Category: Movies

Everything to do with films!

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The Films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Ranked, Black Widow Edition

Marvel Studios' BLACK WIDOW

Well, here’s a thing that I haven’t done in quite a while. The last time I wrote out a full ranking of the films in the MCU there were only 14 entries in the franchise. Only. Now, there are 24, plus the three limited series on Disney+, and if that doesn’t sound like a lot? There are ten movies and ten series on deck in the next two years.

If you had any doubts about the Marvel money train slowing down? Think again!

For the purposes of this list I am only looking at the films, and thinking back on how they all work (or not). This list is obviously my opinion, but feel free to agree or disagree with me here or on the social medias.

Without any further ado, here are all the Marvel films ranked from worst to first, according to Matthew.

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Canada’s Future of Film Showcase starts this Friday, and here are the films!

2021 Future of Film Showcase

The Future of Film Showcase is a festival of short films featuring Canadian filmmakers under the age of forty. Designed to highlight the, well, future of Canadian film by giving a platform to up and coming artists, it is an exciting chance to take a peek at what is around the corner in Canadian art.

This year the showcase features 11 films, and –for the second year in a row– they will be available virtually via CBC Gem from July 9th to 22nd, for free, to anyone in Canada who wants to watch them. There is a wide variety of styles and intents here, and having had the opportunity to watch them, below follows a list of the films and a brief review of each.

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Review: ‘Fear Street Part Two: 1978’ turns to Friday the 13th for inspiration, is another fun riff on the slasher genre

FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978

If Fear Street Part One: 1994 made it seem like director Leigh Janiak was infatuated with 90s slashers, then Part Two: 1978 should make it clear that’s not the case. Director Leigh Janiak is infatuated with slashers, full stop. Throwing back all the way to Friday the 13th, 1978‘s main story takes place at a summer camp with a plaid jacket wearing brute murdering teens with an axe. And you know what? It might be better than the last one.

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Review: ‘Fear Street Part One: 1994’ is a superfun, 90s inspired teen slasher

FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994

There are many things you could say about movies and media from the 90s, but one thing that can’t be denied is that the teen slasher went through something of a golden age. There are too many to list but suffice to say that if 90s teen horror is your jam, then Fear Street Part One: 1994 was made specifically for you. If you happen to like fun movies, then it was also made for you.

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Review: ‘Black Widow’ is a great, character-driven action-adventure

Black Widow

Marvel Studios has become an unstoppable cultural behemoth. Under normal circumstances, their films routinely make a billion dollars at the box office, the kind of money that every other studio on the planet has been chasing ever since the 2012’s The Avengers proved that the interconnected universe of films is a thing that could work.

It’s a shame that these aren’t normal circumstances then, because with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pushing Black Widow –the film so many fans have been waiting for for years– into a hybrid release, it probably won’t make a billion dollars at the box office. To be clear: that’s a shame because it’s excellent.

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Review: ‘F9’ is ridiculous, but knows its audience

F9

I feel like writing this review might be a little redundant. This is the tenth film in this franchise, so if you’re not on board with the fambly at this point, I’m not sure you ever will be. The franchise shifted from “people who drive good” to “international super spies” over the last few films, and this one continues the cycle of one-upmanship with a trip to space.

Yes, they go to space in this one, so it’s an apt comparison when I say that this might be their Moonraker moment when they finally abandon all pretence of realism. Please note: I like Moonraker.

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Let’s Take a Closer Look at the new ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ trailer (with 40+ high-res captures)

Marvel’s next film has a new trailer! Shang-Chi is the highly anticipated martial arts film Disney and Marvel have on deck for September, and it looks great. It looks like a martial arts film from Marvel and not a Marvel martial arts film (so far), if that makes sense.

Fair warning, though, this trailer looks like it gives away a significant portion of the plot, so if you like to go into these things blind, this is your cue not to read.

