THE FACE OF LOVE - Review By Greg Klymkiw and Julia Klymkiw - Thanks to Mongrel Media and Star PR for facilitating the opportunity for The Film Corner to launch this new regular feature called IN THIS (FILM) CORNER WITH DADDY & JULIA. And now, here's the very his first father-daughter team review.

The Face of Love is a romantic drama from director and co-writer Arie Posin about a husband (Ed Harris) and wife (Annette Bening) whose love is cut short when the woman's husband drowns.

Years later, she continues to rebuff romantic overtures from her husband's best friend (Robin Williams) and instead embarks on a very strange and romantic journey when she meets a man (Ed Harris) who is his double.

The requisite weirdness ensues. - G.K.

THE FACE OF LOVE (2014) Dir. Arie Posin
Starring: Annette Bening, Ed Harris, Robin Williams

By Greg Klymkiw (Daddy) and Julia Klymkiw (Daughter)
Transcript of a critical conversation between Greg Klymkiw and Julia Klymkiw on April 17, 2014
(Star Ratings From Dad and Julia at the end of the piece.)

Julia: I loved that movie.

Greg: Uh, why?

Julia: I thought it was great. The whole concept of it was just so weird and the writer and director told a story that was full of important story beats that if you missed any of it, you'd really be losing out. You know how some movies you can go out to get candy or go to the washroom and when you get back, it really doesn't matter that you missed anything, but with this movie, if you did that, you could really get lost for awhile and it would spoil what's great about the movie. It's kinda like a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. If you're missing a few pieces it looks pretty stupid.

Greg: I can think of more than a few movies like that.

Julia: Yeah, like, really.

Greg: Did you genuinely think The Face of Love was that original?

Julia: I remember seeing a few movies like it, but this one is different because it was unbelievable and believable at the same time. The unbelievable part was that it wasn't unreal or you know, phoney, but that through the movie so many things happen that are, like, you can't believe this lady is doing what she's doing. It's unbelievably real and believably unreal. Here's someone who's married to this wonderful man, he dies and then she's so super-sad that she can't really get him out of her head. When she meets a guy who looks just like him, she follows him around and when they get to meet each other he's instantly attracted to her. What Annette Bening does next though is really dumb. Instead of telling him the truth, she makes up stories about her husband. She kind of creates this whole different person who didn't exist so that Ed Harris, this lookalike can somehow take the place of her husband as if nothing happened. All the way through the movie I was squirming . . .

Greg: I noticed.

Julia: Well it was so emotional. I kept wanting to yell at the screen and tell her not to do what she was doing.

Greg: I remember how you kept turning to look at me with your mouth wide open and how you would make these nutty noises like you were hyper-ventilating.

Julia: It wasn't that bad, Dad. You get so crazy when we watch movies. If someone drops a pin you hear it and want to punch them in the face.

Greg: Your exaggerating.

Julia: DAD! You say that all the time.

Greg: Well, it's not that bad.

Julia: Dad, I've seen you yell at people in the movie theatre and throw stuff at them if they're eating too loud or even whispering.

Greg: Okay, okay. Maybe a little, but back to the movie, what did you think was so suspenseful about it?

Julia: Well, it was suspenseful, but not like in a horror movie. It wasn't scary or anything. It was suspenseful in that way that watching real people do stuff they shouldn't be doing - well, I guess that happens in horror movies too, but this was more like real life and when you see that kind of thing going on in real life situations in the movies, you think that maybe it's something that could really happen. I really liked both of these characters and in real life I think I'd like them too, but so much so that I'd be wanting things to work out for them and to feel like I didn't want bad stuff to happen. But every time Annette Bening does something crazy and lie to him and other people, I felt sorry for Ed Harris, but I also felt sorry for her because I kept thinking how being more truthful might have made things different for both of them.

Greg: I don't know. I found the movie enjoyable enough, but all through it I kept thinking it was ripping off Vertigo but for no good reason. It was like Alfred Hitchcock deciding he wanted to make a soap opera for housewives sitting at home with curlers in their hair and stuffing bonbons down their throats when they should be sweeping the floor.

Julia: DAD!!! That's so sexist! I can't believe you sometimes. Besides, The Face of Love is a totally different movie than Vertigo. Alfred Hitchcock makes movies that are really scary. The suspense in them is way different than in a realistic movie.

Greg: You don't think Vertigo is realistic?

Julia: Yeah, but in a different way. When Jimmy Stewart is following that girl around and then tries to make her look more like the girl he thinks is dead, that's like, sick. And yeah, Annette Bening is sick too. She's sick with sadness.

Greg: Well, so's Jimmy Stewart.

Julia: Dad, it's different. In Vertigo, it's the same girl. In The Face of Love, Ed Harris is really playing two completely different people. That's way different. And it's not supposed to be scary like Hitchcock. It's more like real life, like people any of us could know now.

Greg: Your Dad knows a few people like Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo.

