Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

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Persuasion: Dakota Johnson in a Jane Austen Adaptation is Decidedly Unpersuasive

Persuasion: Dakota Johnson in a Jane Austen Adaptation is Decidedly Unpersuasive

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 14, 2022Jane Austen, Period romance, Period piece, Persuasion, Carrie Cracknell, Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Richard E. Grant, Henry Golding, Netflix, Izuka Hoyle, Ben Bailey-Smith Comment

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris: Predictable, Light Fare as a Brit Maid Seeks Fashion Above Her Station

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris: Predictable, Light Fare as a Brit Maid Seeks Fashion Above Her Station

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 14, 2022Movies about the British class system, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Paul Gallico, Lesley Manville, Ellen Thomas, Jason Isaacs, Isabelle Huppert, Anthony Fabian, Jenny Beavan, Light comedies Comment

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song Explores What Everybody Knows, and Much We Don’t

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song Explores What Everybody Knows, and Much We Don’t

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 12, 2022Documentary, Music documentaries, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Song, A Journey, Dan Geller, Dayna Goldfine, Leonard Cohen, John Lissauer, Judy Collins, Adrienne Clarkson, Larry “Ratso” Sloman, Rufus Wainwright, Brandi CarlileComment

The Deer King: Japanese Weaponized Deer and The Fever Dogs of War

The Deer King: Japanese Weaponized Deer and The Fever Dogs of War

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 12, 2022The Deer King, Japanese movies, Animals, Animation, Children's movies, Masshi Ando, Mijayji Masayuki, Nahoko UehashiComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Scream Queen Alice Krige on Trauma, Healing and Mining Both in She Will

Original-Cin Q&A: Scream Queen Alice Krige on Trauma, Healing and Mining Both in She Will

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 11, 2022Horror, Fantasy, Witches, Trauma, Revenge, She Will, Charlotte Colbert, Alice Krige, Malcolm McDowell, Rupert Everett, Kota Eberhardt, John McCrea, Jonathan Aris, Daniel LapaineComment

Neptune Frost: Anti-Colonial, Gender-Fluid Political Rave Up Boasts Triumphant Imagery

Neptune Frost: Anti-Colonial, Gender-Fluid Political Rave Up Boasts Triumphant Imagery

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 10, 2022Neptune Frost, Political performance art, “Afro-futurist science-fiction musical fantasy", Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman, Colonial mining in Africa, Bertrand “Kaya Free” Ninteretse, Cedric MizeroComment

Black Bird: Creepy, But Facile Series About a Jock and his Serial Killer Buddy

Black Bird: Creepy, But Facile Series About a Jock and his Serial Killer Buddy

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 8, 2022Crime mini-series based on real life, Black Bird, AppleTV+, Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Serial killers, Dennis Lehane, Ray Liotta's last movieComment

Apples: An Amnesia Pandemic Provides Fodder for this Debut Feature About Identity and Loss

Apples: An Amnesia Pandemic Provides Fodder for this Debut Feature About Identity and Loss

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 8, 2022Greek director Christos Nikou, Apples, Movies about pandemics, Amnesia, Aris Servetalis, Sofia Georgovassili, Stavros RaptisComment

Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel a Negligible Add to the Fabled Building's Canon

Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel a Negligible Add to the Fabled Building's Canon

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 7, 2022Documentary, Chelsea Hotel, Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, Amélie van Elmbt, Maya DuverdierComment

Thor: Love and Thunder - Fun Ride with Quips, Personal Crises, Cameos and Jane With the Hammer

Thor: Love and Thunder - Fun Ride with Quips, Personal Crises, Cameos and Jane With the Hammer

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 6, 2022Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika Waititi, Self-deprecating Marvel movies, Chris Hemsworth, Avengers Endgame, Tessa Thompson, Guardians of the Galaxy, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman Comments

Fourth of July: Louis C.K. Quietly Returns to Directing With a 'Safe' Dysfunctional Family Tale

