Anderson .Paak stars and directs alongside his son, Soul Rasheed in a formulaic but incredibly energetic and entertaining family comedy filled with lots of tunes. BJ ( .Paak) is a drummer who fell for Yeji (Jee Young Han) but couldn’t choose between a real romance and possibly more and his music career, which never seems…
Tag: directorial debut
Insidious: The Red Door (2023) – Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson makes his directorial debut with the fifth (and final?) Insidious film that takes us back to the Lambert family, checking in on them nine years after the events of Insidious 2, which was the last time the family was featured as the main characters in the series. There are some fun ideas here,…
TIFF ’23: Poolman
Chris Pine stars, directs and co-wrote Poolman, a sun-baked film noir that never quite finds its tone in spite of its best efforts, and feels like the love child of Chinatown and The Big Lewbowski. A pastiche of the eccentricities and lifestyles of LA, Pine populates his film with characters you could only find in…
TIFF ’22: On the Come Up
Sanaa Lathan delivers a powerful and emotional directorial debut with On the Come Up. Based on the novel by Angie Thomas, who also penned the powerful The Hate U Give, On the Come Up is a powerhouse coming of age featuring a strong leading performance by Jamila C. Gray who shines as Bri. Growing up…
TIFF ’22: Hunt
South Korean action star Lee Jung-jae makes his directorial debut with the brilliant action thriller, Hunt. Set in the 1980s when tensions were heightened between North and South Korea, the film is a white knuckle ride that sees two government rivals, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park (Lee) and Domestic Unit head Kim (Jung Woo-sung) working…
The X-Files (1999) – The Unnatural, and Three of a Kind
David Duchovny wrote and director the first episode up this week, The Unnatural, which first aired on 25 April, 1999. This serves as his directorial review, and it’s a lot of fun, and may be poking fun at the mythology arc, or it may just be a story Mulder (Duchovny) is told by Arthur Dales…
Near Dark (1987) – Kathryn Bigelow
If Fright Night got me into horror movies then Near Dark, the next vampire film in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book showed me that the undead could be vicious, occasionally hate their existence and live on the edges of the night. Despite the ending (actually the return to humanity sequence) of the film,…
Hevn [Revenge] (2015) – Kjersti Steinsbo
Beginning its Canadian theatrical run at the Lightbox, the Norway-Canadian co-production of Steinsbo’s directorial debut makes an impression. Featuring multi-layered characters set against the gorgeous backdrop of western Norway, Hevn is a revenge thriller that is tautly paced, strongly directed, and features some very nice performances from all the players. The film follows Andrea…
The Mind Reels 