In an era where we’re overwhelmed with features made during quarantine, it’s hard to find a film that strays from the rest and is actually worthwhile watching. While Language Lessons doesn’t necessarily go above and…

Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman once said, “no art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” To many of us,…

There’s a line that creators of topical art must keep in mind as it’s being crafted — so easy is it to become melodramatic, “preachy”, or unrealistic. The slightest misstep can take a viewer out…

Ten years ago saw the release of remakes of The Thing and Footloose (Prequel, shmequel, you know damn well the 2011 The Thing is a remake really, but we’ll come back to that). Footloose made $63 million…

Along with the highly-anticipated release of Halloween Kills, comes the desire to revisit past films in the franchise. Coincidentally, Halloween II, one of the best chapters in the Michael Myers lore, turns 40 this month. Kind…

With 2021’s Cannes Grand Prix win on its back, Compartment No. 6 brings to life a self-reflective, alcohol-filled drama. Establishing an unlikely friendship between a Finnish student and a Russian miner, Laura (Seidi Haarla) and…

Here it is. After so many delays, James Bond has finally returned to the big screen. This was going to be Daniel Craig’s swan song for the character, the man who once famously said he…

To discuss Pedro Almodóvar is to acknowledge not just the transgressive streak of his early filmography, but also the post-Julieta change of pace that the Spanish auteur has undergone with his latest few works. With…

Manitoban filmmaker Rhayne Vermette’s Ste. Anne is a fascinating directorial debut — a loosely constructed tapestry of hypnotic sounds and grainy cinematography, and an enigmatic 80-minute experience that operates in pure abstraction. Unfolding a series…

Capturing the spirit and history of the French working class over the past 70 years is a gargantuan task of historical retelling and curation — especially if it’s through an 80-minute documentary strung together solely…

Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 horror film Possession has been a particularly difficult film to view legally in the United States. For this reason, it has been on my radar for literal years as a film I have heard…

Due to the pandemic, a lot of people have ventured into the streaming abyss, picking up on shows they’ve never finished or starting shows that have been on their radar for quite some time. One…

This weekend saw the release of the pandemic’s largest theatrical opening to date. Venom: Let There Be Carnage swung to a roaring $90 million debut, topping its predecessor by a cool $10 million. Nick and I…

Daniela (Daniela Zahlner) can’t sleep lately. After spending some time traveling in New York and returning to Berlin, she’s slowly come to the realization that her continued insomnia isn’t just from her jet lag anymore,…

You never really know what you’re in for when you watch Drive. You think it’s a movie about crime, then it becomes a slow-burning journey of self-discovery, then it’s a romance, then it’s back to a crime…

Two and a Half Men is an abominable sitcom and I’m ashamed to admit that in my younger, and far more vulnerable years, I did watch an episode or two. If there was one good…

Wife of a Spy won the Silver Bear for Best Director at last year’s Venice Film Festival. I had heard of director and co-writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa (not related to the late great master of Japanese…

The Women and the Murderer starts with a series of clips of young, happy women dancing, going out. This footage is interspersed with pictures and images of murder scenes. Then, we are introduced to Anne…

It’s only fitting that New York City‘s biggest film festival has chosen to premiere Cohen Film Collection’s new 4K restoration of Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street — a film so obviously tied to the city’s legacy…

The 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival offered numerous different avenues for movie watching. Audiences and critics alike got to experience the newest in film at the theaters, online, and even at several…

Warrior is a dramatic look at the world of MMA, as seen through the eyes of two brothers with a complicated relationship. While this is a sports movie primarily about fighting, much of Warrior is dedicated to…

Can the literary art form still survive in this hyperactive, Twitter-operating, modern age? Bookworms venturing through desolated libraries and soon-to-be bankrupt bookstores may find themselves out of time, yearning for a time where a 400-page…

Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms caused quite a stir when it unexpectedly took out the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2019. The film loosely based on Lapid’s own life about an Israeli man who flees…

The production background of Cry Macho spans nearly five decades. The screenplay had been kicking around in the early seventies. After numerous studio rejections, screenwriter N. Richard Nash revamped the script into novel form. The…

Under the bright glistening haze of blue and pink lights, Ritwek Pareek’s vibrant debut feature opens on 40-something drunkard Thakur Lal. His internal monologue spouts vague philosophical musings before mounting his motorcycle and going for…