The Invisibles
From writer/director Andrew Currie (Fido), The Invisibles is an ethereal parable about disassociating from trauma and grief.
Reviews
The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man
I can picture filmmaker Braden Sitter Sr. watching the news and becoming sidetracked by the ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen. I can also picture the filmmaker getting lost down a rabbit hole of ridiculous clickbait articles on social media. This isn’t a knock against Braden because a movie as off-the-wall as his unauthorized comedy The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man needs sheer mischievous curiousity to make it work, and there’s no shortage of…
The Critic
Known for his unapologetic reviews in London’s Daily Chronicle, theatre critic Jimmy Erskine (Mr. Holmes’ Ian McKellen) finds himself in hot water when the publication gains new ownership, the newspaper’s heir David Brooke (Mark Strong of the Kingsmen franchise). Brooke requests that Erskine should find a lighter attitude when criticizing productions. Jimmy is particularly tough on actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) to such a degree that triggers her to…
My First Film
Using meta-mind-bending maneuvers to confront open wounds and find closure, with My First Film, director Zia Anger revisits her experience making her feature debut. While this latest project may have personally assisted Anger, it’s not as graceful for audiences who are along for the ride.
The Front Room
While a filmmaker who commits to their premise is usually worth commending, The Front Room repels the viewer towards condemning it.
Deaner ’89
Canadians are currently witnessing a funny contrast in their local multiplex – Reagan is screening at the same time as Deaner ’89. If Reagan is supposed to accurately depict what the United States was like in the 80s, Deaner ’89 is the “meanwhile in Canada” example.
His Three Daughters
Invoking comparisons to Mass and Our Friend, His Three Daughters may not be as good as those character-driven dramas, but it’s still a fantastic chamber piece that should spark award buzz around its stripped-down cast.
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut is deservedly being treated as an event. This restoration of the provocative 1980 swords-and-sandals historical drama is currently being screened in 4K Ultra High Definition at select theatres as part of an exclusive roadshow. The movie is the epitome of a re-imagining; a perfected cut that scraps all of the footage from the box office hit in exchange for a shot list of different angles and takes, as well as using…
Reagan
Reagan is such a conservatively-made movie that it would almost be pointless to go after the film for its politics. Revered to most as the first conservative president of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan’s presidency was a touchstone of the 80’s and there’s no denying how deep his political influence ran afterwards.
My Penguin Friend
My Penguin Friend hearkens back to animal movies of the 90s – wholesome and cleaned up family flicks where an animal trainer was, off-screen, using all sorts of tricks to make a cuddly pet shake hands with a precocious child actor. My Penguin Friend is wise to use this nostalgia to remind viewers of how likeable and crowd-pleasing these films are; the reminiscing distracts audiences away from the lean film’s shaggier qualities (such as briefly…