I missed All Quiet on the Western Front when it screened at TIFF. I just couldn’t make it work with my schedule, so when it dropped on Netflix, you can be assured it went to the front of my viewing queue. Berger’s film, based on the iconic novel by Erich Maria Remarque, is a stunning…
Tag: 2022
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) – Guillermo del Toro, and Mark Gustafson
One of my favourite directors, Guillermo del Toro takes on the classic tale of Pinocchio. Teaming up with director Mark Gustafson and an incredibly talented bunch of animators and voice talent, del Toro moves the story forward in time to the 1920s, setting it in Italy during the rise of Mussolini, paired with some dark…
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) – Dan Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert
An epic and hilarious story with an intimate tale of family and love at its heart. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed Everything Everywhere All at Once. I knew I would, but I was completely swept up in the tale, it’s toying with the multi-verse, and letting Michelle Yeoh show off all of her…
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 – Part 1 (2021/2022) – Blu-Ray Review
Paramount Pictures starts the new year right for me by delivering me Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 – Part 1 on DVD and Blu-Ray. The two-disc set includes the season’s first ten episodes, and some insightful extras. The series, aimed at new to Trek and younger viewers, embraces everything that Trek is, working together, the…
Troll (2022) – Roar Uthaug
Troll is a fun Norwegian monster movie that ticks off a number of boxes for a kaiju movie. While it doesn’t do anything in terms of stretching character development or plot twists (the big one is seen in the trailer, so that doesn’t do the film any good) it does prove to be a bit…
Uncharted (2022) – Ruben Fleischer
Some questionable narrative choices and other stylistic angles held Uncharted back from being a solid blockbuster and probably crippled its chances of turning into a franchise, which is too bad, because despite the drubbing it took, most of the film is really fun, and there’s a nice interplay between Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg who…
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) – James Cameron
It’s been thirteen years since writer/director James Cameron introduced to the distant world of Pandora, and its blue-skinned, lean humanoid inhabitants the Na’vi, who live in harmony with their planet. It’s been thirteen years since we left Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their family has grown, with three children…
V/H/S/99 (2022) – Flying Lotus, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Johannes Roberts, Joseph Winter, and Vanessa Winter
The most recent installment of the continuing found footage franchise, V/H/S/ feels like a bit of a miss to me. There are some interesting story ideas here, but they either take too long to develop, the camerawork is TOO shakey, or they tried to do too much. This time out there is five tales, none…
Star Trek: Picard – Second Self (2022) – Una McCormack
Simon & Schuster tapped author Una McCormack to deliver a second Star Trek Picard tale and this time she lets the reader join Raffi Musiker on a diplomatic mission with a secret agenda to bring a war criminal to justice. Set after the events of Picard: Season One and following on the heels of the…
Barbarian (2022) – Zach Cregger
Wow. Writer/director Zach Cregger blew me away with this one, completely subverting my expectations while playing with the traditional horror rules in this fantastic thriller of a film. From his framing to camera movement to casting to the way he doles out the story, Cregger plays with an increasingly film-savvy and educated horror audience and…
The Mind Reels 