Julia: Yeah, and you guys are so sick. I've seen those movies you made with Guy [Maddin].

Greg: Well, be that as it may . . .

Julia: Dad, face it. This movie is amazing. So's Vertigo, but face it, Dad, face it. They're two different movies. Oh, by the way, I love the actors in The Face of Love. I don't think I've seen Annette Bening in too many movies, but it's kind of cool that two weeks ago you showed me The Right Stuff when Ed Harris was so young and playing that famous astronaut. I can see how Ed Harris could play that role and so long later in his life play one like in The Face of Love. In this movie, he really does a great job because he plays two different characters. Yes, they look the same and they're both very gentle and loving men, but the husband is definitely his own kind of guy. He's way more outgoing and his lookalike seems very shy.

There's also the difference that the second Ed Harris character is an artist. It's so romantic when he looks at her, because she is the thing that inspires him to do his art again instead of just teaching it. I almost cried in the scene where Annette Bening looks at the painting he's done of her. It's like he's been looking at her like a piece of art, but art that comes from inside him. I sure wish the movie had just ended on the face of love, which was her face on the painting instead of when the director cuts back to her. That would have been way better I think.

Oh, and I loved seeing Robin Williams as the next door neighbour and best friend of the Ed Harris character who died. He was so sweet and goofy and it's sort of sad that he loves Annette Bening, but that to her, he's not only the friend of her dead husband, but he's more like a brother to her. She likes him, maybe she even loves him, but it's never going to be the way two people love each other when they really love each other.

Greg: One thing I'll say in the movie's favour is that it's about adults.

Julia: That's really true. It's great seeing movies about young people, but it's way more interesting when you see people who have lived so much longer and experience stuff in a different way from when they're young.

Greg: Well, it's not like either actor is that old . . .

Julia: I know. Especially Annette Bening. She's really young compared to Ed Harris.

Greg: Well, there's definitely an age difference between them. How old do you think Annette Bening is?

Julia: I don't know. Maybe 30.

Greg: Annette Bening would probably love to give you a big hug right now. She's pretty much the same age as Dad is.

Julia: Really? I can't believe that.

Greg: Well, that's movie stars for you.

Julia: Wow! Annette Benning is so cool. She's really beautiful and such a great actress. I really felt bad for her because even though I know she's doing the wrong thing with Ed Harris, I can understand it and I believed it the way she plays the role. When I was watching it, I remember looking at Annette Bening - I think it's when she's looking at Ed Harris when he doesn't know she's looking at him and the look on her face was just so real. And you know, I really understand what her character is going through. When Snowy [Julia's Bichon Frise] was killed by the car, every time I saw a dog that looked like her, I'd want to pick it up and cuddle it and sometimes I did, but then I'd cry, because it wasn't Snowy.

During The Face of Love, I kept hoping Annette would realize that you can't ever bring back something that's dead. You can remember it and still love it and have those great memories, but when it's gone, it's gone. You know, looking at Annette's face while she looks at Ed Harris, I actually remember thinking during the movie how snowflakes can look so beautiful and maybe sometimes there are things similar about them, but snowflakes are always different. You can never really find any two that are identical no matter how much you might love how one looks before it melts away.

You need to hold on to the memory of that special snowflake, because it's not going to be here forever, except maybe in your memory.

The Face of Love is in limited release via Mongrel Media.
The Film Corner ratings are as follows:
Julia: ***½
Dad: **

EMPIRE OF DIRT - Review by The Film Corner's Junior Cub Reporter, 12-Year-Old JULIA KLYMKIW ***** 5-Stars

12-year-old Film Corner Cub Reporter
JULIA KLYMKIW'S ***** review of
EMPIRE OF DIRT

My Keywords To Brainstorm and Investigate the Movie Empire of Dirt:
- Dramatic
- Realistic
- Humorous at times
- Sends an important message
- Women Who Find Themselves

My Summary: Empire of Dirt - A 13 year old girl and her mother have a tough relationship. The mother works as a house cleaner. Cleaning houses is the only income for them. The daughter gets in trouble at school for smoking and the Mother is obviously pretty angry with her. The daughter runs away and hangs out with some other kids who are a bad influence on her and introduce her to inhaling paint out of a paper bag. The girl gets very sick and is taken to the hospital. The mother decides the best idea is for the two of them to take a break from the big city and travel up to the country.
- JJK

EMPIRE OF DIRT ***** 5 Stars
Starring: Cara Gee, Jennifer Podemski, Shaye Eyre
Review By Julia Klymkiw

LENA and PEEKA - Mother and Daughter

I really, really loved this movie and think that all mothers and daughters need to see it. It's such a great story and I related to it so much because I used to live in Kensington Market where the mother and daughter character live and I have the fun of now living in both the city and the country. Even though there are exciting and kind of dangerous things in the city, the country is a place I feel like I belong in, just as strong as I want to be in the city. One of the things this movie shows is how living in both places helps you appreciate both of them.

