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The Bling Ring

Director: Sofia Coppola

Cast: Emma Watson, Leslie Mann, Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Carlos Miranda, Georgia Rock, Taissa Farmiga, Gavin Rossdale

Italian American director Sofia Coppola’s latest film The Bling Ring explores the vacuous obsession with Hollywood celebrities by a group of Los Angeles teenagers whose desire for a trophy of their favourite star leads them to a string of audacious house burglaries of such celebrities as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Victoria Secret model Miranda Kerr and boyfriend actor Orlando Bloom along with Megan Fox and The Hills TV star Audrina Partridge.

The Bling Ring based on real events that occurred in Los Angeles from 2008 to 2009 follows the drug fuelled gang of privileged teens as they literally raid the glorious closets of these hugely affluent stars, stealing designer purses, jewellery, clothing and accessories worth millions of dollars. These audacious closet raids were documented in an article by Vanity Fair entitled “The Suspects Wore Louboutins” by Nancy Jo Sales.

This is the selfie generation who boast of their daring exploits by taking selfie pictures on their Smartphone’s with the stolen bling at swish Hollywood nightclubs frequented by the real stars including Kirsten Dunst and Paris Hilton. They take drugs, seem immune to any form of parental guidance and post their fabulous exploits on all social media, which in the digital age leads eventually to their own downfall. In their pursuit of following these celebrities, the Bling Ring spearheaded by the cross dressing Marc played by Israel Broussard and Rebecca played by Katie Chang along with Nicki Moore played by Harry Potter star Emma Watson. Leslie Mann also stars as The Secret inspired home schooling Hollywood mom.

Coppola encapsulates the vanity of their exploits in a perfect shot of the group posing at a nightclub, with fist full of dollars, drugs and champagne, showing a generation that is not only materialistic but completely out of touch with the intrinsic value of money.

Naturally the victimized celebrities including Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton press charges and the Bling Ring are all eventually caught by the LAPD, with the loot discovered in their possession and they too like Lindsay’s glamorous and numerous court appearances have their time in the spotlight where all the main culprits are convicted of residential house burglary.

As in Coppola’s glorious examination of the excess of wealth in her Oscar winning film Marie Antoinette, as a director she holds a mirror to a celebrity obsessed society which seems destined to crumble, but never does. Even the prison sentences  in The Bling Ring make the juvenile offenders in to minor TMZ stars, showing that the pursuit of celebrity is relentless and is in itself a form of youth culture which will always thrive in an internet driven 21^st century Hollywood, where every Award show and contemporary film star is besieged by eager paparazzi both publicly and online.

The Bling Ring is frothy, vacuous and fabulous and audiences shouldn’t expect some sort of moral justification but a nuanced commentary on a celebrity culture that perpetuates its own obsessive and voyeuristic existence. A world that Coppola as daughter of famous film director Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now) must be so used to and has certainly influenced her impressive if slightly nonchalant recent films from Somewhere to The Bling Ring.

Naturally it helps that Sofia Coppola established her credibility early in Hollywood as a film director with the critically acclaimed film Lost in Translation. The Bling Ring does not match up to the initial high standard Coppola set for herself, but is equally relevant in 21^st century media frenzied Hollywood where such stars as Lohan and Hilton have become famous for being famous. The Bling Ring is recommended viewing for fashionistas and those who appreciate gorgeous closet raids!

The Butler

Director: Lee Daniels

Starring: Forest Whitaker, David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Robin Williams, Liev Schreiber, Alan Rickman, John Cusack, Alex Pettyfer, James Marsden, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Lenny Kravitz, Minka Kelly, Mariah Carey.

The Oscar nominated director of Precious, Lee Daniels assembles an all star cast in the elegant and brutal chronicle of the American Civil Rights Movement from the Georgia cotton picking days of 1926 to the historic election of Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States in 2008.

With a screenplay by Danny Strong based on Wil Haygood’s article “A Butler Well Served by this Election” The Butler follows the life of Cecil Gaines, a loyal and trusted African American butler to seven American presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower (played by Robin Williams) in 1957 to Ronald Reagan (played by Alan Rickman) in 1986 at the White House and features a staggeringly Oscar worthy performance by Forest Whitaker, Oscar winner for the extraordinary film The Last King of Scotland, whose sturdy and nuanced performance makes this historical film a must see. Alongside Whitaker portrayal of Gaines, is another wonderful performance by Talk Show Queen Oprah Winfrey as his hard drinking wife Gloria Gaines who along with her husband has to live through the turbulent sixties and seventies watching helplessly as one son Louis Gaines brilliantly portrayed by David Oyelowo gets involved in the civil rights movement in the Deep South whilst their youngest son Charlie joins up to fight in Vietnam.

