Reviews

by

hotdocs: Alimentation Générale

Those of you who know me as a transit advocate and policy critic don’t often get to see one of my other hats, that of an avid supporter, consumer and commentator on the performing arts.  In the Reviews section of this site, I have posted my Toronto Film Festival reviews going back to the dawn of time.  [Friends kept asking, and I tired of sending emails.] Continue reading →

by

Review: TSO Shostakovich 8th

Since this site went live back in January, I have been remiss in posting almost exclusively items on transit even though there is another side to my life:  performing arts.  I will try to put items here, even though they may be short-lived, when I attend a particularly fine performance that others should know about.

On Wednesday evening, I attended the TSO’s concert, part of their Shostakovich centenary celebration this season.  On the program were Piano Concerto No. 1 with Alexander Toradze as the soloist and Symphony No. 8.  Stefan Sanderling conducted. Continue reading →

by

Toronto International Film Festival

Over the years, I’ve attended many, many of the Toronto festivals, and quite some time back started to review what I had seen.  This was a combination of two factors:

  • People say “what have you seen” and after you’ve run through that list for the twentieth time, you get a bit tired.  I’ve also found that the most instant reviews one listener can absorb before terminal exhaustion sets in is three, and they have to be dedicated.
  • Once upon a time, there was a BBS (remember BBSes?) called Artworks that was run by Dana Lee at MuchMusic.  It was one of those delightfully old fashioned things (by today’s standards) where you dialed in with your ever so slow modem, and actually typed the posts right into the database.  The moment someone invented software that would actually handle uploads and downloads for you to view and edit offline, it seemed like people were cheating.  Anyhow, I became something of the house film critic, and that’s where these reviews were born.

Enjoy!

2005 Reviews  2004 Reviews  2003 (and 2002) Reviews  2001 Reviews

1999 Reviews  1998 Reviews  1997 Reviews

1996 Reviews  1994 Reviews  1993 Reviews

1988 Reviews  1987 Reviews  1986 Reviews

Note:  There is more than one Steve Munro living in Toronto and I am not the one who is a very good sound editor and designer.  If you don’t like my reviews, please don’t give him a hard time.