Daniel Iron Movies
The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin documents how the famous composer wrote some of his most well-known work as a direct response to the oppressive tactics of the Russian leader. The film utilizes recordings of the symphonies along with archival footage in order to provide viewers with a historical context for the events discussed. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 1996
This slightly abridged version of Eugene O'Neill's classic play was originally staged by director David Wellington at the prestigious Stratford Festival in Canada. In order to better fit the unusually designed stage at the Tom Patterson Theatre where the production was staged, Wellington utilized minimal sets. To maintain a keen emotional edge, he filmed the play in sequence. The somewhat autobiographical story chronicles the strife within a dysfunctional Irish family. The mother is a morphine addict; the cheapskate father is an alcoholic. Their sons are caught in the middle between the couple's endless struggles as is the family maid. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1997
This six part series from Bullfrog Films presents world famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his musings on the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Ma decided that he wanted to celebrate Bach and his Suites for Unaccompanied Cello; thus leading him to film six distinct visual and musical interpretations of these suites. This series is a multimedia view into the creative process, showing how musicians and other artists come together to explore a shared or central theme. Not only will you be witness to beautiful music, but you will be exposed to some of today's most inventive filmmakers as they join forces with a living legend. The series includes The Music Garden, The Sound of Carceri, Falling Down the Stairs, Sarabande, Struggle for Hope, and Six Gestures. ~ Ed Atkinson, Rovi
Francois Girard directed this drama tracing the history of a musical instrument through five countries and three centuries. In 1681, to keep the spirit of his wife alive, an Italian paints the violin with a red varnish made from her blood. It is later found in the Austrian Alps when a prodigy gives a performance in the court of Vienna in 1792. Taken by gypsies, the instrument is acquired by a Dionysian composer. After a journey by boat to China in 1966, it is hidden during the Cultural Revolution. In contemporary Canada, it is spotted at an auction house by a violin expert (Samuel L. Jackson) who becomes obsessed with it. Scripted by Girard and Don McKellar. Filmed on a $10 million budget in Montreal, China, Italy, Austria, and Oxford. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Don McKellar, (more)
Don McKellar wrote and directed this comedy-drama about the last night of the world, part of the 12-film Arte series of movies about the Millennium. Set in Toronto, Patrick (McKellar) endures a faux Christmas celebration with his family while Sandra (Sandra Oh) tries to get across town to commit suicide with her husband, a gas company employee Duncan (David Cronenberg). Meanwhile, Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) hopes to achieve sexual satisfaction with several women on his list. Still mourning his dead wife, Patrick plans his last moments alone, until he and Sandra crosspaths. Shown in the Directors Fortnight section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, (more)
- 1999
- Add The Canadian Brass: A Christmas Experiment to Queue Add The Canadian Brass: A Christmas Experiment to top of Queue
One of the world's most acclaimed (and most popular) brass ensembles, the Canadian Brass brings their technical skill (as well as their characteristic showmanship and sense of humor) to this performance video, in which they present a program of Christmas-themed songs. The Canadian Brass: A Christmas Experiment features the group performing 16 numbers, including "We Three Kings," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "Oh Christmas Tree," "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "Sleigh Runners." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2001
This six-part Canadian TV anthology (actually telecast in three parts) was founded on the theme of human frailty. The stories, largely based on famous literary works, were linked together by the activities of documentary filmmaker George (Ken Finkelman, who also wrote and directed the series). Individual episode included "The Body", a saga of public embarrassment based on a story by Italo Calvino; "Disasters", based on an Orhan Pamuk story about the public's fascination with spectacular tragedies; "Evil", inspired by Maggie O'Kane's article on the war in Kosovo; "Celebrity", a fable wherein Jesus returned in the 21st century; and "Chaos and Order", in which a modern-day film crew found itself in the middle of an ancient Japanese legend. The series concluded with "The Award", a self-revelatory piece about hero George's own neuroses. Foreign Objects was originally seen from September 24 to 26, 2001. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Finkleman, Colm Feore, (more)
- 2003
- R
- Add The Saddest Music in the World to Queue Add The Saddest Music in the World to top of Queue
Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin directs The Saddest Music in the World, reworked from an original screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, the film involves a contest announced by the legless and glamorous Lady Port-Huntly (Isabella Rossellini) to find the saddest music in the world. She's hoping the contest will result in increased sales of her company's brand of beer. American theatrical producer Chester Kent (Mark McKinney) shows up to win the contest with his kooky show-business idea, while brother Roderick Kent (Ross McMillan) returns from the war. Maria de Medeiros plays Narcissa, a sleep walker romantically linked to both brothers. Their father, the alcoholic doctor Fyodor Kent (David Fox), is tortured by his role in Lady Port-Huntly's leg amputation, so he makes her a new glass pair filled with beer. The Saddest Music in the World was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, (more)
