Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

The Girl With The Needle: Post-WWI Drama Lays Bare The Precarious Lives of Women

The Girl With The Needle: Post-WWI Drama Lays Bare The Precarious Lives of Women

By Liz Braun

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 4, 2024The Girl with The Needle, TIFF 24, Magnus von Horn, Line Langebek Knudsen, Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri, Joachim Fjelstrup, Danish, Drama, WWI, Black and white, Women's issues, Women in peril, Women's livesComment

Y2K: Sorry To Party Poop Like It’s 1999, But Y2K Ain’t Lit

Y2K: Sorry To Party Poop Like It’s 1999, But Y2K Ain’t Lit

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 4, 2024Y2K, Kyle Mooney, Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Comedy-horror, Comedy, Horror, End of the world storiesComment

La Cocina: Whirlwind Resto Drama with Exploited Illegals in a Times Square Hell's Kitchen

La Cocina: Whirlwind Resto Drama with Exploited Illegals in a Times Square Hell's Kitchen

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 4, 2024Movies about restaurants, Movies about illegal workers, La Cocina (The KitchenLa Cocina (The Kitchen), Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, Anna Díaz, Playwright Arnold Wesker, Rooney Mara, Raúl BrionesComment

Drive Back Home: Goin’ Down the Road in Reverse Meets Green Book

Drive Back Home: Goin’ Down the Road in Reverse Meets Green Book

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 3, 2024Drive Back Home, Michael Clowater, Alan Cumming, Charlie Creed-Miles, Claire Coulter, Guy Sprung, Canadian director, Canadian, Drama, Comedy, 1970s, Hayden Desser, Themes of homosexualityComment

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew - For Kids, But Take a Break From Adulting and It May Be For You

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew - For Kids, But Take a Break From Adulting and It May Be For You

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 3, 2024Star Wars TV franchises, Sci-fi for younger audiences, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Jude Law, Robert Timothy Smith, Kiriana Kratter, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Wannabe Jedi KnightsComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Alan Cumming on the Canuck Trauma-Drama Drive Back Home

Original-Cin Q&A: Alan Cumming on the Canuck Trauma-Drama Drive Back Home

By Bonnie Laufer

Jim SlotekDecember 2, 2024U.K. actors in Canadian movies, Alan Cumming, Drive Back Home, Director Mike Clowater, Charlie Creed-Miles, Road trip movies, Dysfunctional families, The Traitors, Reality TVComment

Ernest Cole Lost and Found: Remembering a Forgotten Photographer of Apartheid

Ernest Cole Lost and Found: Remembering a Forgotten Photographer of Apartheid

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 2, 2024Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, Raoul Peck, Lakeith Stanfield, Documentary, TIFF 24, South Africa, United States, PhotographyComment

Beatles '64: A Scorsese-Produced Snapshot of Two Weeks That Shook the Culture

Beatles '64: A Scorsese-Produced Snapshot of Two Weeks That Shook the Culture

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 28, 2024Beatles '64, 60th anniversary of The Beatles' U.S. debut, Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi, The Ed Sullivan Show, Albert and David Maysles, Smokey Robinson, Ronnie Spector, Giles MartinComment

The Heirloom: When Adopting a Dog Leads to Messes of Many Kinds

The Heirloom: When Adopting a Dog Leads to Messes of Many Kinds

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 28, 2024The Heirloom, Ben Petrie, Grace Glowicki, Cheers, Toronto filmmaker, Toronto story, Canadian film, Drama, Comedy, Films with dogs, Relationship dramasComment

All The Lost Ones: Yet Another Canadian Post-Apocalyptic Drama? Excellent!

All The Lost Ones: Yet Another Canadian Post-Apocalyptic Drama? Excellent!

