Queer | Review by: Gal Balaban

Visionary director Luca Guadagnino excels in capturing raw human connection, in all its beauty and discomfort. Queer focuses on Lee, an American living in Mexico City who wanders the streets, and soon strikes up a romance with a younger man (Drew Starkey) in a bar. The first act is filled with that unpredictable energy that makes Guadagnino’s films stand out, including excellent cinematography and truly inspired soundtrack choices. Craig is giving his best dramatic performance yet. Lee is a truly lonesome man with a hole inside him that he has no idea how he’ll ever fill. Craig truly lets us feel the character's soul in the quietest moments of the film. Jason Schwarzman entertains in a humorous supporting role, and Lesley Manville plays a particularly fantastic part.

Where the film truly falters is its dreadful pace. It loses much of its energy in the aimless second and third acts which feel like such little drama stretched so thin. Craig’s performance and his chemistry with Drew Starkey take a backseat to the uninteresting atmosphere building that takes too long. By the time you reach the end, it feels more like a cliched downer than an earned journey to this complex and sad character’s journey. Mileage may very in this surreal yet uneven and indulgent film from Guadagnino, but it feels to maintain its hold on its audience and say something truly meaningful, instead, begging to drag on and on past its breaking point.

2.5/5

Review by: Gal Balaban

Rating all V/H/S/Halloween Segments

Like sorting through your candy after a night of trick-or-treating, V/H/S/ Halloween is a mixed bag. The eighth instalment in this cult-favourite horror anthology series comes up short of previous entries, but there are still a couple of treats in here that should satisfy your twisted cravings. A chilling still from V/H/S/ Halloween . Diet Phantasma This wraparound segment follows an R&D team testing a new low-calorie soda made with “real ghosts.” It’s silly fun, but gets a bit repetitive with each new test subject. The commercial playing during the end credits was a nice touch. Rating: ★★½☆ Coochie Coochie Coo This short feels like walking through a haunted house — but not in a good way. The plot is like something torn from a creepypasta thread. Everything is constantly being spelled out in a painfully obvious way. The practical effects and makeup are decent, and this is probably the only segment that comes close to being scary...

The Mandalorian Season 3 Review

Listen, I love Star Wars. I will always love Star Wars. The original and prequel trilogies were a big part of my childhood, and helped shape my love of cinema. While The Mandalorian isn’t among my favourites in the franchise, I thought it had a promising first season and a significantly stronger season two. Season three had so much potential, but a frustrating lack of focus held it back from greatness. This show’s always had a bit of an identity crisis, but it’s never been as clear as it is here. Does it want to be a procedural-style adventure of the week, or tell an epic, multi-season spanning arc? Season one leaned toward the former, while Season two found a satisfying balance of both. Season three tries to find that balance, but the overarching story it wants to tell is bigger than the few episodes allotted to do so. There are only 8 chapters, some barely over 30 min. That’s a fair...

The Rip Review

The Rip is all the evidence you need that a great cast can elevate an otherwise run-of-the-mill movie. Without its impressive A-list roster, this would’ve likely been lost among a crowd of forgettable January dumping ground releases. Throw Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and a handful of other extremely talented actors into the mix, though, and now you’ve got something worth watching. While there are exceptions that prove the rule, a lot of these police/cartel thrillers are interchangeable when it comes to their cookie-cutter story beats. The Rip breaks exactly zero molds, but it also doesn’t feel as uninspired as it could’ve. There are enough surprises to keep things engaging, and the tension - which the movie often hinges on - is appropriately high strung. The action is punchy and loud, which is no surprise coming from Director Joe Carnahan. While I do have minor issues with some of the sequences feeling a bit choppy in how they were shot and edited, the action is solid and packs...

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