On Screen

Smart reviews for the visually obsessed. On Screen features film reviews and festival coverage, spotlighting cinematic craft, storytelling and standout performances.

  • Review: ‘Beirut’ is methodical but not well planned (Includes first-hand account)

    Being able to navigate tenuous relationships and correctly gauge people’s feelings is a specific and valuable skill. While it could have multiple applications, a key use for such an ability is negotiations… and if one learns to harness and hone these instincts, the sky’s the limit on where they could go. It, of course, has everyday practical uses such as getting the best price on a car or asking for a raise; but on a larger scale, it can mean talking down someone who’s suicidal, navigating peace talks or discussing terms with a hostage-taker. In Beirut, such a man is an important asset.

  • Review: ‘Rampage’ delivers on its promise — no more or less (Includes first-hand account)

    There is something very entertaining about watching giant monsters tear apart famous cities. Whether stop-motion creatures or CGI beasts, it’s often difficult — or even unintuitive — to root for the armed forces attempting to bring them down; this is particularly true when the creature has the potential to be cured/rehabilitated/relocated… alive. Often agitated at no fault of their own, the misunderstood beast acts out destructively. On the other hand, choosing sides in a winner takes all battle between two or more monsters is far easier. Such are the dilemmas faced when watching Rampage.

  • Review: ‘Chappaquiddick’ explores the accident that destroyed dreams (Includes first-hand account)

    There was a time when many people believed the Kennedys were destined to do great things. Then it began to appear as if their fates were shrouded in death, preventing them from fulfilling all the great promise they demonstrated. Yet, the legacy lived on and the hope that someone in the family would take up the torch endured. One brother remained and everyone’s aspirations for the family and country hung on his success… and then the accident happened. Ted Kennedy wasn’t like his brothers, Jack and Bobby, and Chappaquiddick shows how he cracked under the pressure of greatness and tragedy.

  • Review: ‘Blockers’ highlights the absurdity of the double-standard (Includes first-hand account)

    While technology and social media has widely changed the experience of growing up for young people, it’s also drastically altered how one parents these newly connected adolescents; some have even found how to use their kids’ attachments to their phones to essentially spy on their children. Naturally, an episode on Netflix’s fourth season of Black Mirror bleakly demonstrated how this “always knowing” could backfire. Even though the parents in Blockers don’t purposely track their kids’ online interactions, they become privy to information they’d have never known and entertainingly set out on a mission to intercept their children’s plans.

  • Review: ‘Ready Player One’ is the film version you didn’t know you’d like (Includes first-hand account)

    Imagining the future, even by just a few decades, can create an endless string of exciting possibilities. The further into the unknown one ventures, the less their hypotheses need to be grounded in reality. Conversely, extrapolating from the now (or then) can help audiences connect with the narrative in a way not otherwise possible. Ernest Cline relies on a whole generation’s obsession with nostalgia in order to tell his sci-fi fantasy — and the movie version of his bestselling novel, Ready Player One, comprehends this attraction with great acuity.

  • Review: Wes Anderson’s style transfers brilliantly to ‘Isle of Dogs’ (Includes first-hand account)

    Anthropomorphizing animals has been a common technique in fictional narratives for decades. It allows storytellers to convey tales in a manner that may be more effective or less jarring for viewers… and sometimes, it’s just more entertaining. Writer/director Wes Anderson has focused most of his career on live-action dramas featuring increasingly famous actors and developing a very distinct style, but he now appears to be embracing animation to deliver his unique stories with the latest being Isle of Dogs. Yet if audiences dig a little deeper, they’ll notice many of the same themes as seen in his other pictures — just in a different format.

  • Review: ‘Unsane’ puts audiences at the centre of the lead’s confusion (Includes first-hand account)

    Even when you’re sure of something, if everyone else doubts it, you may begin to distrust your own certainty. Similarly, if you think everyone else is crazy, but they’re all pointing the finger at you, it may be time to look in the mirror. But what if they’re all wrong and you’re right? Not knowing which is correct can be maddening, especially if they are in a position of authority and can exert their will over you. This is the experience of a twenty-something woman in Unsane.

  • Review: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ gets somewhat lost in the folds (Includes first-hand account)

    For many young children who lose a parent, it’s more consoling to believe something fantastical took them away and they still exist somewhere out there… it means they may return one day. In most cases, the likeliness of this occurring is slim to none – but most of us don’t live in a world of magic and make-believe. Combining science fiction and fantasy, A Wrinkle in Time is about the enduring hope that a little girl’s father is simply lost somewhere in the universe waiting to be found with the help of a few enchanted guides.

  • Review: ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’ is a massacre instead of thriller (Includes first-hand account)

    In the movie industry, “leaving well enough alone” isn’t a phrase that carries much weight. Even when it seems like they’ve struck lightening by achieving an acceptable level of acclaim or success, it’s just a reason to recycle and repeat. Usually this happens in the form of a remake or an immediate sequel, capitalizing on whatever formula worked the first time around. However, occasionally (though more frequently as of late), someone decides to continue a story years after the original. The narrative time that’s past is often comparable to the gap between films and in most cases the original characters return for another go. The latest follow-up to an older movie is The Strangers: Prey at Night.

  • Review: ‘Death Wish’ leaves the difficult questions to the professionals (Includes first-hand account)

    Vigilantism is a divisive topic — even one person can have multiple opinions that place them on both sides of the argument. Is it ever acceptable for someone to act as judge, jury and executioner? Is it okay in some instances, but not others? What responsibility does the justice system have to hold vigilantes accountable? What about their part in creating vigilantes? Are superheroes, who are essentially taking the law into their own hands, also vigilantes? There’s a lot of room for discussion and film is the ideal playground to explore these grey areas. Currently, the issue is being tackled in the remake of the 1974 film of the same name, Death Wish.

  • Review: ‘The Party’ is a master class in acting (Includes first-hand account)

    Secrets, doubts and resentments have a tendency to bubble up in social gatherings — particularly those with a wide range of personalities. One person’s confidence is another’s betrayal; one person’s certainty is another’s fear; and one person’s joy is another’s irritation. As the night wears on and alcohol flows more freely, many things are said that can never be taken back. Confrontations are messy, but someone generally insists on pursuing them to “clear the air.” And then everyone goes home, perhaps a little sadder and/or a little wiser. Thus, we have The Party.

  • Review: ‘Red Sparrow’ won’t be soaring on its laurels (Includes first-hand account)

    The Cold War was widely thought to have ended in the early ‘90s, but as recent events have shown the rivalry between the United States and Russia is still very much alive. Thus, a story about Soviet spies, espionage training camps and double agents is not as irrelevant as it may seem. Moreover, audiences’ attraction to spy pictures has not waned as evidenced by the continued success of the James Bond franchise and the more recent arrival, Atomic Blonde. But how does a slow-burning, female-led mystery fit into this landscape? Red Sparrow is about to find out.