Jason Gorber is a Canadian film critic and interviewer based in Toronto. He is the film columnist for CBC Radio One's Metro Morning programme where he has a weekly review segment on Friday Mornings. [1]
He is the Editor-in-Chief/Chief Critic at That Shelf [2] , and a regular contributor at POV Magazine , both in print and online. He covers festivals including Berlin, Sundance, Hot Docs, and TIFF, and has interviewed filmmakers including Werner Herzog [3] and Asif Kapadia. [4]
He was formerly the featured reviewer on the CTV News Channel, where he has a weekly review segment on Sunday nights. [5] In 2013, he began hosting a weekend movie program on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in Canada. Gorber was a featured critic for Twitch Film, [6] a regular contributor to Huffington Post/Moviefone, [7] a Rotten Tomatoes accredited critic, [8] and has contributed freelance articles to several print publications.
Gorber's profile at the Online Film Critics Society describes him as "a pioneer in online film criticism." [9] He has been an accredited reviewer at the Toronto International Film Festival since 1997 and created the site filmfest.ca to document the festival's activities. He is the managing editor and chief film critic of That Shelf, a Toronto-based website covering film, television, and gaming. [10]
In early 2013, he wrote a piece in the Toronto Star describing his preferred seating locations at many of Toronto's major cinemas. Gorber writes that finding a proper seat is "nearly as important as the film itself" for viewers interested in a full cinematic experience, describing the search as "part art, part science" for a committed few. [11] He has also written reviews of specialty cinemas, in 2013 profiling the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. [12]
Gorber has been described by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a "Star Wars fanatic." [13] Following Disney's announcement in late 2012 of plans to create a Star Wars Episode VII ( Star Wars: The Force Awakens ), he tweeted, "I will be 43 years old in 2015, and yet I will still be lining up. This is what I do. So, who's with me in line?" [14]
Dimple Kapadia is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father's efforts to launch her in the film industry. She was discovered at age 14 by the filmmaker Raj Kapoor, who cast her in the title role of his teen romance Bobby (1973), which opened to major commercial success and gained her wide public recognition. Shortly before the film's release in 1973, she married the actor Rajesh Khanna and quit acting. Their daughters, Twinkle and Rinke Khanna, both briefly worked as actresses in their youth. Kapadia returned to films in 1984, two years after her separation from Khanna. Her comeback film Saagar, which was released a year later, revived her career. Both Bobby and Saagar won her Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. Through her work over the next decade, she established herself as one of Hindi cinema's leading actresses.
The Alamo is a 2004 American war historical drama about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. The film was directed by John Lee Hancock, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures, and starring Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, Jason Patric as Jim Bowie, and Patrick Wilson as William B. Travis. The screenplay is credited to Hancock, Stephen Gaghan, and Leslie Bohem.
Don McKellar is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave.
Brenda Song is an American actress. Born in California, Song began her career at the age of six, working as a child model. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the sitcom Thunder Alley (1995), and went on to roles such as the children's television series Fudge (1995) and the Nickelodeon series 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd (1999). She starred in the Disney Channel original film The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000), which won her a Young Artist Award. She subsequently signed a contract with Disney Channel and earned widespread recognition for playing the titular character in the action film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), and London Tipton in the comedy franchise The Suite Life (2005–2011), earning her acclaim and two Young Hollywood Awards. She additionally played the character of Tia on Phil of the Future (2004–2005), and had starring roles in the television film Get a Clue (2002), the sports comedy film Like Mike (2002) and the comedy film Stuck in the Suburbs (2004).
The Reflecting Skin is a 1990 British-Canadian dramatic horror film written and directed by Philip Ridley and starring Jeremy Cooper, Viggo Mortensen and Lindsay Duncan. Described by its director as a "mythical interpretation" of childhood, the film weaves elements of vampirism, surrealism, black comedy, symbolism, and religious zealotry throughout its narrative about the perceptions and fantasies of an impressionable young boy in 1950s America. The Reflecting Skin places the majority of its action outdoors around the dilapidated farms and in the wheat fields of Idaho shot in idyllic sunlight which belies the dark secrets of the characters and plot.
