Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

The Insult: Lebanon’s Complex History Fires Film’s Ambitions… With Mixed Results

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJanuary 25, 2018TIFF 2017, Lebanon, Oscars 2018, Foreign language films, Foreign-language Oscar

Maze Runner: The Death Cure - So are we done killing teenagers now?

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 25, 2018Young adult novels, post-apocalypse, The Maze Runner, Hunger Games, Divergent, Will Poulter

Original-Cin Q&A: Annette Bening and Jamie Bell on why Film Stars (Really and Truly) Don’t Die in Liverpool

By Kim Hughes

InterviewJanuary 24, 2018TIFF 2017, Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, fact based drama, Julie Walters

'Hillbilly gothic' Hollow In The Land: a decalcified Winter's Bone

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 23, 2018Hillbilly gothic, Winter's Bone, Glee, Dianne Agron, working-class crime drama, Scooter Corkle, Jared Abrahamson

2018 Oscar Noms: Many Are Culled, Few Are Chosen, Some Wuz Robbed

By Liam Lacey, Kim Hughes, Karen Gordon, Jim Slotek and Bonnie Laufer

ViewsJim SlotekJanuary 23, 2018Oscars, Oscars 2018, The Shape of Water, The Florida Project, critics picks, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell

Original-Cin Q&A Birdland: Peter Lynch on quitting docs and going noir

By Jim Slotek

InterviewJim SlotekJanuary 22, 2018Peter Lynch, Noir, Documentaries, Stephen McHattie, Ornithology, Atom Egoyan, Paul Quarrington, Bruce McDonald, Directors Guild of Canada

12 Strong: When Superheroes Go to War (Things Blow Up!)

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJanuary 18, 2018War, Action, American, Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, 9/11, Afghanistan, Jerry Bruckheimer

In The Fade & Forever My Girl: Love Stories With Very Different Outcomes

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJanuary 18, 2018Drama, Romantic comedy, Oscars, TIFF 2017, love story

Den of Thieves: 'Genius' bank robbers, rogue cops and implausible deniability

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 18, 2018Crime, Heist movies, Gerard Butler, LAPD movies, Los Angeles, Bank robberies, O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Remember Obama's White House? The Final Year is a doc that makes us... sad

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 17, 2018Political documentaries, Obama administration, Ben Rhodes, Samantha Power, John Kerry, Trump, Clinton

No white-hats, black-hats or cartoon savages in the brutally violent Hostiles

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 17, 2018Westerns, Native-American portrayals, Christian Bale, Scott Cooper, Wes Studi, Cheyenne, Apaches

Proud Mary: Ain’t Nothing To Be Proud About

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJanuary 12, 2018Taraji P. Henson, Drama, crime drama, Danny Glover

Flashback Film Fest Brings Vintage Cyborgs, Bowlers, Aliens Back to Big Screen

By Kim Hughes

ViewsJanuary 12, 2018Flashback Film Fest, Film Festival, sci-fi, Comedy, Cult Classic, pop culture

Original-Cin Review/Q&A: Happy End's Michael Haneke is one twisted mister

By Liam Lacey

InterviewJim SlotekJanuary 11, 2018Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michael Haneke, Foreign language films, Disturbing filmmakers, social comment, Happy End, Amour, Isabelle Huppert

The Commuter: Liam Neeson Thriller Galls with What Might Have Been

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJanuary 11, 2018thriller, Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Jonathan Banks, Jaume Collet-Serra, crime drama

Mountain: A doc to watch because it's there

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 10, 2018Documentaries, Mountain climbing, Travelogue, Extreme sports, Willem Dafoe, Everest, Sherpas

Aida's Secrets: A 'displaced persons' camp baby-boom sparks a parent-search 60 years on

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 10, 2018Documentary, Holocaust, Jewish cinema, Lost relatves, World War II, Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp, Alon Schwarz

Original-Cin Q&A: Christian Bale learns Cheyenne and life lessons on Hostiles

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekJanuary 9, 2018Awards season movies, Native-American portrayals, Christian Bale, Wes Studi, Cheyenne, Scott Cooper, Westerns

Insidious: The Last Key's timid ghostbuster doesn't pass in-spectre

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJanuary 5, 2018Horror, Blumhouse, Insidious, Lin Shaye, Haunted houses, demons