Atonement

I watched it at the Mayfair Theatre with a sparse crowd. At the end of the movie, nobody moved. We all sat in a state of collective grief, or maybe it was trauma, or a mix of both. I don't recall a similar sensation like it since I watched Schindler's List in the theatre. Do we need another film on the devastating consequences of war? Yes, until we stop having wars. Atonement is based on true events - the names of the people involved have been fictionalized. The story takes place in 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq, where a U.S. military group of marines who were there as part of an U.S. Marine unit, part of the American invasion, finds itself under attack. They petition themselves on a rooftop and returned fire. They were firing on anything coming their way. What comes their way is a family just trying to get home, away from the gunfire. In this story, a young soldier, Lou (Boyd Holbrook) opens fire on the family car thinking its occupants are hostile. He, and some of his counterparts, end up killing three members of the family. A horrible accident. Kenneth Branagh plays Michael Reid, a U.S. journalist who writes a story about it. Fast-forward ten years. Lou is not doing well. He's not sleeping, he's having violent outbursts, and panic attacks - looks like PTSD. He is a mess. The wife and mother of the murdered victims, Mariam (Hiam Abbass) is now living in the US. Lou reaches out to Michael to see if he can arrange a meeting with Mariam to apologize for what he has done. You might want to criticize this whole story and say something like, "Poor white boy shot someone and we should feel sorry for him?" This is the whole point of the film. The film is about guilt, forgiveness, and loss. There is so much sadness here, so much pain. And all of it is heartbreaking. The performances by Boyd Holbrook and Hiam Abbass were astounding - they felt as real and as raw as possible. I hope they are not forgotten during award season. Even Kenneth Branagh should get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. This is director Reed Van Dyk first feature-length film and it's a masterpiece. One of the best films of the year. Catch it in theatres now or rent it when available from Movies 'N Stuff. 

You Can See Everything

A participant in Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary, You Can See Everything says at the end of the film, "It's very complicated." This is the perfect summation. When I saw the trailer for the film a few months back, I knew nothing about Elizabeth Holmes, the self-made billionaire who lost everything and was sentenced to eleven years in prison for defrauding investors. Holmes wanted to create a machine that could analyse a single drop of blood and tell you everything about your condition - sounds like something out of Star Trek. Turns out, it is. It may be decades yet before something like this could exist. Holmes promised it and didn't deliver. The Dropout is an eight-part Hulu miniseries about Holmes and the rise and fall of her business, with Amanda Seyfried playing Holmes. Seyfried won a Critics Choice Award, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe Award for her performance (along with a few others). I watched this miniseries and the HBO documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. It was pretty clear to me that Holmes was guilty and should definitely be going to prison.

We start You Can See Everything with Nathan Fielder interviewing and eventually moving in with Holmes, her partner, and their two young kids just over a month before Holmes was to begin her prison term.  Fielder and Oppenheim like to keep the camera close - I haven't seen so many close-ups since Sergio Leone. There is an intimacy created with the subjects because of it. Fielder holds his gaze after he asks a question like he is trying to figure out a puzzle. There is something performative in his lines of questioning. The whole thing feels like performance art. Very small spoiler here: Fielder asks Holmes to watch The Dropout with him. She had never watched it before. That alone is something which is rather meta - us watching Holmes watch Seyfried play a version of her and Holmes reacting to it. It's worth to note that Holmes maintains her innocence, that she never lied about her blood machine. Then the film takes a turn that I will not spoil. It's both transgressive and humorous. You have to see it to believe it. It has stuck with me since I watched it. It's three hours long but it felt like two. I sure it will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and it will no doubt win for Best Documentary Feature. It may even win both. One of my favourite films of the year. Catch this in theatres now. Rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.    

