On Screen

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

  • Review: ‘The Big Sick’ is an instant favourite (Includes first-hand account)

    While online avenues are supposed to have made dating simpler, meeting someone — the right someone — is as difficult as ever. After all, once you get over the initial hurdle of actually going on a first date, everything that follows is generally the same: deciding if you share similar views on the big things, meeting each other’s friends and family, and potentially planning your futures together. It’s also a wrench in one or more of these steps that can lead to a relationship’s demise. Even worse, is just simply being too afraid to commit — because as one character learns in The Big Sick, you don’t always get a second chance.

  • Review: ‘Baby Driver’ frontrunner for best summer action movie (Includes first-hand account)

    Although the musical’s heyday is long past, it has seen somewhat of revival in recent years. While La La Land is a throwback to the classic feel and style of the big budget productions, another film has to some extent reimagined the genre to incorporate a more contemporary approach to the old school pictures. While at first glance, Baby Driver doesn’t look like a musical, it certainly shares some elements with the finely tuned genre.

  • Review: ‘Rough Night’ not so rough for audiences (Includes first-hand account)

    For several decades, the raunchy comedy has belonged to men. Even though there have been a few bawdy films featuring female casts, they’ve still been directed by men. It’s taken a long time for studios to put their trust in the all-female movie, but each time they’ve recently “taken a chance” the returns have generally been worth it. The latest “risk” is Sony’s R-rated Rough Night, which is helmed by a woman who knows how to write honest, vulgar women.

  • ‘Battle of the Sexes’ trailer recreates competitive energy (Includes first-hand account)

    Any time women have wanted something men already have, they’ve had to fight to get it; whether it’s a prominent position, an equal seat at the table or simple respect. At some point, feminist became a dirty word and was spewed with vitriol at anyone who supported women’s rights to be treated the same as their counterparts. Yet they persevered, filling history with women who broke down the barriers and paved the way for those who would come after them. Battle of the Sexes chronicles one of those momentous occasions.

  • Review: ‘It Comes at Night’ is haunting because it’s probable (Includes first-hand account)

    One of the most attractive aspects of post-apocalyptic movies from a filmmaker’s perspective is they can be made with big or small budgets. It can be populated with gruesome monsters or imply a destructive force lurks on the periphery. The nature of the movie allows the sets to be sparse and for a limited number of locations to be the norm rather than a notable reduction. They definitely present some limitations, but also a lot of opportunity. It Comes at Night is a movie about isolation by necessity and its effects on a family.

  • Review: ‘The Mummy’ needs its priorities reordered (Includes first-hand account)

    It’s no longer unusual to see studios looking for new ideas to reach back into their histories and reboot old ideas or franchises. For many who’ve watched the originals, this ranges from a minor irritation to an outright offense. But the reality persists and it’s arguably unfair to judge a movie before watching it, or to carry preconceptions into a screening. So (almost) every picture deserves a fair shake, but then it’s open season. The latest film up for reboot judgement is The Mummy and it seems there may have been a good film in there somewhere.

  • Review: ‘Captain Underpants’ wears a cape of silliness (Includes first-hand account)

    Stunting a child’s creativity is considered a crime by many people. After all, their imaginations are a source of fun as well as a means of understanding the complicated world around them. Thus, in a lot of adolescent or children’s fiction, the villainous adult is trying to keep the protagonist kids from having fun through pretend or invention. In Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, the two boys at the centre of the story decide to teach their super strict principal a lesson when he destroys their latest comic.

  • Review: ‘Wonder Woman’ is unstoppable (Includes first-hand account)

    For those who love superheroes and their subsequent movies, there’s nothing more disappointing than to see your favourite characters ill-used in a highly anticipated tent pole picture. While some of the Marvel films haven’t been stellar, they seem to have a grasp on how to make a good comic book movie. DC, on the other hand, has failed in every attempt. Then there’s the automatic derision directed at female-led action pictures — granted, the track record was spotty but women are due for a breakout movie. History showed the odds were against Wonder Woman, but that was even more reason to overcome them.

  • Review: ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ except for familiar ones (Includes first-hand account)

    When studios find a cash cow, they’re generally unwilling to let it go even when it seems past due. But as long as audiences are willing to head to the theatre to see the latest installment, studios will keep a franchise going long past its last good movie. That’s not to say there can’t be a return to glory after a bunch of duds, but it’s a rare occurrence. Fortunately dedicated fans keep the hope alive, eager to see if this one could finally be the one. On that note, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales is new to theatres.

  • Review: ‘Alien: Covenant’ gets closer to the truth (Includes first-hand account)

    As many fans learned thanks to George Lucas, going back to reimagine a beloved series’ origin story is a tricky business. While the creators have unrealized ideas regarding where it all could have started, these are not always in line with audience theories nor is it simple to recapture the essence of what drew viewers to the original films to start. Ridley Scott began this journey with 2012’s Prometheus, which now continues with its first sequel, Alien: Covenant.

  • Review: ‘Hounds of Love’ is made for the amateur criminal profiler (Includes first-hand account)

    Entertainment mediums, particularly primetime television crime dramas, would have audiences believe serial killers are lurking in every corner of the world, even though it’s a relatively uncommon phenomenon. Nonetheless, it’s the idea that a neighbour could be repeatedly killing and no one ever knowing that disturbs most people — as it should. Yet the public’s fascination with serial killers never seems to waver and therefore neither does the content linked to this strange culture. The latest film to approach this subject is the Australian Hounds of Love.

  • Review: ‘Snatched’ doesn’t know how good it could have had it (Includes first-hand account)

    Being clueless in life usually leads to a lot problems: not being able to recognize when things are not going well; being oblivious to your own mistakes; and a general ignorance of everything that surrounds you. In the end, not being aware also means being easily blindsided by things anyone else would’ve seen coming a mile away. While this type of existence is disastrous in real life, it’s comedy fodder for fiction creators. Thus, the character at the centre of Snatched is as impractical as they come.