Gravity may have won all the Oscars for its space exploration theme, but Stowaway is an out-of-this-world drama that adds more story and heart to the proceedings than the former film ever could. The low-budget flick may lack the visual spectacle, but Stowaway makes up for it in the way it endears the audience to…

Director Ben Wheatley’s films have been all over the place the last few years. From the crowd-pleasing actioner Free Fire to the melodramatic snoozefest Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, things are either really good or really bad when Wheatley gets in the director’s chair. While the writer-director most recent work, naturalistic horror tilt In The…

What’s incredible about writer-director Kyle Thomas’ Range Roads is just how mature it is for a film of its ilk. It keeps its scrappy indie sensibilities while managing to pull viewers in and give characters huge depth. The Canadian Film Fest film is a triumph, and one I pray people don’t sleep on. The family…

The Violent Heart had me reeled into it within five minutes, but all it took was a ridiculous final seven to turn me off entirely. Writer-director Kerem Sanga creates a world with strong visuals and true-to-life characters, but I really with the helmer would have focused on the vision and let someone do a rewrite.…

The two things that make a movie for me are pacing and tone, and while Amundsen: The Greatest Expedition finds footing with good performances, it never quite finds a proper stride. The autobiography of famed explorer Roald Amundsen is involving, but at 125 minutes, it wears out its welcome long before the credits. Norwegian Amundsen…

For a movie that opens with a splendid cameo from character actor Keith David, it’s disappointing to see exorcism film The Seventh Day lose momentum from there. It follows a young priest who’s paired with a renowned exorcist for training, but they have to overcome incredible darkness and evil in their city over one hellish…

Voyagers is a film with an interesting conceit in a landscape of remakes and rehashes, and that alone made it worth the viewing for me. Focused on a multi-generational crew of astronauts on an 80-year mission to inhabit a new planet, the members begin to lose their minds and footing after a tragedy aboard. Writer-director…

When we first get a look at Darren, it’s hard to see her musical talent past her tired eyes and forlorn spirit. She’s exhausted and running out of options. I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to anyone based on the title that it’s the relationship she starts with an older man – her…

Of all the Oscar nominees for Best Picture this year, Nomadland is by far the least accessible. Words like slow, meandering and pointless have been thrown around – but perhaps people are also missing the point. While I can see the argument that the pacing of Nomadland is slow, it’s also beautiful, deliberate and uncompromising.…

When you cast William Shatner to star in your indie movie, you’ve already had a huge misstep. His ego, overacting and casually misogynistic way of living makes him intolerable to watch – He was the only actor my grandmother would actively turn the television off to avoid. If he can’t even connect to women his…