'Diablo' (2025) Movie Review

A team up between star Marko Zaror and director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza already has my attention. The duo is responsible for Redeemer, Fist of the Condor, Mandrill, and more face-kicking excellence, and Zaror is, for my money, the most unsung martial arts movie badass working today. One way to up the ante is to add Scott Adkins into the mix, like they do in their latest, Diablo, and hot damn. This was on my most-anticipated list for good reason, and it delivers the goods.

SIFF 2025: 'Know Her Name' Movie Review

All-too-often people seem to believe there were no, or at least vanishingly few female filmmakers throughout the history of the medium. If Zainab Muse’s Know Her Name has anything to do with it, that won’t last much longer. Her documentary dives into the deep, rich, and integral, not to mention frequently overlooked and undervalued role women have and continue to play in film history. 

SIFF 2025: 'She's The He' Capsule Review

To get close to a crush, seniors Alex (Nico Carney) and Ethan (Misha Osherovich) pretend to be trans, a dicey proposition for sure. Here’s the twist, for one of them, she’s never felt so comfortable, so herself. Realizing she is in fact trans, the movie follows the fallout from that revelation. 

SIFF 2025: 'Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass' Capsule Review

The Brothers Quay return with their first feature in 20 years, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass. The haunting stop-motion offering, based on the book of the same name by Polish writer Bruno Schulz, adapts the surreal, fantastic journey of a young man, who, having recently lost his father, travels by train to a mysterious sanatorium.

SIFF 2025: '40 Acres' Capsule Review

Music video and TV veteran R.T. Thorne directs his feature debut, 40 Acres. In the apocalyptic wake of a fungal pandemic, new civil war, and sweeping famine, a family, led by no-nonsense former soldier Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler), must protect their fortified farm from threats within and without. Including potential cannibal invasion. 

SIFF 2025: 'Chain Reactions' Capsule Review

Documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe has delved into Alien, the shower scene in Psycho, David Lynch, and more. In Chain Reactions, he focuses on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, this time via extended interviews with Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King, and Karyn Kusama. Each shares their interpretations and experiences with the iconic film, honing in on legacy and influence.

'Fight Or Flight' (2025) Movie Review

Fight or Flight, the feature debut from veteran second unit director James Madigan, falls into a category of action comedies populated by recent titles like Bullet Train, Love Hurts, Day Shift, Killer’s Game, and others, that juxtapose brutal violence with quips, winking jokes, and silliness of all stripes. Think the carnage of John Wick with goofy, almost campy comedy beats. It's messy, it’s all over the place, it’s a tonal mishmash, and there’s a chainsaw on an airplane for literally no reason other than it’s awesome (and it is), but it’s also a good amount of fun.