Reviews2025 - 2026
Anemone (2025) Black Bag (2025) Blue Moon (2025) Conceiving Clara (2025) Darkest Miriam (2025) Dead of Winter (2025) Die, My Love (2025) Eddington (2025) The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025) Frankenstein (2025) The Gorge (2025) His Father’s Son (2025) Hoppers (2026) How to Make a Killing (2026) Thunderbolts* (2025) Larry (they/them) (2025) Lunatic: The Luna Vachon Story (2025) Marty Supreme (2025) Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) The Moment (2026) The Monkey (2025) The Naked Gun (2025) ”November Exclusive: The North American Premiere of Wong Kar Wai’s ‘BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI’ Will Debut on The Criterion Channel” (2025) Picture This (2025) The Players (2025) Project Hail Mary (2026) Send Help (2026) Sentimental Value (2025) Snow White (2025) Sorry, Baby (2025) Swiped (2025) undertone (2026) Wicked: For Good (2025) 2023 - 2024 Adult Adoption (2023) Alien: Romulus (2024) Anora (2024) Baba (2023) Baby Ruby (2023) Babysitter (2023) The Beast (2024) Bird (2024) Blueback (2023) The Boogeyman (2023) Boston Strangler (2023) Bring Them Down (2024) Bystanders (2023) Close to You (2024) Conclave (2024) Dahomey (2024) Desi Standard Time Travel (2023) Dicks: The Musical (2023) Dream Scenario (2023) Elemental (2023) The End We Start From (2023) The Eternal Memory (2023) The Fabulous Four (2024) Fallen Leaves (2024) Fancy Dance (2024) Frida (2023) Gasoline Rainbow (2024) The Girl with the Needle (2024) Goodrich (2024) The Gutter (2024) Hard Truths (2024) Hold Your Breath (2024) How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024) I Used to Be Funny (2024) I’m Still Here (2024) In Her Place (2024) Just the Two of Us (2023) Kill (2023) The Last Showgirl (2024) Lee (2024) The Little Mermaid (2023) Mafia Mamma (2023) Magpie (2024) Making Time (2023) Maria (2024) Marmalade (2024) Midnight at the Paradise (2023) The Miracle Club (2023) The Mother (2023) Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) Mutt (2023) My First Film (2024) My Old Ass (2024) Nightbitch (2024) Pain Hustlers (2023) Paint (2023) Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) Scoop (2023) Seeds (2024) Showing Up (2023) Sing Sing (2024) Sometimes I Think About Dying (2024) Steve Martin: A Documentary in 2 Pieces (2023) The Sweater (2024) Tata (2024) Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2024) Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) Went Up The Hill (2024) Wicked (2024) Young Woman and the Sea (2024) 2020 - 2022 Abuela (2022) Aloners (2021) Ammonite (2020) The Batman (2022) Belfast (2021) Belle (2022) Beneath the Surface (2022) Benediction (2022) Black Conflux (2021) The Boathouse (2021) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) Butcher’s Crossing (2022) The Capote Tapes (2021) Casa Susanna (2022) Causeway (2022) Charli XCX: Alone Together (2022) Coda (2021) Cruella (2021) Don’t Look Up (2021) The Father (2021) Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (2021) Fear Street Part 2: 1978 (2021) Fear Street Part 3: 1666 (2021) Flower Boy (2021) French Exit (2021) Fresh (2022) The Grab (2022) The Green Knight (2021) The Guilty (2021) Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) Herself (2021) I Care a Lot (2021) I’m Your Woman (2020) Identifying Features (2021) The Inspection (2022) A Jazzman’s Blues (2022) Kimi (2022) Language Lessons (2021) Last Night in Soho (2021) Little Fish (2021) Little Sky (2022) The Lost Daughter (2021) The Lost King (2022) Love Sarah (2021) Luca (2021) Ma Belle, My Beauty (2021) Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) Marionette (2022) Mass (2021) Materna (2021) The Mauritanian (2021) Maya and the Wave (2022) The Menu (2022) The Midnight Sky (2020) Minari (2021) The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021) Nitram (2022) Nomadland (2020) Not My Age (2022) The Novice (2021) Off the Rails (2021) On the Rocks (2020) One Night in Miami (2021) Oxygen (2021) Parlour Palm (2021) Playing with Sharks (2021) The Power of the Dog (2021) Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2021) The Prom (2020) Promising Young Woman (2021) Quo Vadis, Aida (2021) Rosie (2022) Scarborough (2021) She Paradise (2021) Spencer (2021) Ste. Anne (2021) Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street (2021) Sugar Daddy (2021) Summertime (2021) Sundown (2022) Sylvie’s Love (2020) Things Heard & Seen (2021) This is a Period Piece (2021) Thunder Force (2021) Til It Blooms (2022) Together Together (2021) The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) True Mothers (2021) The Unforgivable (2021) Wander Darkly (2020) Wash Day (2021) Wendell & Wild (2022) White Elephant (2021) White Lie (2021) Wolf (2021) The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (2021) Women Talking (2022) The World to Come (2021) Yakuza Princess (2021)
