By: Jessica Goddard Home Again is for Hollywood, by Hollywood, about Hollywood. If you can deal with that, you might enjoy this safe and well-meaning romantic comedy. Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s Home Again (a title which never ends up making any sense) is rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s often endearing in a snort-and-smile kind of way.
By: Jessica Goddard Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name is a complex and highly nuanced coming-of-age story, packed with moving performances.
By: Jessica Goddard Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$ is a fresh and energetic take on the “wannabe rapper” sub-sub-genre.
By: Nick Ferwerda Set in the snowy mountains of Wyoming on an indian reservation in the town of Wind River, Taylor Sheridan’s dark and thrilling crime drama – also titled Wind River – follows Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a wildlife protection officer, a local gametracker, and a man who had two children with someone from the reservation. They split soon after their eldest daughter was killed in a murder that would, most likely, never be solved.
By: Nick Ferwerda Set in the 19th century, Lady Macbeth follows the story of Katherine (Florence Pugh), a young middle-aged woman who is bought and sold into marriage. She ends up in a loveless and violent relationship with Alexander (Paul Hilton). Stuck against her will in a large home with nothing to do, Katherine grows tired. She dreams of being free again, but starts to realize that may never happen again.
This Summer, audiences will be able to experience A Ghost Story as it opens in various cities across Canada. This unique film from writer/director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon) is about love, loss, and longing for connection, and also features two outstanding performances by Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara.
By: Nick Ferwerda Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Academy Award winner Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) play M and C, a couple who lives in an old fashion country home that holds a lot of history. After C is killed in a car accident nearby, M is left with the haunting image of her love and debates moving despite adoring the house. C returns to the house as a ghost…
By: Jessica Goddard Bong Joon-ho’s Okja is not only packed with insight, imagination, and action, but mesmerizing visual effects. While this movie bounces around tonally, it’s consistently engaging and gripping. There are moments of camp and farce and exaggeration (cough cough – Jake Gyllenhaal – cough) but they are fun and mostly harmless. The premise is well-conceived, and the frequent use of subtitles under Korean dialogue is never fatiguing.
By: Nick Ferwerda 47 Meters Down follows sisters Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) on a Mexican getaway. After a recent break-up with a long-term boyfriend, Lisa wants nothing more than to make him jealous and prove she isn’t the boring individual he made her out to be.
By: Jessica Goddard The Hero is a fine movie, but nothing particularly groundbreaking. Sam Elliott stars as the lonely, burnt-out actor Lee Hayden, who deals with his pancreatic cancer diagnosis by avoiding it completely. He spends his days smoking pot with his dealer (Nick Offerman) and standing at the ocean shoreline, brooding. His relationship with his daughter (Krysten Ritter) is awful because he was “always away”, and his life is completely devoid of romantic love…