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TIFF/The Debut Review: Julianne Moore Steals the Spotlight in Jesse Eisenberg’s Wacky, Wonderful Comedy

©Courtesy of A24 Jesse Eisenberg‘s third film as a director takes a sharp turn from his previous two. “When You Finish Saving the World” (2022) and “A Real Pain” (2024) were grounded in recognizable human behavior, “The Debut” throws realism out the window for the delightfully wacky and eccentric. It is quirky, entertaining and packed with laughs, and Eisenberg nails…

TIFF/ Look Back Review: Kore-eda Draws Friendship in Gentle Strokes

ⓒCourtesy of The Toronto International Film Festival In Japan, manga can be a way for girls to express themselves, find an identity and, ultimately, connect with another person. In Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film, “Look Back” drawing gives two very different girls a way to express who they are and understand each other. What begins as…

The Transformers: The Movie, 40th Anniversary Edition

ⓒCourtesy of Hasbro For many kids in the 1980s, the deaths of several fan-favorite Transformers in the franchise’s first animated feature landed just as traumatically as the shooting of “Old Yeller” had for their parents. Eventually, the most notable fallen Transformers “returned” in the two-part finale to season three. However, there is no denying his…

‘Heart Of The Beast,’ A Survival Story Celebrating The Human–Canine Bond

After the 2022 Dog, starring Channing Tatum, and the newly released The Dog Stars directed by Ridley Scott with Jacob Elordi, filmmaker David Ayer chooses Brad Pitt to bring to life a story about the love between a man and his four-legged companion. Heart Of The Beast begins with the slow days in the wilderness…

NYFF: Everytime is a Haunting Meditation on Grief, Memory and Reality

ⓒCourtesy of The New York Film Festival The most influential psychologically intimate films begin with the deceptive familiarity of close relationships. They eventually go on to reveal how grief and memory can gradually destabilize people’s sense of reality. The new drama, Everytime, does just that with its character-driven, observational story. The movie quietly infuses a…

‘If I Go Will They Miss Me’ Plunges Us At The Heart Of Parenthood And Filiality

The sound of waves crashing on the sand, the seagulls squeaking overhead, and a young man’s voice introduce us to If I Go Will They Miss Me. The feature is an expansion of the 2022 eponymous short film, and it had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Film director Walter Thompson-Hernandez takes…

Hope, Na Hong-jin’s Record-Breaking Sci-Fi Monster Movie

ⓒCourtesy of Neon  They are too small to be proper kaiju, but they are too large and weird-looking to be human. Whatever they are, they are Ko Bum-seok’s problem. As the police chief of Hope Harbor, it is his job to serve and protect. However, he is not trained to fight monsters. Fortunately, his town…

High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam: A Gripping Political Thriller Built on Human Conflict

ⓒCourtesy of TNT At their core, the most captivating historical thrillers explore power, uncertainty, truth and the consequences of political decisions. TNT’s new limited series, High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam, does just that by examining how intelligence can shape history when assumptions collide with incomplete or conflicting information. The show’s eight episodes also…

Venice Film Festival: ‘IMPERIUM’ Rediscovers The Soviet Union Through Italian Film Archives

In the Out of Competition section of the 83rd Venice Film Festival IMPERIUM — directed by Sergei Loznitsa — rediscovers an unknown Soviet Union through Italian film archives. The filmmaker born in Belarus and raised in Ukraine, is among the most critically acclaimed directors, and his films have been screened at major international festivals. Loznitsa…

‘Nyumba,’ A Documentary That Finds A Home In Humanity

Matteo Garrone’s 2023 Io Capitano intensely captured the odyssey of migrants who fled Africa to find better opportunities across the Mediterranean Sea. The film focused on the story of Fofana Amara’s journey before arriving to his promised land. Now there’s a documentary that has been travelling across the festival circuit that takes this theme a…

Fall 2: Deadpoint Movie Review: A Vertigo-Inducing Survival Thriller

ⓒCourtesy of Lionsgate The most daring survival thrillers thrive on a potent combination of fear, isolation, resilience and the human instinct to overcome impossible circumstances. The new movie, Fall 2: Deadpoint, does just that, turning extreme climbing into a metaphor for confronting fear and pushing beyond perceived limits. The film serves as a sequel to the…