Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot: Much tragically told but not explained about provocative cartoonist Callahan

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 18, 2018Cartoonist, John Callahan, Quadriplegia, Gus Van Sant, Joaquin Phoenix, Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Offending material

Sorry to Bother You: Wickedly Clever Comedy Hits Contemporary Targets

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJuly 13, 2018Lakeith Stanfield, Danny Glover, satire, comedy, Boots Riley, Get Out, Armie Hammer

Whitney: Family-Sanctioned Doc Tells Familiar Tale of Success and Excess

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJuly 13, 2018Documentary, Kevin Macdonald, Whitney Houston, Music

Three Identical Strangers: A compelling tale of nature, nurture and unscrupulous science

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 12, 2018Documentary, Triplets, Nature versus nurture, Tim Wardle, Jewish issues, Media sensations

Hey, I CAN smell what The Rock is cooking!: A hot mess called Skyscraper

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 12, 2018Dwayne Johnson, Action films, Die Hard, The Towering Inferno, Giant office towers, Neve Campbell, Hong Kong, Summer blockbusters

Mary Shelley: Classic Feminist Novel Inspires So-So Feminist(ish) Movie

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJuly 11, 2018Frankenstein, Horror, Elle Fanning, Drama, TIFF 2017, Bel Powley, Percy Bysshe Shelley

American Animals: Fact-Based Heist Drama Blurs Fact and Fiction, Comes Up Short

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJuly 11, 2018Bart Layton, Ann Dowd, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, fact-based drama, Heist movies

Leave No Trace: Homeless dad-and-daughter tale, an affecting breaking-point metaphor

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 9, 2018Debra Granik, Winter's Bone, PTSD, Ben Foster, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Homelessness, Father daughter dramas

Always At The Carlyle squanders its Old World saga on modern celeb sizzle

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 9, 2018Manhattan society, Old World glamour, Legendary hotels, The Carlyle, Anthony Bourdain, Princess Diana, George Clooney, Documentaries, Matthew Miele

22 Chaser: Realist drama about a Toronto tow-truck driver could use a jump-start

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 6, 2018Canadian movies, Tow truck drivers, Realist drama, Brian J Smith, Rafal Sokolowski, Moral ambivalence, Crooked Cops, Aidan Devine, Raoul Max Trujillo

Original-Cin giveaway: Win free tickets to the Cannes festival doc Whitney

ViewsJim SlotekJuly 5, 2018Whitney Houston, Documentary, Kevin Macdonald, The Last King Of Scotland, Contest, Free Tickets

Boundaries: Starry Road-Trip Movie Has Heaps of Heart but Lacks Thrust

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJuly 4, 2018Comedy-drama, Road trip, Christopher Plummer, Vera Farmiga, Peter Fonda, Christopher Lloyd

The First Purge: Franchise prequel explains it all away as a dubious Trump-era race war

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 4, 2018The Purge, Trump, Dystopian fiction, Race issues, Crime, Marisa Tomei, Attack The Block, Attack the Block

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Fun sight gags, but the quantum hokum bugs me

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJuly 3, 2018Marvel, Ant-Man, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Peyton Reed, Hymenoptera, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Shrinking, Quantum mechanics

Westwood Punk, Icon, Activist: Documentary Paints Predictable If Persuasive Portrait

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJune 29, 2018Vivienne Westwood, Documentary, Hot Docs, Fashion

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts: Rape-Revenge Fable Hits Feminist Bullseye

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJune 29, 2018Mouly Surya, Western, Feminist, Rape, Revenge, Cannes, TIFF 2017

Upgrade: A cyber-future B-movie that elevates its dystopian genre

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJune 28, 2018Science fiction, Artificial intelligence, Leigh Whannell, Saw, Insidious, Logan Marshall-Green, Cyber-future, Dystopian stories

North Mountain: An indigenous Brokeback distracted by its generic thriller plot

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekJune 28, 2018Canadian films, Indigenous films, Wilderness thrillers, Gay relationships

Sicario: Day of the Soldado loses its immoral soul the second time around

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekJune 28, 2018Sicario, Denis Villeneuve, Drug cartels, human trafficking, refugees, Mexican border, Benicia del Toro, Josh Brolin, Terrorism