- 2003
Larry Weinstein's Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen is about the final years of the great songwriter. As a heavily medicated, elderly Arlen (Paul Soles) goes about his days with his nurse, he remembers his life's accomplishments and imagines performances of some of his most well known songs. Among the singers who appear performing in the film are Rufus Wainwright, Jimmy Scott, and Sandra Bernhard. This film was screened at the Victoria Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Soles, Kim Bubbs, (more)
Childstar concerns an egotistical 12-year-old named Taylor who has skyrocketed to fame at that young age. His relationship with his driver, Rick, takes a turn when Taylor confides in him about the problems of celebrity and the fears of his impending teenage years. When Taylor disappears one day, Rick attempts to find the boy and help him through this troubling period. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Don McKellar, Mark Rendall, (more)
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan -- a longtime onscreen collaborator with the gifted young actress Sarah Polley (The Sweet Hereafter) -- executive-produced Polley's directorial debut, Away from Her, starring Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, and Wendy Crewson. Adapted by Polley from a short story by Alice Munro, this small-scaled two-character drama concerns Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona (Christie), a long-married couple, well into their golden years, who are much in love and connected to one another on every level. "Soul mates" in the purest sense of the term, the two feel a sense of ease and tranquility in their rural home. But when Fiona's memory begins to slip away and she insists on being taken to a rest home, the decision stirs up torrents of guilt and regret in Grant's heart. The rules of the center only complicate matters, as they forbid visitation and communication with Fiona for an interminable period of time. He determines to support his wife at all costs, even if must happen at the expense of his own peace of mind. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, (more)
Documentarian Jennifer Baichwal's latest film, Manufactured Landscapes, represents a multifaceted effort. The picture ostensibly provides a thought-provoking investigation of photographer Edward Burtynsky's legacy, with its aesthetic studies of industrial landscapes. But Baichwal's documentary probes deeper than a mere surface-level glimpse of Burtynsky's life and work. It uses the topic of Burtynsky as a springboard, segueing, from there, into a protracted exploration of "the aesthetic, social and spiritual dimensions of industrialization and globalization." Whereas Burtynsky's photographs reveal human beings dwarfed by the massive industrialized landscape that surrounds them, Baichwal (much as Louis Malle did in his Humain, Trop Humain) sheds a light on the tedium and monotony suffered by workers who are assigned small components of huge manufacturing processes, and must endure the repetitive work that it entails. She and cinematographer Peter Mettler also travel to China and Bangladesh -- the corner of the world that serves as a destination for much of the West's industrial waste -- and convey the devastating impact that corporate disposal makes on indigenes, such as the two young men who must wade around, waist deep, in toxic sludge while tearing ships apart with their bare hands. The picture thus raises some significant and sobering questions about the impact that we, as humans, make on our environment. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
In a 1950s-era alternate universe where domesticated zombies play a functional role in society by delivering the milk, carrying the mail, and even helping out with household chores, one boy is about to find out just how big of a personal responsibility "pet" ownership truly is. When the Earth passed through a cloud of space dust and the dead arose from their graves to devour the flesh of the living, it first seemed that all hope for humanity was lost. Society's rapid slide into chaos, however, was soon halted when scientists at a company called ZomCom created a special collar that turned the rampaging animated corpses docile. Now, thanks to ZomCom, everything is under control -- or is it? Timmy Robinson (K'Sun Ray) isn't quite convinced. Quiet and withdrawn, the skeptical young boy spends so much time locked away in his room that he's almost become invisible around the household. His mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss) has recently purchased a zombie to help keep things tidy around the house though, and when the creature attempts to engage the curious youngster in a game of catch, a friendship is forged between boy and zombie that finds the amiable gut-muncher nicknamed Fido (Billy Connolly) practically becoming a part of the family. Things take a turn for the worse however, when Fido's collar malfunctions and Timmy's neighbors begin dying in droves. When ZomCom's top zombie control specialist Mr. Bottoms (Henry Czerny) moves in across the street from Timmy, the increasingly complicated situation threatens to place a serious stumbling block in the path of human-zombie relations. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Kaye, Jan Skorzewski, (more)
A married magazine editor falls for one of her husband's old acquaintances while vacationing in Cairo in this romantic drama from writer/director Ruba Nadda. Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) is a magazine editor who is happily married to Mark (Tom McCamus), a Canadian diplomat. Their kids are all grown up, and they've planned a three-week vacation in Cairo together when Mark gets delayed in the Palestinian territories and Juliette is left to navigate the Egyptian capitol alone. In order to ensure his wife's safety until he arrives, Mark asks his former security officer and longtime friend Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to be her guide though the city. He never imagined that they would fall in love, but the more time Tareq and Juliette spend together the more difficult is becomes for them to deny their intense attraction to one another. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig, (more)
