A family’s existence within a fallout shelter is disrupted by the arrival of an outsider in The End. Following an apocalyptic event, a former Energy Tycoon (Michael Shannon) and his Wife (Tilda Swinton), descend into an underground bunker along with their Butler (Tim McInnerny), Doctor (Lennie James) and Friend (Bronagh Gallagher). The couple’s Son (George …
Family
A family clashes over the fate of an heirloom piano in The Piano Lesson. On July 4, 1911, three brothers stole a piano from their former enslavers, though one of them, Boy Charles (Stephan James), died in a consequential fire. 25 years later, Boy Charles’ son Boy Willie (John David Washington) arrives with his friend …
A mother in the Dust Bowl era of 1933 Oklaholma comes to believe a spirit from a ghost story is tormenting her family in Hold Your Breath. Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson) is left having to care for her daughters Rose (Amiah Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins) in their isolated farm plauged by sandstorms, while …
A non-believing medium reluctantly helps a young girl develop her gift in The Chapel. Every Halloween, a Spanish village unseals its central chapel to commemorate a girl named Usoa taken by Plague Doctors in the middle of the Black Death. Emma (Maia Zaitegi) is a young girl, who has been working with local medium Ivana …
A pretentious 11-year-old goes on a camping trip with her illusionist camper in search of a reclusive panther in Bookworm. Mildred (Nell Fisher) is an 11-year-old New Zealand girl excited to go on a camping trip with her mother Zo (Morgana O’Reilly) to find proof of the mythical Caturbury Panther and collect a $50,000 reward. …
A young man tries to reconcile his father’s death with the help of old home movie recordings in My Dad’s Tapes. On August 9, 2006, Leonard Watson dropped off his 8-year-old son Kurtis at summer camp and promptly disappeared, only to be found dead a month later of an apparent suicide. 14 years after his …
An estranged family has to choose which one of them has to enlist in a government Euthanasia program in Humane. A catastrophic global ecological collapse has given humanity one year to reduce the Earth’s population. Retired newsman Charles York (Peter Gallagher) invites his children Jared (Jay Baruchel), Noah (Sebastian Chacon), Ashley (Alanna Bale), and Rachel …
William Shatner reflects on his life and career in William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill. Now in his 90s, William Shatner sits down to reflect on his life growing up in Montreal and his career as an actor, most famously as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek. Shatner also reflects on what type …
A young woman is tricked into returning to his estranged family in Nova Scotia in Hailey Rose. A decade ago, Hailey (Em Haine) left her home in Nova Scotia after her mother Olga (Kari Matchett) blamed Hailey for the sudden death of her father Roger (Billy MacLellan). One day, Hailey receives a frantic call from …
The Oscar-nominated short Films in the documentary category tackle a wide range of subjects, all with an average running time of about half an hour. This year’s nominees tackle everything from economic justice to censorship in schools to an appreciation of music. There’s even a personal interest doc about two grandmothers. Nǎi Nai and Wài …
A farmer seeks justice for the gang rape of his 13-year-old daughter in To Kill a Tiger. One night in Jharkhand, India, a 13-year-old girl is raped by three men. However, when her rice farmer father Ranjit reported the incident to police, they instead suggested that his daughter just marry one of the rapists. Ranjit …
Two families must deal with the repercussions of an apocalyptic cyber attack in Leave the World Behind. Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) spontaneously decides to book a weekend getaway at a Long Island beach house with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and two children Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans). However, in the middle of …
An outcast teenager tries to balance their new love with their darkest secret in My Animal. Heather (Bobbi Salvör Menuez) is an aspiring hockey goalie, who is cursed by the fact that their father Henry (Stephen McHattie) is a werewolf and passed this trait down to Heather and their younger brothers Cooper (Charles F. Halpenny) …
A Japanese-Canadian woman’s relationship with her family is forever changed while at an island self-development retreat in Seagrass. Judith (Ally Maki) travels with her husband Steve (Luke Roberts) and children Stephanie (Nyha Huang Breitkreuz) and Emmy (Remy Marthaller) to a self-development retreat on a remote island in the Pacific. While attending group therapy sessions on …
An anxiety-ridden man tries to make it home for his mother’s funeral in Beau is Afraid. Beau Wassermann (Joaquin Phoenix) is a middle-aged man who lives on his own, often afraid to venture out into the world around him. Beau regularly visits his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson) to talk about his anxieties, often involving his …
The servant of Count Dracula fights for his independence in Renfield. For decades Robert Montagu Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has been the familiar for Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), with his primary task being locating victims for his master. Following Dracula’s latest defeat, Renfield relocates to an abandoned hospital in New Orleans. He nurses his master back …
Demonic forces terrorize a family in a dilapidated apartment complex in Evil Dead Rise. Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) is a single mother living with her children Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher) in an old Los Angeles apartment complex that is slated for demolition. The family is visited by Ellie’s sister Beth …
The floundering Nike basketball decision hopes to recruit star prospect Michael Jordon for a new line of shoes in Air. In 1984, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) is a talent scout for the endangered basketball division of Nike, headed by Howard White (Chris Tucker), which also includes Marketing VP Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman). The division was …
Photographer Nan Goldin fights the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Nan Goldin is a renowned photographer known for her work with L.G.B.T.Q. subcultures and her ongoing slideshow exhibition, “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.” In 2017, Goldin founded the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) to …
A neglected girl stays with foster parents in rural Ireland throughout the summer of 1981 in The Quiet Girl. Cáit (Catherine Clinch) is a soft-spoken nine-year-old girl who is neglected in her impoverished household by her mom (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) and dad (Michael Patric). Cáit is sent away to stay with cousin Eibhlín Cinnsealach (Carrie …
