‘Bad Apples’ Review: The Kids Are Not All Right as Saoirse Ronan Snaps in Audacious Satire of the Education System [B+] TIFF
The phrase “a rotten apple spoils the barrel” has been around for centuries, a warning to show how even one corrupt or troublesome individual can... Read More
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‘Normal’ Review: Bob Odenkirk is a Nobody Sheriff Pushed Too Far in Ben Wheatley’s Sisyphean, Odyssean Modern Western [B-] TIFF
No city is too small to hide a secret too large. The latest rendition of this popular trope takes a jab at small town America... Read More
‘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
‘Hamnet’ Wins 50th Toronto Film Festival Audience Award; ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ are Runners-Up
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet has won the TIFF People’s Choice Award of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, making her the first director to win the... 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
‘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
‘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
Director Watch Podcast Ep. 144 – ‘A Matter of Life and Death (Powell and Pressburger, 1946) with Special Guest Jesse Nussman 
Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS) Television and Nonfiction Nominations Announced: ‘Adolescence,’ ‘Black Mirror,’ ‘Slow Horses’ and More 
Trailer Watch: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ ‘Dune: Part Three,’ Disclosure Day,’ ‘Wild Horse Nine’ 
‘Anima’ Review: Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira Ground Brian Tetsuro Ivie’s Low-Fi Sci-Fi Road Movie [B+] SXSW