Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Our reviews and thoughts on the latest releases, classics, and nostalgic favourites. Things we loved, things we hated, and worst of all, things we were ambivalent about.

The Loud House Movie

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Lincoln has 10 exceptional sisters. He’s great at helping his parents navigate the chaos of having such a large, high-achieving family, but at the end of the day, being a great helper doesn’t get him any trophies, and he’s having an existential crisis about not having his own special talent.

The Premise: In pursuit of Lincoln’s special talent, the Loud family travels abroad to Scotland, hoping to find evidence of some aptitude or skill buried in the family tree.

The Verdict: I’ve never seen the show before (the movie takes place between season 4 and 5) but I can assure you you needn’t be a fan to enjoy the film. An intro song conveniently catches us up on what we need to know. And then the songs continue, over the pond to their ancestral land, Loch Loud, where they stay in their clan’s sprawling castle as Lincoln attempts to dig up some innate knack or flair or interest. Lincoln makes friends with groundskeeper Angus (David Tennant) and learns that there’s royalty in his bloodline (and dragons in the basement). Will the Loud family relocate so Lincoln fulfill his destiny and become Duke? When you inevitably watch to find out the answers to these pressing questions, the movie looks and feels just like an extended episode of a hand-drawn Saturday morning cartoon. It’s unpretentious and the songs are simple, but the creators clearly know how to keep us entertained.

Don’t Say Its Name

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A horror film set in the snow, and an official Fantasia Film Fest pick.

The Premise: Band peace officer Betty (Madison Walsh) is quickly overwhelmed when a hit and run goes unsolved, its victim a young community activist named Kharis (Sheena Kaine). Meanwhile, the community is also grappling with a mining company come to suck their tribal land dry. Even more concerning: some invisible predator is stalking and brutally killing one person after the next. Betty quickly deputizes game warden Stacey (Sera-Lys McArthur) to help hunt a killer who leaves very few tracks. No one is safe, and no one can quite agree whether these murders are the stuff of legend, but either way it seems one strict rule can be agreed upon: don’t say its name.

The Verdict: I had my doubts, but director (and co-writer) Rueben Martell pulls off his horror with aplomb. Its indigenous setting is rich and authentic, a natural backdrop for some terrifying First Nations traditions. Its unique perspective is augmented by a trio of strong female leads, with an especially admirable and grounded performance from Walsh, who calmly stands in the centre of the storm and bravely gets on with the job. From the very first scene, I was stunned by the film’s truth. Canada’s First Nations communities continue to be haunted by its missing and murdered women and girls, and the sight of Kharis walking alone along a dark road is eerily familiar. Spooks and spirits may plague this small community, but it’s the white man who truly poses the threat, wreaking havoc on the people and their native land in far more lasting and concrete ways.

Join us after the screening on August 18 at 9:10pm EDT for a live Q&A with special guest host Jesse Wente, director Rueben Martell, actors Sera-Lys McArthur, Julian Black Antelope, Val Duncan, Catherine Gell, Justin Lewis and Sheena Kaine, and producer Rene J. Collins.

When I Consume You

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Combining horror with family drama, writer-director Perry Blackshear returns to the Fantasia Film Festival with When I Consume You.

The Premise: Given her history and recent disappointment, Daphne’s death seems open and shut: overdose. But Daphne’s brother Wilson doesn’t buy it. He begins to investigate her murder, and to consider that the perpetrator may be the same supernatural source that’s been behind his family’s struggles for years.

The Verdict: Like Wilson, you’ll have to be open-minded to enjoy this movie. Are you comfortable lurking about in the shadows? Do you believe in paranormal criminals? Bad luck incarnate? Wilson (Evan Dumouchel) has a lot to contend with, and he’ll have to virtually become a whole different person in order to pursue her mysterious stalker. Don’t worry though, he does have someone in his camp: his dead sister Daphne (Libby Ewing). That’s right: it’s just like the movie Creed, if Rocky was a ghost, and Creed didn’t so much want to win boxing matches as avenge his sister’s death. So not really like Creed at all, except for the ‘learning to fight’ montage, and if you think boxing trainers are tough, you haven’t been schooled by a ghost and her various powers of motivation. When I Consume You deals with grief and trauma, but with supernatural forces dotting the edges. The film is disquieting, throwing you off-kilter even once you believe you’ve got the hang of things. Unexpected in intriguing ways, When I Consume You isn’t my favourite film at the festival, but I’ll definitely be thinking of it for a long while after, still muttering to myself that the title says when, not if.

