REVIEW: ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ asks Wes Anderson to expand his borders

Anderson has been refining the visual sensibility seen in The Phoenician Scheme for years, with each successive film feeling like a slightly more concentrated version of what came before. It’s a style that has its detractors, and I doubt Anderson will ever swing back to something resembling a “normal” indie film. But even I, as a long-time fan of Anderson, found myself feeling a little claustrophobic during this latest release. As much as I love the filmmaker’s style, the world of Zsa-zsa Korda felt like it deserved a little more freedom, with more location shooting in the model of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or Moonrise Kingdom.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowJune 11, 2025wes anderson, phoenician scheme, 2025, review, benecio del toro, michael cera, mia threapleton, movie, filmComment

REVIEW: ‘Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’ is a mostly earned victory lap

By morphing the series from episodic adventures to a cohesive, serialized format, some of the flimsiness of the characters and the story begins to show. Both Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning try to retcon Hunt’s backstory, giving him a dead love interest and an oath to the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) that he’s seemingly repaid many times over. The screenplay recontextualizes old plot elements, like the so-called Rabbit’s Foot from M:I 3, into this film, to apparently sweep us up into the feeling that we’ve been on a grand journey with the series for 29 years.

REVIEW: ‘Friendship’ connects sketch comedy absurdity with feature film scale

Like so many I Think You Should Leave characters, Craig is like an eager-to-please robot with a corrupted software update. Basic structures of human connection elude him, and while he can perceive when he’s done something wrong, his reaction is often to dig in his heels, obfuscate or distract, rather than apologize. There’s a specific quality that Robinson’s voice takes on when this happens; a raspy, guttural sound entirely his own that I find intensely funny.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowMay 22, 2025tim robinson, netflix, paul rudd, kate mara, comedy, movies, review, friendship, 2025Comment

REVIEW: 'Thunderbolts*' gives Marvel movies a reason to keep going

Anyone who remembers the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie will recognize some of the narrative techniques here: establish the grimy backstory of the roguish heroes, force them to become allies, and transform them into an ersatz family by the end. However, in contrast to the rainbow-coloured, cosmic goofiness of the Guardians movies, Thunderbolts* is decidedly more grim and dour. All of these lead characters have lots of blood on their hands, and they’re pretty depressed about it.

REVIEW: 'The Amateur' has some things to learn about suspense

The Amateur wants to be a story about the double-edged sword of revenge, but it struggles as much as Charlie wavers when he holds a pistol.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowApril 12, 2025movie, film, espionage, rami malek, laurence fishburne, jon bernthal, holt mccallany, 2025Comment

REVIEW: Joker: Folie à Deux is a tone-deaf, indecisive slog

Bizarrely, Joker: Folie à Deux seems embarrassed to be a movie about the Joker. Every time it gets close to letting the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) drift into twisted, dream-like musical sequences, the movie does it in a halting, tuneless way, exacerbated by Phoenix’s ear-stabbing vocal performance.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowOctober 6, 2024batman, joker, folie a deux, joker 2, todd phillips, joaquin phoenix, lady gaga, superhero, villain, moviesComment

REVIEW: ‘Civil War’ is an eerily plausible vision of the future

As a Canadian, I live close enough to the United States that I feel somewhat invested in what happens there, given how similar our cultures are. But I also don’t feel the sort of dread that would come with something like this happening in my backyard. I’m able to dissociate and view a theoretical conflict from a remove. Maybe that’s why American reactions to Civil War are as polarized as the events in the movie itself.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowApril 22, 2024civil war, alex garland, kirsten dunst, wagner moura, jesse plemons, cailee spaeny, nick offerman, 2024, film, movies, reviewComment

REVIEW: ‘Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver’ is an maddening bore of a sequel

Everything in these movies seems to be for Snyder alone. It’s as if the only point of four and half hours of movie runtime is for him to prove that he can spend all this money to capture his meticulous little scenes on his camera, refracted through his gauzy vintage lenses. Never before has the act of filmmaking felt more like someone painting Warhammer figures in their basement.

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.

REVIEW: 'Drive-Away Dolls' misses the exit

A rough similarity to previous Coen movies is about all Drive-Away Dolls has going for it. Time and again, the movie provoked more “Huh?” and “What?” moments than laughs. The movie seems like it’s referencing a genre or influence that isn’t quite clear, leaving you wondering if you’re missing some important context.

New ReleasesRobert SnowFebruary 26, 2024coen brothers, ethan coen, margaret qualley, geraldine viswanathan, matt damon, pedro pascal, comedy, 2024Comment

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.

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.

[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.

[TIFF 2022] REVIEW: ‘Nanny’ is an immigration survival story

The first thing I noticed about Nanny is how confident it feels. Jusu has evidently been building up to this project with the work she’s done on short films over the past 15 years. The story is tidy, and the screenplay doesn’t hold our hands too often.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowSeptember 14, 2022nanny, anna diop, tiff, tiff 2022, 2022, horror, thriller, michelle monaghan, morgan spector, reviewComment

[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.

New Releases, FilmRobert SnowSeptember 13, 2022tiff, 2022, butcher's crossing, nicolas cage, fred hechinger, xander berkeley, gabe polskyComment

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