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Nika & Madison Review: TIFF 2025
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In Canada, we have an ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. According to research done by Statistics Canada, women of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit descent are six times more likely to be murdered than their non-Indigenous counterparts. They also face assault, both physical and sexual, at disproportionately higher rates, and the perpetrators are…
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“Modern Whore” Is an Entertaining and Necessary Doc on Sex Work | ForReel
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Sex work is work. Let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. Society has traditionally looked down on sex work, and in particular sex workers, for various reasons rooted in dubious morality (and religion), but the fact remains that sex work is work, and sex workers are deserving of respect and…
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Before The Naked Gun, ‘Police Squad!’ Was on the Case (Review) | Movies We Texted About
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The filmmaking trio of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (better known as Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker or ZAZ) made their mark on cinema early in their careers. They began with The Kentucky Fried Movie, an anthology film of sketch comedy that did quite well critically and commercially, and then with their sophomore effort, they all but created a genre of film. Airplane!, released…
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“Noviembre” Is a Gripping Tour De Force That Turns History Into Harrowing Theatrical Experience | ForReel
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On November 6th, 1985, a left-wing guerrilla group called Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19, for short) stormed the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Colombia. The intent was to hold the Justices of the Supreme Court hostage and force a trial against President Belisario Betancur. What happened instead was one of the deadliest attacks in…
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Meadowlarks Review: TIFF 2025 | That Shelf
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In Canada, we like to think of ourselves as progressive and inclusive and, relative to other nations today, we most likely are. That hasn’t always been true; our history is littered with heinous events and policies that persecuted the Indigenous peoples of this country. One of the main efforts to erase Indigenous identity and…
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“Burning” and the Art of Captivating Storytelling | ForReel
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Storytelling has been a part of the human experience since the dawn of time. From cave paintings to campfire stories to novels to film, at our core, we want and need to tell stories, and our memory is key to the process. What we write is informed by our remembered experiences, as is how…
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Spike Lee Retrospective: “Inside Man” | ForReel
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Spike Lee is best known for racially and politically charged dramas like Do the Right Thing, He Got Game, Da 5 Bloods, and BlacKkKlansman. While these are some of the films that he might be best remembered for, he was not above more studio-friendly fare. In 2006, he also made one of the slickest…
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Eenie Meanie Is a Perfect Work Night Movie | Awesome Friday!
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Heist movies are fun. There are few things as satisfying in cinema as a well-executed plan coming to fruition, and the thieves that execute said plan making their getaway into the sunset. It’s even better if they’re driving a cool car, and get to do a bunch of cool stunts. Eenie Meanie, the directorial…
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DEVO Are Fearlessly Unique, but Their Netflix Documentary Isn’t | Exclaim!
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The story of DEVO is one of art and protest. For many, it doesn’t feel this way; the band’s one enduring hit seems to be, on its surface, one of their silliest. An uptempo hit with nonsense lyrics encouraging people to solve their issues by “whipping it,” it also satirizes late-’70s and early-’80s American optimism and…
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East of Wall: An Endearing Story of Loss and Redemption | KeithLovesMovies
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The old west was a place of wonder and possibility, where one could hop on a horse with little more than the clothes on their back and a few supplies and head out to find their destiny. The new West has lost this. Now a land of established farms and ranches, one might head…
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Weapons Review: Zach Cregger Weaves a Horrifying, Hilarious, Human Story of Trauma and Grief | Awesome Friday!
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Weapons is not a subtle film. It is not difficult to draw a line from its premise -that one night at 2.17 in the morning, 17 children from the same elementary school class woke up, got out of bed, walked out the front door of their homes, and vanished into the darkness like a…
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Foreigner Review: A Slick, Bubblegum Horror About Immigrant Experiences | That Shelf
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Starting a new life in a new city is difficult. Moving takes time, money, and effort. You leave your support circle behind, and start fresh in a new place with few—if any—friends. It is a challenge, to say the least. Then consider that younger people also have to go to a new school in a new…
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Lurker Review: Théodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe Shine in an Exploration of Obsession | Awesome Friday!
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Obsession is one of the great literary themes. One person in a position of power, another aspiring to attain it, a relationship between them evolving from fascination to camaraderie and into something else. Alex Russell, writer on such series as The Bear, Interior Chinatown, and Beef, takes on this classic setup in his first feature film, Lurker. …
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‘Buffet Infinity’ Review – A Mildly Chaotic But Unique and Singular Film | Movies We Texted About
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There are movies, and there are movies, and then there are the wild and experimental films that use the cinematic form to tell a story in a way that only filmmaking can. Buffet Infinity is one of this third type. Set in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Buffet Infinity plays out as a series of local news…
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Marvel’s Eyes of Wakanda is Fun, Thoughtful, Gorgeous, and Too Short | Awesome Friday!
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Marvel is, according to most, at a bit of a crossroads. We spent a few years saturated in their stories post-Avengers: Endgame, and that time has left most of us a bit jaded thanks to what felt like a focus on quantity over quality. In 2025, they’ve promised to get back to a focus…