Empire of Dirt is about a mother (Cara Gee) and her daughter (Shaye Eyre) finding themselves. At the beginning of the movie, Peeka, is only 13 years old and finds herself in a place nobody wants to find themselves in. She finds herself in the hospital where she almost has died after inhaling paint with some bad kids she meets. Peeka's Mother Lena knows what they have to do after she finds out and they both leave the city to take a break in the country.

This is where Peeka meets her grandmother Minerva (Jennifer Podemski). Peeka is angry at her Mom for lying to her. Lena told Peeka that her grandmother was dead. The reason for this is that Lena and Minerva had an argument many years ago when Lena got pregnant with Peeka and Lena ran away to Toronto and never came back. Until now!!! The other crazy thing is that Lena told Peeka her Dad was dead, but sure enough, she finds out her Dad is alive and lives up North where he works as a Policeman.

Peeka gets to meet her Dad, but soon she understands that he will never really be a father to her and even worse than that, she comes to understand that he is going to be married to someone else even though he pretended to like her Mom again.

I really liked the acting in this movie. Everyone felt like real people to me. Minerva was really cool and even though I love both my grandmothers, it was neat how young Minerva was. There is a really nice scene where Minerva shows Peeka photos and tells her stories about the family. I think every kid relates to this kind of thing.

I also liked how Peeka got to meet all the other relatives in her family. This was so realistic for me because I remember visiting Winnipeg and getting to meet all the relatives I had never met before. It was fun meeting aunts, uncles and cousins because when you see them for real it's like they really are for real and not just people you have heard about. For Peeka, it's even more special because she never knew them before and didn't even know they existed.

Peeka's acting is super realistic because I know a lot of girls like her. They wear too much makeup and sometimes hang around with kids they shouldn't. I even understood why Peeka was always made up the way she was because all young girls like to experiment with how they look. I also felt bad for Peeka because things were kind of mixed up and it took a lot out of her to deal with it.

One of the great things about this movie is how Minerva talks about how all people have a spirit animal. She explains how you go into the woods for a long time, get really tired and hungry and then the animal comes to visit you and you get to know who they are. I love animals, so one day it will be cool to meet my own spirit animal. On the farm I live on there are horses, ponies, donkeys, bees and chickens. Even cooler is seeing so many animals coming to visit. I have seen bears, coyotes, wolves, owls and lots of rattlesnakes. Plus a lot more!!! I sure do wonder what my spirit animal will be.

One of the things that happens in the movie is when Peeka's Mom Lena meets her spirit animal, but when she does, something terrible happens and it's like the animal was trying to warn her. When Lena finds out her old boyfriend really doesn't want her anymore, she gets really sad and starts to drink alcohol. Most of all, I think she gets drunk because she thinks that she was a bad mother and how she has made so many mistakes. I don't really think this is true. She's a great Mom and things just happen in life that are not as big a deal as you think they might be. The worst thing she does is to drive while she is drunk. It's really very suspenseful too because she is driving fast and has one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand is holding a bottle of booze. She has to stop, though, because she sees a wolf on the road in front of her.

This is her spirit animal. It is standing so still and looks so beautiful. She gets out of the truck for a closer look, but when the wolf runs away, she turns around quickly and walks onto the road in front of a speeding truck. It hits her and you think she will probably die. This is very realistic too because up north so many guys are driving their trucks on the road so fast and like they're total crazy people. When Lena gets hit, it's like the truck comes out of nowhere and let me tell you, up north this is a very realistic thing.

Here is the part of the movie I thought was really beautiful. Even though she is hit by the truck and hurt very badly, it's the thing that makes the family come closer together. It's like the spirit animal was trying to warn Lena that something bad would happen and it did, but even though it did, it was the thing that kept the family from drifting apart.

I do not mind saying that I felt like crying a bit here, but not because I was sad, but that Peeka, Lena and Minerva realize that having each other is the most important thing in the world.

This is why I love the movie. Everything in it seems true. I see a lot of movies, but this one made me feel like I was watching things, people and places I knew. Mostly though, I think it's a great movie because it shows how having people around you that love you is the best.

See this movie. Especially if you are a girl or a woman. There are not a lot of movies about girls that are this realistic.

"Empire of Dirt" is in limited theatrical release via Mongrel Media following its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2013.

To Read The Alternate View - The Film Corner features a *** EMPIRE OF DIRT review by the Cub Reporter's Grumpy Daddy, Greg Klymkiw.
Click HERE To Read It.