Documentarian Jennifer Baichwal helmed this reflective documentary that ponders the spiritual, emotional, and metaphysical ramifications of being struck by a lightning bolt. According to the National Weather Service, the odds of this incident befalling any given person are about one in 700,000, which makes many a survivor question why he or she fell prey to this unusual calamity; some infer a cosmic reason, some reject that possibility, but most fall somewhere in between as they feebly attempt to come to terms with it. In the film, Baichwal speaks with a number of well-known victims, including the novelist and screenwriter Paul Auster (The Music of Chance), the improv-driven prog rock guitarist Fred Frith, and others, and evaluates how the interviewees' lives forked off in new directions after a massive discharge of electricity descended from the sky and landed on them. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Auster, James O'Reilly, (more)
Four men with cameras put themselves in the middle of the action as a nation struggles to redefine itself in this drama based on a true story. In early 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after the president of South Africa lifted the ban on the African National Congress, the anti-apartheid party Mandela helped found, and in 1994 he became the nation's new leader. The final years of apartheid, however, were a time of chaos, uprising, and violence, and for the press, covering it was not unlike covering a war. Greg Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe), Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach), and Joao Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld) were four photojournalists who dedicated themselves to capturing the images of the fight for freedom in South Africa, but while the men were serious about their craft, their determination had as much to do with the rush of confronting danger and the desire to impress those around them -- especially women -- as their commitment to the principles of journalism. Eventually the four photographers became minor celebrities in their own right, though the danger they courted came with a price. Also starring Malin Akerman as the photographers' editor, Robin Comley, The Bang Bang Club was the first dramatic feature from Steven Silver, who previously made a name for himself in documentaries. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ryan Philippe, Taylor Kitsch, (more)
The true story of one of Canada's most famous bandits comes to the big screen in this drama from writer and director Nathan Morlando. In 1949, Edwin Boyd (Scott Speedman) was a World War II veteran living in Toronto, struggling to support his wife Doreen (Kelly Reilly) and their two children by driving a bus and working odd jobs. Boyd dreams of moving to California and trying his luck as an actor, but it becomes increasingly clear this opportunity isn't about to present itself, and his father (Brian Cox) makes no secret of his disappointment with his son. Frustrated with his lot in life and desperate for money, he robs a bank using a gun he'd brought back from the war, and he discovers he likes the excitement and drama of armed robbery. Boyd eventually pushes his luck with too many heists and ends up in prison, but while behind bars he meets Willie "The Clown" Jackson (Brendan Fletcher), Lenny Jackson (Kevin Durand), and Val Kozak (Joseph Cross). Together, they hatch a plot to escape from prison, and once on the outside they become the nation's most notorious outlaw gang and are hailed as folk heroes in an uncertain age. Edwin Boyd was based in part on director Morlando's own correspondence with the real-life Edwin Boyd, who died in 2002; the picture was named Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
A troubled high school student forced to repeat her senior year gets swept up in a bizarre love triangle in this coming of age drama from writer/director Kate Melville. Claire Paxton (Tatiana Maslany) has always been a rebel, but lately her wild side has gotten the best of her. When slipping grades and poor attendance sink her chance of graduating on time, Claire takes the setback in stride, and keeps on partying. Her personal problems seem so far away when she's dancing in the club, and an impulsive affair with Toronto rocker James (Steven McCarthy) makes her feel like she's moving with the pulse of the city. Back at school, however, Claire begins to find real substance in her burgeoning romance with shy science geek Henry (Spencer Van Wyck), the boy she used to babysit. These days Henry is all grown up, and he's never forgotten his first love Claire. Noticing that Henry could use some help getting noticed at school, Claire vows to give him a popularity boost. Meanwhile, with adolescence in the rear view and adulthood on the horizon, the defiant girl struggles to find a place where she truly belongs. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A Syrian expatriate in Canada learns that his daughter has gone missing in Damascus, and returns to his home country for the first time in 20 years to find her in this thriller from writer/director Ruba Nadda (Cairo Time, Sabah). January, 2011: As the Tunisian government crumbles, protestors fill the streets of Cairo. Meanwhile, in Canada, successful Syrian emigrant Adib Abdul-Kareem (Alexander Siddig) receives word that his daughter Muna has vanished while traveling through Damascus. Left with no choice but to return to Syria and follow every lead he has, Abdul-Kareem enlists the aid of Fatima (Marisa Tomei), his long-lost love, and a Canadian embassy official (Joshua Jackson) in locating Muna at all costs. But by the time Abdul-Kareem realizes that the official may be acting on his own agenda, it may already be too late for both the desperate father, and the daughter who disappeared without a trace. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.