During the Butler’s time at the White House he serves a range of American Presidents from JFK (played by James Marsden) to Nixon during the Watergate scandal, from Lyndon B. Johnson (played by Liev Schreiber) during the Vietnam War through to Ronald Reagan and his vetoing of sanctions against Apartheid South Africa in the mid 1980’s.

Whilst Daniels film is a clear tribute to the huge impact made by the American civil rights movement, the viewer at times will feel like they are watching a History Channel documentary. Yet despite the racial politics, at the heart of The Butler is the equally tumultuous yet tender relationship between Cecil Gaines and his family. Gaines employed as a White House Butler cannot jeopardize his job employed in service at the iconic seat of American power where ironically there is no room for politics. He cannot participate himself in the increasingly active American civil rights movement of the sixties, whilst his son Louis gets politically involved as he attends Fisk University in Tennessee.

From Gandhi inspired sits ins at segregated restaurants in Alabama to Freedom Bus rides through Klu Klux Klan riddled Mississippi, Louis finds his own identity as a civil rights activist only stopping short of joining the increasingly militant Black Panther movement which plagued the Nixon Administration in the early 1970’s. Gloria Gaines, wonderfully played by Winfrey has to manage two sons, an absent husband and an increasingly reckless lifestyle whilst adjusting to the ever changing race relations in contemporary American society.

The Butler takes off the white gloves in examining the contentious issue of America’s history of race relations. Director Daniels expertly splices scenes of a brutal attack by white students on members of the civil rights movement at a Tennessee diner with images of Cecil Gaines and his fellow butlers Carter Wilson played by Cuba Gooding Jr and James Holloway played by Lenny Kravitz laying an immaculate table for White House state dinners, reminiscent of Merchant Ivory’s superb period drama Remains of the Day about the crumbling of the British class system in the late 1930’s prior to the outbreak of World War II.

What really makes The Butler so utterly absorbing is Forest Whitaker’s powerful performance as Cecil Gaines who whilst in service humbly retains only one constant request of equal wages from his White House employers. The rest of the star studded cast including veteran actors Vanessa Redgrave (Howard’s End) and Jane Fonda (On Golden Pond) really only have very brief scenes. John Cusack stands out as a troubled hard drinking Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal in 1972.

For lovers of period dramas with an expansive historical context, The Butler is recommended viewing. Director Lee Daniels expertly manages a huge and contentious time span of American history along with an impressive ensemble cast while extracting superb performances by Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey and David Oyelowo, making The Butler like his previously provocative film Precious a firm Oscar favourite.  A highly recommended and masterful piece of cinema.

Thor: The Dark World

From Asgaard to Greenwich, Thor and his hammer are back in the Marvel sequel Thor: The Dark World, moving the action from the arid plains of New Mexico to the nine universes along with London and Stonehenge. The immensely successful Thor in 2010 directed by Kenneth Brannagh assembled a fabulously competent cast including Oscar Winners Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs) as Thor’s father Odin, King of Asgaard and Natalie Portman (Black Swan) as physicist Jane Foster along with Rene Russo as Thor’s mother Frigga and Shakespearian actor Tom Hiddleston as malevolent and destructive brother Loki.

Thor: The Dark World reassembles this cast along with Kat Dennings of Two Broke Girls TV series fame as the sharp talking Darcy Lewis for some comic relief, Stellan Skarsgaard as the mad scientist Erik Selvig seen running naked around Stonehenge and newcomer Christopher Eccleston as Malekith the evil Dark Elf who is bent on destroying all known universes through an ethereal substance known as Aether which has the power to envelope all worlds in eternal darkness constituting a thoroughly poisonous universe.

Moving the action from sunny New Mexico in Thor to murky and grey England was a smart move for Thor: The Dark World, however this sequel whilst it has stunning visual effects but not quite to the same level as Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel, is certainly entertaining as superhero films go that the rival  Marvel studios are successfully releasing in quick succession after the huge commercial success of The Avengers and Iron Man 3.

Needless to say much of the action of Thor: The Dark World does not take place on earth so the plot is mostly action driven and there is naturally very little new character developments in the various CGI created universes with elegant and glossy Asgaard  taking the centre stage. Chris Hemsworth is naturally good as Thor, a role that will surely become synonymous with his name, but his real acting can be seen in films like Rush. Natalie Portman is fantastic and Anthony Hopkins is going through the character motions. Tom Hiddleston is brilliant as the ambivalently evil Loki set on revenge for his incarceration on Asgaard and look out for rising star Idris Elba as the celestial Asgaard gatekeeper Heimdall.