MARY PICKFORD: RAGS & RICHES COLLECTION - THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL, THE HOODLUM, SPARROWS - Review By Julia Klymkiw - Cub Reporter - 12-year-old Cub Reporter reviews the exquisite Milestone Film and Video Special Edition, Extras-Packed Blu-Ray which presents "Kid-Friendly" Silent Films Starring Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford: Rags & Riches Collection - Milestone Film and Video
The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) *****
Dir. Maurice Tourneur 
The Hoodlum (1919) Dir. Sidney Franklin *****
Sparrows (1926) Dir. William Beaudine **********

Review By Julia Klymkiw
(The Film Corner's 12-year-old Cub Reporter)

Mary Pickford was a really big movie star from Canada who made movies almost 100 years ago. She played the roles of kids a lot even though she was not a kid, but because she was petite and had really cute curly hair, she could do these roles very well. She was as popular as stars we know from today like Marilyn Monroe, Julia Roberts and Jessica Chastain, but I will tell you that she was very different from so many of the big stars we all know because she made silent movies before they had sound in them.

I love Mary Pickford and I think many girls like me will love her if their Moms and Dads let them see the movies on this Blu-Ray. She is someone who is so good that she always makes you laugh, but sometimes her stories can be sad too.

The Poor Little Rich Girl is so good because she plays a little girl whose Mom and Dad are very rich and they are afraid to let her go outside of the house. She just wants to be like other kids, but her parents are too busy for her. They love her and aren't really mean to her, but she sure wishes she could go out and play. Her nanny is mean though and Mary has to be pretty crafty at finding ways to sneak outside to play. Her Mom and Dad are angry and upset when they find out. She gets into some really bad trouble and needs to get out of it all by herself.

The Hoodlum is sort of like The Poor Little Rich Girl because in this movie, Mary lives with her grandfather and he is always too busy for her. This makes her very lonely. They move to a poor area of the city because her grandfather is a scientist who is studying poor people. He lets her be a real girl, but only because he is so busy. It's nice because she gets to meet her real Dad who is poor. When she goes to play with the poor kids in the neighbourhood they don't like her at first, but as she gets to know them better, they really begin to like her because she is a lot of fun and they always get into trouble. It's not bad trouble, but fun trouble. This movie is really exciting and made me laugh a lot. Mary not only gets to be like real kids, she gets to be like some of the poor kids and she gets to learn a lot about how other kids live.

Sparrows is so good that I gave it 10 stars. [Ed.note: Try arguing with a 12-year-old sometime.]

This movie has funny things in it, but it's not like the other two movies at all. This story is sad and scary. Mary plays a little girl who lives in an orphanage where a family of super bad people are very mean to all the kids. They buy kids and sell kids and this is not something orphanages should do, but in the old days this probably happened a lot. Even today it can happen, but only in countries like Russia and Ukraine.

In this movie, Mary is a bit older than the other kids and because she's a teenager, she always has to try to save them from the really horrible man who is the father of the family. He's not very nice. Well, that is being polite about it, because he is so evil. He makes the kids work really hard, he doesn't care when they are sick, he feeds them horrible food that is not nutritious and in such small amounts that Mary needs to sometimes steal extra food from the kitchen. The orphanage is completely surrounded by a swamp and I do not want to spoil the movie for you, but there are some horrible things in that swamp that want to eat kids.

This is a really great silent movie and I have to say it might be my favourite silent movie of all time. There are times when it is so sad you want to cry, but Mary is such a great hero that you always hope things are going to get better for all the poor orphans. Mary might be a kid, but she is almost like a real mother to the kids.

You really can't ever stop watching the movie. It's that good. Sometimes you laugh and other times it is so exciting and full of suspense that you almost can't bear it. And when the movie is scary, watch out! It's that scary!!!!!!

I think this is an amazing movie for all kids of today to watch. You see how people were very poor in those days, but even though it is from a long time ago, it is interesting to watch because you start to think about how poor people are today and that even today, there are a lot of kids who are treated badly. You hope that in real life there are characters like Mary plays and yes, there are brave people who help kids, but I think we probably need more of them.

Many movies and TV shows for kids have girls who are the main characters, but many of them only care about silly things. In Sparrows, Mary plays a little girl who is so brave, smart and caring. I wish more modern movies had actors like Mary Pickford who could play characters like the one Mary plays here.

Even though I think Sparrows is the best silent movie I have seen, I think the movie is so good that it is probably one of my favourite movies ever that's silent or sound. If you have not seen it, you need to.

This is such a good Bluray and I think all parents have to get it for their kids because they will learn a lot about how movies used to be so different, but were just as good as they are now. Even if the movies of Mary Pickfor are silent, they are not really silent. They always have great music and even the black and white has colour in it because in the old days they used to put colours on scenes in the labs. There is only one colour in the scene that goes on top of the black and white, but it is kind of cool because the colour is used to make you feel if the scene is happy, sad, sunny, cloudy or dark. My Dad explained that to me a long time ago when we watched other silent movies.

There are also a bunch of extra things on the Bluray that kids will enjoy because it explains and shows you how to watch silent movies. I do not mean to brag, but I did not really need this stuff because I have been watching silent movies ever since I started watching movies, but for kids who do not have a Dad who tells them all the stuff they need to know about movies then this is totally perfect. I enjoyed the little documentary things the Bluray plays before each movie starts and even though I knew most of the stuff I find it interesting to see how much stuff other kids don't know about it and how they should. The thing that's really cool is the extra sound on the movies that has the titles read out loud to you and gives you all kinds of cool information. This was good even for me because I didn't need to bug my Dad when I did have questions. He never minds when I ask him questions, though. ;-)

In USA and the rest of the WORLD - BUY Mary Pickford Rags and Riches Collection - HERE!

