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VIFF 2024: Inedia & It’s What’s Inside (& Transformers One) | Awesome Friday Podcast
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Greetings programs! On this week’s show, we’re taking on two exciting films. First up, a BC shot indie film that played as part of the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival, Inedia. Then we turn our attention to a new Netflix release, the single-location mystery movie It’s What’s Inside. Both films are exciting for some…
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VIFF 2024: Lucky Star & Conclave | Awesome Friday Podcast
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Greetings programs! Our favourite time of year is back; the Vancouver International Film Festival is on now! The 2024 edition features a ton of great films, and we’re here to talk about two of them: Gillian McKercher’s family drama Lucky Star and Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front follow-up Conclave. It’s a…
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Seeds & His Three Daughters | Awesome Friday Podcast
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Greetings, programs! This week on the show, we’re talking about Seeds, Kaniehtiio Horn’s directorial debut, which premiered at TIFF. Following that, we look at Azazel Phillip’s latest, His Three Daughters, which is now on Netflix. This episode was supposed to debut last week, but circumstances prevented that, so you’re getting it today! Double episode…
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Universal Language & Rebel Ridge | Awesome Friday Podcast
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Greetings, Programs! This week on the show, we’re looking at Canada’s official selection for the Academy Award for Best International Feature, Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language. It’s a singular piece of art that we have a lot to say about, and it premieres in Canada at TIFF this week! Following that, we look at Jeremy…
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Tribeca 2024: Darkest Miriam Explores Grief, and Those Moments Where We Feel Stuck | That Shelf
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There’s something relatable about those times when we feel listless, stuck, or unable to move forward. Sometimes, this is a response to a sudden loss or a not-so-sudden life experience, but most of us have been there at one time or another, at that place where forward momentum seems impossible to generate. From director…
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Tribeca 2024: ‘Group Therapy’ Review: Six Comedians Get Honest and Vulnerable About Mental Health | Movies We Texted About
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Comedy is one of the great cultural forces. It is, in many ways, the great equalizer. In the hands of a talented performer, comedy speaks truth to power, whether that means mocking our leaders or finding commonality in the human experience. It’s the latter of these that filmmaker Neil Berkeley’s latest documentary, Group Therapy, in which six…
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Tribeca 2024: Presumed Innocent Updates the 90s Classic With Mixed Results | That Shelf
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Where the series falters is in its updates to the story. For fans of the original, some characters are removed or re-positioned. Case in point: there’s no Sandy Sterns in this version (though maybe it’s a good idea not to try to top Raúl Juliá). There are also several red herrings that go nowhere,…
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Tribeca 2024: The Weekend Is a Thrilling Film About the Horrors of Family Dinner | That Shelf
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You don’t choose your family. Some of us are blessed with loving homes, and others come from complicated situations. The Weekend, a fun new thriller from Nigeria, features one hell of a complicated situation. Nikya (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) is an orphan, but she’s begun the journey of starting a new family with her fiance, Luc (Bucci…
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Tribeca 2024: ‘Beacon’ Review: A Novel Setting, but A Disappointing Misfire | Movies We Texted About
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[…] The first half of the film does a good job of setting up the two lone characters in opposition.Emily is suspicious of Ismael, the lone and lonely man living in this remote place, and Ismael is wary of Emily because of a steadfast belief in the supernatural, going so far as to warn her not to brush her…
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Tribeca 2024: ‘Brats’: Andrew McCarthy Looks for Closure | Movies We Texted About
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In the mid-1980s, Andrew McCarthy starred in a number of highly successful teen films. You’ve probably heard of at least two of them: St. Elmo’s Fire and Pretty in Pink. He and several other young actors were positioned at exactly the right time and place to create a cultural moment. Teen stories were smart, popular, honest, and fun in ways they hadn’t been before, and…
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Tribeca 2024: ‘All That We Love’ Offers a Familiar Portrait of Grief and Awkward Family Dynamics | That Shelf
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There are few things in life as devastating as the loss of a pet. Pets are members of our family, our companions, and unlike people, pets (dogs especially) always offer their love unconditionally. A loss like this can leave a person reeling, and no matter what our societal norms around them are, they are…
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The Burning Season & May December at Whistler Film Festival 2023 | Awesome Friday Podcast
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Greetings, patrons! This week, we’re covering the 2023 Whistler Films Festival, one of the most interesting festivals in the Pacific Northwest because it so often features great Canadian content. We’re covering our usual two films, both playing as part of the fest. First up is the new Canadian relationship drama The Burning Season and then…
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Reel Asian Festival: We Will Be Brave | That Shelf
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It also follows them as they create art installations and experiences for their community, portrayed with noble intent. Unfortunately, the impact of these events is never investigated excepting how it affects the The Good Guise themselves. Herein lies the biggest problem with We Will Be Brave: its scope feels too limited. These five men are…
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VIFF 2023: I Used to Be Funny: Rachel Sennott Continues Her Hot Streak in Ally Pankiw’s New Film | That Shelf
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The movie is ultimately Sennott’s show and she carries it with the confidence of a seasoned performer. The story sees her tackle more than a few complicated subjects. Through it all, she makes Sam believable, sympathetic, and, when the script calls for it, hilarious. It is an excellent performance that anchors I Used to Be…
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VIFF 2023: “Anatomy of a Fall” and the Anatomy of an Exceptional Courtroom Drama | ForReel
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The cast is universally excellent, […] Samuel Theis and Sandra Hüller, in one of the film’s best scenes, have a violent argument (which is recorded and the audio played for the court) in which they discuss the balance of their lives and responsibilities. This scene feels like it could be taken from almost any…