A recently orphaned teenager creates a replacement family consisting of recently deceased corpses in The Loneliest Boy in the World. Oliver (Max Harwood) grew up under the incredibly sheltered care of his mother (Carol Anne Watts), who died in a freak accident the previous year. While psychiatrist Julius (Evan Ross) wants to commit Oliver to …
We return to the world of Pandora in Avatar: The Way of Water. It has been 13 years since Jake Sulley (Sam Worthington) was permanently transferred into his Navi Avatar and became the leader of the Omaticaya along with his mate Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Together they have three biological children, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain …
A family tries to deal with the aftermath of an “Airborne Toxic Event” in White Noise. Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) is a college professor living with his fourth wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig) and their four children. The lives of the family change when a railway tank car crashes outside of town, releasing an unknown toxin …
Santa Claus digs into his dark side to save a family from a group of mercenaries in Violent Night. Jason Lightstone (Alex Hassell) is a man from a wealthy family who is accompanied by his daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) and estranged wife Linda (Alexis Louder) to a holiday gathering at the estate of Jason’s mother …
A fictionalized version of the life of Marilyn Monroe is told in Blonde. As a child, Norma Jeane Mortenson was traumatized by the mental breakdown of her mother, Gladys Baker (Julianne Nicholson), leaving Norma to pine for the father she never knew. A decade later, Norma (Ana de Armas) is on the rise as blonde …
A young man pursues a career in filmmaking as his family life disintegrates in The Fabelmans. Since being taken to see The Greatest Show on Earth as a child, Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) has had a growing love of filmmaking. Excused as a hobby by his computer engineer father, Burt (Paul Dano), Sammy finds support …
Baz Luhrmann directs a biopic of the King of Rock and Roll with Elvis. Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) is a former carnie, who has moved into the music business managing country singer Hank Snow (David Wenham). Hank’s son Jimmie Rodgers (Kodi Smit-McPhee) brings to Parker’s attention Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), a new young signee …
A young girl with the telekinetic ability to start fires goes on the run with her father in Firestarter. When they were younger, Andy McGee (Zac Efron) and his wife Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) were subjects of a drug trial conducted by Dr. Joseph Wanless (Kurtwood Smith), which gave them telepathic and telekinetic abilities respectively. These …
A Chinese immigrant woman goes on an adventure through the multiverse in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a Chinese owner of a struggling laundromat, who is undergoing a tax audit while her marriage to her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) begins to crumble. In addition, Evelyn’s disapproving father Gong Gong …
A unhappily married man becomes a suspect in the disappearances of his promiscuous wife’s lovers in Deep Water. Vic (Ben Affleck) and Melinda (Ana de Armas) are a unhappily married couple, who are avoiding divorce with an arrangement that allows Melinda to see various lovers on the side. This results in a seething jealously in …
A family enters a mournful state after their android helper breaks down in After Yang. Jake (Colin Farrell) and Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith) are a couple who acquired an android named Yang (Justin H. Min) to be a sibling for their adopted daughter Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja), in order to help her connect with her Chinese …
A 17th-century nun enters into a forbidden relationship with another member of her convent in Benedetta. Benedetta Carlini (Virginie Efira) is an extremely devout young woman, who as a child was admitted into a convent run by Sister Felicita (Charlotte Rampling). Benedetta has repeated versions of Jesus and she comes to be viewed as saintly …
A woman marries into the powerful fashion dynasty in House of Gucci. Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) is a young woman working at her father’s trucking company, who at a party meets Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), the son of Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons), who co-owns the Gucci fashion house with his brother Aldo (Al Pacino). Despite …
A family discovers that they are rapidly aging on a secluded beach in Old. Guy (Gael García Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) have traveled to the isolated Anamika Resort with their young children Maddox and Trent. After being impressed by the resort’s hospitality, the family is recommended that they visit a nearby isolated beach by the …
A couple’s romantic getaway is disrupted the arrival of an older couple in The Beach House. Randal (Noah Le Gros) arrives with his girlfriend Emily (Liana Liberato) at his family’s beachfront property to reconnect with each other. However, it isn’t long until they discover that the house is also being occupied by Mitch (Jake Weber) …
A woman decides to investigate a 25-year-old kidnapping case in Clifton Hill. Following her mother’s death, Abby (Tuppence Middleton) returns home to Niagara Falls, where she is asked by her estranged sister Laure (Hannah Gross) to sign the documents finalizing the sale of the rundown Rainbow Inn to local developer Charlie Lake (Eric Johnson), whose …
As an appropriate end to my yearlong venture through classic Canadian cinema, this month I watched Don McKellar’s 1998 apocalyptic dark comedy Last Night. In six hours time, the world will come to an end at the stroke of midnight. Patrick (Don McKellar) is content with facing the end alone in his apartment. However, he comes …
From director Jean-Marc Vallée (Café de Flore, Dallas Buyers Club) comes this drama based on the memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) is a young woman desperate to escape her troubled life of drug use and promiscuous sex. As her way to find herself, …
It’s a very special revisiting post for you today. Ten years ago today, I finally saw Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko for the first time after months of trying. The film was a victim somewhat of 9/11, in which it was essentially buried during its original theatrical release in October 2001. It wasn’t until it was …
My last post, in which I reminisced on the many different Toronto-area cinemas I frequented, was quite well-received so I decided that I would write a follow-up post, listing more of the theatres that I have been to. Like I’ve said in the last post, I’ve probably been to most Toronto cinemas at least once (though there’s …
The second film I saw at Canada’s Top Ten also happened to be the film that won Best Canadian Film at the last film festival. Edwin Boyd is a film that tells the story of the notorious Canadian bank robber of the same name. The film tells how Edwin Boyd (played by Scott Speedman) got into …