Crime 101

With a February release date, one is skeptical of films like this. Big Hollywood names starring in a heist thriller - either this didn't test well with audiences or the studio thought they had a dud on their hands. I'm not sure. What I do know is it's rare to have a film this good come out at this time of year. When I saw the trailer for Crime 101 I thought it was the trailer for Heat 2, which is apparently coming. This is not it, but it could be. Drive, Dragged Across Concrete, The Dark Knight, Hell or High Water, Emily the Criminal, and The Accountant, are all examples of contemporary crime dramas, and they are all excellent. Add Crime 101 to this list. Chris Hemsworth plays a calculating jewel thief. Mark Ruffalo plays the cop who is trying to catch him. Mark Ruffalo seems to be born to play detectives (Zodiac, Task) with his Columbo-bed-head of locs. If there ever were to be a Columbo reboot, this man is a shoo-in. Then there Barry Keoghan who plays a competing thief. Nick Nolte plays the big bad guy boss. I was happy to see Payman Maadi from the Iranian film, A Separation. Jennifer Jason Leigh shows up for two glorious minutes - she is delightful. And finally there is Halle Berry. To those folks who hand out little statues to actors at the end of the year during award season, please don't forget Halle Berry for her role here - she was fantastic. I loved this film from the opening upside-down shot. The pounding soundtrack will keep your pulse up. The characters and dialogue are are well crafted and fully formed. This is a banger. Lose your getaway car at the movie theatre parking lot and go see this on the big screen. If that's too risky, then plan your next video heist at Movies 'N Stuff when available. 

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Matt Johnson is the co-writer, costar, and director of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, a new Canadian comedy film set in Toronto. I thought I had never heard of him, but he is the director of 2023's Blackberry and last year he was the actor in a wonderful little indie romantic comedy Matt and Mara which I loved. You don't need to know anything about Matt or his costar Jay McCarrol to enjoy their new movie. They have been long-time friends and collaborators in real life. They play fictional versions of themselves in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. Matt plays the guy who is always coming up with crazy ways to get themselves noticed, ways to make it big and land a gig at a Toronto club, The Rivoli. Jay is the dutiful friend who follows Matt on his crazy schemes. But 17 years on, the failed chicken-scratched whiteboard plans have grown old and Jay isn't happy - maybe a solo trip to Ottawa is the answer? Without giving anything away, I had a ball with this movie. I watched it at the ByTowne here in Ottawa with a large crowd and they loved it. So did I. Chock-full of Toronto and Canadian references, this is going to be a new maple leaf classic. Get an large RV-sized doze of belly laughs and catch Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, at the movies, or rent it at Movies 'N Stuff when available. 

Bunny

Sean Baker meets Woody Allen; John Cassavetes meets Mel Brooks; Goodtime meets My Weekend at Bernie's. Bunny is an indie, stoner, comedy and it's funny as hell. It features a cast of characters that could have walked off the pages of a Bukowski novel, characters created by co-writers and costars, Mo Stark (Bunny) and Ben Jacobson (Dino). Jacobson also directs this, his first feature length film and it's a banger. What's it all about? It's Bunny's birthday and his girlfriend Bobbie (Liza Colby) is throwing him a party: she presents Bunny with another good-time girl and some of the best molly Bobbie could acquire. But Bunny is having none of it - one of his gigolo gigs went sour and his headspace is not in party mode. Bunny and Bobbie live in a small two-bedroom apartment, in a four or five-storey New York City walk-up full of colourful characters on every floor. Two cops spend most of their day parked outside asking where to find the best shawarma. Most of the film is shot within the building and there is a manic energy to it - people running up and down the stairs, doors slamming open and closed, people squeezing by in cramped hallway quarters. Bunny and Bobbie are Airbnbing one of their rooms as parties are being thrown, as stoves are being moved from one apartment to another, while Bunny is always helping his one neighbour with his cart of laundry. It's a whirlwind of action and the dialogue is always funny - and peppered with film references. There is even a rabbi. I had a blast with Bunny and his friends. This party is messy, affectionate, and absurdly funny - a birthday bash worth crashing. Catch it streaming on Netflix or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Sirât

