Phil Brown
Phil Brown is a Toronto-based film critic and entertainment journalist who contributes ramblings about film, comedy, and other pop culture obsessions to websites and publications like Dork Shelf, The Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, The Globe And Mail, C&G Magazine, Fangoria, Rue Morgue, High Def Digest, and others. He’s also appeared on CTV and made a variety of podcast and radio appearances to help delay his inevitable typing-related carpal tunnel syndrome.
Articles by Phil Brown:
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December 21, 2012
Not Fade Away ReviewWhile admirably personal to a small degree and brimming with appropriate 1960s period detail, Sopranos creator David Chase’s first feature film Not Fade Away cloyingly drones on about how hard the late sixties were, how great the Stones are, and is designed to appeal to no one other than Chase’s closest friends.
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December 21, 2012
Rust and Bone ReviewThere are moments and certainly performances within Rust and Bone that flat out demand attention and praise. Yet somehow, those little pieces never add up to anything more than very well made melodramatic twaddle.
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December 20, 2012
The Impossible ReviewCombining top notch and genuinely emotional disaster filmmaking with sadly standard melodrama, The Impossible feels awkward, but there’s still a lot to love about it.
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December 19, 2012
This is 40 ReviewDespite not being able to fully balance the autobiographical elements of This is 40 within his top heavy screenplay, Judd Apatow still delivers a loose, but satisfying slice of life comedy.
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December 18, 2012
The Guilt Trip ReviewThe award for the most physically uncomfortable film to watch in 2012 goes quite easily to The Guilt Trip. This 95 minutes of mother-nagging offers about 10 minutes of passable cringe comedy and 85 minutes of painfully unfunny gags that will make you want to crawl up into a fetal ball and pray for it all to end.
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December 18, 2012
Monsters, Inc. 3DMonsters, Inc. solidified the Pixar formula and proved that clever, emotionally rich, and technically stunning work could be produced by the CGI dream team at will. Now that the film is (get ready to feel old) 11-years old and sliding back out into theaters in 3D, it’s clear just how special of a family flick it was. The movie remains just as funny and warm as ever, with a rather ingenious central concept strong enough to make the upcoming sequel something to look forward to.
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December 14, 2012
Hyde Park on Hudson ReviewDespite Bill Murray doing an okay job as FDR, Hyde Park on Hudson should have spent less time on actively trying to get Oscars by any means necessary (and goofy, tactfully shot handjobs) and instead should have aimed for a film with some actual substance.
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December 12, 2012
Countdown to Armageddon with TIFFTime to gear up for the end of the world, and thankfully the TIFF Bell Lightbox has all your post-Apocalyptic film-going/research needs covered.
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December 10, 2012
The New Old: Robbin’ and Stealin’This week’s archival home entertainment column looks back at Michael Cimino’s infamous box office flop Heaven’s Gate, the strangely forgotten about Steven Spielberg hit Catch Me If You Can, and the classic noir The Postman Always Rings Twice.
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December 5, 2012
The House I Live In ReviewGiven all of the anti-drug propaganda we’re forced to swallow on a daily basis, this bitter pill of a film demands to be seen. Even if you’re well versed in the facts and issues that Eugene Jarecki’s The House I Live In trots out, the material is collected, organized, and presented in such a way that will tear your guts out and infuriate you all over again.
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November 30, 2012
Anna Karenina ReviewWhat makes director Joe Wright and actress Kiera Knightley’s latest collaboration on Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina somewhat startling is the fact that it’s an oddball self-conscious, almost Brechtian experience in audience alienation as well (apologies for getting pretentious, but it’s the kind of movie that requires that sort of talk).
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November 29, 2012
The Suicide Shop ReviewWhile it isn’t as great as the Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Sylvain Chomet films it’s trying to emulate, The Suicide Shop still sets itself apart by being darkly different than 98% of all other animated films out there.
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November 29, 2012
A Late Quartet ReviewIt might sound like a dry, melodramatic bore on a surface level, but Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Catherine Keener work together to make the Orchestral ensemble dramedy A Late Quartet a real winner.
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November 27, 2012
Interview: Jolene Van VugtWe spoke with Nitro Circus stunt performer Jolene Van Vugt about her time in the famed TV (and now big screen) daredevil collective, the inevitable injuries, sympathizing with teammate Tommy Passemante, doubling for Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, and her recent entry into the Guinness Book Of World Records on a toilet.
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November 23, 2012
Hitchcock ReviewWhile it was inevitable that someone would make a big screen biopic about one of the world’s most prominent directors, Hichcock is only a mildly entertaining and watchable film with a complete and utter disregard for the history of the man at the centre of it so the filmmakers can create drama that wasn’t there originally.
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film
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TV
Fallout Review: This Post-Apocalyptic Romp is a Delightfully Indulgent Ode to Video Games
The new Fallout series is a stunning adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game series, rendering the nuclear wasteland in vivid technicolor.
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music
Unboxing: Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 3 – The Asylum Years Vinyl Box Set
In this Unboxing video, Jason Gorber checks out the Joni Mitchell Archives Volume 3 on vinyl and covers just what you get with this latest release.
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podcasts
Spoiled Rotten 286: Revisiting X-Men Season 2
Ben and Daniel revisit the second season of X-Men: The Animated Series on Spoiled Rotten Podcast!
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