The Social Reckoning

Writer and director Aaron Sorkin has written and directed a sequel to the 2010 film, The Social Network - Sorkin wrote it, David Fincher directed the first one. The story of The Social Network was about the creation of Facebook. The Social Reckoning (directed this time by Sorkin) is about what evil Mark Zuckerberg has been up to since then and the reporter, Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) who outed him in the Wall Street Journal with the help of an inside source, Frances (Mikey Madison). Sorkin, or the film, implies that Facebook was radicalizing people, perhaps unintentionally, but not caring, for Meta's goal (Facebook changed it's name to Meta) was to get people to stay on their feed for as long as possible - one user logged more than 9 hours straight - Yippie for Yuckerberg. The simple psychology: feed people stuff that triggers them, gets them mad. They will click and follow. The film suggests that Facebook led them to the pages of right-wing extremist groups and the film also tacitly implies that Meta was indirectly responsible for the attack on the US Capitol when Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden. Sorkin is a gifted, smart writer. He is as good a writer as Fincher is a director. I don't think Sorkin is as good as a director as he is a writer. As a political thriller, The Social Reckoning is almost as good as they come. I think the film could have had a bit more gravitas with Fincher behind the camera. But don't let that stop you from catching one of this year's best political thrillers. Catch it in theatres now or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

It Feeds

This Canadian dropped last year and it's a banger of a horror movie - a cross between Smile and Stranger Things. Ashley Greene plays Cynthia, a woman who runs a psychiatry practice out of her home and when traditional methods don't work, Cynthia has a gift, the ability to go into her patients' minds. Her daughter Jordan (Ellie O'Brien) has this power too, as did her late husband. One day a young girl, Riley (Shayelin Martin - from Wild Goat Surf), bursts into Cynthia's home begging for help. She sees a creature, and it's feeding off of her. The creature is terrifying - similar to a blackened version of Smile's entity. The visuals in this movie are great. The set pieces are top notch. Horror fans should love this. Cynthia is reluctant to help as it did her husband in for doing something similar - there is a Conjuring feel to this also. Cynthia's ability to enter the mind leads to an Inception dream-within-the-dream scenario. So when I say the visuals are great, we get all this crazy Nightmare on Elm Street/Dream Demon imagery too. Cynthia also has a friend, Agatha (Juno Rinaldi) who is there for comic relief. Rinaldi's performance is great and gives off a goofy Scooby-Doo Daphne vibe; I loved her. If you are hungry for horror, It Feeds will fill you up. Catch it streaming on CRAVE or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Beware Boiúna

Giant creature-features have been entertaining us since King Kong in 1933. There seemed to be an explosion of giant bugs and monster movies, post WWII, in the nuclear era - Godzilla, Them!, The Blob, etc. 1975 gave us Jaws - a bazillion shark movies have since followed. 1993 gave us Jurassic Park. 1997 gave us Anaconda, which spawned many sequels and the tepidly humorous reboot with the same title last year. 1999 gave us Lake Placid - giant croc. This year we have Hungry - a killer hippopotamus movie, and Beware Boiúna, a giant killer snake movie. Hungry is okay, but Beware Boiúna is fantastic, if you enjoy these kinds of films. I am always up for a giant killer snake movie. Most of these films have a tongue-in-cheek cheekiness to them, an almost winking at the camera that this is completely ridiculous. Beware Boiúna doesn't wink, it doesn't even blink - its eyes are wide open with terror! What's it all about? A group of doctors are on a humanitarian mission to check out small villages along the Amazon River, do health checks on the locals, provide medicine, vaccines, treatments, and advice. They run into the bad guys, who are out surveying the land and you know it's for no good. They have a run in with each other and then they have a run-in with the big-ass snake. It's a bit shaky-camera at times but that's okay. I won't spoil any of it, but this one strikes quickly and swallows you whole. Indiana Jones would hate it; you will love it. Get bit by this one in theatres now or rent it when available from Movies 'N Stuff. 

I Came By

A guy breaks into a house and discovers something dubious is going on. I feel like I have seen this premise many times before, which is why I didn't bother watching it when it came out. Yes, that's the basic plot of I Came By. Toby (George MacKay) and his best mate (it's a British movie), Jay (Percelle Ascott) are B&E graffiti artists who don't rob anyone, they are just making a political statement. They break into the homes of the super wealthy and tag a large wall with "I came by" in stylish graffiti cursive. They seem to take pride in beating home security systems. Suddenly Jay announces he is out of any further social disruptions, he has a child on the way and can't risk going to jail. Toby is on his own. And he has his sights set on a judge, Hector Blake (Hugh Bonneville). And that's all I'm telling you. Giddy up. This one went to places I didn't expect at all. In fact, it took me by surprise a few times. It kind of gutted me and left me thinking about the film for long after. And the interactions between Toby and his mother, Jay and his girlfriend felt really well drawn out. These people felt real and the story packed a lot in within a short timeframe. I was really impressed. Director and co-writer, Babak Anvari is someone I need to pay attention to. And Hugh Bonneville as the villain was fantastic. I hated him - perfect. This film was a complete surprise. Break into this house, now streaming on Netflix. 

