Kinda hard to notice, but Joseph Kahn's ICK quietly slipped onto digital in Canada yesterday, and while it's my least favourite of his chaotic flicks, it has some good moments throughout.

Opening in Toronto this weekend at the Carlton is the well intentioned drama CALORIE, which comes from the heart, but is too stilted and stagey to fully work.

ZOOTOPIA 2: a sequel that's on par with the original. A good time. Opens everywhere tomorrow.

Here's a conversation I had with filmmaker Tasha Hubbard and actor Michael Greyeyes about the drama MEADOWLARKS, which hits Canadian cinemas this weekend.

Had a great talk with journalist and author @hertzbarry.bsky.social about his deep dive into the Fast and Furious franchise, WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, which hits all fine booksellers this week.

Had a lovely chat with Edgar Wright about THE RUNNING MAN. Talked about soundtrack choices, action cinema techniques, revisiting Stephen King's source material, and assembling an ensemble cast.

Not sorry in the slightest for enjoying the hell out of NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T, a franchise that holds the kind of joy for me that I think others get from the Fast and the Furious movies. In theatres tomorrow.

Here's a look at the disappointing, but laid back documentary BEING EDDIE, which hits Netflix today and won't tell you anything you don't already know about Eddie Murphy.

I watched PLAYDATE, a movie so awful that it can fuck right off into the goddamned sun.

Had a great chat with the very charming and warm hearted Lee Pace about his role as a masked network assassin in Edgar Wright's upcoming adaptation of THE RUNNING MAN.

Surprised at how much I ended up liking NUREMBERG (in theatres today), which takes a look at several individual perspectives on the titular trials and not a sprawling, overstuffed history lesson.

I really wanted to like PREDATOR: BADLANDS as much as a lot of y'all do, but this feels less like a Predator film and more like an uninspired attempt to cast the character as a Manadlorian clone in a rehash of Prey. Opens everywhere today.

CHRISTY has great leading performances from Sydney Sweeney and Ben Foster, but the biopic beats are so strong and predictable that it makes the movie as a whole a bit of a repetitive slog. In theatres today.

Also opening in Toronto and other Canadian cities this weekend is the hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt Australian animated comedy LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS, which is one of the most delightful surprises I've seen all year.

The musically minded historical drama KÖLN 75 can't figure out what story it wants to tell and falls apart just as it should be getting around to its point. In select Canadian theatres starting today.

Much to my own surprise, I quite liked SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE, which keeps the biopic cliches to a tasteful minimum and goes to some believably dark places.

On Yorgos Lanthimos' suitably bleak, sometimes funny, and successful (?) dark comedy/thriller BUGONIA, which opens in limited release tomorrow and everywhere else next Friday.

I've seen the first five episodes of IT: WELCOME TO DERRY (premiering on Crave and HBO Sunday night at 9pm), and while the first two are good, the third is AWFUL, and then the last two are okay but overburdened by exposition. It's trying VERY hard to be Stranger Things.

The second season of NOBODY WANTS THIS drops on Netflix today, and it's just as delightfully funny (albeit not as romantic) as the first instalment.

I also have a talk with Alex Ross Perry about working in a video store and his essay film VIDEOHEAVEN, which screens at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto this Thursday. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZVy...

Here's a chat I had with film critic, content creator, and director CHRIS STUCKMANN about his big screen horror thriller SHELBY OAKS, in theatres in this weekend.

WHO KILLED THE MONTREAL EXPOS?, asks a new Netflix documentary that dropped earlier this week. The answer: a lot of people, but certainly not the fans, players, and coaches. Definitely worth a watch this World Series season.

Want to have some fun this weekend watching some big meaty men slapping, slicing, and stabbing meat? The charming and silly remake of DEATHSTALKER has you covered. Now playing in select cities.

JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME is a nice look at someone who by all accounts included here was a nice man. A nice movie for not so nice times. Nice. On Prime Video today.

Here's a look at the decent erotic horror thriller BONE LAKE, which opened this weekend. If your choice this weekend is between this and the new Strangers movie, dear god see this instead.

