-
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Takes Another Look at Marvel’s Most Enduring Character | Awesome Friday!
Spider-Man is Marvel’s most enduring character. If you’re not sure what I mean by that, not only has he had ongoing comic book series since the 1960s, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth standalone entry in its particular series, which rebooted the series for the second time in the last two decades…
-
Christopher Nolan’s Films Ranked from Worst to Best | Exclaim!
If the definition of a great film is three greats scenes and no bad ones, then Christopher Nolan’s filmography being (at least) five great films and no bad ones must put him in the conversation as one of the best filmmakers of our time, if not all time. He has produced a dozen films since…
-
‘Spider-Noir’ Is Peak Nicolas Cage | Exclaim!
“New York City. I was born here, learned to fight here, and fell in love here. A mistake I’ll never make again,” narrates Nicolas Cage in the opening moments of Spider-Noir. Delivered in a pitch-perfect mid-Atlantic accent, Spider-Man climbs a building wearing a trench coat and a fedora, all shot in sumptuous black and white. If this doesn’t excite…
-
‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ Does It All Again, but More | Awesome Friday!
Ready or Not is a near-perfect concept for a high-concept horror film. A young woman marries into a rich family. It turns out they are Satan worshippers, and as part of the family initiation, she ends up playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek. Namely, she hides while they all try to kill her as…
-
Daredevil: Born Again Season Two Review: The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is Back for More | That Shelf
The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is back for more.In the first season finale, Daredevil: Born Again left its pieces scattered across the board. Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), was firmly entrenched as the mayor and had declared martial law. Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton) is caged in an underground prison. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva)…
-
‘Maya & Samar’ Can’t Transcend Its Limited Perspective | Exclaim!
There are few things more frustrating than a film that just misses the mark. One made with care and sincerity, building its way toward a thoughtful message that then fails to land. Goodwill and beautiful visuals can go a long way, but if a film has something to say and can’t quite say it, it ends up…
-
‘Youngblood’ Is a Sincere, if Familiar, Hockey Drama | Northern Reel
Sports are one of the prime frameworks upon which to build a cinematic story. Sports, at their core, are pure expressions of the human struggle to improve oneself and overcome struggles born from both within and without. They’re simple to understand but complicated to master, but just as often, the true answer is for…
-
The Good, The Bad, The Weird | The LAMBCast
Always looking for odd take on cinema, the LAMB Community chose as it’s Western Genre movie for March, a non-western western. What may be called a kimchi western, since it comes from Korean Director Kim Jee-woon and features a setting in Manchuria in the 1930s as opposed to the American west after the civil…
-
‘Montreal, My Beautiful’ Is a Beautiful Film About Learning to Live Life Unencumbered | Northern Reel
It starts with a language class. Journeys of self-discovery often start with small steps. In the case of Feng Xia (Joan Chen), it begins when her daughter Joy (Pei Yao Xu), about to graduate high school and leave the nest, points out that she won’t be around to translate forever. Feng Xia has been…
-
‘Hair of the Bear’ Plays Cat and Mouse in a Manitoba Winter | Northern Reel
Canada is a land of extremes. Our whole nation offers rugged outdoor adventure, but there are many places where merely existing can be a struggle against nature. Eastern Manitoba, in the dead of winter, is one of those places. A stark, beautiful, frozen landscape where knowing how to work with the elements is mandatory just to sustain…
-
‘Sweetness’ Sings a Song of Obsession | Northern Reel
Each of us only gets to be a teenager once. Our bodies coursing with hormones and our minds rapidly filling with new information, this is a time that can be chaotic emotionally as we navigate the world while developing into the people we’re going to be. This chaos, which is formative, is obviously difficult…
-
‘In Cold Light’ Is an Excellently Performed, Average Film | Northern Reel
In Cold Light’s best scene is a confrontation between Maika Monroe’s Ava and her father, Troy Kotsur’s Will. She, fresh out of prison and on the run from a crooked cop chasing her for a crime she didn’t commit, and he, bitter and resentful at his family being torn asunder, have the conversation that…
-
‘La Grazia’ Highlights Two Masters | Awesome Friday!
How do we measure our legacy? This is the question at the heart of Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, the story of an Italian President facing down his last six months in office, and pondering what his legacy might be. Mariano De Santis (Toni Servillo) is a man of great repute. A steady, even-tempered…
-
‘This Too Shall Pass’ Takes a Nostalgic, Heartfelt Journey to Ottawa | Northern Reel
A staple of filmmaking, the coming-of-age story works because, regardless of circumstances, we can all relate to the story being told. Whether we’re young and needing affirmation, or old and needing reminding, a story of a young person going on a quest and finding themselves in the process is one we can all see…
-
‘Whistle’ is a Call to Horror Fans but Perhaps No One Else | Movies We Texted About
There are many subgenres of horror, but one of the most reliable is the “kids eff around and find out”. It’s a reliable setup that doesn’t require much work from filmmakers or the audience to make for a good time at the movies, even if the film we’re talking about isn’t that good to…