Martin McDonagh's WILD HORSE NINE is a wickedly funny, profoundly melancholic, and unexpectedly moving exploration of friendship, mortality, guilt, and the extraordinary absurdity of human existence. Set against the political turmoil of Chile in 1973, the film follows two veteran CIA operatives whose journey to the remote shores
There is something profoundly reassuring about watching a film that reminds us just how extraordinary the human imagination can be when given the time, patience, and resources to flourish. In an entertainment industry increasingly preoccupied with technological convenience, familiar intellectual properties, and the relentless pursuit of commercial efficiency, WILDWOOD feels
Cord Jefferson's AMERICAN FICTION is one of those rare films that made me howl with laughter while simultaneously leaving me scratching my head at the sheer absurdity of what I was witnessing. Adapted from Percival Everett's 2001 novel ERASURE, Jefferson's feature directorial debut is
There is something profoundly heartbreaking about a love that persists long after the person receiving it has disappeared. Lasse Hallström's HACHI: A DOG'S TALE is an extraordinarily moving examination of unconditional devotion, companionship, and the devastating permanence of loss. What initially appears to be a gentle
There is a peculiar irony in the notion that one of the most influential instruments of human connection emerged from a world of resentment, insecurity, and fractured friendships, although David Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK is far too intelligent to reduce its subject to such a convenient contradiction. What
The history of technological progress is littered with extraordinary achievements whose consequences have proven considerably more complicated than the intentions of their creators, although few innovations have transformed contemporary society quite as profoundly as social media. What began as an ambitious experiment in digital connectivity gradually evolved into an immensely
Historical dramas about Sengoku Japan tend to gravitate toward the inevitable giants — Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu — men whose reputations have become so enormous that everyone around them risks becoming scenery. THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER takes a more interesting route, narrowing its attention to Kuroda Kanbei and Araki Murashige while allowing
There is a characteristic cadence to an Aaron Sorkin script—a rapid-fire, metronomic ping-pong of intellect and ideology where everyone in the room is the smartest person in the room, or at least capable of landing a devastating witty retort on two seconds' notice. In THE TRIAL
Some films earn five stars through precision, others through ambition, and a rare few simply make resistance feel pointless, which is exactly where TONY finds itself: funny, warm, unruly, emotionally intelligent, and so completely comfortable inside its own personality that trying to pick apart its pleasures almost feels counterproductive. At
I may be Canadian, but I have long been an absolute sucker for Australian film and television, from Indigenous storytelling and historical dramas to comedies and smaller character pieces. Something about the combination of dry humour, cultural specificity, eccentric personalities and landscapes stretching forever consistently works on me, which meant
Some historical epics overwhelm with scale. Others overwhelm with violence. MONGOL does something more interesting than either. It strips one of history's most mythologized conquerors back to the years before the legend, before the empire, before the world knew the name Genghis Khan. Rather than asking how he
George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH begins with a microphone check, an empty auditorium and Ryan Gosling standing behind a podium that does not belong to him, which is an appropriately understated introduction for a film fascinated by the people who manufacture political power while somebody else stands beneath