We have a few big screen adaptations of popular Broadway musicals headed our way, like it or not, ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is definitely one of the more highly anticipated ones. Does Stephen Chbosky’s film version hit the right notes? Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) is your (stereo)typical angsty, nerdy, pill-popping high school teen. Nobody knows he …
Author Archives: stephendhondt
You Are Not My Mother – Film Review | TIFF ’21
With its strong attention to female filmmakers this year, TIFF offers us Kate Dolan’s feature debut ‘You Are Not My Mother’. An Irish psychological horror film with a twist steeped in lore. Char (Hazel Doupe) lives in a Dublin housing estate with her grandmother, father and her troubled mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken). The woman is …
Continue reading “You Are Not My Mother – Film Review | TIFF ’21”
The Starling – Film Review | TIFF ’21
The process of grieving is a thankful subject for a drama and for any actor to sink their teeth in. But does Theodore Melfi’s ‘The Starling’ have anything fresh to add? Lilly (Melissa McCarthy) and Jack (Chris O’Dowd) are set for a happy life when tragedy strikes. Reeling from the loss of their baby, both …
The Guilty – Film Review | TIFF’21
Huis-clos thrillers aren’t the easiest to pull off. But when you want to make a movie during a pandemic, it might be your best bet of getting something made. Antoine Fuqua takes a stab at remaking the Danish movie ‘Den Skyldige’ and comes out mostly unscathed. Officer Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) has issues. Plenty of …
Violet – Film Review | TIFF’21
Depending on our age, we all know Justine Bateman from somewhere. Whether it be next to Michael J. Fox in ‘Family Ties’ or guest starring in everything from ‘Desperate Housewives’ to ‘Arrested Development’. Turns out this familiar face also has a knack for filmmaking, as her feature film debut ‘Violet’ is released to the world. …
As In Heaven – Film Review | TIFF ’21
As a cis-gender male, I feel somewhat uncomfortable reviewing a film that so obviously deals with the plight of women. But to simply reduce Tea Lindeburg’s debut feature to a feminist pamflet would be doing it a grave disservice. Lise (Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl), a teenage girl growing up among her many siblings on a …
The Boy Behind the Door – Film Review | Shudder
Earlier this year I saw ‘The Djinn’ by directorial duo David Charbonier and Justin Powell. It was an effective and creepy horror tale (on the cheap) about a mute boy that ends up getting more than he bargained for, when he makes a wish he can’t take back. While it was definitely worth seeing, it …
Continue reading “The Boy Behind the Door – Film Review | Shudder”
Review – Mare of Easttown
Welcome to Easttown, Pennsylvania. A dreary excuse for a town and the epicenter of the world’s misery and heartache, if this limited series is to be believed. Detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) hasn’t had the best life. She’s divorced, lives with her bickering mother and teenage daughter, and is trying to raise her grandson after …
Review – The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
The Warren’s are back for a third installment of the paranormal success series. This time they’re doing it without James Wan at the helm, or an interesting story for that matter. When the exorcism of the young David (Julian Hilliard) goes wrong, an evil entity skips bodies and moves to Arne (Ruairi O’Connor), his sister’s …
Continue reading “Review – The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It”
Review – The Dry
The soil in this gripping Australian crime drama might be dry and barren, but it proves to be very fertile ground for tension and mystery in ‘The Dry’. Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) is a federal agent plagued by an unresolved trauma from his past. When one of his oldest friends is the culprit of a …
into:screens 