In Canada - BUY Mary Pickford Rags and Riches Collection HERE, eh!

In UK BUY Mary Pickford Rags & Riches Collection HERE

TODD AND THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL (SEASONS ONE AND TWO) - REVIEWED BY THE FILM CORNER'S 12-YEAR-OLD CUB REPORTER JULIA KLYMKIW

"Todd and the Book of Pure Evil" was one of the Best programs on TV. Here, in this epic blow-by-blow, episode-by-episode review of the first two seasons, Special Guest Journalist, CUB REPORTER Julia Klymkiw tells you why the show was great and why you should support the efforts of producers Andrew Rosen, Anthony Leo, Craig David Wallace and all the good people at Aircraft Pictures to continue the tale in an all-new animated feature film.

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil
Season One and Season Two DVD *****
Review By Guest Journalist
12 Year Old Cub Reporter Julia Klymkiw

When My Dad gave me a DVD of the Todd and the Book of Pure Evil TV show I didn't know what to think because he always made me watch Leave it To Beaver, I Love Lucy and Road To Avonlea. He even gave me Hannah Montana and that was amazing because it was not an older TV show. Todd was the newest show I got to watch ever and let me tell you: I LOVE TODD AND THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL!!!!!!!!!! This is the best show that they ever made for TV because the stories were always cool, but also because the show is funny and scary just like Alfred Hitchcock movies. The monsters are always amazing, too! What's really sad is how they stopped making Todd and the Book of Pure Evil after only two DVDs. I like to watch them over and over again, but I also kept asking my Dad when he would get the third DVD and he told me to be patient because the producers were waiting for the TV station to let them do it.

And then he told me that the TV stations that make the show are morons and that they stopped it. I don't like to use the word "moron" because it's mean, but Dad uses it all the time. When I was a little girl, he would always yell that word when we were in his car. I used to think that cars were called morons instead of "cars". Dad had to explain that the word for cars was not "morons". He was yelling that word at other people driving their cars because they were in his way. I agree my Dad is the best driver in Toronto, but it's not good when he yells at other people in their cars even if they are morons.

So, I think I have to agree with Dad about Todd. Whoever stopped making the show has to be kind of dumb. Dad explained how it works with TV shows and it sounds very complicated. It sounds so complicated I said to him I was surprised anybody made TV shows at all.

Dad tells me his friends who made the show are trying to get money to make a movie about Todd - a cartoon feature, yet. I think this is great! Movies are better than TV shows because you can go to a theatre and see them on a big huge screen. At the end of this article Dad will write a bunch of stuff about this because it sounds complicated too.

What I will do for you is tell you all about the show. There is a lot to tell even though there are only 2 DVD boxes and there should have been more. You are lucky because I will tell you about every Todd story on both of the DVDs.

"Todd the Metal God" is the first story in the first DVD box. Todd really likes this girl, but he also thinks he can get her if he can play guitar better. When he uses the Book of Evil which is a magic book from the Devil it looks like things are going to get better for him. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I think its kind of neat that this story kind of made me remember the movie Phantom of the Paradise. You should see that movie and then see this TV story about Todd and you will see what I mean.

"How To Make a Homunculus" is so cool because I kind of knew what a Homunculus was from stuff my Dad told me, but I never ever saw a Homunculus before. I think you need to watch this Todd story because you will see what a Homunculus looks like. I won't ruin it for you and say who the Homunculus looks like, though. Dad told me a good story about how his friends who made the TV show learned what a Homunculus was from my Uncle John [Editor note: filmmaker John Paizs]. This is so cool because John would know stuff like this too. He made this cool movie called Top of the Food Chain with all kinds of monsters in it and it is also really funny. Like I was saying before, Todd has monsters and is funny too. Uncle John and my Dad sure like monsters. Me too!

"Rock and Roll Zombies Know Best" is like WOW! This girl gets the Book of Evil and uses it to make dead rock stars come to life. I won't spoil it, but there are zombies and they are hungry and they are in her basement. This is kind of like The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. You will love it!

"Gay Day" is a great show for kids. I went to two schools where kids always made fun of gay people and gay kids. I am in a better school now where people don't do that, but it's really so mean because gay people are just like everyone. I think some of them are more fun, too. This story is really hilarious because a gay boy makes all the other boys gay. This is the kind of show where you learn good lessons about stuff but you get to have fun too.

"Invasion of the Stupid Snatchers" was kind of funny, but it's about taking drugs and I don't like this one as much as the others. I know this can be funny like in Cheech and Chong movies and there is a good lesson to learn, but still it's kind of weird.

