Detective Chinatown 1900: Movie Review

What could have been a fascinating dissection of a murder mystery with immigration policies at stake, instead becomes a stupid action comedy.

Detective Chinatown 1900, about the murder of a white woman and a Chinese man as the main suspect in San Francisco’s Chinatown at the turn of the century, has a wildly different tone than that story suggests. Reasonably, one would expect an historical crime drama. The solving of a murder while cultural differences and immigrant backlash playout dictating public and political perceptions. It’s not that movie. This is a fictional and farcical action comedy instead. Even after having watched the movie it’s still difficult to reconcile that genre with that story.		2025 Directed by: Sicheng Chen, Mo Dai Screenplay by: Sicheng Chen Starring: Haoran Liu, Baoqiang Wang

Grace Point: Movie Review

Indie thriller with a unique message.

Grace Point is small dirt town in the middle of nowhere, but it happens to be where father and son stop for gas and a washroom break on the way to Promise Valley, a rehab center. Brandon (John Owen Lowe) is a typical rich kid, gets into drugs and is still pissed off at the world after his father uses his wealth and privilege to get him out of jail and into rehab instead.		2023 Directed by: Rory Karpf Screenplay by: Rory Karpf, Paul Russell Smith Starring: John Owen Lowe, Andrew McCarthy

Companion: Movie Review

A fun and twisty time in our near-future society.

There are so many spoilers for Companion out there already, but it’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. If you are at all curious, stop reading now, go see it and enjoy the gasps and chuckles from the audience with each new twist. For those who need a bit more information, it’s a mostly violent, blood-filled horror/thriller/science fiction/comedy making fun of the directions that men are taking our society.		2025 Directed by: Drew Hancock Screenplay by: Drew Hancock Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid

Disfluency: Movie Review

A well-written look at trauma interrupting education.

The title Disfluency refers to speech interruptions which the lead character, Jane (Libe Barer) – a budding speech therapist, is learning about in school. It’s her final semester of university but instead of graduating, she’s on her way home. As cryptic flashbacks (which eventually become clearer) show us, nightmares inhibited her from attending class so she flunked out and her parents came to pick her up.		2021 (2025) Directed by: Anna Baumgarten Screenplay by: Anna Baumgarten Starring: Libe Barer, Ariela Barer

Presence: Movie Review

A story about a ghost and a family.

The camera moves slowly and then quickly through the house, smooth but unorthodox motions – as if it is a ghost. And that’s because it is a ghost. Presence tells the story of a family who have just moved into a new house, all from the point of view of a ghost, a presence, living in that house with them. But let’s get one thing clear: contrary to the marketing, this is not a horror movie; this is a family drama disguised as a ghost story.		2024 Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Screenplay by: David Koepp Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan

The Calendar Killer: Movie Review

An unsettling thriller relentlessly questioning trust and paranoia.

The Calendar Killer tells a story about a woman being hunted by a serial killer intertwined with themes including paranoia, domestic violence, mental health and suicide. It ultimately has an important message which comes after a very unsettling and unnerving hour and a half of nobody ever feeling safe, and constantly questioning who to trust, if you can trust anybody.		2024 Directed by: Adolfo J. Kolmerer Screenplay by: Sebastien Fitzek, Susanne Schneider Starring: Luise Heyer, Sabin Tambrea

Better Man: Movie Review

A creative and inventive way to tell a traditional biopic.

Well, one thing is certain, you have never seen a biopic that looks like this. Using a CGI monkey in place of pop star Robbie Williams is a creative and inventive way to turn a traditional biopic into a surreal and thoroughly entertaining musical extravaganza. And you’ll never see it again. It’s a fantastic gimmick that will work exactly once and congratulations to director Michael Gracey and executive producer Robbie Williams for pulling it off.		2024 Directed by: Michael Gracey Screenplay by: Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole, Michael Gracey Starring: Robbie Williams, Steve Pemberton