Basically Thor: The Dark World has stunning visuals, lots of action, a twisted plot without too much characterisation and basically retains its popcorn teenage audience that all the Marvel films are aiming for.

For fans of Thor, this glossy sequel not as tightly directed by Alan Taylor is thin on plot, and will not disappoint fans of the hammer wielding hunk who is part of the Avengers group. Watch out for a brief cameo by Chris Ryan as Captain America. The action is fantastic but not on the level of Pacific Rim or Man of Steel. Also starring Zachary Levi from Chuck fame along with Ray Stevenson and Jaimie Alexander. See Thor: The Dark World in a 3D cinema if possible.

Arbitrage

Written and Directed by Nicolas Jarecki

Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetita Casta, Bruce Altman

Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon (Shall We Dance?) reunite in the corporate thriller Arbitrage written and directed by Nicolas Jarecki. Arbitrage is a financial term for trading in different international currencies simultaneously and taking advantage of the price difference in two or more different markets.

The central character of silver haired seducer Robert Miller superbly played by Richard Gere in a 2013 Golden Globe nominated performance, certainly does that as a duplicitous New York hedge fund manager. Not only does Miller have a lovely wife Ellen and two Ivy League educated children, but he also has a sultry and demanding French mistress, an emerging art gallery owner played by Laetitia Casta.

Arbitrage opens with Miller jetting into New York to celebrate his 60^th Birthday and what appears like a perfectly successful life goes horribly wrong in the course of the crisply edited film as Miller’s life unravels after a tragic car accident in which he seeks assistance from the paroled son of a former Miller Capital employee, Jimmy Grant played by Nate Parker(The Secret Life of Bees) in what appears as a Bonfire of the Vanities scenario.

Miller is in the process of negotiating the sale of his hedge fund company, Miller Capital to a buyer to cover the cost of a Russian copper deal which went south, a fact that he is desperately trying to keep from his CFO (Chief Financial Officer), his headstrong daughter Brooke Miller, wonderfully played by Brit Marling. When Brooke discovers the multi-million dollar discrepancy she confronts her father and in a tense scene played out in Central Park, Miller tells his daughter that he is the patriarch and that he did what was best for his family. Brooke’s glowing estimation of her father as the corporate breadwinner is surely diminished.

If audiences are expecting the rich to pay for their sins, naturally this does not happen in Arbitrage as it brilliantly portrays a powerful affluent family who is devoid of a moral core, a ruthless patriarch who will do anything to retain his wealth as well as his social status while protecting his family.

In this respect Richard Gere is superb and in the penultimate scene of the film, the confrontation between husband and wife, Gere and Sarandon do not disappoint as the power couple whose infidelities and lies are covered up by shrewd corporate dealing and malignant marital complicity.

For at the end of the day, the Millers like any extremely wealthy family who are accustomed to trading with millions of dollars on the stock market will do anything to protect their privileged position, no matter the means to which they ascended the cut-throat culture of venture capitalism as embodied by Wall Street and New York’s power elite.

Look out for a great performance by Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) as determined detective Michael Bryer who knows that Miller is responsible for culpable homicide but cannot get past the shady hedge fund manager’s brilliant cover up.

Arbitrage is an intelligent stylish financial thriller similar to Wall Street devoid of any moral core, which makes it all the more frightening considering the long term global repercussions of the 2008 financial crisis as experienced five years later.

Gravity

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Cast: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Ed Harris

If brevity is the soul of wit, then gravity is the point of origin. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s fascinating space disaster film Gravity is brief, sublime and an inspiring cinematic message to protect and appreciate the Earth. Cuaron’s impressive filmography includes Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men and the 1998 version of Great Expectations.

Unlike his friend fellow Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, Cuaron’s elegant space adventure avoids the clunky spectacle of Pacific Rim, but retains the awe setting almost the entire ninety minutes of Gravity in space, with superb sound effects and brilliant visuals.

Director Alfonso Cuaron emphasizes not just the physical weightlessness of space, but also the terrifying silence and infinity balanced by a deep visual appreciation of Planet Earth retaining all the emotional resonance as seen through the eyes of two astronauts medical engineer Ryan Stone (played against type by Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock) and the smooth talking Matt Kowalsky (naturally played by Oscar winner George Clooney).

