Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Saving the universes, one trope at a time

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Saving the universes, one trope at a time

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekMay 3, 2022Marvel multiverse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sam Raimi, Elizabeth OlsenComment

Hot Docs ‘22: Even More Brief Encounters With the Best Told Real-Life Stories on the Planet

Hot Docs ‘22: Even More Brief Encounters With the Best Told Real-Life Stories on the Planet

By Original-Cin Staff

ReviewJim SlotekApril 30, 2022Hot Docs 2022, Attica, Relative, SAM NOW, Sexual Healing, Shabu, documentary, Film Festival, Documentary Film Festival, My Two VoicesComment

Children of Sin: Bible-Thumping Horror We've Seen Before

Children of Sin: Bible-Thumping Horror We've Seen Before

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekApril 30, 2022Horror movies, Children of Sin, Christopher Wesley Moore, Jo-Ann Robinson, Keni Bound, Jeff Buchwald, Lewis Hines, Meredith MohlerComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Director of How Saba Kept Singing, on the Strength and Spirit of Holocaust Survivors

Original-Cin Q&A: Director of How Saba Kept Singing, on the Strength and Spirit of Holocaust Survivors

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekApril 28, 2022How Saba Kept Singing, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Sara Taksler, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, David Wisnia, Avi Wisnia, Stories of Auschwitz, Holocaust Remembrance DayComment

Memory: Liam Neeson plays a hitman with memory problems, in another forgettable thriller

Memory: Liam Neeson plays a hitman with memory problems, in another forgettable thriller

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekApril 28, 2022Liam Neeson, Actors turned action heroes, Taken, Memory, Remakes of European films, Guy Pearce, Alzheimer'sComment

Hot Docs ‘22: More Brief Encounters With the Best Told Real-Life Stories on the Planet

Hot Docs ‘22: More Brief Encounters With the Best Told Real-Life Stories on the Planet

By Original-Cin Staff

ReviewJim SlotekApril 27, 2022Don't Come Searching, Hot Docs 2022, Framing Agnes, I Didn't See You There, Make People Better, My Old School, Navalny, The Art of Silence, The Exiles, The Killing of a Journalist, We Feed PeopleComment

Hot Docs '22: Director Reg Harkema on Comedy Punks, and which Kid in the Hall is like Danzig

Hot Docs '22: Director Reg Harkema on Comedy Punks, and which Kid in the Hall is like Danzig

By Jim Slotek

InterviewJim SlotekApril 27, 2022The Kids in the Hall, Reg Harkema, The Rivoli, Comedy documentaries, Hot Docs 22, The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks, Bruce McCulloch, Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott ThompsonComment

Hot Docs '22: Brief Encounters With the Best-Told, Real-Life Stories on the Planet

Hot Docs '22: Brief Encounters With the Best-Told, Real-Life Stories on the Planet

By Original-Cin Staff

Review, PreviewJim SlotekApril 26, 2022Hot Docs 2022, A House Made of Splinters, Beautiful Scars, Bernie Langile Wants To Know What Happened To Bernie Langile, Blue Island, Delikado, Million Dollar Pigeons, Scrap, Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten ChildrenComment

The Sadness: Not Technically a Zombie Movie, But Gory Enough For Greatness

The Sadness: Not Technically a Zombie Movie, But Gory Enough For Greatness

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekApril 26, 2022Zombie-esque epidemics, The Sadness, Rob Jabbaz, Taiwanese films, Regina Lei, Berant Zhu, Tzu-Chiang WangComment

Hot Docs '22: Batata Director on Life at a Lebanese Potato Farm/Refugee Camp through Syria and ISIS

Hot Docs '22: Batata Director on Life at a Lebanese Potato Farm/Refugee Camp through Syria and ISIS

By Jim Slotek

InterviewJim SlotekApril 26, 2022Hot Docs, Films about Syrian refugees, Batata, Noura Kevorkian, Raqqa, documentaries, Docs shot over 10 years or more, Syrian-Lebanon relationshipComment

A Taste of Hunger: Film about Restauranteurs Fraying Over Elusive Michelin Star Could Use More Salt

A Taste of Hunger: Film about Restauranteurs Fraying Over Elusive Michelin Star Could Use More Salt

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekApril 26, 2022Danish films, Films about restaurateurs, Michelin-star mania, A Taste of Hunger, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Katrine Greis-Rosenthall, Christoffer BoeComment

Hot Docs '22: Our Picks for the World’s Biggest & Best Documentary Film Festival

Hot Docs '22: Our Picks for the World’s Biggest & Best Documentary Film Festival

By Original-Cin Staff

Original-Cin Q&A: Jennifer Baichwal’s Latest Eco-Expose Launches Hot Docs '22 Festival

Original-Cin Q&A: Jennifer Baichwal’s Latest Eco-Expose Launches Hot Docs '22 Festival

By Bonnie Laufer

Jim SlotekApril 25, 2022Comment

Navalny: Portrait of an Enemy of Tyranny, and the Unraveling of a Political Poisoning

Navalny: Portrait of an Enemy of Tyranny, and the Unraveling of a Political Poisoning

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekApril 22, 2022Navalny, Documentary, Alexei Navalry, Bellingcat, CNN, Hot Docs 2022, thrillerComment

The Automat: A Warm Memory of a Dining Concept that Defined a Century of American Culture

The Automat: A Warm Memory of a Dining Concept that Defined a Century of American Culture

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekApril 22, 2022Americana, The invention of fast food, The Automat, Mel Brooks, Lisa Hurwitz, Carl Reiner, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Colin Powell Comment

Hit The Road: An Iranian Family Road Trip Movie With A Deft Touch

Hit The Road: An Iranian Family Road Trip Movie With A Deft Touch

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekApril 21, 2022Hit The Road, Iranian film, Panah Panahi, Hasan Majuni, Pantea Panahiha, Amin Simiar, Rayan Sarlak, Abbas Kiarostami, Road trip, Drama, FamilyComment

The Northman: Robert Eggers and his Marquee Cast Go for Full-On Viking Glory

The Northman: Robert Eggers and his Marquee Cast Go for Full-On Viking Glory

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekApril 21, 2022Viking movies, Robert Eggers, The Northman, Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan HawkeComment

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: The Nicolas Cage Experience Goes Meta

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: The Nicolas Cage Experience Goes Meta

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekApril 20, 2022Nicolas Cage, Sean Penn, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Meta movies, Actors playing themselves, Jean-Claude Van Damme, JCVD, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Tom GormicanComment

National Canadian Film Day: Grade-Eh Cinema from Sun-Up to Sundown on Wednesday

National Canadian Film Day: Grade-Eh Cinema from Sun-Up to Sundown on Wednesday

By Jim Slotek

PreviewJim SlotekApril 18, 2022National Canadian Film Day, The F Word, The Stone Angel., Michael Dowse, Indian Horse, Falls Around Her, Tantoo Cardinal, C.R.A.Z.Y., Jean-Marc Vallée, David CronenbergComment

Paris, 13th District: The Complexity of 'Uncomplicated' Sex, Buoyed by Formidable Scripting

Paris, 13th District: The Complexity of 'Uncomplicated' Sex, Buoyed by Formidable Scripting

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekApril 14, 2022Paris, 13th District., Movies about casual sex, Jacques Audiard, Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba, Noémie Merlant, Movies based on graphic novels, Adrian Tomine, Céline Sciamma, Léa MysiusComment