The Beast in Me

I haven't blogged about a series in a good long while, mostly because I tend to focus my attention on films but partially because most of the series I have watched recently aren't worth your time. Welcome to The Beast in Me - a high paced thriller starring Claire Danes as Aggie Wiggs, a grieving, recently divorced, Pulitzer prize-winning writer who is living in a wealthy neighbourhood somewhere in New Jersey. Her house is in decline as is her attempt to write a follow-up work to her wildly successful first book. Wiggs is a mess. Along comes a brash, new neighbour who has just moved into the giant house next door - a famous real-estate developer, Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys) who is rumoured to have killed his former wife - disappeared without a trace. Aggie and Nile clash, at first but then. . . could Nile be the inspiration Aggie needs for her new book? This is a wild ride of FBI agents, city developers, and artist exhibitions. Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys are fabulous in this. It's so well done and so fast-paced and it sticks the landing. It's not Pulitzer Prize winning stuff, it's bestseller trash, and I loved it all. Catch the page-turner now streaming on Netflix or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa when available.  

Wild Goat Surf

The U.K. has Andrea Arnold. The U.S. has Sean Baker. Who is the Canadian equivalent? Turns out it's Caitlyn Sponheimer. Never heard of her? Me neither. She is the writer, director, and star of Wild Goat Surf, a 2023 Canadian film which seems to have gotten overlooked by everyone. This one is about Goat (Shayelin Martin), a young skater-girl/tomboy who lives with her waitressing/hairdressing mother Jane (Sponheimer) and every summer they illegally sublet their apartment and go live in an Okanagan trailer park to make a little extra cash. Goat hangs with the other kids in the trailer park and they get up to some trouble. Part American Honey, part The Florida Project, this coming of age tale breathes like a harmonica in a Neil Young song around a campfire. Everyone seems to have a beer on the go and is always a little tipsy. Shayelin Martin (Goat) is excellent as she dreams about becoming a surfer - her world slowly crashing around her. Caitlyn Sponheimer has crafted a beautiful looking film. Catch this streaming on Crave, though I'm not sure where else you can find it. It's a shame because I think it's a film that deserves a bigger audience. I hope Ms. Sponheimer gets another chance to make another beautiful film.  

Stolen: Heist of the Century

2025 feels like the year of the documentary. Here is another Netflix true-crime doc gracing my blog as one of the year's best films. This is the true story of one of the largest diamond heists in history which took place in 2003 in Antwerp Belgium. A group of thieves broke into an almost impenetrable vault (obviously not that impenetrable if they got in, right?) and grabbed millions upon millions of diamonds and then simply disappeared. I love heist movies. This documentary plays like any great one. The fact it's a true story made me love it even more. Leonardo Notarbartolo was the mastermind behind it. He really is a remarkable character. Forget Mission: Impossible, this is the real deal. Or sort of. Can Notarbartolo be trusted in his recounting? Sometimes it felt like it was a Kaiser Soze tale being spun, which made the whole thing even more entertaining. I won't say anything more, because I don't want to spoil the magic of this incredible heist. Catch this while you can, if you can (see what I did there). Streaming on Netflix.   

Train Dreams

Joel Edgerton gives a performance that will break your heart, maybe a few times. He is an actor I love. He has this childlike innocence and a kindness which seems to float about him and yet at the same time he has a rugged masculinity; he would be equally at home as a guest on the Wiggles or doing an Old Spice commercial. You might have seen him most recently in Apple's sci-fi series Dark Matter (which I also loved). Train Dreams is about a man, Robert Grainier (Edgerton) who finds himself at the rapidly changing beginning of the 20th century building the railroad. He meets a woman (Felicity Jones) and starts a family but has to leave them for long stints to work. Director Clint Bentley has made a gorgeous film, thick with rain, smoke, blue skies, trees, and flowers - it's a nature buffet. It's also a tale of grief, just as thick with sadness. Like I said, Edgerton will break your heart, maybe a few times. Give him all the nominations for this one. Catch it in theatres if you can. It will be streaming on Netflix. Or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Bugonia

