Reviews
EXPEND4BLES Review: Belted Fourth Entry in the Franchise Disappoints, Underwhelms
What started more than a decade ago as a way for multi-hyphenate Sylvester Stallone to chill out with his movie-star buddies, make a low-effort, if still bankable, action flick, and collect a paycheck at the same time (i.e., The Expendables)...
IT LIVES INSIDE Review: The Monster Next Door
Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, and Mohana Krishnan star in a horror thriller, directed by Bishal Dutta.
RELAX, I'M FROM THE FUTURE Review: Chaotic Buddy Comedy
Rhys Darby, Gabrielle Graham, Janinie Theriault and Julian Richings star in a time-travel comedy, directed by Luke Higginson, based on his own short film.
Toronto 2023 Review: SLEEP, On the Merits of Insomnia
Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) and Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) are the sweetest young couple, full of promise and hope. Soo-jin works in business, hoping to make her way to the executive branch. Hyun-su is an actor; while he's only had small roles,...
THE CONTINENTAL Review: Winston Scott Would Like to Speak With The Manager
The year is 1977. The place is New York City. On New Year's Eve Winston Scott’s estranged brother, Frankie, has gone and done something foolish. Frankie has stolen from his boss Cormac, the current manager of The Continental Hotel in...
Toronto 2023 Review: CLOSE YOUR EYES, Time Enough To Remember
It's not a stretch to understand why films are often conflated with dreams (or nightmares); as with how our brains operate when we're asleep, films allow the creator to piece together images and sounds in a way that they hope...
Toronto 2023 Review: DADDIO, The Art of Good Conversation Is Alive and Kicking
Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn star in a new film by writer/director Christy Hall.
Toronto 2023 Review: THE TEACHERS LOUNGE, A Dazzling Lesson In How Society Crumbles
I took no notes while watching The Teachers’ Lounge. This is rare for me in a festival environment, where I am seeing a lot of films in a short period of time. Yea, I am *that guy* who brings a...
SLOTHERHOUSE Review: A Slowpoke Slasher Slays Sorority Sisters
One would be forgiven for stepping into a film titled Slotherhouse with incredibly low expectations. The title and gimmick of the film – mass murdering sloth takes out an entire sorority – doesn’t exactly conjure visions of the masters, and...
WHAT DOESN'T FLOAT Review: Vignette Moments That Run Deep
It doesn't come up often in films set in New York, its proximity to, and importance of, the ocean and waterways. While many of us have a romantic idea of New York, films can convey the real, living city, showing...
Toronto 2023 Review: SHAME ON DRY LAND, A Sweaty And Oblique Euro-Noir
Around midway through this unique Swedish-Maltese co-production, Shame On Dry Land, a question is asked of the main character, “Been a long day?” Dimman, the uncertain, never in control, anti-hero responds, “Yea, it never ends.” This is not a bug...
Vlissingen 2023 Review: THE TASTE OF THINGS
The Film By the Sea Festival in Vlissingen focused this year on French cinema, and on literary book adaptations. With Trần Anh Hùng's The Taste of Things they scored a double-whammy, as it falls in both categories. A loose adaptation...
Toronto 2023 Review: LAST SUMMER, Sex and Power in the Heat of the Season
While it's unusual for an auteur like Catherine Breillat to remake another, recent film, it's not a surprise, in this case, given the subject: sex and power. The filmmaker behind daring works (to say the least) such as Anatomy of...
Toronto 2023 Review: WORKING CLASS GOES TO HELL, Serbian Justice Served Slow And Absurd
Early in Mladen Djordjevic’s tragicomic satire, Working Class Goes To Hell, a young girl eats her lunch in the husk of a dead factory. A faded mural “Long Live Labour Day” peels off the burnt out walls above her. She...
Toronto 2023 Review: RIDDLE OF FIRE, These Three Kids Will Do Anything To Do Nothing All Summer
There’s something ethereal about Weston Razooli’s Toronto Midnight Madness closer, Riddle of Fire. It’s whimsical, but in a rough-hewn sort of way that puts it somewhere in the aesthetic neighborhood of Avalon Fast’s 2022 Slamdance discovery, Honeycomb. Both films exist...
Toronto 2023 Review: WOMAN OF THE HOUR, Going Head-to-Head with a Killer
Women are not believed. This has been true for decades (if not centuries) and it has allowed men to perpetrate terrible crimes, almost in plain sight, without remorse or consequences. I realise this is something of a blanket statement (yes,...
DUMB MONEY Review: The GameStop Short Squeeze of 2021 Gets Its Own Movie
Director Craig Gillespie's newest biographical comedy-drama stars Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D'Onofrio and Seth Rogen.
Toronto 2023 Review: WHEN EVIL LURKS, Absolutely No One Is Safe
Gun shots ring out late at night, somewhere in the middle of rural Argentina. Brothers Pedro and Jimi head out the end of their property the next morning to investigate and discover a body, or, parts of a body. Further...
Toronto 2023 Review: THE END WE START FROM, Motherhood at the End of the World
As we begin to see, it feels almost weekly, 'natural' (i.e. created by human activity) disasters happening around the world - floods, fires, you name it - you would be hard-pressed not think about what you would do with you...
Toronto 2023 Review: IN FLAMES, the Supernatural Meets Patriarchal Conditioning
The term 'gaslighting' is now quite ubiquitous, and one which still remains scoffed at by many (usually those who hold power). But if you're a member of a marginalized group, that gaslighting could come not just from one person, but...
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