One Night Only: Movie Review

A bold rom-com with minimal romance and comedy.

One Night Only as stated in the famous line in the trailer is set during “the one night of the year single people are legally allowed to have sex.” Which really just begs so many questions. How? How is it enforced? Why is this a law? How did it arise? Is it a federal law or state law? Going into this I had very little faith that these questions would be answered or at least answered satisfactorily.		2026 Directed by: Will Gluck Screenplay by: Travis Braun Starring: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner

The Invite: Movie Review

Bitingly hilarious and then emotional and sad.

In a large apartment in San Francisco, Angela (Olivia Wilde) is busy getting their place ready for a dinner party with their upstairs neighbours. Joe (Seth Rogen) comes home from work and just wants to lie on the floor; he has a sore back, the new bike his wife got him is impractical and small, and he forgot to pick up wine for tonight’s dinner party. Angela insists she told him about it yesterday, he doesn’t believe her.		2026 Directed by: Olivia Wilde Screenplay by: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones Starring: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton

Let's Love: Movie Review

A rom-com premise that goes nowhere.

Let’s Love has a great premise: the cast and filmmakers of a once popular romantic comedy have reunited in Wales for a 10-year anniversary fan convention. But when they arrive they discover there was a scheduling problem and a lack of interest problem, no tickets were sold and the event no longer exists. They want to talk to the man in charge, Jerry, the producer who works for the studio, but Jerry won’t be there for a few more days.		2026 Directed by: Jamie Adams Screenplay by: Jamie Adams Starring: Malin Akerman, Josh Hutcherson, Jess Weixler, and Martin Freeman

Tuner: Movie Review

Capitalism and consumerism, trauma and redemption, and Leo Woodall in a career-best performance.

Tuner is a smash hit. And I hope that sentence remains true in the box office sense, it deserves to and has the potential to bring audiences to the theater. With an original story and thoroughly entertaining (and unique) characters, Tuner quietly (and sometimes very loudly) packs a punch. It touches on capitalism and consumerism, trauma and redemption, and it doesn’t need to go deeper because it has a full plot and confidence in its complete approach.		2025 Directed by: Daniel Roher Screenplay by: Daniel Roher, Robert Ramsey Starring: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, and Havana Rose Liu

At the Place of Ghosts: Movie Review

Real trauma, supernatural beliefs, beautifully realized.

Fantasy horror movies can be a tough sell, mostly because it’s nonsense by definition, but each now and then one comes along because it makes it about something else. The fantasy elements are rooted in real beliefs, and the horror elements are just how it’s presented, leaving you with a rather compelling story steeped in atmosphere and indigenous mythology.		2025 Directed by: Bretten Hannam Screenplay by: Bretten Hannam Starring: Blake Alec Miranda, Forrest Goodluck

Middle Life: Movie Review

A loud, brash, bizarre rom-com.

Middle Life is a mid-life crisis rom-com from Canadian filmmaker Pavan Moondi. Andie (Leah Fay Goldstein) is in her mid-30s, married, has a baby at home and is struggling to get back to work as a wedding planner. She doesn’t like work much anymore but that’s because she’s not busy after having taken off more than a year to have and raise her baby. She doesn’t like her husband much anymore since the baby didn’t seem to disrupt his life the way it did hers. She’s not happy so she’s just going to sit around a complain instead of changing anything.		2025 Directed by: Pavan Moondi Screenplay by: Pavan Moondi Starring: Leah Fay Goldstein, Peter Dreimanis

Little Lorraine: Movie Review

A dark, devastating tale of community, morality and drug smuggling.

Little Lorraine is named after the small town it’s set in. Based on a true story, Little Lorraine is a small community settled on the Atlantic Coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The residents went to church, went fishing or worked in the mine until they were caught up in the center of a massive cocaine smuggling ring in the late 1980s and early 90s. I was wary of the crime drama aspect but I’m a sucker for the “based on a true story” tag. A drama that goes straight for the heart with the real men caught between a rock and a hard place.		2025 Directed by: Andy Hines Screenplay by: Andy Hines, Adam Baldwin Based on the song by Adam Baldwin Starring: Stephen Amell, Stephen McHattie, Auden Thornton

The Devil Wears Prada 2: Movie Review

A sequel with a perfect premise and then starts repeating itself.