Riders of Justice

2020 was a strange year for the world, and somehow I missed this film. Riders of Justice stars Mads Mikkelsen as Markus, a highly skilled military veteran who has some deep-seated anger issues. He has a poor relationship with his daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), which he is trying to correct. He finds himself pulled back home to investigate a crime along with three nerds, who give off an X-Files Lone Gunmen/Big Bang Theory vibe. They are hilarious. One of them, Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), believes that an accident was no accident, but the police won't believe him. He enlists the help of two of his nerd friends and Markus to help take down a motorcycle gang, the Riders of Justice, who he believes are behind the crime - the killing of an informant a week before the case is to go to trial. I have tried to convey the plot without actually telling you anything because I would like you to go in blind, without knowing anything. I simply had a ball with this movie. I love Mads Mikkelsen, and this is one of his best and funniest things he has done because he plays the role straight. The three other gentlemen get into silly arguments over nerd stuff, and it's fantastic. I howled with laughter. Everyone in this movie has trauma, or some form of mental baggage/illness. In fact, the three nerds pretend to be therapists working with Markus on his anger issues so his daughter Mathilde doesn't know what they are really up to - killing motorcycle gang members. It's violent and thrilling and funny as hell. This is the therapy you need. I simply loved Riders of Justice. Catch it streaming or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

The History of Concrete

John Wilson. A generic enough sounding name. I had never heard of him or his HBO series How to with John Wilson. He must have some sort of cult following because I saw his documentary The History of Concrete on a Sunday night at the Mayfair Theatre and it was full of people; the most I had seen in a very long time. I went because I had seen the trailer and it looked amusing. It's not, it's hilarious. I haven't laughed as much since Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. It's not really the history of concrete. I mean, technically, yes, sort of. But really, it's a portrait of America in the same way Borat is a portrait of America. Although there are no fictional characters. This is John Wilson interacting with all the strange and silly that America has to offer. The film starts with him attending a Hallmark movie seminar about how to make a Hallmark movie. Bizarre, funny, and somewhat sad. This pretty much describes all the different segments which make up The History of Concrete. To name just a few, he covers the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race; an annual race in Queens, New York, consisting of 5,649 laps around a single city block over two months. This is run on concrete. He goes to a concrete convention where there are brick-wall-making competitions (like a firefighter thing). Wilson, to acquire more funding for his documentary, is required to make his film a music biography, so he finds Jack Macco, a rock musician who has a cover band and sells liquor as his day job. Bizarre, funny, and somewhat sad. Wilson's narrations that join all his segments are paired with quick visual gags that come as fast and as corny as Airplane! jokes. He is clever and very funny. The film also serves as a warning about the crumbling infrastructure of America and the environmental disaster of the world's coastlines caused by the consumption of sand for China's rapid concrete growth. Some heavy facts here. Bizarre, funny, and somewhat sad. It will hit you like a ton of cartoon bricks. Catch it in theatres now or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available. 

Resident Evil

My second favourite film of last year was Weapons, written and directed by Zach Cregger. He has followed that film with this, a remake and a reimagining of Resident Evil - the long-running franchise that was written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starred the pouty Milla Jovovich. I have a soft spot for these films, although I can say, I don't believe I saw more than the first three. Anyway, I was happy to see a fresh take from someone like Cregger. What he has given us is something like Martin Scorsese's After Hours crossed with Carolie Fargeat's The Substance. After Hours was a story of an average Joe just trying to get home. Resident Evil is a story about an average Joe, in this case, Bryan (Austin Abrams - who played the junkie in Weapons), trying to deliver a package. Scorsese and Cregger both place their protagonists in absurd situations, and this is what provides the comedy, how they react to the crazy situations they find themselves in. Yes, Resident Evil is a horror film, and it is scary at times, but it's also hilarious. I had a ball watching Austin Abrams who can play a goofus like nobody else. He brings a naive buffoonery to his character and I love watching him. I think he is a brilliant actor. So there is that, but then there are the monsters and the blood. John Carpenter's The Thing has a famous scene of a man's head detaching and turning into a bug/spider. In Resident Evil they reattach and form a tornado ball of Cirque du Soleil spinning limbs. Then there is The Substance level of blood and gore. It's pretty wild. The nursery scene is something else; code red. Resident Evil is no Weapons but it's still a bloody good time. Catch it in theatres now or rent from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

