Lauren (Amy Landecker), who is in her early 50s, finds herself at a crossroads when she and Chase (Paul Adelstein) finally sign their divorce papers. Luckily it’s amicable, but Chase is already in a new relationship with Sara (Angelique Carbal), a young and upbeat influencer who shares wellness advice online, which is hard on Lauren—especially…
comedy
Review: Fantasy Life
When timid and awkward Sam (Matthew Shear) loses his job as a paralegal, he finds himself having a panic attack in a book store. Sam then sees psychiatrist Fred (Judd Hirsch) who calls him “an anxious Jew with mild OCD,” after Sam says he thinks he suffers from internalised antisemitism. On the way out, Fred’s…
Review: Project Hail Mary
Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spacecraft with no memory of who he is, why he’s there, or how he got there in the first place. It’s a genuine surprise to him when he turns to see a huge window confirming that he is, in fact, in space. Grace slowly remembers that he…
Review: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up right where the first film ends: Grace (Samara Weaving) lights a cigarette as she sits in a blood-soaked wedding dress on the steps of the Le Domas Estate while it burns behind her. After marrying Alex (Mark O’Brien), Grace was invited to take part in their…
Review: Vampires of the Velvet Lounge
If you’re into vampires as much as I am, you’ll already know the legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory. If not, Vampires of the Velvet Lounge gets you up to speed with some heavy text exposition: Born in 1560 Hungary, Báthory was a noblewoman whose behaviour became increasingly bizarre following the death of her husband, Count…
Review: Vladimir
Based on the Julia May Jonas book of the same name, Netflix’s Vladimir follows Rachel Weisz’s unnamed protagonist, a creative writing professor whose university chair husband, John (John Slattery), is suspended pending an investigation into his sexual relationships with numerous students. Breaking the fourth wall frequently, the protagonist tells us that she and John have…
Review: Cold Storage
Cold Storage begins with a prologue introducing us to Skylab, a space station which fell out of orbit in 1979. “Pay attention,” a title card reads. “This shit is real.” And it is. Host to countless scientific experiments, it was important to recover all the pieces that weren’t destroyed during atmospheric reentry—but an oxygen tank…
Review: Blood Barn
Set in the summer of 1985, Blood Barn follows Josie (Lena Redford), a camp counsellor who gathers her friends (played by Chloe Cherry, Andrea Bambina, Simon Paris, Samuel Lanier, Felipe Di Poi, and Pierce Campion) for a final weekend at her family’s secluded barn before they part ways for college. However, their fun and nostalgic…
Review: Rental Family Offers Insight into Japanese Culture
*Contains story spoilers* Rental Family follows Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser), an unemployed American actor who is still living in Tokyo after finding success in a wacky Japanese toothpaste commercial seven years prior. Things start to change for Phillip when he lands the unusual gig of working for a company which provides actors to play stand-in…
Fantasia 2025 Review: Hold the Fort
As a Brit, I’ve heard enough about Homeowners Associations to know that Americans generally hate them. It makes you wonder why they don’t show up as the antagonist in American media more often. Perhaps it would be boring, but William Bagley’s new film, Hold the Fort, which had its world premiere at Fantasia Festival, makes…