Yorgos Lanthimos is quickly becoming a director I love. I confess I didn't care for The Lobster. However, as my friend Edward likes to say, maybe I watched it wrong. The Killing of a Sacred Deer I was riveted by. Poor Things made my Top Ten List of 2023, and Kinds of Kindness made my 2024 list. Bugonia marks Emma Stone's third straight appearance in Lanthimos films. There must be a kind of weird they both enjoy. Yorgos Lanthimos makes weird films; strange, arty, and very beautiful. I'm grateful for them. Jesse Plemons is back again too from Kinds of Kindness, a three-story film, the middle one being about a man who believes his wife to be an alien. Bugonia is almost this same story, with the exact same actors. Bugonia is actually based on the 2003 Korean film by Jang Joon-hwan, Save the Green Planet. I saw it at TIFF with my friend Jeff but have little recollection of it until he brought it up. Thank you Jeff! So what's it all about? Teddy (Plemons) believes Michelle (Stone) is an alien and he would like to meet the high-ranking alien overlord to negotiate Earth's release from captivity. That's all I'm giving you. It's strange, compelling, and funny. The ending of the film actually made me love it more - often films struggle to land the ending, this one is the opposite. Catch it in theatres now or go get it from Movies 'N Stuff when available. 

The Perfect Neighbor

I watched a Canadian film, Rituals, starring Hal Holbrook, at Ottawa's Mayfair Theatre many, many years ago. The film at times was so grainy, it was almost unwatchable - the equivalent of black and white TV snow. Despite this, I loved the film. It's Canada's Deliverance. Cinephile's often get into the weeds about 35 mm prints and what kind of camera or lens David Fincher use when he shot. . . whatever. Frank Capra's Lost Horizon has footage missing and it's still a great film. What does this all have to do with The Perfect Neighbor, Netflix's latest crime documentary? Well most of it police body-cam footage. It doesn't look great and it doesn't matter, because it's riveting. My wife and I have been watching true crime documentaries for 25 years and when I tell you this is a good one, please pay attention. This is the true story of a "Karen," a grumpy white woman who didn't like kids playing in the yard beside her house. She would call the cops. A lot. For me, this film is a grisly portrait of America. In a year of scathing portraits of America, (Eddington, On Battle After Another) you can add this one to the examination of the dumpster fire south of our border. I won't spoil it for you, but The Perfect Neighbor is a kettle on the stove. Slowly it begins to boil. It's tragic. There have been a lot of good documentaries this year. Don't scream at this one to get off your lawn - invite it in. Streaming on Netflix. 

The House that Jack Built

I have been scarred. It's pretentious as fuck. It's also horrifying, boring, arty, and likely to be a polarizing to audiences. Lars von Trier's The House that Jack Built is a portrait of a serial killer unlike any you have seen before. Like I mentioned, it's boring and yet, the longer you stick with it, the more un-boring it becomes. It slowly transforms into something horrifying, disturbing, and riveting. There are images stuck in my head and I'm not sure I like them there. Matt Dillon, who I've always loved as an actor, it an interesting choice. He has always played characters that have a bit of a bad-boy edge, a kind of beer swilling, pool playing greasy punk with attitude. At the same time he has a kind of apple-pie, football all-American quality to him. So to have him play somebody who commits horrific killings somehow makes it all that much worse. The movie kind of walks up to you and says, "So you like horror movies do you? Well then watch this!"  The film is two and a half hours long and at times you will be made uncomfortable. Lars Von Trier's take on the serial killer film will leave you questioning - How dark do you want to go? Why am I even watching this? What is the point? Is there a deeper meaning or is the point that there is none? The ending of the film is pure art house cinema. To watch this movie is to have an experience. It won't be for everyone. I understand those who hate it and I can understand those who think it's brilliant. Do you like horror movies? Well try this one and see if that is really true.