Week In, Week Out

Relic (2020): Whether you are into horror movies or not, Relic is bound to creep you out and send you into a spiral of dark thoughts. Natalia Erika James’ movie, wherein a mother and daughter go to check onto grandma, speaks uncomfortable volumes about how the degradation (not to call it “aging”) of our loved… Read more

Sorry We Missed You (2019): Even in his 80s, director Ken Loach is razor sharp in his critique of social disequilibrium and shortcomings. The movie follows up on the exceptional I, Daniel Blake (2016), as Loach takes aim at the gig economy and how it perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Focusing on a working class… Read more

Babyteeth (2019): Shannon Murphy’s debut feature is a heartbreaking ride in the realm of lost youth and boundless exuberance. You never quite know where it’s going to go, taking a familiar template and reinterpreting it. Milla (Eliza Scanlen) falling in love with a clueless drug dealer, aptly named Moses (Toby Wallace), is the least of… Read more

The Sweet Hereafter (1997): Reading about Ian Holm’s passing instantly brought me back to one of my favourite films, Atom Egoyan’s Sweet Hereafter. With a powerful performance from Holm and an eerie score from Mychael Danna, The Sweet Hereafter is a cinematic testament to the anatomy of grief and loss. Adapted from Rusell Banks’s book,… Read more

Color Out of Space (2019): A synaesthetic horror movie unlike any other you’ve seen, Color Out of Space scores one for team “style over substance”. Taking the aliens via meteorite route and aiming to put you off Alpacas forever, this lovecraftian tale is a surprise from director Richard Stanley and a perfect genre piece. Unfortunately,… Read more

The Matrix (1999): God, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it? Nobody on Tik Tok was alive when this movie saw its release 21 years ago. Thankfully, The Matrix fares well against the test of time, even if the spectacular visuals have since been outmatched. For the most part, in particular the first half of the… Read more

Driveways (2019): A perfectly pitched and executed story of family and belonging, Driveways is a classic feel-good movie infused with just the right amount of melancholy. It’s a wonderful thing when a character actor leaves behind a little gem like this, as is the case of Brian Dennehy. He plays Del, neighbour to Kate and… Read more

Hustlers (2019): I wasn’t sure about Hustlers, which I thought might be another Widows (2018), i.e. an Ocean’s 11 template movie with all female leads that everyone liked, but me. Here, they’re making a living in a strip club and end up…hustling their clients to even the playing field. It’s all familiar stuff, but it… Read more

What a week, guys. What a week…But now, here are some movies. John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls (2018): I guess you can call me a McCain, in as far as someone who doesn’t care much about US politics outside of election years. But even if you look beyond that, the man has an… Read more

In the Line of Fire (1993): In what feels like a John Grisham/Tom Clancy political thriller of the 90s (but is actually an original screenplay by Jeff Maguire), I was reminded by the times when the US actually treasured its presidents to such a degree, that they often required saving or protection in big movie… Read more

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020): It’s difficult for any movie to break new ground re: teenage pregnancies and abortions. That being said, NRSA finds the perfect pacing to let the pain and sorrow of its characters seep out, avoiding melodramatic or dogmatic pitfalls. And, of course, the movie isn’t as much about the pregnancy, as it… Read more

American Factory (2019): The Academy Award winner for best documentary feature, Steven Bognar’s and Julia Reichert’s movie is at times exactly what you would expect, while proving surprisingly surreal in key moments. More than that, it finds the complexity at the intersection of social, cultural and economic priorities showcased by both the Chinese owners of… Read more