"Terrible Twin Turf Tussle" is kind of cool. A girl in the story is a lesbian and she has a nice girlfriend, but her twin sister gets jealous and uses the Book of Evil to make a whole bunch of twins who all look the same. I found this very funny and you will too.

"Monster Fat" is a really good story for all kids to see because it is about why its not nice to make fun of fat people or any people who are different. The monster in this show is made out of fat. Yuck! Then all the girls are made fat, but Todd shows he is a good guy because he proves he likes his girlfriend for what is inside her, not on the outside.

"Cockfight" is kind of gross, but it's pretty funny too because this guy uses the Book of Evil to make his thing bigger and it becomes a monster. It's kind of neat because it turns boys into stone statues and I'm happy it's not like this Japanese cartoon I watched where the things are like big snakes that try to kill people.

"Big Bad Baby" is another good story for kids to see because older girls sometimes have babies when they are still teenagers and they can learn a lot about this. A girl actually wants to have a baby and she uses the book to do this and then when she does, it turns into a big monster baby. In the movie Rosemary's Baby, the Devil becomes the father of the baby and I won't forget when the Mom first sees the baby and tells us how scary the eyes look. "Big Bad Baby" isn't as yucky as that, though and it helps that it's kind of funny.

'The Ghost of Chet Sukowski" is not one of my favourite stories. It is a ghost story but it's not very scary or funny. This is what it is like with TV shows. Some stories are better than others.

"The Phantom of Crowley High" is so neat because it's also like that movie Phantom of the Paradise. In this story you get a girl who wants to be a great singer and you see the things that can happen when you use evil things to get you places.

"Checkmate" is neat because it is about chess. This is a game I really like and seeing a story with chess in it is cool. What is kind of creepy here is how there is a group of people who get together and try to use controlling the mind to get people to become like them. When I watched this story, my Dad showed me a cool old movie called The Seventh Victim which is kind of like this Todd story but without chess. I love how this TV show is like movies I enjoy but is also different from them because it's for kids.

"A Farewell to Curtis's Arm" is an important show for everyone to see because you learn about a bunch of things about characters in the show you were always wondering about. If I tell you what they are, it will ruin it for you, but because of the story's title I can tell you there is a big monster arm.

"Retirement Home" is totally sick. Todd's girlfriend is trapped in an old folks home where all these old people turn into zombies. Zombies are gross enough, but when they're old they're super gross.

"The Student Body" has this girl who turns herself into a kind of plant monster and tries to make people like her. It's kind of sad because she thinks nobody likes her and needs to be a monster to get them to think she is cool. This is something kids do all the time in real life where they try not to be themselves to get everybody to like them. It's so sad and I hope kids who have that problem see this story and learn it's better to be themselves.

"Daddy Tissues" is sooooo gross. Ick! A girl's Dad gets out of the hospital and starts to steal the skin from the boys to pretend he is them. We all like our own skin and this idea of somebody taking our skin is just so creepy.

"Simply the Beast" is like a mystery movie but also super scary because there is something stealing all the cheerleader girls and all that's left of them are their outfits. Is it a monster? Will the girls come back? I'm not going to tell you. You have to watch the show to find out.

"Jungle Fever" is one of my favourite stories in the Todd show because it is about how important it is to not make a mess with garbage and how the environment will die if we don't all pay more attention. In this show, a woman who loves nature is so mad at the mess kids are making she turns everyone into these kind of cave men so they will be like humans were before all the mess was being created and she gets to be Mother Nature.

"Fisting Fantasy" is really a lot of fun because it has the Book turning the whole school into one of those games where people do role playing. Some of the shows are scary because of what happens, but I think this is so neat. I wish school was always like this. :-) ;-) I better not let my principal read this.

"See You Later, Masturbator" is soooooo gross, but it is kind of important for girls because there are a lot of creepy guys out there and we need to know about how fucked up they are. [Editor's Note: Well, she is MY daughter.]

"Loser Generated Content" is super scary and like all those movies where there is a mad killer going after people. This one I watched with the lights on.

"Deathday Cake" is every kid's nightmare. What kid doesn't like cakes? Well what do you think happens when a birthday cake turns into a monster that eats people? Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!

"2 Girls, 1 Tongue" has another story with the Phantom character, but I didn't like this one as much as the other. You can't win them all.

"The Toddysey" is pretty neat. A boy who is disabled wants to be a really good runner and athlete, but like many of the stories we see how the Book of Evil makes everything look good when it isn't the boy can't stop running. Todd tries to stop the boy, but he's going so fast that they start to time travel. Here, Todd learns a few things.

"Black Tie Showdown" is such a good show because so many important things happen in the story here and you really want to know what's going to happen in the next DVD. You wait and wait and wait and then your Dad tells you that some morons will not do the show anymore. This is a great story and you will love it, but it's so sad because there won't be any more Todd shows.

