Film Review: Gifted

On January 17th 2009, visionary and talented music video director Marc Webb made his feature length debut with the totally original and highly unusual romantic/comedy/drama 500 Days of Summer. The film, which went on to be a total critical success, box office spectacle and cult classic, made a name for Webb, who, with his original first film, landed the second leg of Spider-Man’s totally unnecessary “The Amazing” series reboot. Webb, who went on to direct two instalments of our friendliest neighbourhood superhero, re-casting Peter Parker with Andrew Garfield, [in our opinion] the best Peter Parker we have seen so far, was unable to tap into what made Summer so great, and really showed audiences how little creativity and imagination exists inside studio tentpole films. Sadly, while Webb’s Spider-Man films went on to make a ton of money, it proved that just because your movies make money after such a beloved independent film, does not mean that audiences actually adore your body of work. Luckily for audiences, Webb has finally returned to the small scale end of filmmaking, with his newest film Gifted; an emotional and human story of extraordinary circumstances, set with ordinary people. Continue reading

Night Film Reviews’ Best and Worst Films of 2016

Each and every year, as the age of cinema increases, so does the skepticism of the art forms relevance and focus. Ever since doing a “Best of” list to showcase the best that cinema has to offer each and every year, there is always someone or a group of people declaring that the end of cinema; its ultimate demise, is upon us. Yet, this year, moreso, than any other year, phrases such as “profoundly moving”, “the reason we go to the movies”, and “historical achievement” are just some of the many phrases thrown around to more than one of the films released in 2016. Continue reading

Film Review: Obvious Child

One of the many ingredients that so many romantic-comedies are missing today is the element of truth: truth in the dialogue, truth in its characters and truth in the scenarios the characters are put in. If there is one thing that is obvious about Gillian Robespierre debut feature film Obvious Child, it is that the truth be the guiding light for characters in the film and the film itself.  Continue reading