by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: INDIVISIBLE, The Pain and Joy of Constant Companionship

If we are only truly ourselves when we are alone, what would it mean if you were, quite literally, never alone? If both your private and public identity was entwined with another person whose presence was constant? If your body,...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2017 Review: UNICORN STORE, A Clever, Oddball Delight

Is there such a thing as the 'woman-girl' film? The female equivalent to the man-boy film (which describes far, far too many films) about someone who allegedly refuses to 'grow up', or be the kind of adult that their families...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2017 Review: VERÓNICA, Treading Familiar Teenage Ground

Teenage girls have always been ripe fodder for horror filmmakers. Either as monsters or victims (or both), the body changes (not to mention the change in treatment by other people, especially men) and vulnerability of girs at this age can...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2017 Review: FIVE FINGERS FOR MARSEILLES, Cowboys & Corruption, South Africa Style

The western genre, long associated either with American film and the lone cowboy holding fast to independence in a changing landscape, or the spaghetti western, in which European directors examined more forcefully the often insidious nature of the more corrupt...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2017 Review: LES AFFAMÉS, The Things They Carried

While many zombie films are set in rural areas, the characters of such films are usually urban dwellers who have escaped cities in the hopes that the countryside is safer, that any possible survivors might be more welcoming, and remoteness...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES To Hit the Small Screen with Matthew Goode & Teresa Palmer

It seems audiences can't get enough of vampires. Sky has announced an adaptation of the popular All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, shortly to begin production in Wales and Oxford. Not only will the show star Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge)...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

SUPER DARK TIMES Opening, IT Closing MotelX Festival

MotelX, Portugal's premiere genre film festival, has just announced their line-up, and take my advice: if you are anywhere near Lisbon, or have the means to get there, this is not a year to miss out. Not only will the...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: MARJORIE PRIME, The Haunting Power of Memory and Love

How much of our personality, our reactions to situations, our relationships with our loved ones, determined by our memories, of them and ourselves? (A somewhat rherotical question, as I think the answer is quite a lot). As we age, and...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, Good Action, Middling Comedy

Federico Cueva has been working in stunts and special effects in his native Argentina and Spanish cinema for more than 20 years. His work with Santiago Segura in several of the Torrente films, and with Alex de la Iglesia in...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: THE DARK TOWER, The Adaptation We Neither Wanted nor Needed

Books, comics, and graphic novels have been ripe fodder for movies for decades. And the question always remains of how well a book can be adapted to film, considering the difference in the mediums. It should be more accurate to...
by Kurt Halfyard

Fantasia 2017: Screen Anarchy Wraps Up Another Remarkable Year In Montreal

The 21st edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival has come to a close, and it was a smorgasbord of cinema, excusions, panels, special events and get togethers. Every year of I reiterate that this fest is the 'summer-camp' for...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: GEEK GIRLS, Trials and Tribulations of Women in the Nerd World

Some guys might be forgiven for thinking that things are pretty good for women in the geek world: we are clearly visible at conventions (though perhaps more as audience than behind the tables), more 'geek' films are featuring (and made...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: DELIVER US, Exorcism in the Open

Exorcisms have been ripe fodder for horror films for decades, so much so that we might not think they actually happen (or at least anymore, in the days of scientific discovery and understanding of certain medical conditions). But on the...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

RIP Jeanne Moreau, Great Lady of French Cinema

French actor and filmmaker Jeanne Moreau, known for films such as Jules and Jim, The Trial, The Bride Wore Black, La Femme Nikita, died today at her home in Paris, at the age of 89, according to her agents. While...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: SPOOR, A Magic-Tinged, Intimate Thriller

Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, with more than 20 feature films and dozens of television episodes on her CV, has said that her latest film Spoor should be called 'No Country for Old Women'. While I understand the analogy, with much due...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: BAD BLACK, DIY Action Thrill Ride

Bad Black came out of nowhere to win the Audience Award at Fantastic Fest 2016; but anyone who has seen the film wouldn't be surprised. The work of self-taught filmmaker Nabwana I.G.G., is a sure-fire hit for fans of genre cinema,...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: TIGER GIRL, Badass Ladies of Berlin

Movies love bad girls. Lashing out against the patriarchal establishment, kicking men to the curb, fighting for their right to existence. Put this in hand with youthful rebellion, and watch these women soar, sometimes (though not always) with a moral...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: TOKYO IDOLS, Fever-Pitch Fandom

Teenage girl or young women solo music acts or bands (or boys, for that matter) exist in most countries in the world; some only famous in their own nation (such as the dozens of J-pop and K-pop bands), and others...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Fantasia 2017 Review: NOVEMBER, The Beautiful and The Grotesque Intertwine

Thomas Hobbes' famous saying that the life of man is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" could have been the mantra for the life of the characters in Rainer Sarnet's November. Luckily, the film itself is fantastical, strange, beautifully shot,...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Susan Sarandon to Receive Grand Honorary Award at Sitges 2017

Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia, the premiere genre festival of Europe, has announced two of its awards winners for the 50th anniversary edition: director William Friedkin and actor Susan Sarandon. As well, legendary Spanish actor Santiago Segura will receive...