Familiar thrills
In recent weeks, the newest Disney remake “Aladdin” and the third instalment of the “John Wick” action franchise have been dominating the sales at local cinemas.
Andrew Kendall
Coming-of-age fantasies in “See You Yesterday” and “Detective Pikachu”
Growing up is hard to do, whether your world is real or a fantasy.
Political fantasy
The new romantic comedy “Long Shot” depends on a number of well-worn romantic tropes.
A con job and sweet silliness
By either some coincidence or the predominance of nostalgia, we currently have two films in theatres heavily inspired by two comedies from the 1980s.
Compulsory entertainment in “Avengers: Endgame”
“Avengers: Endgame” picks up immediately after the end of the previous Avengers film, “Infinity War,” as we see the effect of Thanos’ great snap – culling all the living organisms on earth by half.
Complicated representations in “Hotel Mumbai”
During a tense scene in the newly released “Hotel Mumbai,” a pair of gunmen enter a hotel-room toilet in search of a victim.
The heart of a child in “Shazam”
Amidst the ongoing battle between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe for dominance, the arrival of “Shazam” feels significant because of its divergence.
Taking flight with Dumbo
With the current state of things, it seems only a matter of time before every animated Disney film is refashioned and remade as a live-action film to sustain us on a constant diet of Disney content.
Meaning and meaninglessness in “Us”
Jordan Peele made his directorial debut to critical acclaim in 2017 with the American horror film “Get Out.”
Ghetto stories
You really can’t put a price on representation. There is nothing quite like seeing shades of your life vividly represented in the media you consume.
Familiar heists in “Triple Frontier”
“Triple Frontier” is a riff on a particular song. Five former soldiers, bound by their shared scars, team up to pull off a daring heist.
Exploring a woman’s worth in “Captain Marvel”
The final battle in “Captain Marvel” is a one-on-one fight between our hero and the film’s primary villain.
The limits of love in “The Favourite”
We hear the faintest sound of rabbits frolicking during the opening seconds of “The Favourite,” even before we see anything.
Green Book and the problem with black male exceptionalism
What a difference five months makes. “Green Book” was the last film I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Coraline at 10
Ten years ago, Henry Selick’s “Coraline” premiered as the first feature from animated movie studio Laika.
The shallow waters of ‘Serenity’
The title of the thriller/psychodrama/melodrama “Serenity” is a misnomer. The film justifies the title because Serenity is the name of a boat where a great deal of the film’s action is set.
A woman of complexity in “The Wife”
Movie production being what it is, “The Wife,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and was released to theatres in 2018, feels very much of this time.
Mind Games in “Glass”
“Glass” recently premiered as the third part of M. Night Shyamalan’s Eastrail 177 Trilogy, which began with 2000’s “Unbreakable” and continued in 2017’s “Split.”
The films that made me feel the most in 2018
As a new year begins, every film critic is forced to consider the moments in cinema that burned brightest in the previous 12 months.
Fighting the blues in “The Old Man & the Gun”
A seventy-year-old man walks into a bank. He is charming, diffident, well dressed.
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