How to watch:

Online screenings on Wednesday, August 18th at 9:30pm EST, and Friday August 20that 9am.

Join us after the screening on August 18 at 11:05pm EDT for a live Q&A with director Perry Blackshear as well as actors Evan Dumouchel, Libby Ewing and MacLeod Andrews. Tickets are $8.

Indemnity

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You know what must suck? Running for your life and not knowing why. Indemnity, a South African action-thriller, is a fine example, and part of this year’s Fantasia Film Festival line-up.

The Premise: Theo is crippled by PTSD, having narrowly survived a fire that killed all of his colleagues. Plagued by guilt and debilitating flashbacks, he is unable to work, and volatile at home. Then he wakes up beside his wife’s dead body and things go from bad to worse. He’s the prime suspect of course, and his broken memory isn’t coming to his rescue any time soon. On the run, he’s pursued not just by the cops, but by an unknown third party, forcing Theo to connect the dots or die, or worse – because someone’s got his son.

The Verdict: While the premise is promising, the execution is a little lackluster, but Indemnity still managed to catch my attention and get me invested in finding out the truth, the ugliness of which is somewhat rooted in its alarming plausibility. Writer-director Travis Taute keeps us hanging on until the very end, and a frantic performance by Jarrid Geduld makes sure we’re glued to our seats.

Beckett

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John David Washington’s in the wrong place at the wrong time in this Netflix thriller.

The Premise: Beckett (Washington) is on vacation in Greece when he suffers a tragic car accident, which is only the start of all his problems. Turns out, the abandoned building he crashed into was hiding a kidnapped child, and now Beckett’s in all kinds of trouble, injured and on the run in a foreign country, chased by corrupt cops and determined criminals.

The Verdict: I feared at first that this was simply going to be one of those photo-finish races to the American Embassy: been there, done that. It wasn’t, quite, but nor did it amount to much more. Washington tries his best, and Alicia Vikander oozes enough chemistry to account for his motivation, but the film remains frustratingly underwritten, never giving us enough to fully invest in the thrill, let alone buy into just how quickly Beckett turns from simple tourist to just shy of super hero. His maneuvers are increasingly ludicrous, his luck notoriously bad, and the logic behind this whole farce is something best left unexamined. If you’re in it solely for the chase, you won’t be disappointed, but if you’ve come to expect character and story, maybe give it a pass.

Here Today

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The Premise: Charlie is a comedy writer of some renown, having started out on the Carol Burnett show, now serving out the remainder of his career writing for his protégé’s sketch show. Street singer Emma comes into his life at a strange life – dementia is slowly destroying not only his memory, but his sense of self. With his wife long dead, and his children somewhat estranged every since, Emma is a unique bridge between their generations, forming a cherished friendship just when he needs one most.

The Verdict: I liked this film, though I do have some reservations. Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish are both quite good – he solid as ever, she toned down just enough to exist on his wave length, yet still maintaining her own brand and style of comedy. Though this film brought them close in real life, their chemistry doesn’t always work on screen. Worse still, the dialogue is sometimes unforgivably clunky and trite. Yet there’s just something magnet about Crystal here. He is staring down a fate many of us would consider worse than death. The title itself reminds us of the stakes: Here Today (gone tomorrow) – and yet both the film and Charlie face this inevitability with light-heartedness and warmth. The important part, the part that helped me overcome the film’s flaws, is that though he may be gone tomorrow – in fact, we all may – he is still here today, and today is to be enjoyed.

Baby Don’t Cry

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An official selection of the Fantasia Film Festival

The Premise: A withdrawn and curious 17-year-old Chinese immigrant apparently named Baby falls for a delinquent tough named Fox who stole from her. Together they push the bounds of their dismal lives and try to imagine some sort of escape from what seems like hopelessness.

