aliens, disease, or anything else, stories of worldwide apocalypse are all the rage these days, and now we have Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s The World’s End to add to the fire. It’s a funny little actioner in the same style as their previous comedies, and though it doesn’t quite hold together all the way through, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.