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. 

Mr Inbetween

Scott Ryan is a unicorn. A rare magical creature, singular and dazzling. What a beast he is. Scott Ryan is the creator, writer, and star of the Australian show, Mr Inbetween. The show ran for three seasons from 2018 to 2021. Ryan plays Ray Shoesmith, a bouncer at a strip club, The Playhouse. He is also an independent contract killer. He is divorced and has a daughter, Britt, with whom he shares custody. Ray has a brother, Bruce, who has some sort of undisclosed illness, ALS or something similar. Bruce is played by Nicholas Cassim. I actually looked up to see if Cassim has some sort of disability or disease. He does not. That's how good he is in his role. Ray's sidekick is Gary (Justin Rosniak) who is constantly asking for Ray's help or coming up with silly ways to make money. Gary is comic relief with his golden shower DVDs and his foot fetish sex toys. There is no theme song for the show. It feels stripped down to the barest of bones. At first I thought it was cheap and low budget but I think it's more of a stylist choice. There is a simplicity to the show, all the fluff is stripped away and raw honesty is what is left. The dialogue between Ray and Gary feels like something Tarantino would write, but even more earnest. It feels like a conversation you might actually have with your friend. But let me remind you, this is a show, where the lead is a killer for money. Ray doesn't seem to have any problem inflicting violence on anyone if the price is right. Ray is loyal to a few friends and his family and that's it. The show goes in directions I didn't expect. Sometimes you can see the violence coming, and sometimes you can't. Breaking Bad remains one of my favourite TV crime dramas of all time. Coming in a very close second is, Mr Inbetween. Catch it streaming on Disney+ (of all places) or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Slow West

So at the end of last year I reviewed a film called Tornado. If you haven't seen it yet, giddy up. I said I would go back and check out director John Maclean's first film, Slow West. I finally got around to doing it and it's also fantastic. Maclean has only made these two feature films and IMDb tells me they didn't make a whole lot of money. Which is a shame. I feel like there is some sort of injustice, much like the Wild West Maclean likes to write about. Both of Maclean's films have this quiet savagery to them, a kind of Darwinesque, eat-or-be-eaten quality. But as I said, it's quiet, subtle. It takes a long time to build up to the violence, then it's fast. The threat of it always seems to hang there, like a gun just laying on a counter. What's it all about? A young, very naive Irish man, Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), is heading West across America in search of the love of his life, Rose (Caren Pistorius). Turns out that Rose is also a wanted fugitive. Tracking Rose is bounty hunter Silas (Michael Fassbender) who has had a falling out with a group of fellow trackers led by Payne (Ben Mendelsohn) who fashions a coat that looks like something Johnny Depp wore in Dead Man. They are all heading for destination Rose. Quentin Tarantino had already made seven films (ten if you include Four Rooms, True Romance, and Natural Born Killers; maybe eleven if you add Sin City) before he made Django Unchained and then The Hateful Eight. I would say Maclean's first two films are better Westerns. Saddle up and get yourself to your local video store, that would be Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa, and rent Slow West today. 

Satan's Slaves and Satan's Slaves 2: Communion

If you are a fan of The Conjuring, then buckle up and keep reading. If not, stop right here and move on to another review. If you are still with me, then let me tell you about these two Indonesian horror films which are just as good as any of The Conjuring films. Satan's Slaves and its even better sequel follow the story of a family which starts off living in small house in the rural countryside. There is a dying grandmother, a sick mother, and a father who leaves for a good chunk of the film, leaving in charge Rini (Tara Basro), who is in her early twenties, to take care of her three brothers, ages sixteen, ten, and six. The six-year-old doesn't speak. The mother has a mysterious illness and the grandmother lies in bed looking as pale as a geisha, and when she opens her eyes, they open frighteningly wide. Just her appearance alone will scare you. I don't want to bog you down in plot details, but trust me, this one will possess your attention. And the sequel is even better.

The family ends up moving to an apartment building. Satan's Slaves 2: Communion is kind of like The Raid meets Poltergeist. The family finds themselves trapped in the building by a massive storm and inside with them is a big elevator ride of supernatural horror. You will want to stop at every floor! Both are terrifyingly fun. Director Joko Anwar has made two masterful horror films and third in this series is due out in 2027 - I am Scooby Doo excited. Catch these films streaming on Shudder or go rent them from Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa. 

