[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.

REVIEW: "The Gentlemen" is chivalrous but crass, and that's how they like it

Half the time I was amused by how Ritchie can keep the most convoluted plots with an extraneous number of screwball characters interesting, but the other half of the time I’m fiddling with the keys in my pocket pretending I have some sort of fast forward button.

REVIEW: ‘Widows’ proves heist films don’t have to get stuck in the past

The size and skill of Widows’ cast is enough to mesmerize on its own, but once you get a grasp of the various threads, it’s fascinating to watch how McQueen tightens each one in turn, until he can yank one and let the whole thing unspool.

[VIFF 2017] REVIEW: 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' is mind-bendingly creepy

Where The Lobster becomes a relatively straightforward film about a man looking for love in all the wrong places after adjusting to the absurdity of its characters and the world they inhabit, Sacred Deer is much less so. I think it seeks to visually maim and shock its audience, and that the story leaves a lot to be desired on purpose.