August 13, 2025 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy First Showing (c) Netflix) SNAPSHOTThe adult animated comedy series created by writer Matt Roller will center on a single mother of two who struggles to run The Undervale, a hotel that just so happens to be haunted. Luckily, she has some help from her estranged brother… who is now Continue Reading

Tall Pines seems like a such a happy place … until it isn’t and it all goes Wayward (teaser trailer)

(courtesy First Showing) We think you’ll be very happy here.” 🚪 In the picture-perfect town of Tall Pines, sinister secrets lurk behind every closed door. Not long after police officer Alex Dempsey (Mae Martin) and his pregnant wife Laura (Sarah Gadon) move into their new home, he connects with two Continue Reading

Movie review: The Mountain (Fjallið)

(courtesy IMDb) What happens when you assemble all the tropes and cliches of a particular genre and a decent film forgets to turn up? You get Fjallið (The Mountain). An Icelandic film written and directed by Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir, Fjallið (The Mountain) looks for all the world like the sort of Continue Reading

Mixed bag of movie trailers: Dogs on the Sendero, Sketch + The Occupant

(via Shutterstock) Eclectism is the stuff of a rich and full life. Well, for this reviewer anyway; while I do have my favourite genres, I also loving mixing it up whenever I can with my movie consumption leaping from rom-coms to animation to serious drama to sci-fi, sometimes in the Continue Reading

The decline and the fall … Thoughts on Foundation S3 E1-3

(courtesy IMP Awards) The first two enthrallingly good seasons of Foundation, a lavish adaptation of Issac Asimov’s book series of the same overall name, were a portentous drumbeat march to the end of the world. Or in the case of this engrossingly intense story, the end of an empire which Continue Reading

Movie review: Long Good Thursday (Mielensäpahoittajan rakkaustarina)

(courtesy IMDb) The translation of this Finnish language’s original title, Mielensäpahoittajan rakkaustarina, literally translates, so say the good folks at Wikipedia, as The Grump’s Love Story. It’s a delightful grouping of words because it points to the central joy of this gorgeously delivered and emotionally nuanced film which is that Continue Reading

Big movie blockbuster double: Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash

(via Shutterstock) I love big epic movies! I also love small, highly emotional and deeply thoughtful indie films too because, well, they’re good for the soul, but there’s something about experiencing a big popular movie that everyone is watching at the same time that gives you a greater sense of Continue Reading

Book review: Happiness Forever by Adelaide Faith

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) By and large we flee from honest expression of heart, mind and soul like it’s the plague. Oh, we talk a big game about living authentic lives and place the idea of unfiltered, soul-freeing truthfulness up on a pedestal, but in practice, we go to Continue Reading

Christmas 2025 movie preview: The Baltimorons

(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTOn Christmas Eve, Cliff (starring Michael Strassner who also co-wrote the script), a newly sober improv comedian, cracks a tooth and lands in the emergency care of Didi (Liz Larsen), an older no-nonsense dentist. What begins as a routine check-up sparks an unpredictable evening of misadventures. Together, Continue Reading

A super low-key love story: Thoughts on Too Much

(courtesy IMP Awards) In the hands of most romantic comedies, love is a shiny, faultlessly perfect paragon of all that is good and lovely, and while there may be minor hiccups for anyone falling prey to its life-transformative charms, they are easily dispensed with via a peak hour rush to Continue Reading

Step into your future: Starfleet Academy teaser trailer drops at SDCC 2025

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe series is set in the 32nd century, the far-future of the Star Trek franchise where Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets are recovering from a cataclysmic event, as depicted in Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024). Starfleet Academy follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over Continue Reading