Polite Society is an enjoyable action comedy with strong female characters involved in a wonderfully melodramatic tale. The story follows a young Pakistani woman, Ria (Priya Kansara) who dreams of being a stuntwoman, and who idolizes her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), who is experiencing a tough time after leaving art school because she she…
Tag: humour
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Book 1: Water (2005) – The Boy in the Iceberg, The Avatar Returns, and The Southern Air Temple
With the live-action series on the horizon, it seemed like an ideal time to take a look at the original animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Throughout three seasons, the story follows Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), the Avatar, as he learns the skills he’ll need to stop the war with the aggressive Fire Nation and…
The Final Girls (2015) – Todd Strauss-Schulson
The Final Girls is a delightfully meta-horror comedy with an emotional heart thanks to the performances of Taissa Farmiga and Malin Akerman. Farmiga is Max Cartwright, the daughter of Alexandra (Akerman) who has always wanted to be a movie star, but keeps getting recalled for her one big role, in an 80s cult classic slasher…
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) – Bob Perischetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse delivered a brilliant, funny, engaging, and arguably one of the best onscreen Spider-Man we’ve seen yet, and it’s animation style is fantastic. It marries a number of animation styles and literally brings the comic book to life. When Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) has a life-altering encounter with Spider-Man…
Hill Street Blues (1987) – Norman Conquest, and Sorry Wrong Number
While Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) and Goldblume (Joe Spano) review officers for promotion alongside Mike (Richard Herd) Lt. Norman Buntz (Dennis Franz) is left in charge of the precinct for the day. Norman Conquest was written by Steve Bello from a story by Bello, Neil Eglash, Jonathan Lemkin and Micheal I. Wagner and it was…
The Marvels (2023) – Nia DaCosta
Superhero fatigue is real. We seem to be so inundated with comic book stories now, they’re everywhere, films, television series, video games and actual comic books. Disney has gone to town building and expanding their MCU and even as the series and movies keep coming it’s been hard to get excited about new entries because…
Making It So (2023) – Patrick Stewart
Whether Patrick Stewart knows it or not (I’m fairly sure he doesn’t) he’s been an essential part of my life since my formative teen years. He’s always been there in some form or another, and he’s helped me through a lot of tough times. A story he and his fellow castmates of that super popular…
Atomic Blonde (2017) – David Leitch
Charlize Theron is here to kick ass in Atomic Blonde and she does, and does it well. Based on the graphic novel The Coldest City, Atomic Blonde is a spy-thriller that features some solid stunt and fight work, the majority of which Theron, much like Keanu Reeves for John Wick did as much of as…
Ed Wood (1994) – Tim Burton
I don’t think there’s another director that could have done a biopic on the eccentric, imaginative, and terrible director that was Ed Wood than Tim Burton. Burton’s love and use of miniatures, dark themes and humour, and his eye for casting. Leading the story on screen is Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. Depp has a…
The Hollow Places (2020) – T. Kingfisher
The Hollow Places is a wonderfully creepy novel, laced with humour and pop culture references, and less than three chapters in I decided that I definitely needed to read more of T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Vernon. We’re introduced to Kara, 34, newly divorced, and moving in with her Uncle Earl, taking up residence in a…
The Mind Reels 