The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI.
Asif Kapadia is a British filmmaker. Kapadia is best known for his trilogy of narratively driven, archive-constructed documentaries Senna, Amy and Diego Maradona.
ScreenAnarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, the website covers various film festivals from Sundance, Toronto and Fantasia to Sitges, Cannes and the Berlinale. They partnered with Instinctive Film in 2011 to found Interactor, a crowd funding and viral marketing site, and with Indiegogo in 2013. Brown is a partner at XYZ Films, and Variety credits Twitch Film as helping to popularize the production company's films.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a 2010 3D documentary film by Werner Herzog about the Chauvet Cave in Southern France, which contains some of the oldest human-painted images yet discovered—some of them were crafted around 32,000 years ago. It consists of footage from inside the cave, as well as of the nearby Pont d'Arc natural bridge, alongside interviews with various scientists and historians. The film premiered on 13 September 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Sheep Thief is a 1997 United Kingdom 16 mm short film by Asif Kapadia lasting 24 minutes, and is Kapadia's graduation film from the Royal College of Art.
The Iceman is a 2012 American biographical crime film loosely based on hitman Richard Kuklinski. The film was directed by Ariel Vromen and stars Michael Shannon as Kuklinski, with Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, James Franco, and Ray Liotta in supporting roles.
Grace Huang is a Taiwanese-Australian actress of Cantonese descent, best known for her role as the Gemini Female in the RZA directed martial arts film, The Man with the Iron Fists.
Starred Up is a 2013 British prison crime drama film directed by David Mackenzie and written by Jonathan Asser. Starring Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn and Rupert Friend, the film is based on Jonathan Asser's experiences working as a voluntary therapist at HM Prison Wandsworth, with some of the country's most violent criminals. The title refers to the early transfer of a criminal from a Young Offender Institution to an adult prison.
The Animal Project is a 2013 Canadian drama film written and directed by Ingrid Veninger and starring Aaron Poole, Hannah Cheesman, and Emmanuel Kabongo. It debuted at the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
The Rogers Best Canadian Film Award is presented annually by the Toronto Film Critics Association to the film judged by the organization's members as the year's best Canadian film. In 2012, the cash prize accompanying the award was increased to $100,000, making it the largest arts award in Canada. Each year, two runners-up also receive $5,000. The award is funded and presented by Rogers Communications, which is a founding sponsor of the association's awards gala.
Deborah Chow is a Canadian filmmaker, television director and screenwriter known for her independent films and her work on Star Wars television. Two of her first short films, Daypass (2002) and The Hill (2004) have both won awards at various international film festivals. Her first feature film was The High Cost of Living (2010), which she both wrote and directed.
Dheepan is a 2015 French crime drama film directed by Jacques Audiard and co-written by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, and Noé Debré. The film was partly inspired by Montesquieu's Persian Letters, as well as the 1971 film Straw Dogs, with guidance from Antonythasan Jesuthasan, who stars as the title character.
Amy is a 2015 British documentary film directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees. The film covers British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse's life and her struggle with substance abuse, both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. In February 2015, a teaser trailer based on the life of Winehouse debuted at a pre-Grammys event. David Joseph, CEO of Universal Music UK, announced that the documentary titled Amy would be released later that year. He further stated: "About two years ago we decided to make a movie about her—her career and her life. It's a very complicated and tender movie. It tackles lots of things about family and media, fame, addiction, but most importantly, it captures the very heart of what she was about, which is an amazing person and a true musical genius."
The Stairs is a Canadian documentary film by Hugh Gibson, released in 2016. The film, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, centres on the clients and staff of StreetHealth, a harm reduction health clinic in the Regent Park area of Toronto.
The Client is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise who appears in three episodes of the first season of the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian. He is a mysterious, unnamed leader in the former Galactic Empire and subordinate of Moff Gideon, who plays a key role in setting the show's story into motion by hiring the bounty hunter known as "The Mandalorian" to retrieve a "50-year-old", yet infantile alien dubbed "The Child".