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.

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.