Sentimental Value was recommended by my classmate Betsy, who got a look at it last week at the Telluride Film Festival. She told me to run, don’t walk to see this one. So I changed my viewing schedule for the first day of the festival to start with this. And wow. A beautiful and poignant…
Tag: film
Terrifier (2016) – Damien Leone
Let’s get this out of the way, Art the Clown is a very cool creation, and a very deadly mime. That being said, the narrative around the character and the way the film is shot left a little to be desired. Trapped in a rough script, the film is luridly garish, but its uninspired cinematography…
The Director (2025) – Daniel Kehlmann
Simon and Schuster Canada delivers a must-read for artists, film fans, and lovers of historical fiction. The Director, written by Daniel Kehlmann with a translation by Ross Benjamin, is a captivating tale of art and complicity. At the story’s center is famed filmmaker, G.W. Pabst, a renowned director. The book, through shifting narratives, paints a…
Dark Skies (1997) – Both Sides Now, and To Prey in Darkness
While John Loengard (Eric Close) tries to hunt down his abducted love, Kim Sayers (Megan Ward) by interrogating Hive members, Steele (Tim Kelleher) is working on persuading her to willingly join the Hive to see her child. Bach (J.T. Walsh) tracks her down, she’s in Berkeley. It seems the Hive’s latest plan involved infiltrating the…
The Movie Man (2024) – Matt Finlin
Cottage Country. That phrase conjures a specific image for residents of Ontario, Canada. The calls of loons, sitting on boat docks and enjoying the peace of the lakes, an escape from the hubbub of city life; cottage country is a Canadian summer tradition. You wouldn’t expect to find a multiplex amongst the forests, the bears,…
Toronto Comicon Day 1
It’s March Break, and while the kiddies run around and parents are counting the moments until school is back in session, the geeks, who have inherited the Earth, returned to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to pay homage to their beloved films, television shows, animes, mangas, comics, and more by attending Toronto Comicon. From the…
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – The Making of the Classic Film (2023) – John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto
I remember seeing The Wrath of Khan in theatres. It blew me away. Even as a child I loved The Motion Picture, the grandeur, the beauty and the effects, but The Wrath of Khan was a completely different experience and I was left stunned by what I had seen. I remember there were a couple…
Renfield (2023) – Chris McKay
Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, and Awkwafina star in Chris McKay’s bloody, hilarious, and over-the-top love letter to the supporting character of the original Dracula story, Renfield, including some wonderful homages to the original 1931 film. It’s modern-day America and Renfield (Hoult) has relocated Dracula (Cage) yet again to hide him from those who would hunt…
The Last Action Heroes (2023) – Nick de Semlyen
If you were wandering the aisles of the video stores in the 80s like I was, you were always looking for something fun and exciting to watch and a good percentage of the time one of the films that found its way home with me, or passed to me by a friend at school would…
Skinamarink (2022) – Kyle Edward Ball
What could have been a descent into a childhood nightmarish dreamscape is frustratingly held back by a gimmick that overstays its welcome and leaves viewers struggling to grasp at any strands to form some kind of coherent narrative. With unusual camera angles that prevent the viewer from seeing anything of import or creating a context…
The Mind Reels 