Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

Sugar: When Eye Candy Meets Nose Candy

Sugar: When Eye Candy Meets Nose Candy

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 19, 2022Isabelle Legacé and Melina Roberge, Instagrammers turned cocaine smugglers, Sugar, Vic Sarin, Katherine McNamara, Éric Bruneau, Jasmine Sky Sarin, Armand AssanteComment

Original-Cin Interview - Star Trek: TNG Scene-Stealer Billy Campbell Talks the Trek Return of 'Okona'

Original-Cin Interview - Star Trek: TNG Scene-Stealer Billy Campbell Talks the Trek Return of 'Okona'

By John Kirk

Jim SlotekNovember 18, 2022Star Trek animated spinoffs, Star Trek: Prodigy, The Outrageous Okona, Billy Campbell, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kathryn Janeway, Jonathan Frakes, CrossroadsComment

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths: Iñárritu Film About a Re-Examined Life Walks Lightly Toward the Light

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths: Iñárritu Film About a Re-Examined Life Walks Lightly Toward the Light

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 17, 2022Alejandro González Iñárritu, Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Looking back on life from limbo, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Non-linear narratives, Nicolás Giacobone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of IgnoranceComment

Stay the Night: A Witty and Charming Rom-Com that Wears Toronto-Love on its Sleeve

Stay the Night: A Witty and Charming Rom-Com that Wears Toronto-Love on its Sleeve

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 17, 2022Canadian romantic comedies, Stay the Night, Renuka Jeyapalan, Kim's Convenience, Movies set in Toronto, Andrea Bang, Joe ScarpellinoComment

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams - A Low-Key Portrait of Passionate Footwear Prodigy Ferragamo

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams - A Low-Key Portrait of Passionate Footwear Prodigy Ferragamo

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 17, 2022Legendary shoe designers, Salvatore Ferragamo, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name, Hollywood shoe designer, Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Rudolph Valentino, Manolo Blahnik, Christian LouboutinComment

Shorts Not Pants Film Festival: Ingrid Veninger on the Beauty of Brevity and Filming with Family

Shorts Not Pants Film Festival: Ingrid Veninger on the Beauty of Brevity and Filming with Family

By Jim Slotek

Interview, PreviewJim SlotekNovember 17, 2022Short film showcases, Shorts Not Pants Film Festival, Ingrid Veninger, Jacob Switzer, Hannah Bussiere, If You Were MeComment

Fleishman Is In Trouble: Disney+ Mini-Series Flips the Script on the Male Story

Fleishman Is In Trouble: Disney+ Mini-Series Flips the Script on the Male Story

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 16, 2022Fleishman Is in Trouble, Stories about sexually promiscuous divorcees, Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Valerie Faris, Lizzy Caplan, Adam BrodyComment

She Said: How #MeToo Was Born, and Weinstein Bagged, Amid the Tedium of Reporting

She Said: How #MeToo Was Born, and Weinstein Bagged, Amid the Tedium of Reporting

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 14, 2022#MeToo, She Said, Harvey Weinstein, Maria Schrader, New York Times, Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, Ashley JuddComment

Mickey: The Story of a Mouse - Dizzying Disney History Ride Needs More Walt... Among Other Things

Mickey: The Story of a Mouse - Dizzying Disney History Ride Needs More Walt... Among Other Things

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 14, 2022Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, Director Jeff Malmberg, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Walt Disney, Connections between man and Mouse, Oswald Rabbit, Steamboat WillieComment

The Wonder: Faith Without Food in 19th Century Post-Famine Ireland

The Wonder: Faith Without Food in 19th Century Post-Famine Ireland

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 14, 2022Florence Pugh, Don’t Worry, Darling, The Wonder, "Miracle" fasts, Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Lady Macbeth, Sarah Jacobs, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke, Irish famineComment

Original-Cin Q&A: My Father's Dragon's Jacob Tremblay on voicing animated films as his voice changes

Original-Cin Q&A: My Father's Dragon's Jacob Tremblay on voicing animated films as his voice changes

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekNovember 13, 2022Jacob Tremblay, Child actors growing up, The Little Mermaid, My Father’s Dragon, Netflix movies, Gaten MaterrazoComment

The Menu: Terrific Horror Comedy Deserves Better Than Food Puns (Burp!)

The Menu: Terrific Horror Comedy Deserves Better Than Food Puns (Burp!)

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 10, 2022Horror-comedy, Foodie film, The Menu, Mark Mylod, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Judith Light, John Leguizamo, Paul Adelstein, The Exterminating Angel, Luis Buñuel Comment

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Spectacularly Competent Franchise Reinvention, Minus Black Panther

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Spectacularly Competent Franchise Reinvention, Minus Black Panther

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 9, 2022Black Panther: Wakanda Forever., Franchises where a star has died, Chadwick Boseman, Ryan Coogler, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Prince NamorComment

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Darker than Disney, a Fairy Tale Wrapped in Real-World Fascism

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Darker than Disney, a Fairy Tale Wrapped in Real-World Fascism

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 9, 2022Non-Disney versions of Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi’s 1881 novel, Ewan McGregor, Jim Henson Company, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Christoph Waltz, Ron Perlman, Ciao, PapaComment

Rosie: Life on the Street Can Be Really Neat Through the Eyes of a Precocious Child

Rosie: Life on the Street Can Be Really Neat Through the Eyes of a Precocious Child

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 8, 2022Rosie, Gail Maurice, Keris Hope Hill, Melanie Bray, Indigenous adoptees, The Sixties Scoop, Constant Bernard, Alex Trahan, Brandon OakesComment

All Jacked Up and Full of Worms: Grungy Geek Fantasy Promises a 'High' It Can't Deliver

All Jacked Up and Full of Worms: Grungy Geek Fantasy Promises a 'High' It Can't Deliver

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 8, 2022All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, Fantasia International Film Festival, Alex Phillips, Eating worms as a hallucinagen, Phillip Andre Botello, Trevor Dawkins, Betsey BrownComment

Causeway: Damaged-People-Find-Each-Other Drama Unrolls Slowly with Rich Performances

Causeway: Damaged-People-Find-Each-Other Drama Unrolls Slowly with Rich Performances

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 3, 2022Jennifer Lawrence, Damaged-people-find-each-other dramas, Causeway, Lila Neugebauer, Afghan war, New Orleans, Brian Tyree Henry, Linda EmondComment

Cinefranco at 25: French cinema for the rest of us

Cinefranco at 25: French cinema for the rest of us

By Liam Lacey

Review, PreviewJim SlotekNovember 3, 2022Cinefranco Film Festiva, Toronto film festivals, En Roue Libre (Freestyle), Mes Tres Cher Enfants (Price of Parenting), L’homme parfait (The Perfect Man), La Pièce rapportée (The Unsophisticated Lady), Claude Lelouch documentary, Maigret, Gérard DepardieuComment

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile - A Straight-Ahead Celebration of Country's 'Outlaw' Women

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile - A Straight-Ahead Celebration of Country's 'Outlaw' Women

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 2, 2022The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile, Kathlyn Horan, Kacey Musgraves, The Chicks, Glen Campbell, Joni Mitchell, Country music documentariesComment

Armageddon Time: James Gray's Tale of a Mixed-Race Friendship, a Child's Eye View of a Complex World

Armageddon Time: James Gray's Tale of a Mixed-Race Friendship, a Child's Eye View of a Complex World

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 2, 2022James Gray, Armageddon Time, Coming of age movies, Issues of race and class, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Strong, Anne HathawayComment