Well, that is all I have to tell you about the show. I really hope they make a Todd movie because then I can see all these characters again. It'll be really cool if it's a cartoon, too. You need to watch this show and let your kids watch it too on DVD. I said it before and I'm going to say it again: TODD AND THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL is GREAT!!!

Dad is going to write some stuff about the Todd movie, so you need to read it so you can help my Dad's friends do this great adventure again for us kids who love it.

YOU CAN SAVE TODD!

DONATE TO THE INDIE-GO-GO CAMPAIGN TO MAKE A TODD MOVIE HERE

JAWS - Review By Julia Klymkiw (Cub Reporter) - For Universal's 100th Anniversary, a new Spielberg-approved restoration of his modern horror classic is playing theatrically and launching in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox. 11-year-old Klymkiw Film Corner Cub Reporter Julia Klymkiw weighs in with her thoughts!

JAWS (1975) dir. Steven Spielberg
Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw

*****

Review By Julia Klymkiw - Cub Reporter

When I first saw Jaws I was 4-years-old and it was on DVD. I watched it at home on our television set. I loved it so much that I watched it over and over again. Seven years later, I went to see it on HD and on a huge screen in a real movie theatre. This was the first time I ever saw it this way and it felt like I was watching a whole new movie.

Jaws is so suspenseful you forget you are watching a film. You are Krazy-glued to your seat and unable to leave. The shark attack at the beginning of the movie makes you feel like you're right in there with that poor girl who gets eaten alive and you're the only one who survived.

The village the movie takes place in reminds me of where my own cottage is. What happens to the people there is what I imagined could happen here in real life. That's how realistic the movie is. Lucky for me, though, is that there are no sharks near my cottage because they need salt water to live.

The story is basically about a shark attacking people and after a certain amount of kills, three brave men: the sheriff, an old sea captain and a young rich guy who studies sharks, go out onto the ocean to hunt it down.

What makes the movie so suspenseful and scary is when the attacks happen you hear screaming and then the camera goes underwater to see the person who is being killed and there's a lot of blood. The movie goes back and forth between shots like this. One time, during an attack all you see is a lot of blood and a body part floating down to the ocean floor.

You almost never see the shark and this makes it super scary. Near the end when you do see the shark it is beyond scary. This is what makes horror movies really good. The other thing that makes the movie good is all the stuff that is like real life. There a neat scene where the sheriff is very tired and his little boy copies all the stuff his Dad is doing. All kids do stuff like that with their Dads. Even though a movie is make believe it is stuff like this that makes you believe everything you see.

When my Dad took me to the press screening of Jaws, he said he saw it way more times than me and that even though he knew he would enjoy seeing it again that it wouldn't scare him at all. This made me laugh quite a bit because Dad jumped out of his seat quite a few times - along with me, of course.

I told Dad that maybe it was because we were seeing it on a humungous screen in a real movie theatre that it scared him so much.

He agreed with me.

Now, you agree with me and go see Jaws on a big screen.

"JAWS" is playing in a director-approved restored HD master at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto and at select venues across the globe. For TIFF showtimes and information, visit their website HERE."

MIRROR, MIRROR - Guest Review by 11-year-old Junior Cub Reporter Julia Klymkiw who takes her Dad's place to review this movie she enjoyed, but he hated.

Mirror Mirror (2012) dir. Tarsem Singh
Starring: Julia Roberts, Lily Collins

***
By Julia Klymkiw

When I was a little kid, I loved the Walt Disney cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I watched that movie so many times I can't even remember how many times I saw it. Walt Disney made the best movies and his cartoons were very beautiful. The colours were so nice and the pictures were as good as the paintings I see at the art gallery. Snow White had some funny parts in it, but it was not a comedy. Mirror Mirror is the same story, but it is really funny and I laughed a lot. It is also very exciting.

The story is about a bad Queen who is very greedy and wants everything for herself. Her step-daughter is Snow White and she will be the Queen when the King dies. Even though the bad Queen is very beautiful she is so mean that she is ugly. She is ugly not because of how should looks, but because of how mean she is and all the horrible things she does.

When Snow White's Dad goes away he disappears. The bad Queen tells her servant to take the young girl into the forest and kill her. This is because a handsome Prince from another city comes to visit and likes Snow White more than the Queen. The Queen has done something bad to her husband and wants the Prince to marry her. The servant does not think it is right to kill Snow White so he leaves her in the forest. She is rescued by the dwarfs and they try to help her to fight the bad Queen.

The dwarfs in the cartoon are like the dwarfs in this movie, but they are real. It is cool to see real little people. When I was a lot younger a real dwarf came to my school and he was a really great basketball player and he talked about how people would make fun of him, but he was such a good basketball player and was a better player than many people who are bigger. He told us how other kids and sometimes adults would make fun of him, but because he worked so hard to be such a good player it proved that he was like all of us. The dwarfs in the movie are like this real person too and they are very good rescuers and so nice because they take care of Snow White. She takes care of them too and treats them like they are just like her.