Houston we do have a problem as American astronauts Stone and Kowalsky have to deal with being stranded in space after debris from a Russian satellite hits their NASA space ship near the international space station.

Space, the gravitational pull of the earth and the will to survive are just as much featured characters as these two stranded astronauts grapple with an escape plan to return to Mother Earth. Cuaron deliberately avoids the sophisticated social dichotomy of rich and poor so gorgeously illustrated in Neil Blomkamp’s Elysium providing no counterpoint to Stone and Kowalski’s space adventure except the enduring will of the human spirit to survive at all costs.

Gravity is really a 3D visual spectacle with an ambient score by Steven Price and beautiful groundbreaking cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki to tell a very simple story of the emotional and physical impact of human beings stranded in space. For viewers suffering from vertigo or dizziness, Gravity is not for you, as Cuaron’s direction makes the viewer feel that they are in space throughout the film, an astounding and groundbreaking visual trick, helped by strong performances by Hollywood A Listers’ Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Images of Engineer Stone in Gravity pay homage to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and the central female character with a man’s name becomes an allegorical symbol of all mankind seemingly helpless against the celestial powers, not to mention Mother Nature’s central gravitational pull. Gravity is inspiring, underwritten yet beautifully shot.

Fans of Moon and 2001: A Space Odyssey will find Gravity spell bounding. See Gravity in 3D to experience the visual and digital impact otherwise not at all.

Prisoners

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, David Dastmalchian

French Canadian director of Foreign language film nominee Incendies Denis Villeneuve weaves a web of intrigue in the deeply disturbing suburban thriller Prisoners extracting a brilliant performance by his two central male leads, Oscar Nominees Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) set in a wintry landscape of Pennsylvania.

Prisoners bleak story revolves around two average American families (the Dovers and the Birches) whose daughters are best friends and after a relaxing Thanksgiving lunch, the girls are playing in the street where they are snatched in mysterious circumstances. The parents of the missing girls Keller Dover and his wife Grace played by Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello and the Birches played by Terrence Howard (Dead Man Down) and Viola Davis (Doubt, The Help) are naturally beside themselves with grief and worry.

In steps the local police Detective Loki, a superb performance by Jake Gyllenhaal who goes on a desperate mission to unravel the mystery of these vanished children, uncovering a whole web of secrets in the closely knitted Pennsylvanian community. The first suspect is the shy Alex Jones, wonderfully played by Paul Dano (Ruby Sparks, There will be Blood) who was parked in a RV that the abducted girls were playing on moments before they went missing, but upon questioning turns out to have a seemingly limited intelligence, covering up an even darker secret.

To complicate the investigation even further the fathers of the missing girls Keller Dover and Franklin Birch capture the scared Alex Jones soon after he is released from police custody and then start torturing him as a prisoner in an abandoned apartment convinced that he knows what happened to the little girls. Detective Loki is meanwhile hot on the trial of another suspect Bob Taylor played by David Dastmalchian, who has a penchant for buying children’s clothes at the local Valuemart.

Prisoners is a disturbing tale of how far a father will go to find his lost daughter and the also the ramifications that an abduction can have on a small town community. This is a disturbing film, slightly depressing as most of it is shot against a slate grey sky of an approaching Pennsylvania winter, but fortunately director Villeneuve has assembled a top notch cast including Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) as Alex Jones’s mysterious aunt Holly Jones.

Viewers have to concentrate in this film as the narrative drops clues all the time about who the real culprit is and as the tension mounts a disturbing twist is revealed whereby the hunter becomes the prey, an analogy first introduced in the opening shot when the ultra prepared and slightly neurotic Keller Dover, a wonderfully different performance by Hugh Jackman is teaching his teenage son Ralph how to hunt deer.

Prisoners only crime is that the riveting, yet gap filled narrative could have been more tightly written by screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski and certain scenes definitely required some crisp editing  to make the emotional resonance of the film more astounding.

Prisoners runs for 153 minutes which is fairly long for a suspense drama about child abduction in a murky and seemingly soulless American suburbia. If film goers enjoyed the Oscar winning Mystic River then Prisoners is that type of film although not as good. Disturbing, compelling and scary, Prisoners will take viewers into a maze of intrigue…

Rush

Director: Ron Howard

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, James Norton, Olivia Wilde, Christian McKay, David Calder, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Natalie Dormer, Pierfrancesco Favino

Oscar winning director of A Beautiful Mind Ron Howard tackles the fast and affluent world of Formula One Motor Racing in the new biographical drama Rush centering on the brutal and brash rivalry between reckless English racing driver James Hunt, gorgeously played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth and cautious Austrian driver Niki Lauder, brilliantly played by the European actor Daniel Bruhl.

Screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen), who first collaborated with Howard on the slick film version Frost /Nixon offers a crisply written script, as the narrative of Rush doesn’t waste time showing the glamorous international and ruthless world of Formula One racing with drivers speeding around the circuits of Monaco, Kyalami, Monza, Valencia and Sao Paolo. Yet despite all the thrill, danger and spectacle, Morgan weaves a brutal and exacting tale of professional rivalry between Lauder and Hunt framed within the media-frenzied competitive jet set world of Formula One, presenting an ego driven portrait of two men at the peak of their careers, just as he did in the exemplary Frost / Nixon.

The film’s stunning opening scene features Hunt seducing a British nurse played by Natalie Dormer (W.E.) which immediately sets the tone for the 1970’s, a decade known for easy sex, drugs and partying, providing an insight into a carefree decadent era in which the ambitious race car drivers soon graduate to Formula One. Where Lauder is mechanically minded, disciplined and ambitious, James Hunt is reckless, celebrity driven and risk seeking, a driver who is never shy to compete in an ongoing bitter global challenge to become the Number 1 World Championship Racing Car Driver.

Lauder’s wife Marlene is played by Romanian actress Alexandra Maria Lara and the gorgeous Olivia Wilde makes a stunning appearance as beautiful swish model Suzy Miller who soon becomes James Hunt’s wife, despite his reckless lifestyle. From Ibiza to Bologna, from Sao Paulo to Germany, Rush is a superbly orchestrated biopic of the rivalry between these two Champions of the World, and for all those fans of Formula One, this film is not to be missed. Especially look out for the vividly recreated infamous crash sequence that Niki Lauder is involved in as he gets trapped in a fiery Ferrari in the Nurburgring racetrack in Germany in August 1976 along with the riveting final race of the season set on a rain-soaked Japanese track in the shadow of Mount Fiji.

Spanish-German actor Daniel Bruhl best known for Inglourious Basterds is utterly believable as the goal-driven and infamously determined Austrian racing driver Niki Lauder whilst Hemsworth (Snow White and the Huntsman, Thor) proves his worth as a versatile Shakespearean trained actor producing an upper crust English accent. The real star of Rush besides the excellent script and film direction is the unbelievable sound editing, which makes this film all the more worthwhile and gripping in a Digital Cinema. Highly recommended for the glitz bravado, the incredible speed and the blood stained price of success, Rush is a well-crafted film, a winning formula that elegantly delves into a fast paced racing arena really suitable for playboys and daredevils.

RED 2

Retired and Extremely Dangerous

Director: Dean Parisot

Cast: Bruce Willis, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Neal McDonough, Steven Berkoff, David Thewlis, Byung-Hun Lee, Tim Pigott-Smith, Brian Cox

Despite the inherent violence in the film’s narrative, Red 2 is an enjoyable yet not particularly lucid sequel to the 2010 hit Red, which stands for Retired and Extremely Dangerous. Both films are inspired by DC Comics so that should give the audience an indication of what to expect: lots of action, globetrotting assassins and a convoluted story line with a dash of witty one liners.

Considering the calibre of the cast of Red 2, including Oscar Winners Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago), Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) and Helen Mirren (The Queen) along with the main stars, Bruce Willis, the fabulous Oscar nominee John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons) and Mary-Louise Parker (Red Dragon), this sequel’s script could have been sharper. Although thankfully the female stars do elevate the narrative beyond another sort of The Expendables type film, featuring all male action stars over 45 slugging it out with an armoury that could annihilate a small eastern European country. Director Dean Parisot goes for violence over sophisticated repartee, which is a great pity considering the cast he had at his disposal.

Red 2 is hugely entertaining but could have had a less complicated narrative and the action could have been diluted more effectively. There is the perennial car chase scene in Paris (straight out of A View to a Kill), the Kremlin scene in Moscow, straight out of countless spy movies and the more recent A Good Day to Die Hard and an aerial chase sequence across London’s slate grey skyline which is definitely inspired by the Bond franchise.

If audiences have not seen Red, then its best to see that first before seeing Red 2, but the premise is simply about an international group of retired spies and assassins (ex CIA, Mi6, Russian intelligence) who inadvertently stumble on a a plan to activate a so-called forgotten nuclear device in Moscow codenamed Project Nightshade after it was left there during the Cold War by a rogue American spy unit. The globe hopping from suburban America to London, Paris and Moscow is great but comically inspired and nothing as brilliant as the elegant cityscape changes seen in Skyfall.

