Fantasia 2025: 'Redux Redux' Movie Review

A woman stands in a desert in the darkening twilight, looming over a man, tied to a chair, burning to death at her feet. This is Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus). She’s travelling dimension to dimension, methodically killing every version of Neville (Jeremy Holm), the serial killer who murdered her daughter. It’s a hell of a first image to kick off Kevin and Matthew McManus’s (The Block Island Sound) indie sci-fi thriller Redux Redux.

'Osiris' (2025) Movie Review

Coming off back-to-back bangers Shrapnel and The Channel, William Kaufman is back with more of that sweet DTV tactical action that’s so popular amongst a certain segment of moviegoers. This time, however, he’s splashing around in the genre pool with Osiris. It’s not his first foray into genre, Daylight’s End has vampires, after all, but this one involves aliens and spaceships and all the associated sci-fi accoutrements.

'Daniela Forever' (2024) Movie Review

Not everything that looks perfect truly is. That’s the underlying conceit of Daniela Forever, the latest genre-bender from Nacho Vigalondo (Colossal, Timecrimes). Quirky and off-kilter, which is particularly on-brand for the Spanish writer/director, this romance smudges the lines between drama and sci-fi, blending earnest yearning and self-delusion into a careful-what-you-wish-for smoothie of memory, flawed recollections and conceptions of people, and the chaotic nature of dream logic.

'Alien: Romulus' (2024) Movie Review

If it looks like an Alien movie, walks like an Alien movie, and murders you in space with a giant armor-plated extraterrestrial killing machine, then it’s probably an Alien movie. And by god, Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus is an Alien movie. We’ve got xenomorphs, we’ve got face-huggers, there’s a chest-burster, corporate malfeasance, capitalistic overreach, acid blood, synthetics up to no good, and all the expected bells and baubles.

'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' (2024) Movie Review

“Do you have it in you to make it epic?” one character asks another near the end of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. In answer to his own question, George Miller casually strolls over, taps the mic, leans in, and responds, “Yes, yes I do.” The 79-year-old action maestro has once again stepped up to show the whippersnappers exactly how to do it. And it is good.

'I.S.S.' (2024) Movie Review

The hardest movies to write about are the ones that are fine, the ones that are just kind of okay. Where there’s nothing specifically wrong with them, where there aren’t glaring, slap-you-in-the-face flaws or problems, but also where there’s nothing particularly engaging, memorable, or otherwise noteworthy. And that is the exact place where director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s extraplanetary thriller I.S.S. lives. It has a strong cast doing solid work, seamless special effects, and a decent amount going for it. But the finished product is little more than a shrug and there’s not much to say beyond, “It’s fine.”

'Kids Vs. Aliens' (2023) Movie Review

All the important bits are right there in the name: Kids vs. Aliens. There are kids, there are aliens, and they fight. That’s the gist of director Jason Eisener’s first feature since 2011’s Hobo with a Shotgun. (If you haven’t checked out his excellent docuseries Dark Side of the Ring, do so, even if you’re not a wrestling fan.) Like his previous endeavor, though in decidedly less brutal fashion, what works best here is a total blast, but at times the thesis statement of the title wears a bit thin stretched out to 75 minutes. (And sans credits, it’s more like 68.)

Fantastic Fest 2022: 'The Antares Paradox' Movie Review

Is there intelligent alien life out there? It’s a question that’s dogged humanity since we first looked up at the stars. And it’s also the central question in the life of Alexandra Baeza (Andrea Trepat), the protagonist and central character of Luis Tinoco’s sci-fi thriller The Antares Paradox. But the film also digs into the personal costs of the protagonist’s singular fixation as she struggles to make an impossible choice between fulfilling her lifelong dream and confronting a brutal familial loss.

'Crimes Of The Future' Trailer: David Cronenberg Gets Back To His Body Horror Roots

Add the name Cronenberg to any movie and you have our undivided attention. Especially when it’s familial patriarch David Cronenberg. And especially especially when the film in question turns out to be a sci-fi-twinged body-horror romp. Such is the case with this first teaser trailer for his latest outing, Crimes of the Future. Check it out below, it has all the uncomfortable squeamishness one could hope for.

'Men' Trailer: Alex Garland's Latest Gets A Cryptic First Look And Torments Jessie Buckley

Alex Garland is one of those filmmakers who’s become a must-watch around these parts. His dreamy, weird, heady sci-fi stories are like freaking catnip. So, of course we’re excited for his latest, Men, and even though we don’t know much about it, this first teaser trailer offers a quick glimpse of just what we were looking for.

'Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes' Movie Review

When coffee shop owner/aspiring musician Kato (Kazunari Tosa) heads to his upstairs apartment after close, he’s shocked to get a message on the TV. From himself. From two minutes in the future. This kicks off director Junta Yamaguchi’s Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, a cascading series of sci-fi time travel antics with a crew of oddballs, like Megumi (Aki Asakura) and Ozawa (Yoshifumi Sakai), among others. They try to decipher the mystery, maybe get Kato a date, and quickly find themselves in way over their heads.

'The Matrix Resurrections' (2021) Movie Review

In 1999, the Wachowski’s rewrote the cinematic game plan with The Matrix. Big and brash, the influence on movies remains palpable and omnipresent today. The subsequent sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions, are overstuffed, messy, and divisive—and still awesome despite being way up their own asses. Now, almost 20 years after the fact, Lana Wachowski, operating solo at the helm for the first time, is back with the long-awaited The Matrix Resurrections. And the results are mixed. At times this is exciting and fresh; at others, it’s a painfully dreary rehash.

'The Book Of Boba Fett' Trailer: Star Wars Gives Everyone's Favorite Bounty Hunter His Own Series

Personally, I’ve never understood the broad fascination with Boba Fett in Star Wars fandom. He looks tough and was badass in limited screen time in Empire. I’ve always felt the sparse, looming presence and few words went a long way to create an air of mystery and a certain mystique, and aside from that I've never found his appearances elsewhere particularly interesting. But his “end” in Return of the Jedi is so bumbling and unceremonious it’s laughable. But people are obsessed with him, so what do I know? Anyway, now Lucasfilm is attempting to retcon the bounty hunter into a good guy (or good-ish guy) and here’s the first trailer for the upcoming Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett.

Fantasia Film Festival 2021: 11 Movies You Must See

With the proliferation of COVID-19 vaccines and at least some people caring enough about their fellow humans to take it, in-person events like film festivals have made a comeback. [Editor’s Note: Hopefully this holds, but it looks like we’re going backwards.] Not all, however. Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival is sticking to the virtual model for 2021. I usually cover the fest remote, so this isn’t much of a change from the norm for me. Regardless of the platform, the fest has yet again assembled an eclectic, weird-as-hell program, and we have some suggestions of things you might want to check out.

'Fried Barry' (2020) Movie Review

In the end, I’m not entirely sure what to make of South African oddity Fried Barry. Leaping boundaries of horror, science fiction, and gritty realism, among others, it’s certainly a wild, chaotic, immersive ride. And one I’m glad I had the opportunity to watch. I think. It’s the kind of cinematic madness that the Fantasia International Film Festival is tailor made for.

'Psycho Goreman' (2020) Movie Review

A title like Psycho Goreman is certainly an eye-catcher. Then there’s the optics of a seven-foot-tall ancient alien killing machine playing the most high stakes game of dodgeball you’ve ever seen with two young kids. It’s only the fate of the planet and probably the galaxy that hang in the balance, NBD. The finished product from writer/director Steven Kostanski (The Void) resembles a Troma movie, but a Troma movie with heart and soul that’s actually as fun as those movies want to be. 

'Max Cloud' (2020) Movie Review

When Max Cloud, AKA The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud, works, it’s a good amount of ridiculous, silly fun, with an intentionally absurd premise, and a solid cast fronted by DTV all-star Scott Adkins. The problem is there’s not much substance to the core idea and the entire thing runs out its course early on, spending any narrative steam in short order. This is a prime example of a concept that might make for a cool short film, but that doesn’t have enough substance for a feature. And the result is a movie that’s stretched and thin.

'Skylines' (2020) Movie Review

It happens often that a movie, usually a major studio production, aims to kick off a franchise, only for it to be a no-go. It also happens, in rarer occasions, that a movie aiming to kick off a theatrical franchise flops, but a franchise happens anyway, usually in the hallowed, at least around here, halls of DTV. Sometimes a series pops up where no one expected. 

'Exiled: The Chosen Ones' Trailer: Hannah Al-Rashid, Sunny Pang, And A Brutal Dystopian Game Show

A corrupt dystopian future, a world ravaged by a man-made virus, a popular game show where contestants fight to the death in an effort to cull the global population. Stop, Exiled: The Chosen Ones, I’m in. So very, very in. Check out this quick teaser trailer and you may well join me.

'Minor Premise' (2020) Movie Review

The easiest, most obvious comparison point for Eric Schultz’s Minor Premise is Shane Carruth’s Primer. Both deliver complex, intricate lo-fi science fiction that rely more on heady ideas and creativity than spectacle and budget. While the resemblance is there and there are definite similarities, this isn’t simply one filmmaker aping another. Shultz creates a tight, clever genre thriller that continually peels back layer after layer to reveal what lies beneath.