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 Nina Kiri in undertone Sound design is the star of the show in writer-director Ian Tuason’s spooky feature directorial debut, undertone. This sensory-driven horror film, centred on a paranormal podcaster nursing her comatose mother, amplifies fear by playing with our imagination. Things go bump in the night. Creepy nursery rhymes play in reverse. Distorted voices seep through noise-cancelling headphones. Whispers travel through the walls. undertone immerses us into the cursed aura of a podcaster’s childhood home, its structure undone by a series of terrifying voice recordings sent her way. As the recordings gradually reflect personal demons back onto her, she has no choice but to face her underlying guilt as a caregiver. Capturing the visceral sounds of being haunted by one’s own grief, undertone makes a personal imprint on the horror genre. There is something inherently unsettling about random sounds, especially ones that emerge late at night. They automatically evoke curiosity as we try and make sense of what we heard. Tuason’s film dials this sensation up to a terrifying degree, as his characters analyze what they may or may not have heard in a chilling soundscape. When sent audio files of a couple’s paranormal encounter, podcaster Evy Babic (Nina Kiri) and her remote co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco) record themselves reacting to all ten files in real-time. Unseen forces that haunt the disembodied parents-to-be trickle into Evy’s surroundings and cast shadows of doubt. While her mother (Michèle Duquet) lays dying upstairs, Evy journeys from skeptic to believer as she unearths the hidden audio messages of a culture-spanning demon. Tuason leaves no stone unturned when it comes to utilizing every corner of the film’s minimal setting to enhance this story. When the supernatural recordings bleed into Evy’s own reality, whether through flickering lights, narrative parallels, or a very discomforting sequence involving a meditation podcast, the claustrophobic tension is palpable. The film paints an isolating picture of Evy on a physical and emotional level. We don’t see Evy’s world outside of her childhood home, and even when indoors, the majority of rooms go unexplored. The story plays out primarily in the living room (where Evy does her podcasts), in her mother’s bedroom, and in the ominous staircase that connects them. Through an impactful use of negative space, Tuason shows a neat understanding of the power that our imagination holds. And the devil is in the details.  Patient camera movements build suspense. Long, meditative background shots encourage curiosity as to what might be lurking in the shadows. Frequent closeups on the unchanging face of Evy’s dying mother create anticipation for a sudden movement. In a genre typically riddled with jump scares and an overcompensating amount of creepy imagery, undertone stands out by slowing down and asking us to listen carefully. Sure, the film has its share of spooky visual cues, the majority of which lean into Catholic iconography and disturbing childhood drawings. The film also carefully teases this imagery in lockstep with the narrative. The deafening silence of Evy’s noise-cancelling headphones block out her reality. The creaking of her mother’s bedroom door signals a matriarch who may be physically comatose, but whose spirit is very much around. There is something about this home that feels strangely familiar, and the film’s production can explain why. Tuason filmed undertone inside his real childhood home in Toronto, Canada, where he was the primary caregiver of his parents. His direction captures the feeling of inescapable isolation most effectively through sound and setting. The found-footage auditory horror adds dimension to the entire visual and sonic language. Whether it’s through digitally reversed tracks or recurring religious imagery, Tuason conveys the sensation that the closer we observe, the more afraid of what we might discover. It’s an isolating experience amplified by the characterization of Evy, one of few faces we see in undertone. She is our doubtful guide who finds escapism in her supernatural podcast, until the audio files begin to mirror what she’s going through. The shift from skeptic to believer is well-orchestrated in that we don’t get one transformative moment out of nowhere, but a series of subtle paranormal activities that cause Evy to unravel. Carrying the film on her shoulders and navigating past some repetitive defining features of the character, Nina Kiri delivers an impactful performance. Kiri lets us feel several shades of contradiction and exhaustion. Evy wants to be there for her mother and cannot bring herself to leave, but she’s also terrified of being trapped in one lifecycle. Primal fears of terminal illness and childbirth seem to possess her mindset. One scene in particular gives Evy an early morning scare when she returns home after a night out to find her mother in a dangerous position. It speaks so clearly to the guilt-ridden side of caregiving, where time spent away from a sick loved one gnaws at your conscience. With the added shame of Evy not feeling good enough to be a mother herself, the film quietly unpacks these layers of parenthood through a very patient lens. Sometimes, the meditative approach is a little too indulgent, as certain defining features of this story begin to feel repetitive and overtly opaque. Ultimately, the buildup of undertone packs a bigger punch than the conclusion. The creepy possession imagery is ambitious in its small-scale creativity. But when two thirds of the film are built so effectively on what we don’t see, having a show-and-tell climax feels underwhelming. It threatens to undercut the carefully plotted auditory experience that comes before. Tuason thankfully maintains an unwavering sinister energy throughout. As a story, the film risks fading quickly from memory, but the feeling of watching it is rattling to the core. undertone is now playing in theatres.  Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary Christopher Miller and Phil Lord deliver Spielbergian levels of spectacle and wonder with their Project Hail Mary, a heartfelt space odyssey. The film radiates a warm sentiment throughout: it’s not about the destination, but the friends you meet along the way. While on a mysterious mission, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) befriends a delightfully high-maintenance alien named Rocky. The two form a protective, transcendent bromance that comes out of shared isolation. By learning how to speak each other’s languages and work together, Grace and Rocky skyrocket towards saving the world. Miller and Lord visualize the possibilities we can achieve if we embrace the unknown with empathy. It’s a work of emotional sincerity that evokes the luminous empathy of Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial. Covering familiar ground in the human and alien camaraderie, Lord and Miller show a clear understanding of how this dynamic truly goes a long way when prioritized over sci-fi elements. Project Hail Mary explores curiosity as a balm for isolation. When curious, Grace faces the unknown with an open heart and mind. He reaches out to his surroundings and finds love in an unexpected place. Through stunning visuals and charismatic star performers, the film signals that we are very much not alone. With a screenplay by Drew Goddard, based on Andy Weir’s 2021 book of the same name, Project Hail Mary tells a classic story of person versus nature. The film’s opening moments introduce us to Ryland Grace, a science teacher suffering from amnesia while aboard a spaceship. He has no recollection of who he is, how he ended up light years from Earth, or where he’s headed. As Grace pieces his memory back together, he finds himself at the centre of a one-way mission to save all of humanity. In two interspersed timelines, the film clues us into how Grace’s backstory on Earth leads to his interstellar predicament. Flashbacks reveal an international task force, led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), who seek Grace’s molecular biology expertise to help thwart a mysterious substance from killing the Sun. The mission activates his reluctant heroism, but in space, an unexpected ally emerges. Rocky the alien, whose planet also faces extinction, gives Grace a solid common ground. The narrative framing works wonders to build suspense around each new discovery that Grace uncovers about the mission. By having dual timelines at play simultaneously, the film avoids trappings of repetitiveness and stagnancy in one location. Interspersing the Earth characters with the space plot also underlines how everything Grace overcomes in the present day is much bigger than himself. At the film’s core is a story of several minds working together and embracing different languages towards a shared goal. Lord and Miller envision this core theme on a massive scale that also manages to feel very intimate and character-driven, thanks to their focus on Grace and Rocky’s friendship. Between practical effects, full-scale set pieces, and distinctive visuals for the two timelines, there’s plenty of immersive visuals to relish in. Daniel Pemberton’s spectacular score also delivers on the spectacle and realism. We’ve been blessed with one of the brightest stars in the galaxy to navigate through Lord and Miller’s version of space. Between his roles in Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson and Damien Chazelle’s First Man, Ryan Gosling is no stranger to teachers and spaceships. Gosling’s performance in Project Hail Mary delivers on a charming hybrid of both worlds. The film calls on Grace’s inner child for an abundance of curiosity and imagination. This sense of wonder pushes him towards exploring alien terrain. Given his background in education, Grace also sees a teachable moment in meeting Rocky. He shows his new friend how human communication works, underlining the film’s prominent theme of looking out for one another in support of something bigger than oneself. Gosling moves to an incredibly playful tempo and powers the story with career-best charisma. He balances humour and heartbreak, embracing the interior messiness of his character being at the helm of a space mission. While his doctorate roots him in science, Grace is simply an ordinary guy who is absolutely terrified of the position that he finds himself in. Gosling journeys through this hesitancy and fear with a grounded, heartfelt portrayal of inner strength and sacrifice. It’s no easy task to elicit genuine emotion out of an alien rock without a face. Project Hail Mary has given us not just one of the most memorable movie aliens, but a friendship for the ages. Gosling shares screen time with the stellar achievements of James Ortiz, the lead puppeteer and English translation voice who brings Rocky to life. The characters’ relationship is jam-packed with funny camaraderie, heartfelt dialogue, and a sincere emotional through line that unites them. Ortiz’s high-energy performance adds multitudes of dimension to Rocky’s presence, and the practical effects help