Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

Original-Cin Q&A: Mila Kunis on Trauma in Luckiest Girl Alive, and How Meg May Sink Family Guy

Original-Cin Q&A: Mila Kunis on Trauma in Luckiest Girl Alive, and How Meg May Sink Family Guy

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 3, 2022Mila Kunis, Film about a trauma survivor, Luckiest Girl Alive, Novel by Jessica Knoll, Chiara Aurelia, Mike Barker, Glenn Close, Four Good Days, Family GuyComment

Two Witches: Witches Without a Cause

Two Witches: Witches Without a Cause

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 3, 2022Horror, Two Witches, Pierre Tsigaridis, Rebekah Kennedy, Kristina Klebe, Tim Fox, Belle Adams, Halloween Comment

Tales from the Gimli Hospital: Guy Maddin Talks About His Now-Reconstructed Debut, 34 Years Later

Tales from the Gimli Hospital: Guy Maddin Talks About His Now-Reconstructed Debut, 34 Years Later

By Liam Lacey

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 2, 20224K remastering of Canadian classics, Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Guy Maddin, Kyle McCulloch, Michael Gottli, Ron Mann, Canadian Cinema — Re-ignitedComment

Tales from the Gimli Hospital, And Other Canadian Films on the Road to 4K Recovery

Tales from the Gimli Hospital, And Other Canadian Films on the Road to 4K Recovery

By Liam Lacey

PreviewJim SlotekOctober 2, 2022Canadian Cinema — Re-ignited, 4K remastering of Canadian classics, Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Guy Maddin, Ron Mann’s Sphinx Pictures, P4W: Prison for Women, Hookers on Davie, West of Pluto (À l’ouest de Pluton), The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (La moitié gauche du frigo), EncorePlusComment

God’s Creatures: Emily Watson Anchors Sublime Story about Small-town Secrets and Lives

God’s Creatures: Emily Watson Anchors Sublime Story about Small-town Secrets and Lives

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 29, 2022God Creatures, Saela Davis, Shane Crowley, Anne Rose Holmer, Emily Watson, Paul Mescal, Aisling Franciosi, Irish, Small town Irish lives, DramaComment

What We Leave Behind: An Intimate Cross-Border Family Documentary

What We Leave Behind: An Intimate Cross-Border Family Documentary

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 29, 2022Tales of cross-border labourers, Netflix documentaries, What We Leave Behind, Iliana Sosa, Ava DuVernay, Julián Moreno, Judy Phu, Monica WiseComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Quick Hits from Dead for a Dollar's Dafoe, Bratt, Waltz, Burke and Walter Hill

Original-Cin Q&A: Quick Hits from Dead for a Dollar's Dafoe, Bratt, Waltz, Burke and Walter Hill

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekSeptember 29, 2022Dead for a Dollar, Walter Hill, Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Rachel Brosnahan, Warren Burke, Benjamin Bratt, Western, Drama, Period pieceComment

Smile: When An Upside-Down Frown is the Devil's Playground

Smile: When An Upside-Down Frown is the Devil's Playground

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 29, 2022Evil grins in movies, Smile, Parker Finn, Kiss of Death, Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kal Penn Comment

Bros: 'Gay Rom-Com' Brings the Funny and the Romance, and More

Bros: 'Gay Rom-Com' Brings the Funny and the Romance, and More

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 29, 2022Gay romantic comedy, Bros, Billy Eichner, Rom-com tropes, Gay history, Grindr, Luke Macfarlane, Nicholas Stoller, Judd ApatowComment

Dead for a Dollar: Walter Hill’s Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled Western

Dead for a Dollar: Walter Hill’s Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled Western

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 29, 2022Dead for a Dollar, Walter Hill, Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Rachel Brosnahan, Warren Burke, Benjamin Bratt, Luis Chavez, Hamish Linklater, Western, Drama, Period piece Comment

The Justice of Bunny King: A Troubled Character Takes Flight on a Soaring Performance

The Justice of Bunny King: A Troubled Character Takes Flight on a Soaring Performance

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 27, 2022Drama, New Zealand, The Justice of Bunny King, Gaysorn Thavat, Sophie Henderson, Thomasin McKenzie, Essie DavisComment

Pinocchio: Wooden You Know, the 'Live-Action' Remake Would Be Less Real Than the Cartoon?

Pinocchio: Wooden You Know, the 'Live-Action' Remake Would Be Less Real Than the Cartoon?

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 26, 2022Pinocchio, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Disney animated films remade realistically, Cynthia ErivoComment

Sidney: Oprah-Approved Sidney Poitier Doc as Lovely as the Man it Depicts

Sidney: Oprah-Approved Sidney Poitier Doc as Lovely as the Man it Depicts

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 23, 2022Sidney Poitier, Sidney, Docuementary, TIFF 2022, Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Morgan FreemanComment

Lou: Rather Like People, Predictable Stories are Sometimes Hard to Take

Lou: Rather Like People, Predictable Stories are Sometimes Hard to Take

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 22, 2022Lou, Netflix, Allison Janney, Antihero, DramaComment

Carmen: The New Priest is a She, and She Has a Guardian Pigeon

Carmen: The New Priest is a She, and She Has a Guardian Pigeon

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 22, 2022Valerie Buhagiar’s Carmen, Romance set on Malta, Natascha McElhone, Henry Zammit Cordina, Women posing as priests, Steven LoveComment

Eternal Spring: Canada’s Oscar Nom is a Moving But Flawed Animated Documentary

Eternal Spring: Canada’s Oscar Nom is a Moving But Flawed Animated Documentary

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 22, 2022Chinese persecution of Falun Gong, Eternal Spring, Canadian animated documentary, Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Jason Loftus, Daxiong, Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong hijacking of Chinese TVComment

Blonde: Much-Hyped Marilyn Monroe ‘Reimagining’ Stylish but Tawdry

Blonde: Much-Hyped Marilyn Monroe ‘Reimagining’ Stylish but Tawdry

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 22, 2022Blonde, Marilyn Monroe, Andrew Dominik, Netflix, Biopic, Bobby Cannavale, Adrien Brody, Ana de Armas, Joyce Carol Oates, AdaptationComment

Bandit: A Bloated Tale of Canada’s Flying Bank Robber

Bandit: A Bloated Tale of Canada’s Flying Bank Robber

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 21, 2022Movies about real-life Canadian criminals, The Flying Bandit, Gilbert Galvan Jr., Bandit, Allan Ungar, Josh Duhamel, Mel Gibson, Elisha Cuthbert Comments

Don't Worry Darling: Gossip Aside, this Stepford Wives Offspring Stands Shakily On Its Own Merits

Don't Worry Darling: Gossip Aside, this Stepford Wives Offspring Stands Shakily On Its Own Merits

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 21, 2022Movies with offscreen controversy, Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Movies where reality is an illusion, The '50s Comment

True Things: Ruth Wilson as A Woman Undone, Half-Willingly

True Things: Ruth Wilson as A Woman Undone, Half-Willingly

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekSeptember 20, 2022True Things, Ruth Wilson, Tom Burke, British, Drama, female gazeComment