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Review: ‘Good On Paper’ is ok in practice

Good on Paper

A woman walks through an airport complaining to a friend on the phone about being in the security line for 45 minutes because the woman ahead of her lost her boarding pass. “Who loses their boarding pass between check-in and security?” Then, as she reaches her gate, a handsome man hands her a piece of paper. “You dropped this,” he says as he hands her own boarding pass. This is the meet-cute in Good on Paper, a film which follows standup comedy Amanda (Iliza Shlesinger) as she embarks on a relationship with a man who seems too good to be true.

Written by and starring Shlesinger and directed by Kimmy Gatewood, the films seem primed to tell a story unlike what we’ve seen before, but while the intent is noble, the execution is only fine.

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Tribeca 2021 Review: ‘False Positive’ is a suitably creepy thriller with a scene stealing performance from Pierce Brosnan

False Positive

It’s never fair when a new film is compared to a classic, but that’s what I am going to do with False Positive. While this film cribs from many others, it is perhaps most obviously an homage to Rosemary’s Baby. They’re both films in which a young woman gets pregnant but not all is what it seems, and the array of slightly odd characters surrounding her life are clearly not telling her the whole truth.

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Tribeca 2021 Review: ‘Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain’ investigates the life and death of an icon

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Celebrity deaths are strange. Many people feel connected to celebrities for many reasons, and each one affects us differently. Anthony Bourdain affected a great many people. The fast-talking bad boy of the culinary world, the man who spent 200 plus days per year travelling to show us the world we lived in, did not seem the type to take his own life. Yet, he did, and we are left with no answers.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain does not promise you those answers, as they are unknowable. What it does do is examine the life of a man who took everything he did as far as he could take it. A man whose propensity for speaking fast and frankly about his whole life, demons and all, made him an icon.

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Tribeca 2021 Review: ‘Love Spreads’ is a difficult watch about difficult people, with a couple of great performances

Love Spreads

The process of writing music can be a difficult one. I can’t relate, but what I can relate to is writers’ block. It can be maddening, whether you’re staring at a blank sheet of paper for hours or doing everything you can to avoid that staring. This is one of the core components of Love Spreads, a film about a band that heads to a remote studio to write and record their sophomore album. Of course, it’s hard to record anything when your lead singer and songwriter doesn’t can’t bring herself to write.

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Tribeca 2021 Review: ‘The Novice’ is a searing portrait of obsession

The Novice

“You finished first. Why’d you take it twice?”

This simple question asked of –but not answered by– the main character of The Novice might tell you all you need to know about her. In the films opening scenes, she is sitting at a desk, chewed up pencil in hand, finishing a test for the second time because she is cannot let herself be anything other than the best at what she does. Make no mistake, dear reader, this is not a story of admirable ambition but rather a story of obsession, the lengths one will go to because of it, and the effect one might have on those around them.

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Tribeca 2021 Review: ‘Werewolves Within’ is fine. It’s fine. It’s totally fine, team.

Werewolves Within

There are few things more frustrating than getting yourself hyped up for something and then not connecting with it. It’s a perfectly human thing to do; we love the things we love, and when something looks like a thing we might love, it’s natural to get excited about it. This is the case with myself and Werewolves Within, a movie based on a game where you sit in a room with a bunch of people and one of them is a werewolf. This premise, the single location mystery, is exactly my jam.

Now, the opening paragraph of this review might lead you to think that the movie is bad and let me stress right now that it isn’t. It has a lot going for it, including two fun performances and some excellent direction, and a few genuine laughs, but not enough for me to love it. In fact, barely enough for me to like it.

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Tribeca 2021 Review: ‘No Running’ aims high but misses the mark

No Running

Science Fiction is the perfect conduit for social commentary. From Star Trek to Get Out, placing a theme within heightened circumstances is a good way to make it more relatable and universal and easier to reach a wider audience. No Running, the directorial debut from Delmar Washington, sets its sights on this goal. While its aim is high, it doesn’t quite hit the mark.

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