Category: REVIEWS

  • REVIEW: Biggest Little Farm a beautiful doc

    REVIEW: Biggest Little Farm a beautiful doc

    Documentarian John Chester’s incredible documentary about his move with his wife Molly to develop a sustainable farm is truly mystical. They work to build a better life together for themselves and their animals on 200 acres outside L.A., which in itself presents problems. Winner of the audience award at both the AFI and Palm Springs…

  • REVIEW: Booksmart a hilariously vulgar female empowerment flick

    REVIEW: Booksmart a hilariously vulgar female empowerment flick

    This debut film from hilarious actress Olivia Wilde is the most genuine, quick-witted and wickedly hilarious movie of the year. It’s quite literally the funniest movie since Superbad, and is going to be a comedy classic. Co-leads Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein are so dynamic — so incredibly talented — that each second their on-screen…

  • REVIEW: Sun Is Also A Star actors burn bright while rest of film distracts

    REVIEW: Sun Is Also A Star actors burn bright while rest of film distracts

    There’s something about love on-screen that hits the idealist, hopeless romantic in me. It’s not hard to please me in this genre, and yet, this latest entry in the young-adult romance canon just scratches the surface of what it could have been. The Sun Is Also A Star is a romance based on a best-selling…

  • REVIEW: Long Shot an odds-on comedy classic

    REVIEW: Long Shot an odds-on comedy classic

    At first glance, Long Shot seems to be another in a long line of moderately humorous films about a man-child getting the girl. And partially, it is. It both contains the heartfelt emotions of a conventional romantic comedy and the adult one-liners and cultural crassness of Seth Rogen one-liners. Yet, Long Shot manages to be…

  • REVIEW: Intruder thrives on Dennis Quaid’s menacing performance

    REVIEW: Intruder thrives on Dennis Quaid’s menacing performance

    The Intruder is slow-burning, summer movie proof that one single performance can lift an entire film up. When a young married couple buy a remote, countryside mansion on several acres from a single widower, they get more than they bargained for when he has trouble letting go. The Intruder has been done a dozen times,…

  • REVIEW: Poms a good-natured, if conventional, comedy

    REVIEW: Poms a good-natured, if conventional, comedy

    The truth is, I’d watch Diane Keaton in basically anything. So it was no surprise to me that her latest effort was immediately on my radar. Poms is the film equivalent of a bowl of ice cream. There are very few flavours people will pass up, and Poms goes down easy and every provides a…

  • REVIEW: Maida-Kreviazuk documentary will have your toes tapping even as you tear up

    REVIEW: Maida-Kreviazuk documentary will have your toes tapping even as you tear up

    The marriage of Canadian songbirds Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk is explored in excruciating detail in this documentary, and there’s been no more affecting film so far this year. Maida, of Our Lady Peace, and Kreviazuk got married in 1999 and have three sons. They’ve been candid about their relationship struggles before, but in I’m…

  • REVIEWS: The Hustle ultimately cheats its audience

    REVIEWS: The Hustle ultimately cheats its audience

    If a screenwriting pair is going to re-imagine a well-regarded cult comedy, the least they could do is create something better than this gender-swapped remake. The Hustle takes two actresses at the top of their game and gives them a weak, limp script to work with. While sporadically gut-busting, this Dirty Rotten Scoundrels retread ultimately…

  • REVIEW: This Is North Preston an engaging documentary with mixed messaging

    REVIEW: This Is North Preston an engaging documentary with mixed messaging

    The troubles of small, predominantly African-Nova Scotian community North Preston are put on full display in this new documentary. This Is North Preston, directed and written by Jaren Hayman, follows hip hop artist Just Chase, who returns from Toronto to his home to visit old friends and talk about the place as a whole. If…

  • REVIEW: Gift unravels an incredible question

    REVIEW: Gift unravels an incredible question

    In a world where money and material possessions seem to be the end goal, this interesting documentary dares to ask an important question. Is life about giving or getting? Director-writer Robin McKenna shares the stories from different cultures and background to find out what’s important to people all around the world. Her film Gift is…