Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

O’dessa: A Symphony without a Song

O’dessa: A Symphony without a Song

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 22, 2025Rock operas, Modernized versions of Greek myths, Geremy Jasper’s O’dessa, Orpheus and Eurydice, Gender-switch casting, Sadie Sink, Mark Boone Junior, Murray Bartlett, Disney+Comment

The Alto Knights: Robert De Niro Plays Antagonists in a Mafia Film That Lacks Spark

The Alto Knights: Robert De Niro Plays Antagonists in a Mafia Film That Lacks Spark

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 19, 2025The Alto Knights, Barry Levinson, Nicholas Peleggi, Debra Messing, Robert De Niro, Mafia, Gangsters, DramaComment

Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants - A Wide-Ranging Doc on a Wide-Ranging Animal

Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants - A Wide-Ranging Doc on a Wide-Ranging Animal 

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 19, 2025Elephant habitats, Global treatment of elephants, Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants, Director Fern Levitt, Pinnawala, Brazil’s Global Sanctuary for Elephants, Elephant art, African Lion Safari, Performing Animal Welfare Society, Bob BarkerComment

Black Bag: Blanchett and Fassbender Bond Beautifully in Smartly Scripted Spy Whodunit

Black Bag: Blanchett and Fassbender Bond Beautifully in Smartly Scripted Spy Whodunit

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 13, 2025Spy films, Dialogue driven thrillers, Black Bag, Director Steven Soderbergh, Scriptwriter David Koepp, Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, Slow Horses, Pierce BrosnanComment

Can I Get a Witness?: 50 Is The New Life Expectancy

Can I Get a Witness?: 50 Is The New Life Expectancy

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 13, 2025Can I Get a Witness?, TIFF 24, Ann Marie Fleming, Sandra Oh, Joel Oulette, Keira Jang, Canadian, sci-fi, Drama, Dystopian storiesComment

Opus: Deeply Dark Entertainment Media Satire is a Made-For-Malkovich Fun Ride

Opus: Deeply Dark Entertainment Media Satire is a Made-For-Malkovich Fun Ride

By Liz Braun

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 12, 2025Entertainment media spoof, Opus, John Malkovich, Writer-director Mark Anthony Green, Pop superstar turned cult leader, Ayo Edebiri, Murray Bartlett, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Chambers, Faux thrillerComment

Novocaine: Too Painful to Watch, Too Funny to Miss

Novocaine: Too Painful to Watch, Too Funny to Miss

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 11, 2025Painful comedy, Novocaine, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Nepo babies, Ray Nicholson, Matt Walsh, Directed by Dan Berk and Robert OlsenComment

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie - Daffy and Porky Find Buddy-Comedy Mojo

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie - Daffy and Porky Find Buddy-Comedy Mojo

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 11, 2025Looney Tunes movies, The Day the Earth Blew Up, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, Eric Bauza, Mel Blanc, Alien invasion, Fred Tatasciore, Candi Milo, Laraine Newman, Wayne KnightComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Director’s Doc on Rescued Cranes Offers Rare Good-News Nature Story

Original-Cin Q&A: Director’s Doc on Rescued Cranes Offers Rare Good-News Nature Story

By Kim Hughes

InterviewJim SlotekMarch 11, 2025Dances with Cranes, Nature documentary, CBC’s The Nature of Things, Whooping cranes, Megan Wennberg, George Archibald, Sarika Cullis-Suzuki, Canadian, Conservation, Canadian director, Canadian documentaryComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Ann Marie Fleming & Sandra Oh on Eco-Suicide in the Futuristic Can I Get a Witness?

Original-Cin Q&A: Ann Marie Fleming & Sandra Oh on Eco-Suicide in the Futuristic Can I Get a Witness?

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekMarch 10, 2025Suicide as an environmental approach, Eco sci-fi, Can I Get A Winess?, Director Ann Marie Fleming, Sandra Oh, Keira Jang, Joel Oulette, Jonathan Swift, A Modest ProposalComment

Boiling Point: An English Kitchen Drama with Social Bite

Boiling Point: An English Kitchen Drama with Social Bite

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 10, 2025Boiling Point, BBC, TV series, Kitchen, Philip Barantini, Mounia Akl, Vinette Robinson, Stephen Graham, Hannah Walters, Ray Panthaki, Super Channel, British, DramaComment

The Rule of Jenny Pen: The Twilight Years Just Got Darker

The Rule of Jenny Pen: The Twilight Years Just Got Darker

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 6, 2025The Rule of Jenny Pen, James Ashcroft, John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, Nathaniel Lees, Psychological thrillllers, horror, Shudder, Elder abuseComment

Mickey 17: Twice the Robert Pattinsons, Twice the Madness in Bong Joon Ho's Latest

Mickey 17: Twice the Robert Pattinsons, Twice the Madness in Bong Joon Ho's Latest

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 6, 2025Bong Joon Ho, Mickey 17, Robert Pattinson, Programmed replacement soldiers, Space sci-fi, Alien life forms, Mickey 7 novel by Ashton Edward, Ice planet, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Naomi AckieComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Sonequa Martin-Green's Real-Life Trauma Behind My Dead Friend Zoe

Original-Cin Q&A: Sonequa Martin-Green's Real-Life Trauma Behind My Dead Friend Zoe

By John Kirk

InterviewJim SlotekMarch 6, 2025Sonequa Martin-Green, Movies about PTSD, My Dead Friend Zoe, Star Trek: Discovery, Director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, Sharing personal trauma, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Natalie Morales, Utkarsh AmbudkarComment

The Silent Planet: Canadian Low-Budget Sci-Fi Goes the Distance

The Silent Planet: Canadian Low-Budget Sci-Fi Goes the Distance

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 6, 2025The Silent Planet, Sci fi, Canadian film, Jeffrey St. Jules, Elias Koteas, Briana Middleton, FuturisticComment

This Time Next Year: Routine Rom-Com Prompts New Year’s Auld Lang Anxiety

This Time Next Year: Routine Rom-Com Prompts New Year’s Auld Lang Anxiety

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 6, 2025This Time Next Year, Nick Moore, Lucien Laviscount, Sophie Cookson, rom-com, British, Romantic comedyComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Directors of Night of the Zoopocalypse Deliver Clive Barker for Kids

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekMarch 5, 2025Horror films for families, Night of the Zoopocalypse, Clive Barker, Director Ricardo Curtis, Director Rodrigo Perez-Castro, Zombies in a zoo, Scott Thompson, Gabbi Kosmidis, David Harbour, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Christina NovaComment

Daredevil: Born Again - The Devils Finally Get Their Due

Daredevil: Born Again - The Devils Finally Get Their Due

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekMarch 4, 2025Marvel TV series, Daredevil: Born Again, Charlie Cox, The Kingpin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Classic comic hero/villain dichotomy, Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, Kamar de los Reyes, Jon Bernthal, White Tiger, PunisherComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Egoyan and Seyfried on their Latest Collaboration, Seven Veils

Original-Cin Q&A: Egoyan and Seyfried on their Latest Collaboration, Seven Veils

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekMarch 3, 2025Seven Veils, Atom Egoyan, Amanda Seyfried, Canadian drama, TIFF 24, Opera, Films about womenComment

Superboys of Malegaon: A crowdpleaser about DIY cinema, Desi style

Superboys of Malegaon: A crowdpleaser about DIY cinema, Desi style

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekFebruary 27, 2025Bollywood cinema spoof, Superboys of Malegaon, DIY Indian cinema, Toronto International Film Festival, Viral Deși films, Wedding photographer Nasir Sheikh, Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora, Vineet Kumar Singh, Personal and local filmmakingComment