In The Seats with...

Comedy has to be natural....

On this episode we mine some awkward but genuine laughs out of a situation that we can all relate to.  It's time for 'Bad Shabbos'.

There's an understated level of comedic procesion in 'Bad Shabbos' that is hard to ignore as the comedy always feels earned and genuine with the likes of David Paymer, Kyra Sedgwick and believe it or not Method Man stealing the entire show.  It's not a telegraphed or overt funny, it's a smart and honest kind fun which feels like it is pulled directly from the veins of the New York comedy gods that came before this story.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with co-writer/director Daniel Robbins to talk about the origins of the story, why comedy seems to be working for him at this stage of his career and why it's always harder then people think it is.

'Bad Shabbos' is in select theatres now.

Those things in life, we don't understand but accept anyway....make it all worth living anyway...

On this special episode we dive into a terrifying new doc coming to TVO.  It's time for 'Dangerous Games: Roblox and the Metaverse Exposed'.

From Canada's own Ann Shin;  'Dangerous Games: Roblox and the Metaverse Exposed' is quite frankly terrifying.   The film investigates, via three young women who are passionate gamers, how platforms designed for fun, education and connection - like Roblox and Minecraft -  have become unregulated spaces that can be exploited by predators, extremists and hate groups. It also explores how the metaverse is evolving faster than laws and safety measures can keep up, and tech companies that often prioritize profit and engagement over child protection 

As a filmmaker, Ann Shin has this unique ability to make us hyper aware of things and advancements in our lives that we need to pay attention....before we even realize that we should be paying attention to wild west that is the Metaverse.  

We had the pleasure of sitting down with director Ann Shin, Metaverse activist Alex to talk about everything that goes on in this film and the realities of the metaverse that we'd better not forget any time soon.

'Dangerous Games: Roblox and the Metaverse Exposed' debuts on TVO this Sunday and then on the TVO Docs YouTube channel as well as at TVO.org.

Adapting to a new life is never easy....

On this very special episode we dive into the brand new Canadian/Korean Drama that is on VOD platforms this Friday May 23rd but is also having a one off screening this coming Friday May 31st at the Paradise Theatre here in Toronto.  It's time for 'Mongrels'.

The film takes us back to 1991 as a Korean family which consists of a grief stricken father, a sensitive teenage son who are all looking for their emotional footing as the process the grief of their past which cause them to move to Canada.

This feature debut from writer/director Jerome Yoo has nuance beyond it's years as it allows us to engage with this story on a genuine and truly humanistic level which only helps the emotion come through as some great performances and evocative use of the BC wilderness make this genuinely hard to look away from.

We talked with Jerome about the origins of the story, finding a way to let the emotional beats to play out in a fashion that feels so genuine and is rarely achieved by first time feature filmmakers and so very much more.

'Mongrels' is on VOD platforms on May 23rd and is playing at the Paradise Theatre in downtown Toronto this coming May 31st

You never know what's going to drive you to the brink....

On this episode we dive into the complex areas of obsession and even Men's mental health with 'Sharp Corner'.

Josh (Ben Foster) is increasingly consumed by the fatal car crashes in front of his house. As Josh’s obsession takes hold, he begins to spiral, placing his wife and son in jeopardy and setting in motion a series of events that threaten to permanently break the family apart.

'Sharp Corner' is a shocking reminder of the psychological labyrinth's that are around all of our corners each and every day.  Co-Writer/Director Jason Buxton manages to take us into an emotional maelstrom that quietly and rather powerfully walks us to the edge of a life on the brink of falling apart.

Buxton and his team crafted a truly fantastic set piece and we had the please of sitting down with him before the release to talk about the origins of the story, getting his ensemble on the same page and so very much more....

Doing the right thing is never as easy as it seems.

As we pick up the pieces of the latest installment of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival we're still coming to grips with the myriad of wonderful films that we got to take in at the festival.  One in particular had it's world premiere.

'Betrayal' is the story of Cindor Reeves whose sister married Charles Taylor; a young idealistic rebel whose methods quickly elevated himself to be the authoritarian leader of Liberia who would commit war atrocities and crimes under his watch.  Reeves initially supported Taylor but as time quick passed his well defined sense would lead him to be a whistleblower, essentially against his own family.  

At great risk to his family and friends he did the right thing and got Taylor imprisoned for War Crimes.  Now years later Reeves reflects on his life and what the true cost of doing the right thing actually was as 'Betrayal' truly gives a human face and a human cost on doing what is morally right...

We had the pleasure of sitting down with director Lena Macdonald to talk about the film, how she had heard about this story and the not only insidious but true nature of it all as it unfolded in front of her....

Well somebody has to have it....

On this episode we dive head first into a fascinating 15 part doc series all the episodes which are now available on Substack.  It's "First Word on Horror'.

First Word on Horror is a fifteen-part documentary series that profiles five of the finest horror writers working today. 
 
Across multiple episodes, each author discusses their life, their inspirations, their philosophies, and their writing techniques while reading one of their short stories. As fact and fiction blend, secrets are revealed and the delicate alchemy that turns human experience into creative expression begins to emerge. 
 
