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11 December 202224 December 2022

Podcast: Something in the Dirt & Emancipation (w/ Guest Host Rachel Ho)

Greetings, programs, and welcome to a very special episode of the show. This week (and next!) Simon is on holiday, so Matthew is joined once again by our friend Rachel Ho of Exclaim.ca, ThatShelf.com, POV Magazine, and The Globe and Mail!

We’re diving into an indie darling and a big, oscar-bait action spectacle this week. First, Benson & Moorhead’s Something in the Dirt, which is finally in release after premiering all the way back at Sundance at the beginning of 2022. Then we move on to Emancipation, Will Smith’s first big release since “the slap”. One of these is quite good, and the other not so much. Listen to find out which!

18 September 202218 September 2022

Podcast: Blank & Moonage Daydream

Greetings, programs, and welcome to another edition of the Awesome Friday Podcast. This week Matt and Simon take a look at the new high-concept indie thriller Blank and the new documentary about the life and art of David Bowie, Moonage Daydream. One of these movies is one of the best movies of the year, so listen closely to find out which!

You’ll find JustWatch-powered streaming links below, as well as our ratings, how you can listen, how you can support us, and all of our other content

Join us!

28 August 202228 August 2022

Podcast: Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul & Three Thousand Years of Longing (w/ special guest co-host Rachel Ho)

Greetings, programs, and welcome to this week’s episode of the Awesome Friday podcast! This week we’re taking a closer look at two new films: first up, the satire of southern baptist megachurches from first-time director Adamma Ebo, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Which stars the electric duo of Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall. Following that we have the latest from Mad Max creator George Miller, the modern fairy tale Three Thousand Years of Longing starring the inimitable Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba.

This week Simon is away, so once again, I’m joined by award-winning Toronto-based critic and friend of the show Rachel Ho!

There are JustWatch-powered streaming links for both titles below, our ratings, how you can listen to and support us, and where you can find more of Rachel’s content.

Join us!

8 June 202229 June 2022

Giveaway: Everything Everywhere All At Once Digital Copies courtesy Elevation Pictures!

Good news, team! Everything Everywhere All At Once is now available digitally here in Canada, and our friends at Elevation Pictures have supplied us with two digital copies of the film to give to two lucky Canadians! The contest will run through 11.30 pm Pacific Time on Thursday the 16th. Enter now, and then listen to our podcast episode on the film (embedded below).

1 May 20221 May 2022

Podcast: Memory & Everything Everywhere All At Once

Another week, another podcast episode! Join us for discussions of the new Liam Neeson led action thriller Memory and the sophomore effort from The Daniels Everything Everywhere All At Once.

There are JustWatch powered streaming links for each title below, and the episode should be live wherever you can listen to podcasts. Join us!

7 March 20227 March 2022

Podcast: Turning Red, Fresh, & After Yang

Greetings programs! We’re a day late in posting this episode of the podcast, but to make up for it, we’re talking about three, yes three, excellent movies for you to watch. First up is Pixar’s Turning Red, their first feature set in Canada and another surefire hit for Disney+. Second, we’re talking about the Disney+/Hulu original Fresh, a romantic thriller that goes to some very unexpected places. Last but far from least, we’re talking about the sophomore film from Kogonada, After Yang, a quiet and touching film about what it means to be alive.

There are streaming links as well as our ratings after the jump. Join us!

20 February 202219 February 2022

Podcast: Texas Chainsaw Massacre & The Cursed

Greetings programs and welcome to another edition of the Awesome Friday Podcast. This week we’re tackling two new horror movies: First, the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and then the newly released period-set gothic werewolf movie The Cursed. Join us!

9 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Flee’ harnesses the power of animation to give its true story a greater impact

Documentary filmmaking is some of our most crucial filmmaking. They tell stories of our world and the people that live in it. How, though, do you tell a story that has no images, no film, or any talking heads to back it up. One standard route is to turn the story into fiction. Another, taken this year by director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, is to animate the story his friend is telling him, which turns out to be just as powerful a choice.

8 October 202128 October 2021

VIFF ’21 Interview: Danis Goulet on her film ‘Night Raiders’

Night Raiders is one of the biggest Canadian films to come through VIFF this year, at least in terms of buzz and word of mouth. I had the chance to see it last week (and you can read my review here), and this week I had the great privilege to speak with Danis Goulet, the film’s writer and director.

1 October 20218 January 2022

Review: ‘Titane’ is one of the most unforgettable cinema-going experiences of the year

Let me say that at least some of what you have heard about Titane is true. I can’t tell you which parts because I don’t know which parts you have heard, but yes, they’re true. They’re all true. This film is a singular work and one of the most original and absurd, and touching films of the year. While I can’t promise that it will work for all of you, what I can promise is that seeing it will be one of the most memorable cinema-going experiences you have.

30 September 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Night Raiders’ draws on Canada’s dark past to imagine a dark future

Canada has a certain reputation that we like to uphold. We’re viewed as America’s nice neighbour, as the reasonable ones. The thoughtful and the multicultural ones. If you’re from here, though, you know that Canada’s reputation is not as deserved as we would like you to think it is, and we have a dark history of racism and colonialism that persists to this day.

This is the history that writer and director Danis Goulet draws on to imagine the post-apocalyptic world of Night Raiders, one in which the legacy of Canada’s treatment of indigenous people –and the Residential School system in particular– is drawn out to its logical darkest endpoint.

14 July 20218 January 2022

Review: ‘Pig’ is not the movie you are expecting, but is one of the best movies of the year

Nicolas Cage is something of an enigma. I don’t think that it is either surprising or a revelation to say that, but the man is one of the only true movie stars we currently have. He is known for his near-constant output as an actor, and for being willing to appear in just about anything. This volume of work is not always great (though it’s never exactly boring), but the one thing it accomplishes is that as a result we sometimes forget that he’s a really great actor.

In Pig, his latest film, he reminds us. Before I launch into this review, I should say this: Pig is one of my favourite movies of the year so far, and I firmly believe that you should see it as cold as possible.

12 May 202111 January 2022

Review: ‘In The Earth’ ventures into the woods and the darkness

Film from this time period is going to be interesting. Much like the years after wars or the September 11th attacks, the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic can’t not have an impact on the art we produce. Some of that is going to be in the form of movies about viruses. Others, like this one, are going to be about how scary is can be to go outside and see people again.

3 March 202111 January 2022

Review: ‘The Mauritanian’ features a strong central performance stuck in a bog-standard legal drama

It’s no secret that the United States has done some terrible things in the wake of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. Nearly 800 people were detained at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp –which, for the record, remains open still– without due process. They have been subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques”, a bland euphemism for torture. In violation of both international agreements and the united states constitution, these prisoners rights were ignored and their persons abused. The entire affair was –and continues to be– a blight on American history.

The Mauritanian tells the story of one of these people. Mohamedou Ould Salahi (played by Tahar Rahim) was held at Guantanamo for 14 years. His memoir, written while in detention, became the basis for this movie, in which his harrowing story is hiding inside a legal drama we’ve all seen before.