The Verdict: One hundred percent a strange film, neither Baby nor Fox are eloquent or approachable. Neither strikes us as particularly likable, but that’s sort of the point. Though their backgrounds are different, they recognize in each other the same lack of belonging, their otherness in the world, but this doesn’t make them soulmates. Their relationship is intense, steamy, and stormy. I didn’t exactly like this, but I did admire its spare honesty and its willingness to annihilate our concept of teen comedy.

Director: Jesse Dvorak

Starring: Zita Bai, Helen Sun, Vas Provatakis, Boni Mata, Troy Musil

Plays virtually at the Fantasia Film Festival August 11-13

Agnes

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Direct from Montreal’s premiere genre film festival, Fantasia, may I present: Agnes.

Sphenisciphobia is the fear of nuns. That’s going to be relevant very shortly. Are you afraid of nuns? I don’t find them particularly scary myself, but there is something creepy about them, stripped of identity and personality, existing outside of society, of culture, of us.

The Premise: A disgraced priest and his priest-intern (priest-in-training, future priest) present themselves to an extremely cloistered convent where a young nun named Agnes is said to be possessed. What follows is a crisis of faith in more ways than one.

The Verdict: Demonic possession is a favoured horror trope. So are spooky nuns. Here director Mickey Reece combines them in his unique way, offering all the genre’s hallmarks, but poking fun of them at the same time with trademark dark humour. Agnes’ young friend and fellow nun, Sister Mary, is witness to the paranormal terrors, and finds that she cannot abide her life in faith. But leaving the convent halfway through the movie causes not just a tonal shift but a new way for Mary to grapple with her grief. The outside world isn’t easy, and whatever’s haunting Mary is sure to follow. Interesting, Reece doesn’t play up the horror. He’s more interested in the character drama that follows as she takes on the inner demons that aren’t as easy to exorcise.

Starring: Molly C. Quinn, Hayley McFarland, Sean Gunn, Chris Sullivan, Ben Hall, Jake Horowitz

The Last Letter From Your Lover

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The Premise: Journalist Ellie (Felicity Jones) stumbles upon a stack of vintage love letters and is inspired by their contents to unravel the mystery of their forbidden romance.

The Verdict: The film covers two distinct stories: that of Ellie in present day, whose passion for the archives may have as much to do with the sensitive and hunky administrator as the love letters, and of Jennifer (Shailene Woodley) in the past, falling in love with a man who is not her husband before an accident derails the relationship. The film is pretty, often sumptuous actually, particularly the period pieces (people haven’t truly dressed well since the 60s), but the story isn’t exactly original. Jones is sweet as ever, but her character’s flat; Woodley is respectable but not quite believable as a glamorous adulterer. The highly contrived events are predictable of course, as all romances tend to be. But if they’re your jam, The Last Letter From Your Letter offers two for the price of one.

Check out this semi-steamy period romance on Netflix.

Director: Augustine Frizzell

Starring: Felicity Jones, Shailene Woodley, Joe Alwyn, Callum Turner,
Nabhaan Rizwan

Based on the book by Jojo Moyes

Vivo

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Huzzah! Netflix has a new animated film out this weekend, and it’s perfect for a family movie night.

The Premise: An old man named Andrés gets a second chance at love when his old flame reaches out to him in Cuba, inviting him to her final show in Miami for a lovers’ reunion. Andrés is touched, and has just the thing: a love song he wrote for her when they parted ways years ago. Unable to deliver it to her himself, his new partner (in life and in business, but not in love), a singing monkey named Vivo (voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda), takes it upon himself, with a the help of a little girl named Gabi (Ynairaly Simo), to make Andrés’ last wish come true.

The Verdict: I don’t expect much from Netflix animation, but clearly I need to revise my bias as the last few examples have proven me wrong. I hoped Vivo might be good, but I was delighted to find myself loving it. The animation was quite pleasant, and the songs were nearly first-rate – some of them may even live lives outside of streaming. I even learned a little something: the monkey Vivo isn’t a monkey at all. He’s actually a kinkajou, also known as a rainforest honey bear, a nocturnal, fruit-eating tree-dweller more related to raccoons than to monkeys. They’re also surprisingly good singers and look quite dashing in small hats and foulards. Enjoy.