For most of the last twenty years, the cast of The Devil Wears Prada has said they would return for a sequel if the right story presented itself. It is indeed the right story, or at least the right premise, and any sequel that can get off on the right foot can keep itself upright as it walks the rest of the way down the runway.		2026 Directed by: David Frankel Screenplay by: Aline Brosh McKenna Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway

Maya & Samar: Movie Review

Queer love meets cultural boundaries.

Maya & Samar is a Canadian-Greek movie telling the tale of a Canadian journalist and an Afghan stripper. Maya (Nicolette Pearse), is a young sex-positive journalist from Toronto. Her pieces tend to center around women and social causes, and she lives her life very in the moment, whatever drug or party she fancies at the time. She’s supposed to be on vacation, even hangs up on her boss since she intends to not work, but her work finds a way to always be involved.		2025 Directed by: Anita Doron Screenplay by: Tamara Berger Starring: Nicolette Pearse, Amanda Babaei Vieira

Hair of the Bear: Movie Review

A story of self-survival with extreme violence.

Tori (Malia Baker), a teenager dealing with past trauma and mental health issues, is being driven by her mother to her grandfather’s remote cabin. Tori can’t handle school, her mother can’t handle her, so she’s off to live with grandfather in the woods of Manitoba where hopefully she can learn any type of life skill. Grandfather Ben (Roy Dupuis) is a fantastic character. He’s not just a gruff older conservative, he’s also patient and empathetic. The perfect combination of self-sufficient and understanding.		2025 Directed by: James McLellan, Alexandre Trudeau Screenplay by: Alexandre Trudeau, James McLellan Starring: Malia Baker, Roy Dupuis

Nika & Madison: Movie Review

Two women take on the racist law enforcement.

Nika & Madison, two cousins and former best friends from the First Nations reserve, are brought back together when Madison is sexually assaulted by a white cop and Nika comes to her rescue, only for the two to have to go on the run when they realize their word means nothing with the entire system rigged against them. It’s a drama about racial injustices and how many women are suffering on their own.		2025 Directed by: Eva Thomas Screenplay by: Michael McGowan, Eva Thomas Starring: Ellyn Jade, Star Slade

Ice Skater (AKA: The Drift): Movie Review

At the edge of the world and believability.

Ice Skater pairs the simplicity of the beauty of the arctic with the harsh realities of surviving in the arctic. There is only one actor on screen, and there is only one plotline: survive. I am slightly over-simplifying it, but to make it clear, the entire movie is one person, Emily (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) vs nature. Emily is stranded alone an ice floe which broke off of a glacier and is now slowly drifting south.		2026 Directed by: Taavi Vartia Screenplay by: Taavi Vartia Starring: Thea Sofie Loch Næss

The Stars Between Us: Movie Review

A terribly written romance missing the romance.

Often when Hallmark goes for a niche hobby, it’s a better than average movie because there’s an authenticity or genuineness, assuming the writers and director share that hobby. The problem is astronomy doesn’t lend itself to this style very well – for instance, most physicists are introverts who don’t attend solar eclipse parties where they mingle and fall in love.		2026 Directed by: Tim Huddleston Screenplay by: Tim Huddleston Starring: Sarah Drew, Matt Long

I Don't Love You Anymore: Movie Review

A creative thriller twisting the three characters’ stories and lives.

A thriller that is a lot more interesting because of how it’s presented. If this was told straight, let’s say chronologically, it would be a boring, forgotten movie not even worth the 75 minutes of your time. But instead, I Don’t Love You Anymore tells this story in pieces, three different points of view that don’t even contradict one another but just adds another angle to consider where sympathies, empathies or guilt lies.		2025 Directed by: Mitch Marcus Screenplay by: Mitch Marcus Starring: Henri Esteve, Hope Lauren, and Marcus Henderson

One Mile: Chapter Two: Movie Review

The story continues with different angles and better flow of the action.

At the end of Chapter 1, Alex was at university, but Stanley, head of the violent cultists living on an island, had already tracked her there. It doesn’t take long for him to kidnap her, instigating a cat and mouse game of revenge with Danny. If you liked Chapter 1, you’re going to like Chapter 2. The action is a bit more evenly paced this time, and extends the story with a few different angles.		2026 Directed by: Adam Davidson Screenplay by: TJ Brady, John Hlavin, Rasheed Newson Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Amelie Hoeferle

Last Ride: Movie Review

A depressing tale of survival that just gets worse.