The Weight

Ethan Hawke is one of those actors I will follow wherever he chooses to go. Those destinations have landed me at The Purge, Born to Be Blue, Maudie, First Reformed, The Black Phone, Leave the World Behind, and Blue Moon, just to name a few great ones of the last thirteen years of Hawke's career. There have been a few flat tires and dead ends along the way, but Hawke is someone who consistently picks interesting material to star in. And now we have The Weight. Life changing? No. Highly entertaining? Yes. Hawke plays Samuel Murphy, a single dad who is down on his luck during the Great Depression in 1933. Kicked out of their apartment, Samuel and his young daughter find themselves looking for a home. Samuel gets thrown into the slammer for assaulting a cop and his daughter is thrown into foster care. Samuel is sentenced to hard labour, building a road, breaking rocks with a sledgehammer. The big bad boss man of this prison outfit is J.J. Clancy (Russell Crowe). J.J. finds out quickly that Samuel is one smart cookie - he can fix all aspects of a car and can move a massive stone using his noggin. J.J. offers Samuel early release so he can get his daughter back if he illegally moves (steals) some gold from point A to point B. Samuel agrees and picks a crew to help him, all with the promise of early parole. Thus the adventure ensues. It's kind of like Cool Hand Luke meets Sorcerer, with maybe a little Deliverance and Sometimes a Great Notion thrown in. Violent and bloody at times, I found myself squirming as Samuel tries to remove the wedding ring from his swollen hand. It's a prison-heist-thriller and it's worth its weight in gold (see what I did there?). Catch it in theatres now or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

The 47

Having watched movies now for over fifty years, I have learned a few things, mostly about myself. Maybe. I enjoy underdog stories and stories of people fighting against repression, tyranny, and authority. Maybe it stems from Star Wars, rebels fighting against the Empire or Indiana Jones punching Nazis in the face. Whatever the case, adult me seems to gravitate towards similar, but less cartoonish, versions of this type of story; films like I, Daniel Blake, Milk, or Philadelphia. The 47 gives us the true story of Manolo Vital (Eduard Fernández) who plays a bus driver from the mountainous Barcelona suburb of Torre Baró. It was built by hand in the 1950s and '60s by migrants. By the mid-'70s, the well-established area still had poor electricity and a dismal water supply. There was no bus service. Manolo and his daughter, and the rest of the Torre Baró inhabitants had to traverse the mountainside up and down to go to blue-collar jobs or school. Manolo and his friend would travel into town and paint slogans on the wall of city hall, slogans about justice for Torre Baró (the rebel in me cheers!). Manolo's daughter is ashamed of where she lives. When a firetruck can't climb the hill to a burning building, it becomes the tipping point for Manolo to take action. He becomes determined to get bus service for his people. The film is about social justice, but it's layered. His daughter Joana (Zoe Bonafonte) is in the school choir, and she is subjected to almost Whiplash levels of cruelty. Her performance is a standout. The 47 is a bus ride you want to catch. Watch it at a repertory theatre if possible or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

