Flights of fantasy in “Mary Poppins Returns”
The climax of the newly-released “Mary Poppins Returns” features the main characters attempting to, inexplicably, turn back time.
Andrew Kendall
Alternative Christmas Cinema
Christmas arrives on Tuesday and between the shopping and the eating and gifting most folks will be turning to entertainment to pass the days away.
The infinite possibilities in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The best thing about any incarnation of Spider-Man has always been his normalcy.
Melancholy memories in “Roma”
A Mixtec Amerindian woman and an older White Mexican woman stand in a crowded hospital room in Mexico City.
Romantic tedium in “Nobody’s Fool”
Tyler Perry has released 19 films in the last 12 years.
Petty thievery
There is one thing that the new iteration of “Robin Hood” does better than anything I’ve seen this year.
A woman’s work
Sara Colangelo establishes the central motif of her film, “The Kindergarten Teacher” from the opening scene, which is ostensibly unassuming but slowly devastating.
Fighting for identity
When director David Mackenzie’s kinetic, bloody war epic “Outlaw King” landed the prime opening night spot at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, it seemed to signal great things for Netflix and for Mackenzie, whose previous work, “Hell or High Water,” was a critical hit a couple years ago.
Ruminations on race and masculinity
The French/German period piece “Angelo” and the lurid British pop-film “Farming,” both premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, exist on starkly different ends of filmmaking but come together to ask a similar question: What does it mean to be black in a world that sees your skin as a curiosity?
Stylish crimes
Steve McQueen’s “Widows” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September as the much-hyped and much-anticipated follow-up to his Oscar winning “12 Years A Slave”, from 2013.
Saving our children
Amidst the socio-political unease of the world, filmmakers this year have seemed preoccupied with examining the ways that adults sometimes struggle with protecting the children they care for.
Of myths and men
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” more than most 2018 films, has had to justify its existence.
The man on the moon
“First Man,” the new film by Damien Chazelle, begins in space.
A Star is Born in Amandla Stenberg
Amandla Stenberg was one of a handful of actors who attended the Toronto International Film Festival this year as the star of two films.
2018 Toronto International Film Festival Diary: For the love of poetry in “The Kindergarten Teacher”
“I have a poem.” It’s such an innocuous line but one that hides a wealth of profundity.
Listening for the music in “A Star is Born”
Is the new film “A Star is Born” a musical? This seems a bizarre question to ask.
2018 Toronto International Film Festival Diary: The loneliest girls in the world
This year, the Toronto International Film Festival made a concerted effort to shine a spotlight on women both in front of, and especially behind, the camera.
An unexpected comedic turn in “Venom”
I walked out of “Venom” with the dopiest smile on my face.
Child’s play in “The House with a Clock in Its Walls”
“The House with a Clock in Its Walls” feels almost anomalous in 2018.
2018 Toronto International Film Festival Diary: Dreaming black boys in “Farming” and “Angelo”
Two films at TIFF this year – both inspired by true events – seemed preternaturally linked in their representations of race and racism in Europe.
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