‘Poetic License’ Review: Maude Apatow’s Delightful Directorial Debut is a New Coming-of-Age Classic [B+] TIFF
Maude Apatow is no stranger to cross-generational coming-of-age stories. Growing up, she had minor roles in her father Judd Apatow’s comedic films (The 40-Year-Old Virgin,... Read More
Film Reviews
‘Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts)’ Review: A Narratively Ambitious Genre-Bending Tale of Familial Trauma [B] TIFF
After their extraordinary sophomore feature Wildhood, Bretten Hannem crafts another demonstration of being in touch with one’s own Indigenous heritage. One that is even more... Read More
‘Christy’ Review: Sydney Sweeney’s Boxer Biopic Has Familiar Filmmaking Genes but a Captivating Central Story of Perseverance [B] TIFF
It’s easy to look at Christy, the new boxing biopic from journeyman director David Michôd, and expect the most formulaic story: a scrappy fighter from... Read More
‘Dust Bunny’ Review: Bryan Fuller’s Hybrid Fantasy-Action-Horror Fable Has an Endearingly Childlike Sense of Enchantment [B] TIFF
There’s not much talking at the beginning of Dust Bunny. The opening 15 minutes of the long-awaited feature-length film from cult favorite TV writer Bryan... Read More
‘Scarlet’ Review: Mana Ashida’s Vocal Performance Highlights Mamoru Hosoda’s Animated Fantasy [B] TIFF
Minutes into Mamoru Hosoda’s Scarlet, we are thrust into a world that thematically plays with elements of his past works – films like Digimon, Summer... Read More
‘The President’s Cake’ Review: Hasan Hadi’s Layered Drama is as Entertaining as it is Compelling [A-] TIFF
There exists a spectrum of sad movies that are about kids but not for kids. On the lowest end of the spectrum, something like Spike... Read More
‘Glenrothan’ Review: A Likable Cast Can’t Elevate Brian Cox’s Bottom-of-the-Barrel Scottish Family Dramedy [D] TIFF
Estranged brothers Sandy (Brian Cox) and Donal (Alan Cumming) have neither seen nor spoken to each other in over three decades. After their mother passed... Read More
‘The Captive’ Review: Alejandro Amenábar’s Account of Cervantes as a Teller of Tales is Itself a Powerful Lesson in Storytelling [A] TIFF
After Miguel de Cervantes wrote the most famous novel of all time—El Quijote— in the early 1600s, it became so instantly popular that apocryphal sequels... Read More
‘Hedda’ Review: Tessa Thompson Seduces and Destroys in Nia DaCosta’s Sexy, Stylish Spin on a Classic [B+] TIFF
Nia DaCosta’s fun, feminist Ibsen reimagining, Hedda, opens with a quote from another playwright. Instead of referencing Ibsen himself or another literary staple of the... Read More
‘The Lost Bus’ Review: Paul Greengrass and Company are Running on Empty in Undercooked True Life Survival Drama [D] TIFF
Earlier this year, the Los Angeles metropolitan area and San Diego County faced some of the worst wildfires in the country’s history. Complete sections of... Read More
‘Anima’ Review: Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira Ground Brian Tetsuro Ivie’s Low-Fi Sci-Fi Road Movie [B+] SXSW 
Six Join 51st Residence of the Festival de Cannes, including Harry Lighton, Mansi Maheshwari, Oliver McGoldrick 
‘Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat’ Review: The Emmy-Nominated Hit Returns as an Hilarious Workplace Comedy [B+] 
‘The Comeback’ Season 3 Review: Cherish is the Word I Use to Describe Lisa Kudrow [A-]