Articles by Shannon Page

Reviews

The Royal

Directed by Marcel Sarmiento (The ABCs of Death [D Is for Dogfight], Faceless) and written by Gregory W. Jordan, The Royal is based on the true story of Willie Mays Aikens, a star hitter for the Kansas City Royals (and the Toronto Blue Jays!) who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug possession.  Before his arrest, Aikens was one of the top sluggers in major league baseball, hitting a total of 110 home runs…

Reviews

American Werewolves

In rural Michigan, dozens of individuals have reported sightings of a terrifying bipedal creature stalking forests and country roads at night.  Standing six-to-seven feet tall, with fearsome glowing eyes and a head resembling a canine, the Michigan werewolf (or “dogman”) is a well-documented urban legend.  Startlingly similar is the so-called “Beast of Bray Road” sighted in the neighbouring state of Wisconsin.  Like the Michigan dogman, the beast stands upright on two legs and has the…

Reviews

A Sexplanation

Written and directed by health reporter Alex Liu, A Sexplanation is both a personal portrait of Liu’s own relationship with sex and an examination of the current debate surrounding sex ed in the United States.

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Homebound

Meeting a partner’s family for the first time can be nerve-wracking — but when the family in question is your new fiancé’s creepy estranged children and the location is their isolated country home, things can get down-right terrifying.

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Quickening

A young woman is caught between the expectations of her Pakistani family and her growing independence in writer/director Haya Waseem’s haunting coming-of-age drama, Quickening.

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Maybe Someday

Writer, director, producer, and actor Michelle Ehlen is probably best known for the lesbian comedy trilogy Butch Jamie (2007), Heterosexual Jill (2013), and S&M Sally (2015).  Though she still brings the laughs, Ehlen treads slightly more serious ground with Maybe Someday, a tender and mature exploration of grief, love, and memory.

Reviews

Run Woman Run

Run Woman Run is a sweet and charming dramatic comedy about family, community, healing, and grief.  Written and directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Kayak to Klemtu), Run Woman Run stars Dakota Ray Hebert (In Her City) as Beck, a single mom who is forced to re-examine her lifestyle after she is diagnosed with diabetes.  While her father (Lorne Cardinal of Corner Gas) and sister (The Exchange’s Jayli Wolf) beg Beck to start eating right and exercising,…