craft a tangible environment where Gosling can react to the immersive puppetry at work. We don’t get an extensive visual of Rocky’s planet, nor is it needed beyond a welcome glimpse into his spaceship. Rocky stands out plenty as a layered character, and his design showcases a wildly impressive range of expressions. Whether through Lord and Miller’s dazzling direction or Greig Fraser’s beautiful cinematography, the film excels at getting key messages across without having characters over-explain the plot. The production shows an admirable level of trust in the audience to piece imagery together and feel the undercurrent of emotionality from magnetic character development. Eva, who leads the Hail Mary task force of scientists, is an insightful guide for what Grace is going through. She teaches us how to engage with the mission, while also grounding a science-heavy storyline in real emotion and matter-of-fact stakes. Deep down, she’s an empathetic leader who makes impossible decisions without centring herself in them, and Sandra Hüller does a brilliant job at conveying the motivations behind each one. Eva has a job to do, and it involves big-picture thinking that prioritizes being practical above all. There’s a coldness to her that Hüller never allows to become simplistic or repetitive. Instead, Hüller conveys nuanced shades of desperation in controlled self-expression. In a standout karaoke scene, she sings Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times, a song on its way to becoming the film’s anthem. It’s a quietly heartbreaking moment of comfort for everyone in the room, who are about to face what could be their final show on Earth.  Sandra Hüller in Project Hail Mary While the film has one too many endings in its final act, which could have been more polished overall, the conclusion it ultimately lands on is an impactful one. Grace being humanity’s only hope for survival is a moving reminder that all it takes is one person’s shared perspective to make a difference in the world. The film speaks to a form of survival that involves finding the strength we carry deep within ourselves to persistently move forward. Project Hail Mary is a triumph that fills your heart with hope and excitement. However grand and overwhelming its interstellar scale, the empathetic approach makes this story feel intimate and personal. Project Hail Mary skyrockets to theatres on March 20.  A still from Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers In Disney and Pixar’s delightfully bonkers film, Hoppers, the scientists who discovered they could hop human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals are quick to shut down parallels to Avatar. It’s an effective gag that winks and nods at inevitable comparisons between the two stories. Both imagine worlds where humans can transport themselves into different species to observe and understand their ecosystem. Both use this concept to highlight subjects of environmental justice and conservation as the species fight back against capitalistic threats. Avatar is one of many cinematic influences (alongside nods to Back to the Future, Mission: Impossible, and The Birds) that stand out in cleverness without overshadowing the unique charm Hoppers radiates. From the mind of Daniel Chong, creator of Cartoon Network’s television series We Bare Bears, comes a playful adventure where eccentric ideas and community-forward themes totally stick the landing. Jam-packed with weird science and lovable characters, Hoppers leaps its way to the pinnacle of Pixar animation. 19-year-old environmentalist Mabel (Piper Curda) learned to calm her childhood anger by visiting a peaceful forest glade (the Everglades) with her grandma Tanaka (Karen Huie). Together, they would sit on a rock by the pond and ground themselves in nature. They would stop to hear the sounds of trees and furry creatures. For a moment, this place was a pristine sanctuary where humans and animals could co-exist in harmony. But there’s always a calm before a storm. Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm), Mabel’s top nemesis, drives all the animals out of the glade so that he can demolish it and build a new expressway because capitalism. Racing against time, Mabel jumps into action and stumbles across a secret “Hoppers” technology system run by her college professors, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) and Nisha (Aparna Nancherla). Mabel seizes the moment, hops her consciousness into a robotic beaver, and ends up in Beaverton. Her mission, which she so eagerly appoints, is to convince a real beaver into building a dam back at the Everglades pond. Mabel sets her plan on King George (Bobby Moynihan), a beaver monarch with the purest of hearts who helps rally the animal Kingdom in a fight against the Mayor’s infrastructure development. Essentially, Hoppers leaves it to beaver to save the day. Director and writer Daniel Chong, alongside co-writer Jesse Andrews (whose previous credits include Pixar’s Luca and Elio), puts the “hopping” technology framework to excellent use. The science of it all is deliriously messy, and the conflict is explained at lightning speed, as Chong and Andrews waste no time getting down to animal kingdom business. The laugh-out-loud introduction to top beaver King George (who wears an adorable tiny crown) sets a precedent for the