Attack of lamb. The DNA of "Black Sheep," the New Zealand silly, tepid horror-comedy (accent on the second; it's not the least bit scary), traces back to "The Howling," "The Birds," "Night of the Living Dead" (and "Dawn of the…
A "news photograph" from "Death of a President." "Death of a President," the documentary-style speculative fiction about the assassination of the 43rd President of the United States, is seamless, intelligent and maybe even necessary to an understanding of George W.…
More coverage of the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival can be found at RogerEbert.com editor Jim Emerson's associated blog, Scanners.
View image 1) I haven't seen a bad film yet at the 2006 Toronto festival, but I haven't experienced the ecstatic highs of last year, either, when "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," "Brokeback Mountain," "Cache," "A History of Violence,"…
View image Three tales in "The Fountain": Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. There's nothing tepid about Darren Aronofsky, and I love him for it. "The Fountain," his grand mythical fantasy that interweaves three tales about the fear of death and…
View image Not for the wee ones. Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" is that rarest of cinematic rarities, a fully and flawlessly realized fantasy film. It's also, as of today, my favorite movie of the dozen or so I've seen…
The cast of the Oscar-favorite film, "Home for Purim." "For Your Consideration" -- Christopher Guest is blessed with the finest comedic stock company since the heyday of Preston Sturges. Guest, Catherine O'Hara (Goddess of Funny), Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry…
View image O, say, can you see Borat? For what he is? The New York Times headline about all the political films in this year's TIFF was: "At the Toronto Film Festival, Liberal Politics As Usual." David M. Halfbinger of…
View image Christian Bale in Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn." For the first half of Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn," the fictionalized movie based on his documentary 1997 "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," I wasn't sure if Herzog had tamed the commercial…
View image The ManuLife Center (glowing beacon in the middle of the shot), where most of the Toronto Film Festival press and industry screenings are held. The hallway of the Varsity Cinemas, with theaters on both sides. What's missing from…
Great Movies