Fourth of July: Louis C.K. Quietly Returns to Directing With a 'Safe' Dysfunctional Family Tale

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 4, 2022Louis C.K., Films about domestic squabbling, Fourth of July, Joe List, Sarah Tollemache, Recovered alcoholics, Tara PachecoComment

Marcel The Shell with Shoes On: A Man and Mollusk in a Therapeutic Bond

Marcel The Shell with Shoes On: A Man and Mollusk in a Therapeutic Bond

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 1, 2022Telluride Festival, Children's movies, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Dean Fleischer-Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley, Isabella Rossellini, Animation, Stop-motion animationComment

Attack on Finland: Sort of 'Helsinki has Fallen,' But Devoid of Fun and Nonsense

Attack on Finland: Sort of 'Helsinki has Fallen,' But Devoid of Fun and Nonsense

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 1, 2022Attack on Finland, Aku Louhimies, Omerta 6/12, Ilkka Remes, Thrillers about political terrorist attacks, Nanna Blondell, Jasper Pääkkönen, Sverrir GudnasonComment

The Passengers of the Night: French Film Plumbs the Quiet Joy of Ordinary Life. Shhh.

The Passengers of the Night: French Film Plumbs the Quiet Joy of Ordinary Life. Shhh.

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJune 30, 2022French films, Quiet angst, The Passengers of the Night, Mikhaël Hers, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Emmanuelle Béart, Megan Northam, Quito Rayon Richter, Noée Abita, Women rebuilding their livesComment

The Forgiven: Adaptation of High-Stakes Thriller a Masterclass in Revenge

The Forgiven: Adaptation of High-Stakes Thriller a Masterclass in Revenge

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekJune 30, 2022The Forgiven, Lawrence Osborne, adaptation, John Michael McDonagh, Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Ismael Kanater, Caleb Landry Jones, Drama, North Africa, TIFF 2021Comment

Mr. Malcom’s List: Sweet Period Piece Beholden to the Past yet Guided by the Present

Mr. Malcom’s List: Sweet Period Piece Beholden to the Past yet Guided by the Present

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekJune 29, 2022Mr. Malcolm’s List, Suzanne Allain, Emma Holly Jones, Period piece, Romance, 19th century, Costume drama, Sope Dirisu, Freida Pinto, Zawe Ashton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen Comment

Minions The Rise of Gru: Dad Jokes, Bumbling Pill People and '70s References to 'Splain to Your Kids

Minions The Rise of Gru: Dad Jokes, Bumbling Pill People and '70s References to 'Splain to Your Kids

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekJune 28, 2022Minions: The Rise of Gru, Origin stories, Dad jokes, Steve Carell, Michelle Yeoh, Danny Trejo, Julie Andrews, Kid-flicks with adult referencesComment

The Black Phone: Creepy Child-Abduction Thriller Disturbs as Only Child-Abduction Thrillers Can

The Black Phone: Creepy Child-Abduction Thriller Disturbs as Only Child-Abduction Thrillers Can

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekJune 23, 2022Thriller, blumhouse, The Black Phone, Scott Derrickson, Joe Hill, Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGrawComment

Official Competition: Film Satirizing Filmmaking Not Revelatory but Satisfying

Official Competition: Film Satirizing Filmmaking Not Revelatory but Satisfying

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJune 23, 2022Drama, Spanish Films, Spanish language, Official Competition, Andrés Duprat, Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn, Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar MartínezComment

Slash/Back: Teen Girls Fight Aliens in an Indigenous Addition to the Monsters-in-the-Arctic Genre

Slash/Back: Teen Girls Fight Aliens in an Indigenous Addition to the Monsters-in-the-Arctic Genre

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekJune 23, 2022Canadian horror films, Slash/Back, Inuit directors, The Goonies, Young people fighting monsters, Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Tasiana Shirley, Alexis Vincent-WolfeComment