The Exorcist III: Legion

How is it that I've been walking around the Earth without anyone telling me about this film? How is it that nobody told me that The Exorcist III is one of greatest sequels and one of the greatest horror films of all time? Maybe because nobody I know has watched it. Well I'm here to remedy this situation. Or at least do my part to alert you, dear reader, and bring this important horror film to your attention. It stars the late, great, George C. Scott as a police detective who is investigating a murder. The film was written and directed by William Peter Blatty. Blatty's career was spent mainly as a writer. He wrote the screenplay for the first Exorcist film. He only directed two movies, this being his second and last. It's a holy moly show. There is a hallway scene,  a mise-en-scène shot, where the camera sits at the end of the hall and we are waiting, possibly for something bad to happen. In fact, we are sure of it and this just amplifies the tension as it goes on. Hitchcock, De Palma, or Dario Argento would be proud of this shot. It's magnificent. There is a dream sequence which lasts only a few minutes, but it feels like it had the budget and scale of Caligula - impressive. But the best part of the film is the dialogue. As I mentioned before, Blatty was mainly a writer. The script swells with earnest writing. The back and forth between Scott and Ed Flanders (who plays Father Dyer) in a gritty diner is wonderful - a man of faith vs. the grizzled cop who has seen too much violence and asks, "How could your God do such a thing?" These two characters are the best of friends, which makes it more interesting. The killings in this movie are gruesome and unnerving, although there is little actual gore - mostly discussed (and maybe what is left to your imagination is worse). George C. Scott screaming out "I believe in slime!" is one of the great moments in horror cinema. Loved it. The Exorcist III: Legion is the director's cut of the same film. Have faith in this one and catch it on Prime or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Backrooms

So I haven't watched any of director Kane Parsons' YouTube videos which, as I have read, led to the making of this film, his first feature-length movie. I went in cold except for the trailer. I recommend doing the same if possible. What's it all about? It follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the owner and operator of a discount furniture store in a warehouse area, circa 1990 - Cap'n Clark's Ottoman Empire. Clark performs cheesy TV commercials dressed as a pirate with a wooden leg. Clark is in therapy after the demise of his last relationship. His store is sad with ugly and outdated pieces that scream grandpa's couch. And no customers. The store also seems to have some serious electrical issues. Clark discovers a secret passage to another part of his store that looks like '70s or '80s office space. It's like Clark entered The Twilight Zone if it were a Guggenheim Museum art installation. Clark's therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve) also has her own messed-up childhood backstory, which plays a role when she enters the backrooms in search of the missing Clark. Backrooms is like if you took Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3 and gave it characters and a plot. Or if you took Synecdoche New York and turned it into The Maze Runner. It's kind of like the 1997 Canadian film, Cube if the world was turned to a yellow-beige and you added bad furniture. If all of these film references are too obscure, no worries, you can still go get happily lost in Backrooms. It's strange, like doing mushrooms in your friend's basement that hasn't been updated since the early '90s - you may have a bit of a panic attack trying to find your way out. Catch this conundrum in a dark theatre room or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when it becomes available.  

I Love Boosters

This is Boots Riley's second directorial feature. His first was Sorry to Bother You which made my top 22 films of 2018 on my very first blog entry here on the Marquee. Had I started doing this earlier, I would have written a full entry about it. That film is about a black man working in a call center. It was bold, colourful, satirical, irreverent, pissed-off, arty, original, intelligent, and entertaining. Riley went on to make a TV series, I'm a Virgo, which I have not seen (but now I intend to). I Love Boosters is a bananas ride and all the adjectives I gave to his first film apply to his second. I loved it and thought it was a mess at the same time - like some of the ludicrous fashion designs that are the subject of this film. What's it all about? A gang of women are stealing and reselling high-end clothes from Metro Designers, a fashion empire run by Christie Smith (Demi Moore). Each store has its own primary colour - all the clothes in one location are yellow, for example. It's a gag and it's a hoot. Although it is a mockery of the fashion world, the designs remain outrageous and fun - The Hunger Games of primary colours. Then the film goes into the realm of science fiction with a teleportation device - a Chinese worker has teleported from China, where all the clothes are made. Her plan is to steal the clothes back as ransom to get workers some rights. She teams up with the boosters and all hell breaks loose. It becomes unhinged. A slapstick, Three Stooges, car-chase, roller-coaster of action. It's kind of like Everything Everywhere All at Once but add in a demon (LaKeith Stanfield - who is also the lead in Sorry to Bother You) who sucks women's souls out of their bodies through their coochies. Yeah, it's pretty wild and it's not for everyone. That said, it has to be one of the most interesting films of 2026 and I feel like I need to watch it again. Anxiety in this film is literally depicted as a giant ball of ATMs, computers, advertising, bills, phones, clothes, food, etc. rolling and roaming the streets of the city like an Indiana Jones boulder. It's brilliant. Go find something to wear and head to the cinema to catch this original film (not a cheap knock-off). Or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

