In The Queen of My Dreams, a queer Pakistani-Canadian woman and her once-outgoing mother find their way back to each other after a family tragedy gives them new, unconsidered insights.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Sing Sing Uses Theatre to Fight the Dehumanization of the US Prison System
In this drama, a group of incarcerated people in New York state’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility come together for a shared love of theatre. Doubts, fears, and the unjust prison system they’re in threaten to tear the theatre troupe apart as they prepare to put on their most audacious stage play.
VIZ Pubwatch: Lost June 2023 Edition
Ed Note: This piece was supposed to run in June, but your erstwhile editor missed it. So here it is a little late, my apologies. Happy Pride Month, VIZ fans! To celebrate, I bring you… the heterosexual Goodbye, Eri, a memoir manga by a nonbinary artist, and a manga about Spider-Man. That’s just the way it…
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Mountain Queen Challenges Gender Stereotypes on the Slopes
In Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, director Lucy Walker charts the incredible life story of the Nepalese mountain climber Lhakpa Sherpa and her lifelong love affair with Mount Everest.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Close To You Questions Why We Should Accept Bigotry Just Because It Comes From Family
Sam (Elliot Page) is returning home for the first time since transitioning in Close To You. His hopes and fears for his family reunion are both debunked and validated, especially when he meets his old school friend, Katherine (Hillary Baack).
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Woman of the Hour is a Chilling and Uncomfortable True Crime Story
Set in the 1970s, Woman of the Hour recounts the real story of how aspiring actress Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) and serial killer Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) met on the game show, ‘The Dating Game.’
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: The Premise of Mother, Couch Goes Nowhere
In Mother, Couch, a woman sits down on a couch and refuses to get up. Why this couch? Why this store? Why won’t she get up? It’s up to her three children to sort out, unless they want to buy the couch and carry her out.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: The Boy and the Heron Explores Grief and Displacement
A grieving boy finds himself on a wild adventure to save his stepmother in Hayao Miyazaki’s latest Studio Ghibli film, The Boy and the Heron. There was understandably a lot of hype around The Boy and the Heron at TIFF 2023 as this was supposedly the last Studio Ghibli film by Hayao Miyazaki. However, Miyazaki has since said that…
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: The Critic Tries to Do Too Much, and Focuses on Nothing
In The Critic, Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) is a cranky theatre critic whose career is at stake. Then he hits upon a brilliant but horrifying plan to secure his future, but only if he can get theatre actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) to help him.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Boil Alert Promises to Protect Indigenous Waters
On a mission to travel the ‘Red Road’ and reconnect with her Mohawk heritage through the power of water, activist Layla Staats investigates the Indigenous reservations in North American that have been under a ‘boil alert,’ boil-water advisories because the water is unsafe to drink.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Seagrass Explores Racial Dynamics at a Couples’ Retreat
In Seagrass, Judith (Ally Maki) and her husband Steve (Luke Roberts) try and save their marriage at an unconventional couples’ therapy retreat, but they may not like what they discover about their relationship.
Archie Comics Pubwatch: August 2023
Welcome to the Archie Comics Pubwatch for the month of August! I’m Lisa, reporting from a corner booth at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, and here’s this month’s news! In August’s Pubwatch, Darkling debuts, Riverdale reaches its conclusion, we’re introduced to The Archies, exclusive covers, and more!