I'm certain it would have made my top ten films of 2025 if I had seen it sooner. It has haunted me since I watched it. This Spanish film is set in the desert of Northern Africa at the start of WWIII - so like any day now, ha. Without giving anything away, it's kind of like William Friedkin's Sorcerer mashed up with Max Mad: Fury Road, but the arty, indie version. It follows Luis (Sergi López) and his young son as they search for their respective missing daughter/sister. Where Luis thinks he might find her is at a pop-up desert rave - an eclectic swarm of tattooed punk weirdos thrashing to the pounding beats of electronic music. A small subgroup of misfits suggest to Luis that he might find his daughter at the next scheduled rave. He and his son decide to follow this ragtag crew into nomad territory and it's precarious. Perhaps it's all  the sand, but it reminded me of the Australian film, Wake in Fright - there is an unhinged human element at play here. And then Sirât takes a turn I wasn't expecting and I was left gutted. Writer and director Oliver Laxe shot the film using mostly non-actors and they are all wonderful - it gives it an authenticity, a gritty realism that it might not have otherwise. The images, the music, and the characters will stick to you like sand after a trip to the cinematic beach. Sirât might not be the vacation you want but it's the one you need. Catch it in the theatre if you can (Mayfair or ByTwone) or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Task

It's no easy task (see what I did there) to make a limited series this good. It's exceptional. HBO's Task is a seven-part crime drama starring Mark Ruffalo as Tom, a former priest turned FBI agent. He is pulled off his desk job as a job-fair career-recruiter to lead a task force. His boss (Martha Plimpton) is short-staffed and needs Tom, even though he's going through a dark family time. He is to lead a four-person task force to track a gang of bandits who are knocking off drug houses, owned by a motorcycle club called the Dark Hearts (a Hells Angels type club). The other half of the show is Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) who is performing these robberies. There are a lot of moving parts to this show and many characters, so pay attention. The thing that distinguishes it from other crime-dramas is its level of emotional depth. The characters here are fully formed, 3D people, flawed and real. The writing is exceptional. I have loved Ruffalo since I laid eyes on him in You Can Count on Me. I think this is one of his best performances to date - an ex-priest who has lost his faith and his ability to forgive. And Tom Pelphrey, who I'm not as familiar with is equally great as a man who is trying to provide for his family but is out of his depth. This is a show about family, commitment, loss, redemption, and love. The ending of this series left me in tears. I recommend you step up and perform this Task immediately. Catch it streaming on HBO/CRAVE or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Messy

Alexi Wasser is the writer, director, and star of her first feature, Messy, which is anything but. With a tidy little runtime of 90 minutes, it doesn't overstay it's welcome. She plays Stella, a self-proclaimed sex and love addict who has just moved to New York City and is looking for work as a writer. I have a soft spot for writer protagonists. Stella is like someone permanently stuck in a manic state and doesn't seem to have a filter. The stuff Stella spews out to total strangers, usually before sleeping with them, is remarkable, and often funny as hell. Her story about going to the beach and discovering an unpleasant odour is particularly memorable - and hilariously uncomfortable. Hats off to Alexi Wasser - brilliant. And brave - she spends at least half the film topless in bed with various men.  If Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Bird) were to make a feminist Woody Allen comedy (am I allowed to say that? - ha), I think it would look exactly like Wasser's Messy. This is Bright Lights, Big Sex in the City. This is a low-budget but very smart film and I hope, like Stella, it finds some love. Catch it streaming on Prime.  

Honey Bunch

You might need therapy after this one! Honey Bunch is a new Canadian horror film which reminded me of Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool if it were crossed with The Stepford Wives. It's also a love story. What's it all about? Well, without giving too much away, it's about Homer (Ben Petrie) who is accompanying his wife Diana (Grace Glowicki) to a kind of wellness recovery center after she has awoken from a coma. Homer and Diana were in a terrible car accident. There is another couple at the wellness center as well, and together they go through physical and mental recovery exercises. But is everything on the up and up? Diana is getting the feeling that something isn't quite right? What are Homer and this creepy place up to? So the mystery unfolds. Co-writers and co-directors, Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer, have created a film which is Hitchcockian, bonkers, and romantic as hell! Watching Homer sing to his wife in a hospital bed might be the most romantic and bizzarro thing you will see this year. I was in awe of what I was watching. Equally fun is listening to Diana and Homer express all the ways they would die for each other (often in the most brutal and painful ways). Honey Bunch definitely won't be for everyone but it's my kind of therapy - the kind that whispers sweet nothings while holding a knife behind its back. Catch it in theatres or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.