One of the most devastating and fascinatingly complex documentaries of the year - David Osit's PREDATORS - opens at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto today. An incisive, gutting look at the good and bad true crime television can bring.

The horror movie GOOD BOY is okay overall, but the lead performance from Indy the dog and the technique that went into it make it something special. In theatres today.

ANEMONE is as well acted as one might expect from co-writer Daniel Day-Lewis' return to acting. Problem is, the movie itself is pretty hokey, obvious, and threadbare.

Dwayne Johnson is as good as advertised in THE SMASHING MACHINE, and Benny Safdie directs the hell out of what's an otherwise pretty normal sports movie. In theatres tomorrow.

CHAD POWERS (now streaming its first 2 episodes on Disney+ in Canada/Hulu in the US with new instalments every Tuesday) is an incomplete pass of a sports farce.

Also, here's a semi-belated look at THE LOST BUS, in theatres now and on Apple TV+ this Friday, featuring Paul Greengrass at his Greengrassiest and Matthew McConaughey at his McConaugheyiest.

Been thinking a lot about Mae Martin's entrancing, creepy, and often funny thriller WAYWARD since I saw it before TIFF. Now that it's out in the open and available on Netflix, here are some thoughts.

Very impressed with Carmen Emmi's first feature PLAINCLOTHES, which opens in select cities tomorrow; a great blend of queer romance, suspense, and psychological drama.

June Squibb is outstanding in Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut ELEANOR THE GREAT (in theatres tomorrow). The movie itself, though, is just okay.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: a banger in terms of action, comedy, suspense, and just being the perfect movie at the perfect time. One of Anderson's best, and weirdly one I think has already been undervalued(?)

In case you missed it at TIFF, the raw, poignant, and tragic documentary PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK screens again at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival this Saturday (before its theatrical rollout later in the year).

Fine. Here. Not a bad one in the bunch.

If an Elmore Leonard styled throwback with Ethan Hawke getting beaten up multiple times an episode sounds like your jam, might I suggest THE LOWDOWN, airing on FX Tuesday nights and on Disney+ (Canada) and Hulu (U.S.) the following day. It's a lot of fun.

I actually really enjoyed the earnest, "big theatre kid energy" of Kogonada's go-for-broke romance A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY, the most endearingly dorky movie of the year.

While SWIPED (on Disney+ in Canada and Hulu in the US tomorrow) tries at times to expose sexist, toxic workplace culture in the tech industry, it's also a shapeless, slapped together mess.

If you enjoyed the recent likes of NYC thrillers Highest 2 Lowest or Caught Stealing, consider paying the long unavailable 1980 thriller NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER a visit. It's now available on 4K and Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and screens at The Revue in Toronto on Friday night.

I guess it's TIFFy time! Here are links to a whole bunch of reviews...

Had a surprising amount of fun with Darren Aronofsky's still kinda bleak, but thrilling and funny lark CAUGHT STEALING, in theatres tomorrow.

The new version of THE TOXIC AVENGER (in theatres tomorrow) is just kinda okay and underwhelming, but definitely not awful.

If you want to see a prime Siskel & Ebert argument, the FULL METAL JACKET episode gets so heated that it ends with Roger yelling, "You should be ashamed of yourself!" at Gene.

Now for a look at one of the most head-scratching debacles of the year, THE ROSES, a film that has the talents of Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as a warring couple and still really sucks. In theatres this weekend.

Here's the requisite list of ten movies I'm most looking forward to at TIFF this year. (Mostly sticking with things I won't be seeing in advance of the festival. And yes, this list could've easily been more than ten.) #TIFF50

Here's a look back at Zeinabu Irene Davis' groundbreaking drama COMPENSATION, which hits Blu-Ray from The Criterion Collection this week.

If you have to watch a new release this weekend, stay home and watch the well executed action comedy EENIE MEANIE, on Disney+ in Canada and Hulu in the US today. A solid addition to the canon of films about getaway drivers.

HONEY DON'T! has a title that serves as an unironic warning for anyone considering watching it. In theatres tomorrow.