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 28, 2024All the Lost Ones, Mackenzie Donaldson, Jasmine Mathews, Vinessa Antoine, Douglas Smith, Canadian, post-apocalypse, Environmental issues, Environmental horror, War, Drama, Sci fiComment

Nutcrackers: A Surprisingly Conventional Christmas Comedy, Given Who Made It

Nutcrackers: A Surprisingly Conventional Christmas Comedy, Given Who Made It

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 27, 2024Comedies with sitcom-y plots, Bachelors who inherit instant familes, Nutcrackers, Ben Stiller, Director David Gordon Green, Uncle Buck, Writer Leland Douglas, Linda Cardellini, Streamed Christmas comediesComment

Maria: Lavish Biopic on Opera Star Boosts Angelina Jolie… ‘La Callas’ Not So Much

Maria: Lavish Biopic on Opera Star Boosts Angelina Jolie… ‘La Callas’ Not So Much

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 26, 2024Maria, Biopic, Pablo Larraín, Angelina Jolie, Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Haluk Bilginer, Pierfrancesco Favino, Caspar Phillipson, Mubi, Opera, Maria Callas, Aristotle OnassisComment

Blood in the Snow Film Fest: DIY Dread From Canada's Creepshow Up-and-Comers

Blood in the Snow Film Fest: DIY Dread From Canada's Creepshow Up-and-Comers

By Thom Ernst

Review, PreviewJim SlotekNovember 21, 2024Canadian horror filmmakers, DIY filmmaking, Blood in the Snow Film Festival, Kelly Michael Stewart, Larry Kent’s, She Who Must Burn, James Villeneuve, Pins and Needles, Vivieno Caldinelli’s Scared Shitless, Steven Ogg, Isabel Bader TheatreComment

Wicked: One Brick (and a One Half) Short of a Road, But Still a Road Paved in Gold

Wicked: One Brick (and a One Half) Short of a Road, But Still a Road Paved in Gold

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 21, 2024Movies based on Broadway musicals, Movies released in two parts, Wicked: Part One, Gregory Maguire’s novel, Director Jon M. Chu, Elphaba and Glinda, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle YeohComment

Gladiator II: Exciting, But Rome’s Far from The Truth (Gettit?)

Gladiator II: Exciting, But Rome’s Far from The Truth (Gettit?)

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 20, 2024Gladiator II, Ridley Scott, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Sequel, Swords and sandals, Ancient Rome, Action Comments

Original-Cin Chat: Doc-Maker Lucy Lawless on CNN War-Zone Warrior Margaret Moth

Original-Cin Chat: Doc-Maker Lucy Lawless on CNN War-Zone Warrior Margaret Moth

By John Kirk

InterviewJim SlotekNovember 18, 2024Actors turned documentary filmmakers, Lucy Lawless, Danger-junkie war correspondents, New Zealand’s Margaret Moth, Never Look Away, CNN war coverage, Journalist war casualties, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hurricane KatrinaComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Memoir of a Snail Director Adam Elliot on Garden Gastropods' Appeal

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekNovember 14, 2024Claymation, Australian Adam Elliot, Memoir of a Snail, Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lifetime tale of a foster child, matching voice actors to characters, Snail behavior, Award season animated filmsComment

Bad Sisters S2: More Trouble for the Guilty Siblings, and a Blast of Fun from Fiona Shaw

Bad Sisters S2: More Trouble for the Guilty Siblings, and a Blast of Fun from Fiona Shaw

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 13, 2024Bad Sisters, Bad Sisters Season 2, Disney+, Sharon Horgan, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, Anne-Marie Duff, Sarah Greene, Eva Birthistle, Eve Hewson, Fiona Shaw, Owen McDonnell, Michael SmileyComment

Red One: When the Jolly Old Elf has a Private Army and State-of-the-Art Military Tech

Red One: When the Jolly Old Elf has a Private Army and State-of-the-Art Military Tech

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 13, 2024Militarizing Santa, Christmas action movie, Red One, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Scripter Chris Morgan, Fast & Furious, J.K. Simmons as Santa, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Chris EvansComment

Memoir of a Snail: Australian Saga Leaves a Slime Trail of Sweetness and Irreverence

Memoir of a Snail: Australian Saga Leaves a Slime Trail of Sweetness and Irreverence

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 13, 2024Claymation, Australian Adam Elliot, Mary and Max, Memoir of a Snail, Sarah Snook, Jacki Weaver, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lifetime tale of a foster child, Tony Armstrong, Eric Bana, Nick CaveComment