On Screen

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

  • Review: ‘Deadpool 2’ remains true to its foul-mouthed protagonist (Includes first-hand account)

    After a record-breaking box office for an R-rated movie, the sequel to Deadpool became one of the most anticipated follow-ups in 2018. For more than a year, teasers have built an appetite for the film by first revealing Cable would be involved, then by requesting casting suggestions, and eventually with nonsensical videos and photos that, if nothing else, ensured they’d retained their sense of humour. A commitment to have fun while remaining spoiler-free has resulted in a hilarious promotional campaign leading up to the release of the movie. And now, Deadpool 2 has made its “superhero landing.”

  • Review: ‘Tully’ is an honest portrayal of the complexities of womanhood (Includes first-hand account)

    Being a hundred different things to multiple people without ever finding time for yourself is exhausting, particularly when “just say no” isn’t an option. It can also be incredibly unhealthy, certainly mentally but also physically. People spread themselves too thin all the time, but doing it for a prolonged period is where the danger lies. Sometimes finding help is the answer, if you can afford it and relinquish control to some degree to another person. In Tully, a mother being crushed by the added responsibility of a third child agrees to hire a night nanny to relieve some of the stress.

  • Review: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ makes a big and powerful statement (Includes first-hand account)

    The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been laying the groundwork for this epic crossover for years. First, post-credit sequences included unrelated characters; then they began to interact with individuals from other storylines; and finally, those characters began to appear in each other’s narratives, including a movie featuring unparalleled in-fighting. Now, all of this preparation is culminating in possibly the greatest — and most ambitious — superhero movie to date. A villain that’s lurked on the periphery for some time is ready to make his big move in Avengers: Infinity War and it’s going to take everyone in the MCU to stop him.

  • Review: ‘Super Troopers 2’ doesn’t miss a beat (Includes first-hand account)

    There is something almost timeless about great comedies from the late 20th century. They’re often ill-mannered, politically incorrect and completely over-the-top, but they’re also hilarious. Some recent pictures have come close to capturing the magic, but they’re not quite the same. Where some films are obviously a product of their time and could never be made again, others are simply the perfect combination of script, director, actors and chemistry. Since these combined circumstances are akin to lightening in a bottle, trying to recreate them are incredibly difficult and has failed on many occasions — but that doesn’t stop anyone from trying. The latest movie to get the band back together (almost literally) is Super Troopers 2.

  • 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.