NNN 2018
Michele K. Short/Netflix
TV review: Maniac is an exercise in self-congratulatory style
Cary Joji Fukunaga's Netflix series starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill has great set pieces but is ultimately empty and exhausting more
Review: Assassination Nation has style but not a lot to say
Actioner about teens fighting back after their private online lives are exposed gets caught in a narrative corner more
TV review: 14 & Muslim is a charming profile of three teens
But the documentary, which is airing on CBC, only scratches the surface of a subject that could fill multiple films more
Courtesy of APTN
TV review: Docuseries First Contact tackles anti-Indigenous racism
Three-part APTN show that sends six intolerant Canadians to Indigenous communities across the country is eye-opening more
TIFF review: The Man Who Feels No Pain
Bollywood action/comedy/romance screening in the Midnight Madness program is oddly sweet more
TIFF review: The Truth About Killer Robots
Doc about humankind’s relationship to automatons is not reassuring at all more
TIFF review: The Weekend
SNL's Sasheer Zamata is a natural as a stand-up comic stuck at a weekend retreat with her ex in Stella Meghie's refreshing, if uneven, romantic comedy more
TIFF review: The Standoff At Sparrow Creek
Henry Dunham’s smart and entertaining debut thriller can't escape the shadow of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs more
TIFF review: Mid90s
Jonah Hill's Lady Bird-like coming of age pic, his directorial debut, is an uneven nostalgia trip more
Review: A Simple Favor is the movie version of an airport read
Paul Feig’s thriller about a vlogger investigating the disappearance of her stylish best friend isn’t a great movie, but it’s watchable and lots of fun more
Review: see The Children Act for Emma Thompson
The iconic actor makes you forget the film’s basic flaws more
Review: Mandy gives Nicolas Cage a chainsaw and lets him go way over the top
Panos Cosmatos’s excessive death-metal dirge will be talked about in dorm rooms for years to come more
Laura T Magruder
TIFF review: Driven
Director Nick Hamm spins a cromulant crime-doesn't-pay narrative in film about the DeLorean sports car more
TIFF review: A Million Little Pieces
Adaptation of James Frey's rehab memoir doesn't take into account the controversy over the book's authenticity, resulting in a fine, but completely familiar, story more
TIFF review: The Good Girls
Ilsa Salas is riveting in this stylish, elegant and critical character study from Mexico more
Courtesy of TIFF
TIFF review: The Hummingbird Project
Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård play an oddball pair in Kim Nguyen's lightweight but mostly entertaining picture more
TIFF review: The Hate U Give
Screen adaptation of Angie Thomas's YA novel about Black Lives Matter gets all its points across, but could have been more powerful more
TIFF review: Falls Around Her
Tantoo Cardinal is enthralling as a famous Anishnaabe musician who returns to the Northern Ontario reserve where she grew up more
TIFF review: Wild Rose
Latest formulaic UK underdog pic features yet another scrappy hero finding validation through unexpected artistic expression more
TIFF review: Cities Of Last Things
Ho Wi Ding's film throws ideas, genres and gendered violence together, and it's all in poor taste more