A survival tale about life and death that would not have to be a survival tale at all if it were not for teenage boys. Three American boys, young teenagers, are on vacation in Norway with two parents, but they run off to take a cable car ride up a mountain. The boys, behaving as teenage boys would, are immature with zero care of safety for others or themselves, so they goad a cable car operator into taking them up even though the lift has just closed for the day.		2026 Directed by: Cinqué Lee Screenplay by: Cinqué Lee Starring: Roman Griffin Davis, Felix Jamieson, Charlie Price

Firebreak: Movie Review

An explosive, tense and meditative drama-thriller about love and loss in the midst of a forest fire.

With a fire burning in the background, Firebreak tells a story about assisted dying and a grieving family driven to extreme measures in search of a missing girl and answers. It’s an odd, strangely compelling movie, but it’s original, very well produced and photographed and very well acted. This Spanish movie is so universal in its approach and story, it should have no problem finding a global audience.		2026 Directed by: David Victori Screenplay by: Javier Echániz, Asier Guerricaechebarria, Jon Iriarte Starring: Belen Cuesta, Enric Auquer

One Mile: Chapter One: Movie Review

Father and daughter bonding eventually leads to some action and violence.

When Chapter One and Chapter Two get released simultaneously and dumped on streaming it would be fair to be concerned that it’s only half a movie and/or really bad. One Mile: Chapter One is neither. It tells a complete story (even if it is a little choppy), and then sets you up for Chapter Two, but it’s not quite pay for two movies to get one movie which this type of release certainly suggests it could be.		2026 Directed by: Adam Davidson Screenplay by: TJ Brady, John Hlavin, Rasheed Newson Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Amelie Hoeferle

Because of Cupid: Movie Review

Cute and fun and a little bit of nonsense.

Hallmark movies are generally at their best when they’re realistic or at least based in something real, when they deviate from that and want to dabble in time travel or other sci fi nonsense, things go awry. Because of Cupid is about a pair of bartenders who accidentally create a magical love potion that they serve to their customers, creating unexpected relationships out of a concoction of mixology chemicals.		2026 Directed by: Liz Farrer Screenplay by: Sarah Montana Starring: Amy Groening, Evan Roderick

Kissing Is the Easy Part: Movie Review

A fun teen romance that’s heartfelt and enjoyable.

Jennifer Lawrence’s No Hard Feelings was faced with initial skepticism because of its premise of a high school boy’s parents paying an older woman to date him, but then received good reviews, audiences got on board, and people had fun with the plot that was in fact based in truth. But now Tubi’s Kissing Is the Easy Part, flips the premise, reverses the genders, and still keeps it fun despite arguably being further from reality.		2026 Directed by: Fawzia Mirza Screenplay by: Christine Duann, Rebecca Webb Starring: Paris Berelc, Asher Angel

Love Me Love Me: Movie Review

An Italian movie, starring primarily Italian actors, set at an Italian private school, and all the characters speak stilted English. Why? The movie makes a lame excuse that the school encourages English, but since when do teenagers do what schools ask of them especially outside of school? I suspect the real reason is because Americans don’t read subtitles so if an international romance is in English then it’s a much easier sell for Prime Video.		2026 Directed by: Roger Kumble Screenplay by: Veronica Galli, Serena Tateo Starring: Mia Jenkins, Pepe Barroso

Wuthering Heights: Movie Review

A strikingly cinematic reimagining of classic literature.

There is at least one filmmaker working today bold enough to take a classic work of English literature, strip it down to its bare bones, build it back up in lavish fashion, and then release it into the wilds of 21st century movie-goers and film critics. Much has been said about how the story is not faithful to the original novel, but very little has been said about how it stays true to the quintessential elements and then makes the story better.		2026 Directed by: Emerald Fennell Screenplay by: Emerald Fennell Based on the novel by Emily Brontë Starring: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver

The Way to You: Movie Review

Hallmark is at its best when it just takes two regular people and give them normal interests and hobbies and just let the characters get to know each other. Such is the case with The Way to You where Emma is a fine arts gallerist who does pottery to relax at home and Conrad is in finance with an interest in classic literature and goes running every morning for fun.		2026 Directed by: Norma Bailey Screenplay by: Nicole Baxter Starring: Kim Matula, Aaron O'Connell

Soul's Road: Movie Review

A simple, familiar story with lovely characters and music.

