This is a banner for a review of Murderbot Season 1 Episode 6, Command Feed. Image courtesy of Apple TV+.

‘Murderbot’ Season 1, Episode 6: Command Feed

This mid-series run of Murderbot is some of the tightest episodes of television in a while. This episode also contains a great deal of humour, backrubs, some awfully graphic surgery, and then some even more graphic violence. The tonal shifts flow more naturally than that description sounds, which is especially …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of DUI Shaw. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Dui Shaw’ Film Review: Nuhash Humayun’s Folklore-fueled Anthology Runs the Tonal Gamut

Dui Shaw, courtesy of Bangladeshi writer-director Nuhash Humayun – who made history as the first filmmaker from Bangladesh to cop an Oscar nomination for the post-apocalyptic short film Moshari (2022), executive produced by horror master Jordan Peele and Sound of Metal star Riz Ahmed – locates grimy, cyclic folklores in …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the movie Every Heavy Thing. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Every Heavy Thing’ Film Review: Mickey Reece’s Big Tech Thriller is a Surreal Trip

Every Heavy Thing, the latest feature from prolific indie auteur Mickey Reece which just had its world premiere at Fantasia 2025, is a pulsing technothriller propelled by daring Lynchian experimentations. Essentially, it feels like a standalone Black Mirror episode reckoning with the threat of Big Tech in American suburbs. Mounted …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the film Touch me. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Touch Me’ Film Review

Touch Me is the sophomore effort by Addison Heimann. The director premiered with Hypochondriac, a 2022 release. His new film is another addition to the tendency of contemporary horror films to use genre conventions to tackle trauma and abuse. In his latest film, Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is a traumatized …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Blazing Fists. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Blazing Fists’ Film Review – A Visceral Work by the Master Takashi Miike

Japanese director Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific directors alive. In 2025, he released three films: Shin Abarenbo Shogun, Sham, and Blazing Fists. He is known for his signature in his work, which usually merges genres. In Blazing Fists, Miike crafts a martial arts film that combines fighting, …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the movie Hellcat. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Hellcat’ Film Review: Dakota Gorman is a Visceral Force in Brock Bodell’s Suffocating Survival Horror

Brock Bodell’s feature directorial debut, Hellcat, which made its world premiere at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival, is a chamber survival horror-thriller that manages to be effectively tense and visceral despite a premise that we’ve come across a few too many times before. Produced and shot entirely in Nashville, …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of $POSITIONS. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘$POSITIONS’ Review: Brandon Daley’s Compelling First Feature Film

$POSITIONS is the debut feature by Brandon Daley, after his three short films: Savasana (2015), Chicken Tuesdays (2017), and Technology Lake: Meditations on Death and Sex (2019). In his first feature directorial effort, the director explores the world of cryptocurrencies and the allure of making easy money online. He sets …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of OBEX. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘OBEX’ Film Review – Albert Birney’s Homage to Early Video Games

The American indie director Albert Birney has had a prolific career in the last few years. He is releasing his sixth feature film, OBEX. Birney released before Strawberry Mansion, Tux and Fanny, Sylvio, Eyeballs in the Darkness, and The Beast Pageant. The director uses the 1980s setting to tell his …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Hold the Fort. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Hold the Fort’ Film Review: A Silly Monster Mayhem with a B-movie Charm

A horror-comedy that perfectly evokes the schlocky charm and madness of B-movies has been a rare sight since the last decade, save of course for Shin’ichirō Ueda’s 2017 low-budget film-within-a-film comedy, One Cut of the Dead, the last ingenious and delightfully funny effort I could name and recommend. Something you …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Lurker. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Lurker’ Review – Théodore Pellerin’s Superb Film Performance

Lurker is the debut feature by Alex Russell. He is an Emmy winner for his work as a supervising producer in Netflix’s miniseries, Beef. Besides the show with Ali Wong and Steve Yeun, the young screenwriter penned episodes of FX’s Dave and The Bear. In 2017, Russell wrote a feature …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the film Buffet Infinity. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Buffet Infinity’ Review – A Mildly Chaotic But Unique and Singular Film

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 …

Read more

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

‘One to One: John & Yoko’ Film Review: Lennon, Politically

Academy Award-winning director Kevin MacDonald has returned to documentary filmmaking after a series of fiction works, including The Mauritanian and How I Live Now, among others. His last three works were documentaries: High and Low – John Galliano, Last Song From Kabul, and One to One: John & Yoko. In …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of She Rides Shotgun. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘She Rides Shotgun’ Movie Review: Ana Sophia Heger Delivers a Star-Making Performance

Based on the novel of the same name by Jordan Harper, She Rides Shotgun follows Nate McClusky (Taron Egerton, Rocketman), an ex-convict who is forced to kidnap his 11-year-old daughter, Polly (Ana Sophia Heger), to protect her from a hit order issued by a neo-Nazi gang after Nate killed their …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of The Naked Gun. Image courtesy of Paramount.

‘The Naked Gun’ Movie Review: Making People Laugh Is Still a Noble Cinematic Goal

Over the decades, slapstick comedy and deadpan humor have become increasingly rare. In a cinematic landscape where physical satire and innocent laughter have given way to biting irony or postmodern self-referential humor, the return of the The Naked Gun franchise feels like a breath of fresh air… or, forgive me, …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Murderbot Season 1 Episode 5. Image courtesy of Apple TV+.

‘Murderbot’ Season 1, Episode 5: Rogue War Tracker Infinite

Before the review begins: an apology. I originally misgendered Murderbot in my reviews of the previous four episodes, which have now been corrected. A publicist got in touch to inform us that Murderbot has no gender; I should not have presumed the gender of the human actor playing it had …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Happy Gilmore 2. Image courtesy of Netflix.

‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Movie Review: Adam Sandler Swings Back with Boozy Gags, Big Cameos, and ’90s Absurdity

There are films that, regardless of their cinematic quality, earn a very special place in the hearts of audiences. Happy Gilmore (1996), starring Adam Sandler and co-written with Tim Herlihy, is one such case. Much like many of Sandler’s comedies from the ’90s and early 2000s, it didn’t stand out …

Read more