Posts in Film
REVIEW: ‘Dune: Part Two’ is a beautiful sci-fi sequel with a complicated future

Villeneuve’s script makes it obvious that no matter how much free will Paul attempts to display, his fate is preordained. He will rise up to lead the Fremen, even if that means setting off a chain reaction of events that begets ever more bloodshed. It’s proof of Villeneuve’s skill and the abilities of the cast that we’re hardly ever in the dark about the characters’ feelings – they don’t get lost amid the larger, bombastic action setpieces happening around them.

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REVIEW: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ may be my last Marvel outing for a while

Being a Marvel effort, the closing scenes take pains to establish that no ending is permanent. The characters will still be available for future filmmakers to take off the shelf and drop into a story every so often. But I can’t get over the feeling that even if the Guardians reappear later on, I’m not inclined to rush out to see them. Vol. 3 feels like as good a time as any to bid the Marvel Cinematic Universe adieu for a while.

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REVIEW: ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is a successful dice roll

The fact that I still had a good time in the newest movie based on the tabletop game - without much of the context - suggests that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves succeeds on its own merits. It doesn’t require total immersion in the lore, and that’s more than you can say about a lot of geeky series these days.

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[TIFF 2022] REVIEW: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ gets snippy in a small town

It’s a simple premise, but in the hands of a talented cast and writer/director Martin McDonagh, it becomes a lot more entertaining and tragic than you’d expect. The Banshees of Inisherin might be set in an unfamiliar time and place - April 1923 on a tiny agrarian island off the coast of Ireland - but McDonagh’s script packs in so many delightful observations that it could almost take place here and now.

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[TIFF 2022] REVIEW: 'Butcher's Crossing' leaves meat on the bone

Polsky’s film makes the mistake of not understanding how to use an actor like Cage. He’s either your expressionist, bombastic star, or he works in an ensemble of equally strong (yet obviously different) castmates. Here, Cage - sporting a thick beard and a bald head that he shaves with a straight razor - is frequently absent due to his quasi-supporting role.

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REVIEW: ‘Uncharted’ finds only ordinary ideas

Without a consistent writer or director with a tangible style (a James Gunn or a Taika Waititi, perhaps), watching the movie is an exercise in identifying all the familiar screenwriting parts as they’re pulled from the shelf. Meanwhile, we wait patiently (or not) for Holland’s character to acquire the lived-in quality that propelled the games’ strong reputation.

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REVIEW: ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is a critical system update

The people behind the scenes are the same, but also different. Writer/director Lana Wachowski emerged as a trans icon (along with her sister Lilly), and has made a sequence of sometimes fascinating, sometimes puzzling work since the initial Matrix movies. Stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss have (oh so subtly) aged, enough that Reeves was able to fully revitalize his own career in the intervening years. What could The Matrix Resurrections do to remain relevant?

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[VIFF 2021] REVIEW: A droning 'Benediction'

Benediction escapes most of the traps in a straightforward biopic – we don’t really see the events that turn Sassoon into a vocal critic of the war, nor do we see many scenes of him writing out poems. That can be a good thing, but what’s left behind are a smattering of sometimes incoherent scenes and little connective tissue.

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