A story about redemption, about making amends while still reaching for your dream, Soul’s Road is a simple, but lovely, movie featuring well-worn characters and some good music. It also happens to be a Canadian independent film and now is a great time to support the Canadian indie film industry. While the story does get very simple and the film can be unpolished at times, it’s still an easy movie to watch, to lose yourself for a couple hours.		2025 Directed by: Joel Stewart Screenplay by: John K. MacDonald Starring: Dallas Smith, Camille Stopps, Charlie Gillespie, Josh Collins

F Valentine's Day: Movie Review

A funny but predictable romantic comedy.

With that title, you’re probably not expecting a typical romantic comedy. And there are various times during the movie where it looks like it might become unexpected but never ends up veering off course. However, typical romantic comedies can still be enjoyable especially when you have a cast like this one. Virginia Gardner is a fresh of breath air as the heroine Gina.		2026 Directed by: Mark Gantt Screenplay by: Steve Bencich Starring: Virginia Gardner, Skylar Astin, Jake Cannavale, and Marisa Tomei

The Roaring Game: Movie Review

A satire of underdog sports movies that just makes a spectacle of itself.

Do you often think about how you need a curling meets the Rhode Island mob in a romantic comedy? No, I didn’t think so. And yet, somebody thought The Roaring Game would find an audience. It’s a comedy making fun of curling as a sport, and making fun of underdog sports movies while being an underdog sports movie about curling. Except not true underdogs, they are funded by the mob with influential bettors behind them.		2025 Directed by: Tom DeNucci Screenplay by: Tom DeNucci Starring: Darin Brooks, Fivel Stewart, Justin Chatwin, and Mickey Rourke

Fabian and the Deadly Wedding (AKA: Fabian und die mörderische Hochzeit): Movie Review

Uninteresting characters get caught up in a flat murder mystery.

Fabian (Bastian Pastewka) is a con man, a bad but lucky con man. His scheme to open the movie is posing as a rich lawyer’s masseuse, to then drug and lock him in his sauna room, and then becomes the benefactor of a 10% deposit and signed real estate deal, only for the rich lawyer to wake up, and Fabian has to run out of there. He loses the stolen money but makes it onto a getaway bus, and onto his next scheme.		2026 Directed by: Markus Sehr Screenplay by: Martin Eigler and Sönke Lars Neuwöhner & Sven Poser Starring: Bastian Pastewka

Relationship Goals: Movie Review

Self-help book and religious rom-com in one.

What starts as a cute, fun, typical rom-com quickly devolves into a preachy, pandering, predictable story where the movie can’t decide if it would rather sell the audience a self-help book or religion, so it settles on both. Relationship Goals is named after the self-help romance book featured in the plot of the movie, which just so happens to be a real book which you can buy right now on Amazon. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.		2026 Directed by: Linda Mendoza Screenplay by: Michael Elliot & Cory Tynan and Laura Lekkos Based on the book by Michael Todd Starring: Kelly Rowland, Method Man

Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight: Movie Review

Empty and superficial, leaning too heavy into a fantasy romance.

Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight is a Korean version of the Japanese love story where a teenage boy starts dating his classmate who has anterograde amnesia. Amnesia is overused in movies in general, but especially here where it is nothing more than a gimmick to frame their romance. It is extremely superficial with no analysis of her condition or how it fundamentally changes who she is every day.		2025 Directed by: Kim Hye-young Screenplay by: Misaki Ichijo Starring: Choo Young-woo, Jo Yoo-jung

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie: Movie Review

Get ready to either love this or hate this.

My first introduction to Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie was when it was announced for the Toronto International Film Festival and everyone who had already seen it at SXSW called it the funniest film ever. That’s quite the selling point. However, the second piece of information is that it’s based off a web series called Nirvanna the Band the Show, which I had never heard of. So I was a little apprehensive with no idea what I was getting myself into, which I think is going to be true for most of the audience.		2025 Directed by: Matt Johnson Screenplay by: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol Starring: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

Untitled Home Invasion Romance: Movie Review

Some predictable twists, but also a lot of humour and insanity.