Red 2 also features Byung-Hun Lee as a knife-wielding assassin last seen in GI Joe, Retaliation along with Neal McDonough as the vicious agent Jack Horton, but it is really Mary-Louise Parker’s performance which lifts Red 2 out of Comic book banality  as the sharp and sassy Sarah, girlfriend to Frank Moses played by Bruce Willis who is always hankering for more adventure and glamour, spicing up their crumbling romance.

Look out for a hilarious scene at the end of the film set in Caracas. Anymore details, then that would give the game away. Also featuring a briefly seen Steven Berkoff and David Thewlis as the Frog, a Wikileaks inspired classified intelligence hacker. Red 2 is fun viewing, heavy on action, light on content and plausibility!

2013 Toronto International Film Festival Winners

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) takes place every year in September in Toronto, Canada.

Films which premiere at Toronto are often nominated for Academy Awards the following year.

TIFF does not hand out individual prizes for Best Actor or Actress but focuses on among others the following awards:
People’s Choice Award & Best Canadian Feature Film

Opening Night Film: The Fifth Estate directed by Bill Condon starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Dan Stevens, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Carice van Houten

People’s Choice Award: 12 Years a Slave directed by Steve McQueen starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Sarah Poulson

Best Canadian Feature Film: When Jews were Funny directed by Alan Zweig (documentary) starring Howie Mandel, Shelley Berman, Norm Crosby, Shecky Greene, Jack Carter, David Steinberg

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Toronto_Film_Festival

2 Guns

Director: Baltasar Kormakur

Cast: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Edward James Olmos, James Marsden, Fred Ward, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton

Denzel Washington (Flight, Safe House) and Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter, Contraband) star in the Boom studios graphic novels film version 2 Guns, which is a basically a Tex Mex version of 48 Hours with all the classic formulaic traits of a buddy action film, reminiscent of the 1980’s complete with snappy dialogue and explosive action. Oscar winner Denzel Washington plays tough DEA agent Bobby Trench who unwillingly teams up with sexy and smart Michael Stigman played by former Calvin Klein underwear model Mark Wahlberg as they blow up diners with the best donuts in town in a Texas border town as a means of distraction against robbing a nearby bank packed with loads of Mexican drug cartel dollars.

Muchos dineros in Spanish means lots of dollars and Washington and Wahlberg both get more than they bargained for when they discover the amount of loot, which not only belongs to the shady Mexicans across the border but is wanted by Naval Intelligence and a vicious CIA operative which have been keeping the Mexican drug cartels in business.

Three groups of gangs are on their tail from the CIA in the form of Earl superbly played by Bill Paxton (Titanic, Haywire), a rogue Naval intelligence unit headed by Quince, played by James Marsden (a welcome change from his pretty boy image as seen in Hairspray) and a Sonora Mexican drug cartel headed up by the bull loving Papi Greco wonderfully played by Edward James Olmos (recently seen in the TV series Dexter as the Doomsday Killer).

Add in to this crazy mix is Paula Patton (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) as the voluptuous Deb another DEA agent serving as some eye candy for the clearly male targeted audience and the usual chaos which ensues when Trench and Stigman decide to trust each other enough to team up together, making the convoluted plot twists more plausible by a fantastic onscreen chemistry between the two Hollywood heavy weights.

Denzel Washington as the tough and elusive Bobby Trench, while Oscar Nominee Mark Wahlberg as the eye-winking younger and sharp-mouthed wise guy clearly makes 2 Guns not just worth watching, but highly enjoyable and humorous, filled with car chases, bull-running and an explosive sequence at a naval base in Corpus Christi, Texas. Watch out for a great cameo by Fred Ward as a Naval Commander Admiral Tuwey.

2 Guns, by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur who also directed Wahlberg in Contraband unapologetically takes much inspiration from such 1980’s classic action films as Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours and Beverley Hills Cop, and while there is less comedy and more action, it is a thoroughly entertaining way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Lots of violence, swearing and bull running, this machismo action thriller, complete with a Mexican standoff is a wonderful pairing of these two talented Hollywood megastars.

The likeable talented duo of Washington and Wahlberg effortlessly produce that onscreen chemistry which is casual, cool and funny. 2 Guns is recommended for those that enjoy US-Mexican cross border drug running bank robber films without the insane gore and menace of Savages or No Country for Old Men.