International: US & Canada Reviews
THE KING TIDE Review: The Fable of a Miracle Gone Wrong
Living in a harsh landscape, somewhat apart and isolated, means you make certain choices about how much assistance you will receive, and how much protection you will offer your community. It also means that legends can grow up around people...
Calgary Underground 2024 Review: HUMANE, The Family That Slays Together Stays Together
Apocalypses in Canadian cinema tend to occur in slow motion, and have a subversive touch of quiet absurdity. The two undisputed classics of the genre are Don McKellar’s Last Night, and Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool. Caitlin Cronenberg aims for that lofty...
STING Review: Kiah Roache-Turner's Monster Spider Movie Delivers Thrills, Chills And Shrills
On a cold, snowy, blustery winter night in New York a meteor pierces the sky, hurtling towards an apartment building in the city. The size of a walnut it punches through a window and then the roof of a dollhouse...
SXSW 2024 Review: HUNTING DAZE, This Party Ends In Blood
One of several films at this year’s SXSW that explore the effects of women’s presence in traditionally male spaces, Annick Blanc’s Hunting Daze is among the bloodiest of the lot. When exotic dancer Nina (Nahéma Ricci) gets in a fight...
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS Review: Dykes on the Run
There are times when a movie both needs to be un-serious, and needs to hit its target of cultural critique. There are times that call for some indie b-movie wit and raunchiness, a story that finds its charm in odd...
CONCRETE VALLEY Review: The Quiet Lives of Those Trying to Fit In
Urban parkland can bring both solace and anonymity. For someone who is new to a place, connecting with their environment can be at once daunting and daring - the constructed landscape being one against which an immigrant is often antagonized,...
MCCABE & MRS MILLER Blu-ray Review: Robert Altman's Frontier Western Remains a Masterpiece
Part of both the New Hollywood era and the second wave of Westerns, Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs Miller might have suffered from poor box office on its release, but luckily did not have to wait long to find its...
FITTING IN Review: What Even Is a Normal Body?
A woman's body is a battleground: not for her, necessarily (though it can be), but more for a society that wants to keep women narrowly confined and strictly controlled. From the moment that the patriarchy decides that it is convenient...
DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS Review: A Breezy, Goofy And Goopy Horror Comedy
Struggling prog-rock musician William Brown finds himself in a living nightmare when he accidentally kills Vlad, the neighbor from hell.
BLAST OF SILENCE Blu-ray Review: A Cult Late Noir Gem Remastered
There's not an exact timeline for film noir, the genre moniker given to a certain kind of gritty crime film that flourished in the United States in the 20th century. It usually dates from the early 1940s to the late...
MY ANIMAL Review: Visually Arresting Lycanthropy Tale
More than two decades ago, Ginger Snaps,a modest, lycanthropy-themed horror film from Canada, hit the festival circuit, receiving solid critical notices, but limited returns at the box office. Thankfully, Ginger Snaps didn't disappear into obscurity like so many of its contempories horror-wise. Instead, it received...
Jihlava 2023 Review: ANOTHER BODY Lays Bare Weaponization of Deepfake Porn
Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn's film explores the alarming rise of non-consensual deepfake pornography.
Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2023 Review: BIRDER, Be Careful Who You Blindly Trust
As much as people might like to view western countries as being more accepting and liberal, the fact is, there is still a very conservative attitude that pervades society when it comes to sexual activity. It's not surprising that anyone...
PRISCILLA Review: A Girl's Truth of the Dark Side of Graceland
I doubt Sofia Coppola would ever deny that she grew up very privileged - which is likely why most of her films centre around privileged people, especially white women. This is not a negative, of course - many artists stay...
San Sebastian 2023 Review: GAMMA RAYS Illuminates Youth Immigrant Lives
Directed by Henry Bernadet, the dramedy from Canada stars Chaimaa Zinedine, Chris Kanyembuga, Yassine Jabrane, Hani Laroum and Océane Garçon-Gravel.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Review: Unflinching Portrayal of a Slow Genocide
Lily Gladstone shines in Martin Scorcese's epic ode to the massacre of the Osage.
Busan 2023 Review: THE KILLER, the Style is the Substance in David Fincher's Clinically Executed Action Thriller
Michael Fassbender and David Fincher come together for a lone assassin thriller that glides off the screen with impeccable style and a simmering, slyly subversive wit that elevates it above the tried and tested conventions of this beloved action genre. ...
Montreal Nouveau 2023 Review: THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED, Comedic Discomfort in Millenial Ennui
While ennui and angst are common to many generations, I can imagine it could be much more accute among millenials - anything that might have been considered a 'normal' life gave up the ghost before they came of age. They're...
Busan 2023 Review: POOR THINGS, a Ghoulish, Glorious Fairytale of Tongue Play and Female Empowerment
Equal parts Frankenstein and My Fair Lady, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Golden Lion winner Poor Things is a visually ravishing, disgracefully funny tale of sexual awakening and female empowerment. Adapted from the prize-winning novel by Alisdair Gray, this riotous romp stars Emma...
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER Review: Hell is Warmer Than This
I am, of course, referring to that final, frozen level of hell as pictured in Dante's Inferno. But even calling The Exorcist: Believer colder than the coldest hell might be giving it too much credit, or really, any credit that...
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