Boorman and the Devil

This is a documentary about the making of Exorcist II: The Heretic, a film directed by John Boorman. It's also a film retrospective of Boorman's work. If you are a film nerd, you will love it. But even if you're not, or maybe you just haven't seen any of his work yet, the film serves as commentary on why we make art in the first place. What are we doing as artists? What does success look like, and in this case, what is a failure? Exorcist II: The Heretic was one of the biggest film flops that Hollywood has ever seen. A disaster. The Mayfair was showing it on alternate nights with the Boorman documentary. (I went and saw it. Not entirely disastrous. I actually enjoyed a good portion of the film.) Before The Heretic, Boorman had made Deliverance, and it was nominated for Best Picture of 1973. After that, he was Hollywood A-list material. If anyone could make a sequel to the ginormous smash hit that was The Exorcist, it was Boorman. However, he didn't want to make a traditional sequel; he wanted to go in an all new direction. Something completely different. And he did. Audiences hated it. The production of the film was shut down for over five weeks because Boorman fell ill due to inhaling some bacteria found in dirt. It was brought in for swirling wind scenes set in Africa. Boorman could have died. The film was running out of time and the ending was rewritten. Multiple times. More disasters. A mess. Then it opened and critics and audiences hated it. Boorman almost quit making movies. Thankfully he didn't. As a writer and artist myself, I appreciate those who are willing to take risks and give us something new, something we have never seen before. It takes guts. Boorman is such an artist. This portrait of failure is a success. Catch it in a theatre if you can or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa.  

Insidious: Out of the Further

If you are claustrophobic or don't like going to the dentist, well this is the horror film for you! This one is going to put you into the tight cavity of a rotten tooth with an exposed nerve. This is the sixth installment of the Insidious franchise and you would think it would be out of gas. The tank is full! Full of monsters, that is. What's it all about? Well, first off, you don't have to know anything about the previous films to understand this one. It follows the story of Gemma Hall (Charli Penton) who has The Sixth Sense ability to see dead people, just like the character Haley Joel Osment played. When Gemma grows up (Amelia Eve) she has become a dental hygienist, has a kid of her own, and still sees dead people. And these dead people, they want to come back from their Insidious purgatory world of the Further. They have a leader who looks like a cross between Emperor Palpatine and a just-before-death Ozzy Osbourne - he often wears a blindfold for extra creepiness, or maybe he plans to dress up as Justice for Halloween. Whichever. He would like to bring his army of the undead to, and I paraphrase, "Rip apart our world." Not so nice of him. The demons look like something out of a Clive Barker film. And there are three old folks who look like they borrowed red getups from Jordan Peele's Us - they are fantastically scary. Gemma, with the help of a tattoo artist and an old lady, must stop them. Insidious: Out of the Further has some fantastic and fresh ideas and images. Gemma exploring a couch fort is Backrooms fun. And the dental office sequence will have you brushing extra hard before bed. This ranks up there with one of the best horror features of 2026. So go get yourself a dental checkup at the cinema, or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available and watch it peeking out from your couch fort.    

Tony

It's kind of like a superhero origin story for Anthony Bourdain, starring that kid from The Holdovers, Dominic Sessa. The opening is a quote from Bourdain himself, and I'm paraphrasing, something like, "When I was young, I was a cocky, pretentious little shit who needed an ass-kicking." It kind of sums up the plot of the film. Bourdain, as the film portrays him, comes from a middle-class American family and is going to college, where he's in the running for a writing scholarship. The Bourdain we see is that cocky kid who believes he is going to be a writer and the world is his oyster - he quickly finds out it's not and those suckers are really hard to open. He chases after a girl (Emilia Jones) to Providence on the East Coast, where he finds himself broke and hungover, taken in by the League of Shadows . . . sorry, that's Batman. . . taken in by the chef (Antonio Banderas) of a local seafood restaurant out of pity. Here Bourdain gets some tough life lessons; this is where he matures. As a teenager, I worked in kitchens, also transitioning from dishwasher to prep cook to line cook before leaving it all behind. I did think about going into the culinary arts. What I know about Tony is that it rings true. Drinking, drugs, and alcohol all seem to play a large part of that world, and everyone smokes (or they used to). All of this, all the characters you find in kitchens are put here on the screen and it's authentic. This is Canadian writer/director Matt Johnson's second feature to come out this year (the first being Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie). What a great year Matt is having! So go make a reservation at your local theatre - playing at The Mayfair and The ByTowne here in Ottawa or rent it when it's available from Movies 'N Stuff.

