I’ve been in a nostalgic mood of late when it comes to films, but it’s mainly because I’ve decided to make my way through those top 100 lists you often see in film magazines.

 I was always looking forward to the finale of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, despite being annoyed at Batman's morals. Even if the lore wasn't entirely true to the comics, the dark themes that came through were definitely tributes to the Batman universe.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced today that New Zealand feature film Mr Pip has been selected to premiere in the prized Special Presentation section of the 'Oscar-buzz' Festival.

I’m one of the more balanced film reviewers around, as I tend to see the good in most things, and so it takes a really bad film for me to go-to-town on it in my review. So normally I use my 150 words in a positive way, but for this film, I don’t have any positive words to use.

I love me a bit of Hong Kong cinema, but like with any country that makes films, they have hits and misses just like the rest. So when deciding to check out one of their films, it’s bound to be a bit of a lottery sometimes.

No matter how you look at it, the shooting in Colorado will, and has, not only put a dampener on peoples excitement about the release of this film, but will bring up many questions about the connection between violence and films. But, that’s for another time and place.

Shock Head Soul, The Angel's Share, and Bernie, a trifecta of great films to get my festival started!
 
Shock Head Soul
 

My 4th, and last film of the day of the NZIFF, was one I picked purely because of the star of the film, Jack Black! He’s one actor that can hardly do any wrong, and even when he’s doing wrong, he’s still good for a few laughs.

My second film of the NZIFF, and third film of the day, was ‘The Angel’s Share’, and it was one I knew very little about. In fact, all I knew about it was the picture that advertised it, which was of the four main characters wearing kilts.

The New Zealand International Film Festival has begun, and my first film was 'Shock Head Soul'. It was introduced with a well made kiwi short film about a shocking medical practice I never knew existed in this country.