The Winter Lake: Cool Irish rural thriller is a strong starter that stops short of its premise's promise
Truman and Tennessee: Documentary Captures Prickly Literary Giants In Soft Glow of Nostalgia
ReviewJim SlotekTruman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Lisa Immordino Vreeland, documentary, Hot Docs, David Frost, Dick Cavett
Censor: Sharp Thriller Heralds Bold Talents of Emerging Director Prano Bailey-Bond
Fatherhood: Kevin Hart Struggles with Grief, Baby… and Collapsible Strollers
ReviewJim SlotekFatherhood, Paul Weitz, Kevin Hart, Alfre Woodard, Memoir adaptation, Single dad, Melody Hurd, Dramedy, Netflix, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Lil Rel Howery, Paul Reiser, Family drama
Les Nôtres: In Quebec Feature, A Community Rallies to Hide a Shameful Secret
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard: Smirks, Mayhem, and Salma Hayek’s Chest in Bloody Buddy Comedy
Akilla's Escape: Charles Officer's solid generational crime film offers a night of violent redemption for a career criminal
ReviewJim SlotekToronto-set crime stories, Noir, Criminal redemption, Akilla’s Escape, Charles Officer, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, Saul Williams, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja, Theresa Tova, Colm Feore, Thamela Mpumlwana, Ronnie Rowe, Olunike Adeliyi
New Order: Depiction of Brutal Class Divide Propels Grim Mexican Thriller
ReviewJim SlotekNew Order, Michel Franco, TIFF 2020, Venice Film Festival, Naian González Norvind, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Mexico City, Mexican film, Spanish language, Dystopian stories, Thriller, Venice Silver Lion Award
Discriminator: A facial-recognition short doc that watches you watch it
ReviewJim SlotekFacial recognition, Digital privacy issues, Discriminator, Interactive movies, Brett Gaylor, RiP: A Remix Manifesto, Creative Commons licenses, The Internet of Everything, Yahoo/Flickr, Megaface directory, Online Tribeca Film Festival
The Dose: Darkly-comic Argentinian hospital thriller about dueling 'Angels of Death' walks a fine line
In The Heights: Family-Friendly Latino Musical Aims to Bring Audiences Back to the Movies
ReviewJim SlotekIn The Heights, Jon M. Chu, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton, musical, Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Dascha Polanco, Latino, Spanish, Marc Anthony, Melissa Barrera
Loki: Marvel's God of Mischief turns time-cop in a trippy mix of sci-fi influences
ReviewJim SlotekTom Hiddleston, Loki, Avengers, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney+, Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, Douglas Adams, Kate Herron, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Time paradox plots
A Perfect Enemy: A perfectly unsettling encounter with a stranger at the airport
ReviewJim SlotekPsychological thriller, Possibly imaginary characters, A Perfect Enemy, Strangers met while travelling, Kike Maíllo, Marta Nieto, Athena Strates, Amélie Nothomb, Tomasz Kot, Eva
Equal Standard: Well-Meaning BLM Cop Drama Loses the Thread
ReviewJim SlotekEqual Standard, Black Lives Matter, Ice-T, Brendan Kyle Cochran, Taheim Bryan, Tobias Truvillion, Syleena Johnson, Anthony “Treach” Criss, Cop drama, Racism, Drama
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It - Give Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson a TV series already!
ReviewJim SlotekEd and Lorraine Warren, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, The Conjuring movies, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Fringe, John Noble, Annabelle, The Nun, Demonic possession as a murder defence, Ruairi O'Connor, Michael Chaves, The Curse of La Llorona, The Exorcist.
Undine: Christian Petzold’s Latest a Berlin Mermaid Tale Against the Current
ReviewJim SlotekUndine, Christian Petzold, Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski, The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Andersen, Mermaids, Germany, Berlin, Berlin Film Festival, Fairytale
Spiral: Latest Installment in the SAW Horror Franchise at Once Faithful and Novel
ReviewJim SlotekSpiral, Saw, Darren Lynn Bousman, Franchise, Horror, Torture, Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Cop drama, Jigsaw, Serial killers, Tobin Bell
Toronto Jewish Film Festival: A Thematic Sense of Place Propels Latest (and Online) Installment
Review, PreviewJim SlotekToronto Jewish film festival, TJFF2021, Shelter, Ron Chapman, Online Festival, Summer of '85, Lune, Kiss Me Kosher, The Specials
Moby Doc: Novel Filmic Memoir of EDM Star and Vegan Activist Holds Nothing Back
The Real Thing: Japan’s Cannes Contender Follows the Needy Woman of Man’s Dreams
