Hollywood Reviews
THE CREATOR Review: Gareth Edwards Returns with Poignant Sci-Fi Parable
John David Washington and Gemma Chan star in the science-fiction action-adventure.
NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU Review: Close Encounters of the Silent Kind
Kaitlyn Dever gives a bravura performance in a new thriller by Brian Duffield, now streaming on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney Plus in Canada and all other territories.
EXPEND4BLES Review: Belated 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)...
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: 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: POOLMAN, An Earnest if Misguided Comedy-Neo-Noir
A few years ago, I was taking an Uber back to my airbnb in Los Angeles; the driver, it turns out, was something of a conspiracy theorist. At first he was just telling me about the politics of the city,...
Toronto 2023 Review: QUIZ LADY, Sister Bonding on the Road
The opposite-people-coming-together-in-a-crisis comedy has a good tradition in Hollywood cinema (and perhaps there is a more succinct term for it that I can't think of). Certainly with siblings especially, it provides relatable complex relationships for a broad audience to connect...
A MILLION MILES AWAY Review: Migrant Farm Worker Goes to Space
Michael Pena, Rosa Salazar, and Garret Dillahunt star in the authentic true-life story, directed by Alejandra Márquez Abella, debuting on Prime Video.
A HAUNTING IN VENICE Review: Branagh Delivers Triumphant Third Poirot Adaptation
Over the last decade, actor, screenwriter, and director Kenneth Branagh (Belfast, Hamlet, Henry V) has shifted his attention from kickstarting one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most popular superheroes, Thor, to attempting to reboot the late Tom Clancy’s most famous...
THE NUN II Review: The Dark One Returns
With a cool $2.1 billion (US) take across a series spanning a decade, eight entries, and a rate of investment that would make any studio envious, the so-called Conjuring Universe shows little, if any, sign of slowing down, let alone...
THE EQUALIZER 3 Review: Denzel Washington Elevates Uneven, Middling Entry
Moments into the inelegantly titled The Equalizer 3, the trilogy capper that reunites director Antoine Fuqua (Emancipation, The Magnificent Seven, Training Day), and screenwriter Richard Wenk (The Equalizer and The Equalizer 2), with two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, two men...
BOTTOMS Review: Hilarious, Original, Must-See Queer Teen Comedy
Rachel Sennott and Emma Seligman ('Shiva Baby') team up again for a subversive queer teen comedy.
GRAN TURISMO Review: This Is Not a Game. It's Barely a Movie.
David Harbour valiantly performs CPR on director Neill Blomkamp's latest. Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, and Djimon Hounsou also appear.
AHSOKA Review: Breathing Room Between STAR WARS Action Scenes
Rosario Dawson returns as Anakin Skywalker's former apprentice, ready to sniff out a new threat to the galaxy. With Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ray Stevenson, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, debuting on Disney Plus.
BLUE BEETLE Review: The Family That Superheroes Together Stays Together
It’s taken the better part of two decades for DC’s Blue Beetle, aka Jaime Reyes, to make the belated jump from the comic-book pages to big-screen multiplexes. Created in 2006 by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner, Reyes became...
STRAYS Review: This Dog Will Hunt. An Incredibly Filthy Journey With Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx.
Josh Greenbaum’s Strays is a raunchy, ridiculous comedy about a little dog who’ll do anything to get back to his owner, though not for the reasons one might think. The director returns after the hilarious, huge-hearted Barb and Star Go...
KILLING IT S2 Review: Less Snakes, More Incisive Comedy
Craig Robinson, Claudia O'Doherty, and Rell Battle star in the likably ambitious comedy series, created by Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici ('Brooklyn Nine-Nine'), only on Peacock.
THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER Review: Dracula Sets Sail On Seas Of Blood
Inspired by a single harrowing chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, André Øvredal’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter fleshes out the ill-fated sea journey from Romania to England of literature’s most terrifying vampire. What was a little less than two...
MEG 2: THE TRENCH Review: The Megalodons Are Back, And They Brought Friends
Just when you thought it was safe to go 25,000 meters below the water… again. Five years ago, almost to the day, the world was blessed with the pretty good-est giant shark movie of the 21st century in Jon Turteltaub’s...
