The Wolf of Snow Hollow: Movie Review

Idiosyncratic comedy with the makings of a thriller/horror and a character study.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is a curious little movie. Part comedy, part horror, part thriller, part murder mystery, part character study, and all within a sub-90-minute runtime. The dialogue, primarily where the comedy comes in, is great; and the set-up for the murder mystery/thriller is good. The meshing of all the themes together got very muddled by the end and the conclusion is not wholly satisfying.		2020 Directed by: Jim Cummings Screenplay by: Jim Cummings Starring: Jim Cummings, Riki Lindhome, Robert Forster

Holidate: Movie Review

A romantic comedy missing that crucial element of humour.

Emma Roberts has built herself a nice career. A long string of comedies – some hits, some nots, but peppers them with roles that have a real bite to them like Scream Queens and American Horror Story. Such that when she returns to a typical romantic comedy, it feels like home. There’s a comfort level to casting Roberts and Luke Bracey in a holiday-themed romantic comedy, and that’s why Holidate will get its audience.		2020 Directed by: John Whitesell Screenplay by: Tiffany Paulsen Starring: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey

An Imperfect Murder: Movie Review

Lacking a narrative, purpose, intrigue and everything that comes with that.

Whatever this movie was supposed to be, or whatever it once was, it’s not that. Originally titled The Private Life of a Modern Woman and playing the Venice Film Festival in 2017, it gets released three years later and renamed An Imperfect Murder. Never a good sign. I have no idea what made somebody dust this film off the shelf, but it should have remained buried.		2017 Directed by: James Toback Screenplay by: James Toback Starring: Sienna Miller, Alec Baldwin

Shithouse: Movie Review

A true-to-life college experience with heart and vulnerability.

Cooper Raiff is a first-time filmmaker with Shithouse. It’s a small story, but one that is told with a lot of heart and a knack at hitting the awkward truths of college life. Alex (Cooper Raiff) is struggling. In general, struggling with everything about college. He’s not going to classes, failing when he does, he has a roommate who is actively awful to him and he has no friends. His only companionship is his mother and a stuffed animal.		2020 Directed by: Cooper Raiff Screenplay by: Cooper Raiff Starring: Cooper Raiff, Dylan Gelula, Logan Miller and Amy Landecker

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Movie Review

Make Borat great again.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan seemed like lightning in a bottle. Something that can’t be repeated and the humour wouldn’t translate to another year. Oh, how wrong that was. Sacha Baron Cohen and his fellow Borat writers and producers have made a true comedy sequel. One that picks up where the original left off and made it funnier and more relevant to today.		2020 Directed by: Jason Woliner Story by: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova

Don't Read This on a Plane: Movie Review

Slow moving and bizarrely plotted, but Jovana has her charms.

Don’t Read This on a Plane borrows its title from the book at the center of the film. And yes, it is named that for a reason. The protagonist is Jovana (Sophie Desmerais) this is her third novel, but her publisher has abruptly gone bankrupt and left her stranded on her book tour. This is very slow, and very bizarrely plotted, but builds to a strangely satisfying story.		2020 Directed by: Stuart McBratney Screenplay by: Stuart McBratney Starring: Sophie Desmerais

The Trial of the Chicago 7: Movie Review

A fascinating period of time, molded into an entertaining movie.

Aaron Sorkin has a way with words. I love his dialogue which always has this natural rhythm and tempo in line with the importance of what the characters have to say, that the audience just falls in sync. I was expecting it to be enlightening, but the suspense and tension is also notable and builds to a very captivating experience.		2020 Directed by: Aaron Sorkin Screenplay by: Aaron Sorkin Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Jeremy Strong

She's In Portland: Movie Review

Awful characters who don't have anything worthwhile to say.

She’s In Portland suggests there’s a mystique to this titular girl who gets an entire movie made around the journey to see her. But after all the girls we meet on the way to Portland, I really have to question how many girls do the filmmakers actually know? Do they think all girls are manic pixie dream girls? The use of that term will die down once filmmakers stop employing them.		2020 Directed by: Marc Carlini Screenplay by: Patrick Alexander, Marc Carlini Starring: Tommy Dewey, Francois Arnaud

Seberg: Movie Review

Tense, enlightening and heartbreaking.

Seberg is a sublime mix of biopic and FBI thriller. Set in the 1960s, Hollywood and European actress Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) is on a flight back to LA from Paris and meets Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie), an outspoken civil rights activist, and Jean watching blatant racial discrimination right in front of her eyes, decides she can’t be silent anymore, and joins in a simple protest.		2019 Directed by: Benedict Andrews Screenplay by: Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jack O'Connell

Misbehaviour: Movie Review

Gratifying entertainment in the hands of talented women.

There have been a lot of recent period pieces that seem just as timely and relevant today. Misbehaviour fits very nicely in that category. A story of activists centered around the 1970 Miss World competition tackling misogynism and racism. It’s led by a really fun group of actresses and hits all the right notes even if it’s not as big a film as others would like.		2020 Directed by: Philippa Lowthorpe Screenplay by: Rebecca Frayn, Gaby Chiappe Starring: Keira Knightley, Jessie Buckley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Rhys Ifans

You've Got This: Movie Review

A nicely photographed dramedy with immature contrivances and one-dimensional characters.

You’ve Got This is a Mexican romantic dramedy. The production value is high, filled with some nicely photographed locales. The emotion in the romantic drama aspect is earned as the film gets deeper. However, apart from a few funny lines, the humour was mostly filled with immature contrivances, and despite some solid effort from the actors, the characters are mostly one-dimensional.		2020 Directed by: Salvador Espinosa Screenplay by: Tiare Scanda, Leonardo Zimbron Starring: Tato Alexander, Moises Arizmendi