Silent Friend

If Sound of Falling was your cup of tea, then I have another one for you. If you don't know what I'm speaking about, not to worry, I'll explain. What we have here is another long (2.5 hours), beautiful, German art film which is slow and spans three different time periods, with three different stories all revolving around scientists and their relationships to plants. I know, it might sound boring as all hell, but trust me, it's great. Hungarian filmmaker, Ildikó Enyedi, has made a complex and gorgeous film. If you are willing to give some time and patience to this film, like watering and taking care of a plant, you will be rewarded with a bouquet of emotions. The first story, if we take them chronologically, takes place in 1908 with Grete (Luna Wedler) who is studying botany. This part of the film is shot in black and white. Breaking into a scientific men's world in 1908 is as unpleasant as poison ivy (if we continue with the plant metaphors). Grete takes up the new art of photography as a way to make ends meet - her pictures are stunning. The second story take place in 1972 and it looks like Enyedi did her best to make it look as though the film stock was from this time period. If you cried when Tom Hanks lost Wilson, his volleyball in Cast Away, well this film will give you anxiety over a geranium. Someone could argue that there is too much anthropomorphizing going on here - I don't care, I loved it anyway. The last story takes place in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Brain scientist Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is stuck by himself on a large university campus when he turns his research towards a tree and discovers an unlikely friendship as a result. The film explores our relationship with plants but also the relationships we have with each other, and how we treat one another. There is a meditative quality to the film, spiritual pantheism, an interconnectivity of all living things. You will come out feeling like you just walked through a lovely afternoon at the botanical gardens. So go grab your watering can, block out the sunshine, and go plant yourself in the dark theatre of the Mayfair, or the Bytowne, or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when it becomes available. 

Widow's Bay

I don't recall writing about a series before having finished it. Well, there is a first for everything. Widow's Bay is now streaming on Apple+. A horror-comedy is how I would classify it. Normally, this isn't the sort of thing I would enjoy. Often it doesn't work. For reasons I'm not altogether sure of, this works great. Perhaps because all the gags are played straight, deadpan. Dead is right. What's it all about? Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me, The Americans) plays Tom Loftis, Widow's Bay's town mayor. Widow's Bay is a small, one-sheriff, island town. Oh, and the island, it's cursed. However, Tom wants it to be the next Martha's Vineyard. He is hoping that a positive article written by a New York Times reporter will help turn the island's reputation around and start bringing in boatloads of tourists. The show has a kind of parallel to Jaws, if it was told from the perspective of the mayor. Instead of a shark, it's a curse. And the curse is deliberately vague, so we can have multiple different horror tropes, and each one gives us a fresh episode - a Gilligan's Island of horror stories: Haunted fog, evil sea sirens, books of witchcraft, etc. Like Chief Brody in Jaws, the Mayor has a quirky old secretary, who has vision problems and a propensity to leave her job early every day. Everyone seems to be working against poor Mayor Loftis. It's a hoot. The tone is something similar to Steve Miner's 1985 film, House. It has an almost nostalgic feel to the show, with elements of John Carpenter's The Fog and Prince of Darkness. Grab your lifejacket and sail your boat immediately to Widow's Bay. Streaming on Apple or grab it from Movies 'N Stuff when available. 

The Plague

Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) - I have said it before but in case you weren't following along, I will say it again: I will follow Mr. Edgerton wherever he goes. He continues to pick material which is always smart and engaging. He only has a supporting role here in The Plague as the coach of a young boys' water polo camp. Our main protagonist is Ben (Everett Blunck), a geeky kid from out of town who is just trying to fit in with the well-established pack of boys led by Jake (Kayo Martin). "Jake" - a name reserved for the cool kid and I can hear  Anthony Michael Hall saying it in Sixteen Candles. Pardon me, I digressed. Also in the water polo camp is Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), who all the kids say has the plague because he has a bad skin rash, which I believe is eczema or psoriasis. They run away from Eli and if anyone comes into contact with him, they run to the tap to wash off "the plague." Kids can be downright cruel. Mean rotten little bastards, which is the whole subject here. When Ben tries to form a friendship with Eli, suddenly he finds himself on the outside of the clique. . .  and wait, what is that red bump forming on his skin? It's well-worn territory, The Lord of the Flies being the major pig head on the pole. Why should you watch this one then? It's gorgeous - the underwater shots are particularly hypnotic, upside down, you will be spun around like poor Ben. It also verges on body horror (which may or may not be your thing). The main reason to watch is the performances of these young men. Kenny Rasmussen as Eli is a standout - his dance scene in the rain is wow. These young actors are going to go places. Catch this in a rep theatre if possible, streaming, or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff.