Dustin Jansick's Movie Reviews
All movie reviews written by Dustin Jansick
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Laggies (TIFF Review)
Coming off a disappointing previous film (Touchy Feely), director Lynn Shelton returns with Laggies to what she does best —examining likable but flawed characters at a crossroads in their life. Working from a script she didn’t write (a first for...
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They Have Escaped (TIFF Review)
Finnish filmmaker J.-P. Valkeapää comes up with a wild take on a boy-meets-girl story in They Have Escaped, which appropriately premieres in the offbeat Vanguard section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Using intriguing camera techniques, the film expends...
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The New Girlfriend (TIFF Review)
If there’s anything we’ve learned from François Ozon‘s past work it’s this: The man is unafraid to explore boundaries of sexuality. And he does it extremely well (see: Young & Beautiful, 8 Women, In the House, Swimming Pool). While...
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The Congress (Cannes Review)
In more than one way Ari Folman’s The Congress reminds me a lot of last year’s Cannes film Holy Motors. The most obvious way is how both films can be said to be about the future of cinema. In...
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The Zero Theorem
Terry Gilliam is no stranger to absurd dystopian science-fiction films. His best work came early in his career with films like Brazil and Twelve Monkeys, and his latest film The Zero Theorem feels like an extension to those titles....
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The One I Love
Let me first start out by saying that this review contains some spoilers found in The One I Love. Normally I believe spoilers shouldn’t be discussed in reviews, but in this case the “twist” is revealed almost immediately and...
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Miss Violence
The term Greek New Wave (sometimes called Weird Wave) has been floating around ever since Giorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth screened at Cannes in 2009. The film instantly won over critics with its unique and absurd style, winning the Un Certain...
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Child of God
James Franco continues his efforts of adapting classic literature into films, first with William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and now Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God. This is not a surprising choice considering Franco has a PhD in English...
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Mood Indigo
No filmmaker could pull off adapting Boris Vian’s “unfilmable” novel better than the inventive Michel Gondry. Before the opening titles finish Gondry demonstrates his trademark whimsy and wacky production style; a chef receives ingredients through a television set, sunlight...
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Bad Words
Perhaps in an effort to shake his typical “good guy” role, Jason Bateman plays a foul-mouthed asshole in his directorial debut Bad Words. Most comedies can get by with a weak storyline as long as there’s enough laugh-out-loud moments....