The bad Queen is played by Julia Roberts. I love Julia Roberts. She is very pretty and a really good actress. I have seen her in many movies and it is cool that she is related to my favourite actress Emma Roberts from the movies Wild Child and Nancy Drew.

Mirror Mirror is a good movie. I laughed so hard and I also thought the sets and costumes were so pretty. The special effects were cool too. Dad did not like the movie as much as I did. He says it is not as good as the Walt Disney cartoon, but I told him that they are both good and that even though they have the same story, they are different movies. My Dad is pretty good about showing me movies he likes that I like too, but sometimes we do not agree.

I think other kids like me will enjoy the movie. It might be better to see it with your Mom though because I am sure my Mom will like it too and way better than my Dad did.

Be sure to wait after the movie ends because there is a big scene like a Bollywood musical. Dad told me the movie is from an Indian director and that is why the scene is like all the Bollywood movies he has showed to me. This is pretty cool too. If you have not seen Bollywood movies you should because they are so happy and fun and have great music. Dad shows me lots of movies from other countries and they are very interesting because you get to see other cultures.

"Mirror Mirror" is now playing at the movie theatres. Dad says I need to mention it is from a company called Alliance Films. I saw it with Dad at the AMC and he says AMC is better than the Cineplex movie theatres because they play more Canadian movies. I like AMC because they give free popcorn and drinks when you finish what you already have.

SPIRITED AWAY - BY JULIA KLYMKIW - TIFF Bell Lightbox presents a great series entitled "Spirited Away: The Films of Studio Ghibli" until April 13. Junior Cub Reporter, 11-year-old Julia Klymkiw, fills in for Dad today and reviews Miyazaki's masterpiece.

The Toronto International Film Festival TIFF Bell Lightbox is presenting a wonderful series entitled "Spirited Away: The Films of Studio Ghibli" until April 13. Junior Cub Reporter, 11-year-old Julia Klymkiw is filling in for her Dad today with a review of the Academy Award winning animated feature film, "Spirited Away".

"Spirited Away" is showing at Sunday March 25 at 7:00 PM, Sunday April 1 at 7:00 PM and Saturday April 7 at 1:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased online HERE.

Spirited Away***** (2001)
dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Review By Julia Klymkiw
The Film Corner's
Junior Cub Reporter

When I was lots younger I saw Spirited Away on DVD and I loved it. I loved it so much I watched it again and again.

Now that I’m older I had a chance to see it on film. I was amazed when I saw one of the most magical and beautiful movies I’ve ever seen on a big screen in a theatre. An actual real film, not a DVD. My Dad took me to see the movie at the Lightbox Theatre.

We sat in the back row and before the movie started. Dad showed me the projectors through the windows and I saw the big rolls of film. Dad says there are separate pictures called frames that move very quickly in front of the light bulb. The frames go so fast they make a picture that moves and it shows on the big screen down at the bottom of the room through the projector lens, which is kind of like a magnifying glass.

Spirited Away is an animated cartoon fairytale about a family moving to a new home. They drive onto the wrong road and find a tunnel that leads to a small strange town instead of their house. When the father smells food, he and his family walk towards it. The mother and father find the food, There is a whole bunch of it, like the Mandarin buffet, but nobody is around. The mother and father stuff their faces into the food like pigs, but the little girl is not so sure this is a good idea. After wandering around the town she comes back and is shocked to see that her parents are transformed into animals.

Running in fear she meets a boy, a very nice boy who will help her. Curled up and hiding near a bush, she realizes something very strange is happening to her, something just as scary as what happened to her Mom and Dad, but worse. That mysterious boy gives her a magic berry and she goes back to normal. Pulling her up, they run through the town and she sees spirits and ghosts wandering around and eating the same food her parents were eating. The boy sneaks her into a big building and gives her instructions where to go and what to do to survive in this weird world and to be able to save her Mom and Dad.

She goes to the place the boy told her about. She stares in terror at the steep stairs. She doesn’t want to go down, but soon she starts creeping down slowly, one more step at a time until she slips and tumbles so far down we think she will die. Luckily, she slams into a wall and is okay.

As great as all this sounds, this is just the beginning, the beginning of a great adventure, the beginning of Spirited Away.

Things get crazier and scarier. There are huge ghosts and slimy monsters and a nasty old lady who looks like a witch. To save her parents is going to be very difficult and dangerous.

Will the little girl succeed? You have to see the movie to find out.

It sure is cool seeing the movie for real in a theatre. The colours are way nicer than at home and this is the first time I watched the movie in Japanese. When I saw it on DVD, it was in English. I didn't know the movie was made in Japan the first time. Later on I did because my Dad told me that it was a movie made from this guy in Japan who is like Walt Disney. Even when I was little the movie wasn't like a lot of the other movies I watched. Seeing it in Japanese, now I know why.

It's okay if you can't speak Japanese. There are titles at the bottom to tell you what the people are saying. Even if you have seen this movie like I did on DVD, it is way cooler to see it in a real movie theatre in the language of the country it is from.