The Rivals of Amziah King

There is warmth here from the very first frames. This is southern hospitality, where you are given a warm embrace and shown a seat. Sit yourself right on down and make yourself at home. This here, it's a potluck. On the menu, the main bubbling dish is a modern-day Western, a tale of revenge. But there is plenty more: live music jams, comedy, action, suspense, and plenty more. This is the story of Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey) who is a honey bee farmer. Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass), one of Amziah's foster kids, walks back into his life many years later, all grown up. She joins Amziah and his ragtag group of musical misfits. But something is afoot. There is some bad apple out there stealing honey and before you know it, the bad apple has stolen Amziah's hives. Kateri is the avenging angel. She is determined to get everything back. Kurt Russell plays the villain. The cast of supporting characters is colourful, delightful, and charming. There are a lot of funny moments, a particular one being Amziah and his crew removing a bee colony from the walls of an elementary school. Later, there is a whole section which reminded me of William Friedkin's Sorcerer. Amazing. This is one of my favourite films of the year and I hope it gets the buzz it deserves (see what I did there). This is writer-director Andrew Patterson's second feature. His first was The Vast of Night, which was a sci-fi film that showed his potential for greatness. He has delivered a swarm. Grab your epi-pen and run to the theatre to watch this great film. It will sting you in the heart. Rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World

The opening shot is of Stephen Colbert trying to read The Summer Day by Mary Oliver. He seems verklempt, almost unable to read it, his emotions so strong, like the words were made from thumbtacks of love and beauty, to speak them is to have an emotional experience unlike anything else. I was sold from the opening shot. So, I know a lot of Canadian poets, personally. I also have read lots of our famous ones and not so famous ones. I confess, I have not read the works of Mary Oliver. I will rectify this in time. Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World is a documentary about the life and times of, you guessed it, Mary Oliver. She was an American poet who was gay and spent most of her life living with her photographer wife, Molly Cook in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Filmmaker John Waters, with his signature pencil-thin moustache, was their friend and neighbour and has some extremely amusing commentary on Mary and Molly. Mary won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984 for her fourth poetry collection, American Primitive. She won the National Book Award in 1992 for her ninth collection. These awards shot her to superstar status, but Mary really didn't want any of it. She was an introvert and loved spending time outdoors and wrote about it. Nature was her candy. It's simply a lovely documentary, and what makes it special is listening to famous and non-famous alike read Oliver's words and describe how much her work has meant to them, and in some cases, changed, or even saved their lives.  "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver. The answer: Go to the movies, of course! Catch this screening now at the Mayfair or rent it when available from Movies 'N Stuff. 

The End of Oak Street

Stranger Things has given the 1980s a whole new life. As a Gen-Xer, it feels a little bit like time travel. My Gen-Z kids also seem to enjoy this time period. Like I said, Stranger Things has played an enormous role in that. 1982 was a particularly outstanding year for film: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Tootsie, Gandhi, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Das Boot, Diner, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Poltergeist, Blade Runner, Fitzcarraldo, Conan the Barbarian, and John Carpenter's The Thing all came out in 1982! Just think about that. Amazing. The End of Oak Street is writer-director David Robert Mitchell's third film. I loved his first two, It Follows (a teen horror film which I think is rather brilliant) and Under the Silver Lake (a drama/comedy and an ode to Film Noir and Hitchcock - I adore this movie). If his first film was an ode to Wes Craven/John Carpenter, and his second was an ode to Hitchcock, then this third film is an ode to Spielberg. The End of Oak Street was like if Spielberg were brought back in time to 1982 and he made Jurassic Park instead of E.T. (and brought the special effects back with him too). What's it all about? Anne Hathaway (who seems to be in every big movie this year) plays Denise, who is in a marriage going through a rough patch. Her husband, Greg (Ewan McGregor), who is trying to make ends meet by delivering pizzas on the side, might have a mild drinking problem, but is doing his best to keep it all together for his family. They have two kids and a dog, and they all live in a suburban cul-de-sac which ends up time-travelling (the whole neighbourhood) millions of years into dino land where they try not to get eaten while trying to figure out what's going on. It's good marriage therapy, '80s style. I had a ton of fun with this. The best Jurassic Park movie since Jurassic Park. Head to the theatre now to time travel back to 1982, or wait and rent it from the video store at Movies 'N Stuff. 