Untitled Home Invasion Romance is a better title than it sounds like, which is probably why the distributor stuck with it despite the original, more ordinary, less intriguing title “Getaway”. Jason Biggs stars as Kevin, a struggling actor and screenwriter, who is desperate to win back his wife, Suzie (Meaghan Rath). The couple have been on a break after their impromptu wedding, less than a year after meeting.		2025 Directed by: Jason Biggs Screenplay by: Joshua Paul Johnson, Jamie Napoli Starring: Jason Biggs, Meaghan Rath

The Big Fake (AKA: Il Falsario): Movie Review

A visually compelling movie with a story that isn’t all there.

The Big Fake is an Italian true story about an artist in the 1970s who becomes one of the greatest forgers of all time. How good this movie is hinges on exactly one thing: how interesting you find the main character and his crime world. Toni (Pietro Castellitto) is an artist from a small town who grew tired of painting fog, so off he moves to Rome and meets an art dealer. A match made in heaven and history.		2026 Directed by: Stefano Lodovichi Screenplay by: Lorenzo Bagnatori, Sandro Petraglia Starring: Pietro Castellitto

Mercy: Movie Review

A flawed premise with a fun plot.

Set just three years in the future in 2029, Mercy is a mix between Minority Report and Searching where the court of law has been replaced by an AI judge and one man has to use all the technology at his fingertips to prove his innocence. The premise is fun, there are some fundamental flaws to it, but that premise works great in Minority Report and when it leads to a Searching-esque mystery plot, the movie is at its best.		2026 Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov Screenplay by: Marco van Belle Starring: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson

Bulls: Movie Review

One big random, illogical joke.

When the entire movie is one big joke, it’s hard to find any of the actual jokes all that amusing. Bulls is set in the overlapping world of small, struggling bars in small town Indiana and the World Darts Championship. You might be wondering how two bad darts players who own a small bar become professional darts players, but the film didn’t put much thought into it, a guy walks into their bar and then they’re in the championship.		2026 Directed by: Daniel Meyer Screenplay by: Daniel Meyer Starring: Matt Trudeau, Meir Steinberg

How to Lose a Popularity Contest: Movie Review

A very average teen romance.

Sara Waisglass, of Ginny & Georgia fame, does her best to elevate How to Lose a Popularity Contest above a typical teen romance. It’s cute, sweet, predictable, and very run-of-the-mill. A good girl falls for a bad boy, and other than a decent message about seeing the best in people and not judging others before you get to know them, it’s a hastily written, well-produced average teen romance.		2026 Directed by: Stephen S. Campanelli Screenplay by: Dorian Keyes, Kaitlin Reilly Starring: Sara Waisglass, Chase Hudson

Killer Whale: Movie Review

When animals attack is still a bad premise.

What’s better than a survivalist thriller? How about when animals attack and become blood-thirsty killers set on revenge? I mean, no, I think in general that doesn’t make it better, but it is a common formula, and I respect Killer Whale’s attempt to pair it with an “animals don’t belong in captivity” theme.		2026 Directed by: Jo-Anne Brechin Screenplay by: Jo-Anne Brechin, Katharine McPhee Starring: Virginia Gardner, Mel Jarnson

Is This Thing On?: Movie Review

A funny and compelling introspection on the collapse of a marriage.

Bradley Cooper’s latest, Is This Thing On?, feels more like a Noah Baumbach film due to its intimacy, Laura Dern and comedic handling of emotional (im)maturity: the end of a marriage. While this is meant as a compliment, perhaps it’s too early or just not possible to define what does or doesn’t feel like a Bradley Cooper film. Either way he delivers a small film with limited focus but universal impact, a profoundly moving and enjoyable piece about relationships and the people in them.		2025 Directed by: Bradley Cooper Screenplay by: Will Arnett & Mark Chappell, and Bradley Cooper Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern

The Housemaid: Movie Review

A stylish, twisty thriller with a satisfying conclusion.

I think it’s impossible not to compare The Housemaid to A Simple Favor. Two stylish, twisty thrillers based on popular novels, directed by Paul Feig, starring two popular actresses, and an innocent-looking husband caught in the middle, both premiering to positive critical reaction. And yet The Housemaid has done seriously good box office numbers despite being released in a post-covid theatrical environment, already beating the 2018 flick by over $30M, and possibly doubling it when all is said and done.		2025 Directed by: Paul Feig Screenplay by: Rebecca Sonnenshine Based on the novel by Freida McFadden Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, Brendan Sklenar