Reviews

Pretty imagery with the donkeys in the beautiful landscape at the observatory but I don’t get it. It’s more an experimental film than a documentary, in my opinion.
However, I'm delighted to see a Canadian film Oscar-nominated, so kudos to the filmmakers.

It’s likely a film much needed for Craig Renaud and his family, as a means to find meaning in the loss of a loved one. My condolences to them.
The message of the film is overly clear. Too many war correspondents die as casualties or murdered. They give their lives for the truth.
As a film, I didn’t find the structure very compelling. The juxtaposition of Brent’s work and the retrieval of his body, followed by his funeral. It was a bit bland, felt like a quick assembly.
However, it was voted for an Oscar nomination by the Academy’s documentary branch, so, kudos to Craig Renaud and the team.

The best film so far in the 2026 short documentary Oscar selection. I dreaded watching it, as I knew it would be a painful experience.
However, the film is so well done. It’s very cinematic and respectful. It’s done with feelings but without pathos. The journalist and photographer come across as genuine. And the families of the murdered children deserve their story to be told. I hope the Oscar run and the Netflix availability provides a chance for people across the world to think about gun restrictions.

Finally watched the Redux version (in three sittings because it’s over three hours long). It’s brilliant. It was an absurd, horrific, traumatic war. So well encapsulated in this masterpiece.
Can’t wait for the documentary about the making of the film, Hearts of Darkness.
It was recently re-leased (in 2025) but I haven't found out yet where it is streaming in Canada. Should you know, give me the heads up!

My public library is one of my favourite places to visit, sometimes several times per week. I studied literature, read dozens of books every year, and have great respect for librarians, who are often also social workers these days.
In contrary to the recent PBS film FREE FOR ALL: THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, which focuses on the importance of free public spaces, this documentary, THE LIBRARIANS, focuses mostly on school librarians and the backlash against them and against any kind of progressive books for children and youth by organizations such as Moms for Liberty.
The arguments of Moms for Liberty are infuriating and incomprehensible. There are no pornographic books in school libraries. And I doubt there are many pornographic books in public libraries.
Banning and burning books should stay in the 1930s, not in the 2020s.
Besides my sympathy towards the subjects, I didn't find the documentary as interesting as I thought it would be. It followed a linear structure of talking heads and school board meetings, it's just not a very exciting format.

There have been many iterations of WUTHERING HEIGHTS over the years, based on the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. I have not read the book or seen any of the movies, until now. “WUTHING HEIGHTS” is the newest adaptation of the book directed by Emerald Fennell. I hesitate to even call this an adaptation, since it’s so far removed from the source material. This is why there are quotes in the title. This is more of an interpretation than a replication. This is a “love” story about Cathy (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi). Their younger selves are played by Charlotte Mellington and Owen Cooper, who do a fantastic job making me invested in who they are, where they come from, and their relationship with each other. Unfortunately, the first act is the best part. The two leads get increasingly annoying and frustrating as the movie goes on. They become terrible people, getting no sympathy from me. They add in the overused trope of miscommunication. You’d think their chemistry would be stronger since they’ve lived together most of their young lives. If you’re a fan of the book, you probably won’t like this movie. As the movie goes on, it felt like misery porn without the porn. This felt surprisingly watered down and more on the tame side, compared to her past work (PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN and SALTBURN). It’s style over substance. It’s entirely too long. Please don’t romanticize this toxic emotionally abusive relationship. On the other hand, the movie has beautiful cinematography, some fun suggestive architecture, and elegant costumes. Overall, I commend Fennell’s bold unique vision, but it just didn’t really work for me as well as the trailer promised. If this is indeed the greatest love story of all time, we’re doomed. In the immortal words of Lady Gaga, “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” was indeed a bad romance.

Muy mala

at least in this one she turns into a ghost
fun fact MTV made it in Puerto Rico

The first one was an experience that leaves residue on your brain. This one felt clean in the worst way: competent, watchable, occasionally fun, then gone.

You can feel Danny Boyle’s world in there somewhere, like a ghost the movie keeps bumping into, but it never finds. There’s plenty of character work, but it comes at the cost of momentum. The film keeps circling itself instead of moving forward, like it confused depth with progress. By the end I didn’t feel like I’d been taken anywhere. It played like a side quest. Not a miss, but definitely not a hit.

🌶️

o

Outlander but the sex is through household items

The Madagascar sequel we deserve

A self aware little shrine to the work itself, mostly aimed at the people who treat filmmaking as a daily habit and a minor affliction. It’s properly funny and oddly candid, meta without the self congratulation.

A Minority Report coat, all normalized surveillance and polite police state hygiene, and for a while it’s genuinely intriguing. It flirts with a nastier, smarter idea, that the AI is manufacturing realities, laundering fiction into “evidence,” turning certainty into a weapon. Then it panics and defaults to the familiar treadmill: catch the bad guy, beat the clock, wrap the package. Once the premise is spent, the film deflates hard. What’s left is entertainment with a wasted engine and an aftertaste that feels uncomfortably aligned with the gospel of “less privacy, more safety.” Shit ending, lots of potential.

the most boring heist movie ever 💤

This was absolutely great, what a trip! It is disorienting, propulsive, and weirdly invigorating. The movie understands that cringe is a metronome, that “stupid” is a craft. It keeps finding new angles on the same impulse: the grand delusion of a small life insisting it deserves a spotlight, and the sheer idiotic beauty of trying anyway.

Funniest movie of the year, easily.

didn't know Eywa was the baby from 2001:

The Substance for elder ladies