Although certainly not without its sinister charms, Brightburn is a forgettable blend of fantasy and horror, based on a premise that can be summed up in a single sentence and a film that follows woefully oblivious characters as they piece together something the audience can figure out mere seconds into the story.
Disney and director Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin is a blandly competent, flavourless film that has no reason to exist outside of making a quick buck from families and nostalgic millennials who’ll shell money out for anything based on an intellectual property they have fond memories of.
Teen comedies are rarely this smartly written, consistently hilarious, expertly performed, assuredly directed, culturally relevant, inclusive, and poignant. In short, Booksmart isn’t just a perfect teen flick, it’s a perfect movie in general.
We catch up with Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the subject of Ryan White’s documentary Ask Dr. Ruth (now playing in Toronto and Vancouver), and talk about her early years as a holocaust survivor, her status as one of the world’s foremost sex therapists, and some of the best advice she can give to people.
The young adult romance The Sun is Also a Star has a low key charm, hopeful demeanour, exceptional direction, and two likably down to Earth lead performances that help to make up for a rather large storytelling shortcoming at its centre.
Meeting Gorbachev is a dry, straightforward, and curiously unexceptional look at one of the most divisive and noteworthy world leaders in history, which would be fine if the documentary’s co-director and primary interviewer was anyone other than Werner Herzog.
Peterloo, the latest effort from critically acclaimed filmmaker Mike Leigh, is both the British auteur’s most ambitious and least successful effort in quite some time.
Like opening up a Hallmark card and getting sprayed in the eyes with napalm, the shameless and shameful sequel A Dog’s Journey will appeal only to those who like tears jerked from their face with maximum force and by any means necessary.
The low budget, but highly ambitious and blackly comedic Swedish sci-fi thriller Aniara is one of the most original and literate genre experiments in quite some time.
A complicated, but disarmingly amusing and sometimes thrilling look at the blurred lines between genius and hubris and art and commerce, Andrey Paounov’s documentary Walking on Water will entertain and enlighten viewers who believe the film’s core subject is a master or a fool equally.
