This remake of classic novel The Secret Garden feels familiar and amiable, even if that means it doesn’t take any risks. It sticks to a pretty predictable structure as it tells the story of young orphan Mary Lennox, who finds a magical, secret garden behind her reclusive uncle’s estate. The film is beautifully-shot, with impressive…

There’s nothing worse than two entirely capable actors hamming it up in dreadful schlock like Paydirt. Here we have low-budget king Luke Goss, who’s shown he’s capable of more in Blade II and Hellboy II, slumming it once again for a paycheck. But most egregious is Val Kilmer. He’s had one hell of a career,…

Andrea Dorfman’s wonderful romantic-comedy Spinster defies genre tropes to give audiences one of the most unabashedly enjoyable films of 2020. A favourite at last year’s Whistler Film Festival, it follows wiseacre Gaby, a caterer with talent and a fast mouth that gets her in trouble more often than not. At 39-years-old, her partner leaves her…

It’s hard for any film lover on the planet not to know who Donnie Yen is at this point. The Ip Man franchise star and Rogue One alum is a martial arts maestro and beloved the world over. So Enter The Fat Dragon makes me ask why it was necessary to place him in a…

Battle Scars struggles on-screen with the realities of life post-war and PTSD, but behind-the-scenes, it’s a film that likely dealt with the pressures of making every dollar count for this low-budget feature. The lack of funds shows, and yet, you’ll be so engrossed in writer-director Samuel Gonzalez Jr.’s post-war picture that you won’t care. The…

I’ll say right off the jump that in reading TIFF reviews from 2019, I am in the minority here. The debut feature from The Rainbow Kid’s Kire Paputts was pretty adored at the festival. And yet, I just have to say I found no part of this film pleasant. It wasn’t the non-stop nudity, nor…

To say Tijuana Jackson: Purpose Over Prison is unoriginal is to do Romany Malco a huge disservice. Malco — best known for his smaller role in The 40-Year-Old-Virgin as well as his recent TV stint on A Million Little Things — is a huge talent, and his work as writer, director and star here is…

As a pushing-30 reviewer, I was in my late teens during the heyday of Judd Apatow classics like Knocked Up and the charms of slender Canadian Jay Baruchel. He represents your everyman. So much so, in fact, that he was the star of modest hit comedy She’s Out Of My League. He’s found success in…

Nicolas Cage has long been a laughing stock in Hollywood. The Oscar-winning, once-formidable presence has been relegated to cheap, genre fare for a decade, none of which suit his talents. Save for affairs like Color Out Of space, Joe and Mandy, they’ve all been arduous, boring and painstaking flops. And yet, Cage remains utterly, constantly…

Best laid plans sometimes don’t go as intended. Though it’s clear here the filmmaker, screenwriter and cast all wanted A Perfect Plan to work, it just never comes together. In watching these smaller films, I try to remember budgetary constraints could be an issue, and it looks like they are here. Drab locations echo a…