film’s visually-driven sense of humour. Clever puns, situational comedy, and silly character dynamics all mesh together to throw amusing curveballs onto Mabel’s mission. One of these curveballs takes the form of a bonkers chase sequence featuring a flying shark named Diane (Vanessa Bayer), as an amusing emoji text chain plays out simultaneously. It’s a brilliant testament to how well the animals bounce off one another to create a colourful community-driven ecosystem. The film packs several dynamic characters into this world. Mabel also meets Ellen the grizzly bear (Melissa Villaseñor), Loaf the beaver (Eduardo Franco), and Tom the lizard (Tom Law), who stand out with versatile textures and expressive animation. Hoppers dials the absurdity up to eleven once the animal council are introduced. When Mabel and King George’s efforts to save the pond need a boost, they meet with fellow monarchs of the natural world. Insect Queen (Meryl Streep), Fish Queen (Ego Nwodim), Reptile Queens (Nichole Sakura), Amphibian King (Steve Purcell), Insect King (Dave Franco), and Bird King (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) land on the idea of squishing the mayoral threat, which leads to even more bonkers story developments. As tensions erupt in the animal world, Mayor Jerry intensifies his construction strategies, and Mabel’s professors try on different robotic rescue plans for size. The silly escapades are incredibly effective at twisting the story into unexpected directions. The film conveys a witty balance between its chaotic humour and poignant emotional core through several relationship dynamics. Whether it’s between humans and animals, environmentalists and corporations, granddaughters and grandmothers, and so on, we are all facing a global crisis of disconnection from one another. At a time when natural habitats and lands are being destroyed, the words of Mabel’s grandma (“It’s hard to be angry when you feel like you’re part of something big”) echo beautifully. Hoppers leads with empathy and encourages us to do the same. Talking animals have become a staple of the animation medium, but this story playfully questions, “What if you could understand what animals are saying?”, and comes prepared with a sincere answer. The message that we are all part of something bigger, and that we all share the same planet, lands with genuine resonance. And with great power comes great responsibility. The film explores its animal technology through the lens that we are all responsible for protecting the future of this planet. When Mabel learns how the animals live and what they need to thrive, she accelerates in her determination to save the pond and stand up for what’s right.  A still from Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers Cute and cuddly as the animal characters may be, Mabel’s characterization is the heart and soul of Hoppers. Driven by the loss of Grandma Tanaka, Mabel will do absolutely anything to protect the glade because of what it represents. It’s a magnet for the wildlife she’s passionate about fighting for. Most of all, it’s the intergenerational connective tissue to her identity. It’s the place where she learned how to address her uncontrollable anger and communicate her rebellious energy in a calmer way. Piper Curda is an absolute star in the film. She voices Mabel’s character with compelling enthusiasm and urgency, radiating hope around the younger generation as the future is in their hands. Voice performances too often go under-appreciated when it comes to recognizing the best acting of any given year. Additionally, plenty of animated films fall victim to celebrity stunt casting that values recognizability over nuanced transformation. Hoppers has its fair share of legends (the Meryl Streep, for starters), and everyone gets opportunities to stretch their talents through unique voices. Dave Franco stands out as a devilishly entertaining part of the story for how he voices Insect King with intense glee. Bobby Moynihan adds lovable, heartwarming dimension to King George and grounds the central environmental conflict in a warm glow. Jon Hamm rises to the occasion of complementing Chong’s eccentric direction. The film’s painterly animation stands out amongst Pixar’s most gorgeous work yet. From the vibrant nature settings and wire-cluttered science lab to the textured character designs, there’s a neat visual balance between realistic and exaggerated. The most impressive animation work lies in the duality of the animals’ facial expressions. From the humans’ perspective, the animals are defined by beady black eyes and overall simpler hand-drawn features. In the animal world, their appearances are increasingly cartoonish and absurdist. It’s a brilliant creative choice that showcases various animation styles and communicates subtle distinctions between both worlds. Hoppers leaps comedy-first into prominent environmental themes, which makes its resonant subject matter incredibly delightful to engage with. It’s a thoughtful intergenerational story and a quintessential example of family-friendly entertainment that people of all ages can enjoy. Packed with big swings and a totally bonkers sense of humour, it’s precisely the bold level of storytelling that Pixar needs more of. Hoppers arrives in theatres on March 6. |
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