The series is a love letter to writers of all ilk, to the primacy of the human experience, and to the simple act of reading a damned good story. 
 
The authors profiled are New York Times bestsellers, multi-award winners, and cult favorites. In this first season, they are Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez. 
 
Through the authors’ lives the series takes viewers from a harrowing Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska to the lurking terror of growing up under the Argentinian dictatorship; from the unbridled energy of the early DC punk scene to an ill-fated hunting expedition on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana. 
 
We talked with director and creator of the series Philip Gelatt about the genesis of this project and so very much more... 

It's truly amazing to run into a story that you can't believe actually hasn't been told yet....

On this special episode we sit down with the writer/director team of Austin Andrews and Andrew Holmes to talk about their new film; 'The Island Between Tides'.

Northern BC, 1982. Six-year-old Lily vanishes. For two days and nights, no one can find the cheery girl who'd strayed onto a remote tidal island. Until she's found at the exact spot she was last seen with no memory of being away. Unharmed but not unaltered.  The changes start gradually. Lily develops prodigious musical abilities, sensing the world through a mysterious
melody only she can hear. But she can't shake her obsession with this island she can't remember, and that her family won't discuss. At 20, the melody leads her back to it, and when she disappears again, this time it's for good. Or so everyone believed. Decades later, Lily reappears. But, impossibly, she looks just as she did the day she vanished. To her, no time passed at all. Still a young woman, the rest of the world has aged around her, her family now whittled down to her elderly father, middle- aged sister, and the troubled son she'd left as an infant. Her assimilation isn't easy, testing even the strongest family's bond. Because this time, Lily didn't come back alone.

Wildly considered to be the lost J.M. Barrie story and one that Alfred Hitchcock desperately tried to adapt for the big screen, The Island Between Tides is the kind of genre cinema that evokes memories of films like The Innocents and even Hitchcock's Rebecca (not the crappy Netflix version).

We talked with Andrews and Holmes about the making of the film, the revelatory casting of Paloma Kwiatkowski in a leading performance that has the potential to be an absolute breakout turn, the visual esthetic of the film and the importance of Fried Chicken in the creative process along with so very much more....

Get your elbows up, it's time to support our national arts...

On this special episode we are celebrating the shared pleasure and experience of watching a movie in theatre, which just feels appropriate because it is National Canadian Film Day.

We sat down with Eric Tisch, one of hard working team over at National Canadian Film Day who put on a myriad of events all across the country about what he did last year during the Toronto International Film Festival.

To put it simply, he broke the Guinness World Record for the amount of feature films seen during a film festival.  It was ALOT....and yes many of them were Canadian.

We talked about the birth of the idea of this daunting task, the team work involved in getting it done and the magic of being able to watch movies the way they really should be seen....together.

Truth is always stranger then fiction...

On this special episode we dive into a movie that after a successful festival run, including here at TIFF has finally made it's way back to theatres.  It's time for 'The Luckiest Man In America'

May 1984. An unemployed ice cream truck driver steps onto the game show Press Your Luck harboring a secret: the key to endless money. But his winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives uncover his real motivations.

We got to talk with co-writer/director Samir Oliveros back at TIFF before the movie had even sold and I got to ask him about this next level star making turn he got out of Paul Walter Hauser, the genuine batshit nature of the story and so very much more.

The Luckiest Man In America  is in theatres now.

It's so easy for things to get so complicated...

On this special episode, friend of the show writer/director Jaime Kastner returns with 'The Spoils'.

Amid the rise of the far-right in Germany, as the spoils of post-WW2 collections hit the world art market afresh, lawyers, curators, politicians, and Jewish groups the world round are duking it out, painting by painting, sketch by sketch, over questions of ownership, history, and morality.

A series of failed attempts by the city of Düsseldorf to honour German-Jewish art dealer Max Stern, who barely escaped the war, settled in Montreal and became Canada’s most successful art dealer, cuts to the heart of the current crisis in Germany and the art world beyond around the restitution of Nazi-looted art.

Through a combination of exclusive interviews, actuality captured over a four-year period, and a gold-mine of rarely seen
stock footage, The Spoils traces the be times tragic, often irony-laced strokes in this ongoing battle.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Jamie to talk about how he discovered this story, the realities of the war in Germany and it's subsequent aftermaths that are still taking place on many different levels.

It's kicking off it's theatrical run across Canada and all the details are below so you can check out this truly thought provoking and conversation starting film.  Because it's not a story of answers, yet it's one that reminds us how we have to keep asking questions....

Toronto

Montreal

• Cinema du Musee - April 6th (Q&A at 5PM with Jamie and Clarence moderated by Stéphane), April 8th (12PM), April 10th (12:45PM) 

Ottawa

• ByTowne Cinema - April 7th (Q&A at 6:30pm)

Waterloo

• Princess Twin - April 23rd (Q&A time TBC)

Hamilton

• Playhouse Cinema - April 26th (Q&A time TBC)

Edmonton

• Metro - April 27th (Q&A at 12:30pm)

Vancouver

•  The Rio - May 3rd (Q&A, time TBC)