The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan has yet to make a horrible film. Tenet might be the closest thing, followed by the bookending Batman films (the first and the third). His track record is, for the most part, glorious and Hollywood has him and Greta Gerwig to thank for bringing people back to movie theatres post-pandemic - "Barbenheimer." So, has Nolan finally flown too close to the sun and had his wings melted off? Hell no. The King has returned; rejoice! The Odyssey is a spectacle, a kind of Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings spectacle. With a runtime of close to three hours (hobbits and cyclopes always add at least 45 minutes), time flew by. As I said, it's a spectacle, and Nolan filmed everything in IMAX, not just selected battle scenes, I mean everything. I couldn't care less. I didn't see it in IMAX (I don't believe we have a true IMAX screening room in Ottawa - something close is the Scotiabank, but it's not a true IMAX screen). Whatever. Audiophiles who are super into their stereo systems end up listening to the equipment rather than the music. That's how I feel about IMAX. It has nothing to do with why I go to the movies. I'm there for an emotional experience, not a carnival ride. You don't need to see it in IMAX to enjoy it. So, what's it all about? Matt Damon plays Odysseus. After kicking ass at Troy, he just wants to go home. It takes him a good long time to get there. It's a road movie. Tom Holland plays Telemachus, Odysseus' son, who at one point goes looking for the old man. Anne Hathaway is Penelope, the wife and mother who is waiting patiently while suitors vulture about, waiting to take her hand in marriage, assuming Odysseus has kicked the bucket. Hats off to John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, the old blind and loyal servant - I loved him in this. So put your oars into the water and paddle over to your local theatre and have yourself a great old adventure. Rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when it becomes available. 

The Invite

It could be a play. It wouldn't surprise me if it was done as a play. Also, I didn't know when I watched it that it's actually a remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs by Cesc Gay, who adapted it from his own stage play. So it was a play! And the thing about plays is that they usually have great dialogue. And they often take place in small settings. In this case, a San Francisco apartment. Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) have been married a good long while, have a teenage daughter, and have been kept awake by the wild escapades of the neighbours above. Angela invites Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) over one night for drinks and some food. Joe wants to have it out with them for making all the sex racket upstairs. Turns out Hawk and Piña have their own agenda too. If you told me that Woody Allen had made it, I would believe you. It's foremost a comedy, but there is something deeper here. At times, poignant. It touches on the desires of couples who have been together for a long time and know each other, know each other's weaknesses and shortcomings. At times there is brutal honesty. There are lots of truths you may relate to, especially if you have been in a long-term relationship. Pain, resentment, fears, guilt, and facing one's own failures get paraded about in Angela's warmly decorated apartment. It reminded me of His Three Daughters (a great film from 2024) but with different themes; that was about siblings and their relationship with their father. The Invite is about relationships between long-term couples, but the candour and humour of the former film feel similar, and it is also set in an apartment. Both have great dialogue. Make sure to accept your invitation to the party and catch it in theatres now at the ByTowne and The Mayfair, or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when it becomes available. 

The Twister: Caught in the Storm

I'm always down to watch a disaster movie. A lot of them are pure fiction with some small foothold rooted in science: Twister, Twisters, and San Andreas. Some are based on true events: The Impossible, The Lost Bus, and The Perfect Storm. All of these dramas or docudramas have actors emoting, writers bringing these characters to life, and they have the tinsel glitter of Hollywood. Not that it makes them bad, but it keeps us just slightly removed. I have only been in three major weather events, two ice storms and the May 2022 Ottawa derecho. The derecho left me without power for two weeks and caused major destruction across Canada's capital. I was inside a Canadian Tire when it rolled through - I came out and the sky was black, tinted with green swirling masses that looked like fish tank algae rolling through the clouds. When I watched this documentary, I could only imagine what I saw and experienced was a small fraction compared to what the people of Joplin, Missouri endured in the summer of 2011. This film focuses on about eight different individuals who were there when this massive tornado hit their town. On the day it hit, it was the Joplin High School graduation for approximately 450 students. Most of those featured were teenagers at the time. A group of three amateur storm chasers. A frozen yogurt employee, Cecil,  who was Christian, gay and still in the closet. He thought the Rapture was coming when the storm hit. This film is raw and riveting. The people interviewed are candid - feels like they are opening a wound when they tell their stories. Makes it very personal. It's as thrilling as any fictional drama or docudrama. In fact, it's better. And scary as hell. Plus it's highly emotional. You will be hard-pressed to find someone with dry eyes at the end of this one. This one blew me away (pun intended). Catch it streaming down on Netflix.