Last Breath
 |
Limited in scope, Last Breath sticks to the true story. |
| Last Breath is based on a harrowing true story of a deep-sea diver. The film is brought to life by filmmaker Alex Parkinson, who also made the 2019 documentary Last Breath. This is not a particularly well-known incident but Chris Lemons, a North Sea diver who miraculously survived a tragic mishap, has written about and talked about his experiences extensively so it’s easy to find and learn more either before or after watching the movie. | 2025 Directed by: Alex Parkinson Screenplay by: Mitchell LaFortune, Alex Parkinson, and David Brooks Starring: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole | |
| See full review of Last Breath | ||
Morningside
 |
Primarily about nothing, but also that violence is bad. |
| Small Canadian indies rarely get theatrical releases, so I want to support Morningside but are they ever making that hard. It’s a tragic drama about nothing. That’s a slight exaggeration on my part, the beginning is about gentrification and the ending is about senseless violence and systemic racism within police departments, but the full hour and a half in the middle is about nothing. The entire movie is establishing a dozen nondescript boring characters just for something to finally happen at the very end. | 2025 Directed by: Ron Dias Screenplay by: Ron Dias, Joanne Jansen Starring: Alex Mallari Jr., Kiki Hammill | |
| See full review of Morningside | ||
Kinda Pregnant
 |
Insane, funny, but misses with the rom-com ending. |
| Kinda Pregnant is the type of premise that is just so wrong that it can be hard to stay with the humour. Faking a pregnancy for months while having real relationships with people who only know lies is obviously insane. So insane that this person should probably not be a functioning member of society. The movie does make it clear that Amy Schumer’s Lainey is insane, multiple characters call her that throughout the movie. | 2025 Directed by: Tyler Spindel Screenplay by: Julie Paiva, Amy Schumer Starring: Amy Schumer, Jillian Bell, Will Forte and Brianne Howey | |
| See full review of Kinda Pregnant | ||
La Dolce Villa
 |
Some really lovely moments and a whole lot of nonsense. |
| As has become common with so many Netflix comedies and romances these days, if you can get past the ridiculous premise, then there is a lovely tale of moving on and finding your next chapter in life. Eric (Scott Foley) is off to a remote village in Italy when his daughter has announced she’s buying an old villa for one euro. As Eric puts it, that’s a “bat-dad” signal if he’s ever seen one and is off to help get his misguided daughter out of whatever deal she has gotten herself into. | 2025 Directed by: Mark Waters Screenplay by: Elizabeth Hackett, Hilary Galanoy Starring: Scott Foley, Maia Reficco, and Violante Placido | |
| See full review of La Dolce Villa | ||
Heart Eyes
 |
Funny and ridiculous mash-up of horror and rom-com. |
| With two genres that seemingly do not go together at all, horror and romantic comedy, Heart Eyes proves that they do make a rather compelling pair. And in other surprising news, its rom com elements shine a lot brighter than the horror plot. Each year on Valentine’s days, a serial killer known as Heart Eyes, roams a city looking for happy couples and murders them. | 2025 Directed by: Josh Ruben Screenplay by: Phillip Murphy and Christopher Landon & Michael Kennedy Starring: Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding | |
| See full review of Heart Eyes | ||
Kinda Pregnant
|
Insane, funny, but misses with the rom-com ending. |
| Kinda Pregnant is the type of premise that is just so wrong that it can be hard to stay with the humour. Faking a pregnancy for months while having real relationships with people who only know lies is obviously insane. So insane that this person should probably not be a functioning member of society. The movie does make it clear that Amy Schumer’s Lainey is insane, multiple characters call her that throughout the movie. | 2025 Directed by: Tyler Spindel Screenplay by: Julie Paiva, Amy Schumer Starring: Amy Schumer, Jillian Bell, Will Forte and Brianne Howey | |
| See full review of Kinda Pregnant | ||
Companion
 |
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 | |
| See full review of Companion | ||
Detective Chinatown 1900
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 | |
| See full review of Detective Chinatown 1900 | ||
Presence
 |
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 | |
| See full review of Presence | ||
Grace Point
 |
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 | |
| See full review of Grace Point | ||
September 5
 |
A riveting look when sports journalism and politics intersect. |
| I wasn’t expecting September 5 to be a companion piece to Civil War (in a good way), but it basically is. An examination of the role journalists play in the coverage of a terrorist attack. In this particular case, sports journalists and the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack. It is remarkable in how it’s able to keep its focus small but touch on so many relevant and important topics in both today’s world and in 1972. | 2024 Directed by: Tim Fehlbaum Screenplay by: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David Starring: John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard | |
| See full review of September 5 | ||
The Calendar Killer
 |
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 | |
| See full review of The Calendar Killer | ||
Disfluency
 |
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 | |
| See full review of Disfluency | ||
Better Man
 |
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 | |
| See full review of Better Man | ||
The Fire Inside
 |
An underdog boxing story that goes so much further. |
| On its surface, The Fire Inside appears to be like most other sports biographies – underdog athlete overcomes adversity to win a championship. But there’s a moment, and it comes very suddenly, where boxer Claressa Shields achieves her dreams and then you realize we’re only half-way into the movie. Director Rachel Morrison and writer Barry Jenkins realized something important – sometimes the more interesting moments come after the big victory. | 2024 Directed by: Rachel Morrison Screenplay by: Barry Jenkins Starring: Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry | |
| See full review of The Fire Inside | ||
Juror #2
 |
The flawed justice system in a smart and tightly written courtroom drama. |
| Every aspect of justice is explored in Juror #2, a courtroom drama from veteran filmmaker Clint Eastwood. Justin (Nicholas Hoult) and his wife Allison (Zoey Deutch) have a baby on the way when Justin is selected for jury duty of a murder trial. “Don’t worry,” he tells her, “It will be quick trial.” It’s also a high-profile case with lead prosecutor, Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), currently running for district attorney. | 2024 Directed by: Clint Eastwood Screenplay by: Jonathan A. Abrams Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Chris Messina, J.K. Simmons, Zoey Deutch | |
| See full review of Juror #2 | ||