CIUT Critics Circle

Critics' Circle April 27th, 2024

In Our Roundtable Today: 
Reviews:
Lynn is reviewing Witness for the Prosecution that opens at the Shawand Tyson Song at Factory.
Daniel is reviewing some documentaries premiering at Hot Docs.
Interviews:
Lynn is interviewing Jordi Mand, playwright of In Seven Days whichwill play at the Harold Green Jewish Theatre in May.
Daniel is interviewing the host and director of a new series that just opened on TVO called Secrets of the Forest. The program is a children's science show starring 10 year old Tavis Edwards and is directed by Melissa Peters.
 
 
 

Critics' Circle, April 20th, 2024

In Today's Roundtable:
Reviews:
Lynn is reviewing two plays:  A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay of the Death of Walt Disney and The Fixing Girl from Young People's Theatre.
Daniel is Reviewing three Movies Opening this weekend:
Abigail
Criminals discover the little girl they kidnapped is a vampire
 
Unsung Heroes
A Christian musical family from Australia tries to make it in Memphis
Sasquatch Sunset
A Sasquatch family in a California forest encounters evidence of humans
 
 

Critics' Circle, April 13th 2024

In today's roundtable:
Reviews:
Lynn is reviewing: The House at Poe Corner, a puppet show influenced by Edgar Allan Poe. And I'm reviewing Shiniqua in Abstraction.
and Daniel is reviewing 3 movies:
Civil War - Wri/Dir: Alex Garland
Four journalists chase a civil war in present-day America.
 
Sting - Wri/Dir: Kiah Roache-Turner
A little girl adopts a pet she finds in her apartment, that soon turns from a tiny spider into a giant, carnivorous arachnid that eats human flesh.
 
Housekeeping for Beginners
A makeshift, LGBT family in Macedonia must take care of kids who are not their own.

Critics' Circle, April 6th 2024

In today's roundtable: 
Reviews:
Lynn is reviewing: El Terremoto (earthquake) at Tarragon Theatre
 
and Daniel is reviewing three new movies:
 
The Old Oak, Directed by Ken Loach
A small coal mining town in northern England faces newly-arrived Syrian refugees in 2016 
 
Monkey Man, Directed by Dev Patel
Indian action thriller by star of Slumdog Millionaire 
 
Wicked Little Letters, Directed by Thea Sharrock
A feud between two neighbours in Littlehampton 1910s, starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley
 

Critics' Circle - March 30th 2024

In today's round table:
 
Interviews:
Lynn has a guest: Sara Swartz Geller, a theatre producer extraordinaire and a maker of soup, who started a business selling it and also giving it to those who needed soup.
 
Reviews:
Daniel is reviewing Satanic Hispanics. A compilation horror movie about Hispanic Americans in scary situations. and Autumn and the Black Jaguar French/Quebec kids' movie about a girl who goes to the rainforest to save  her friend, a jaguar.
 
While Lynn is reviewing The Inheritance: a two part huge play about gay life, after Howard's End.

Critics Circle - March 23th, 2024

Show is hosted by Phil Taylor, Phil Conlon and Lynn Slotkin
Today's Reviews:
Lynn is reviewing Dana H. a play about a woman who was kidnapped by a psycho and held for 5 months...no ransom. More diabolical than that.  At Factory Theatre, produced by Crow's.
 
Daniel is reviewing three movies: 
 
Exhuma - a Korean horror movie about a shamanistic battle between the shamans and geomancers, and the demons they released from a grave.
 
The Queen of My Dreams - A Canadian movie about a Pakistani-Canadian woman remembering her upbringing in those two countries.
 
Immaculate- A Hollywood movie about about a beautiful young Nun who encounters evil in a convent. 
 
 

Critics Circle, March 16th 2024

In today's roundtable:
Reviews:
Lynn is reviewing Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, playing at the CAA Theatre.
This week Daniel is reviewing three new movies, all opening this weekend.
 
French Girl
A middle-aged school teacher (Zach Braff) in NYC follows his girlfriend, a chef (Evelyne Brochu), to Quebec city.  A bilingual romcom.
 
One Life
An elderly English man (Anthony Hopkins) recalls his exploits rescuing children in pre-WWII Prague -- based on a true story.
 
Love Lies Bleeding
A young woman (Kristen Stewart) in New Mexico falls for a body-building drifter (Katy O'Brian) who pulls her into her violent world. -- Impressionistic crime/love story.

Critic's Circle, March 9th 2024

In our round circle today:
We chat about some local copaganda Law and Order Toronto, and some political theatre in the State of the Union Address.
Reviews:
Daniel is reviewing two movies about actors playing themselves: Hey, Victor! directed and about Cody Lightning and Look at me! directed by and about Taylor Olson, based on his play
 
And Lynn is reviewing THREE SISTERS set in Nigeria before the Biafran War.
 
Interviews:
 
Daniel is interviewing the director/hosts of a new TV documentary series on APTN called Treaty Road, premiering this week. He's speaking to Saxon de Cocq of the  Métis Nation of Alberta and Erin Goodpipe of the Anishnaabe Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. 

Critic's Circle, March 2nd 2024

In our round table today:
Interviews:
Lynn is interviewing Arkady Spivak, Artistic Producer of Talk is Free Theatre who is bringing their brilliant production of LA Bête to Toronto Harbourfront beginning Monday with Mike Nadajewski in the lead.
Reviews:
In honour of International Women's Day Daniel is talking about films by women, including the new documentary Analogue Revolution about the history of feminist books, newspapers, magazines and films in Canada.
Lynn reviews MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.
We also be talking about the passing of David Silcox visual arts experts, author, arts administrator, Once Dean of Fine Arts at York University, head of Sothaby's.
We also discuss the Hart House UofT Drama Festival, and the student written, directed, and acted plays.

Critic's Circle, February 24th, 2024

In our round table today:
 
Reviews:
Lynn will be reviewing Aladdin at the Princess of Wales Theatre.
 
While Daniel reviews 3 movies:
 
Io Capitano, Dir: Matteo Garrone
Two young friends from Senegal want to cross the Sahara to reach Europe
 
Ordinary Angels: Dir: Jon Gunn
A hairdresser (Hilary Swank) tries to unite her city to save a little girl and get her to the hospital 
 
Drive Away Dolls, Dir: Ethan Coen
Two lesbian friends drive from Philadelphia to Tallahassee, without realizing they're pursued by gangsters who want what's in their trunk.
 
Interviews:
Time again for Daniel's annual discussion about Oscars predictions with Jeff Harris.