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

Something in the Dirt & Emancipation

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!

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Podcast: Blank & Moonage Daydream

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!

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

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. & Three Thousand Years of Longing

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!

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

Everything Everywhere All At Once

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).

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Podcast: Turning Red, Fresh, & After Yang

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!

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

Flee

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.

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

Titane

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.

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

Night Raiders

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.

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

Pig

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.

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

In The Earth

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.

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

The Mauritanian

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.

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