Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Backstage Madness — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review

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Backstage Madness is screening as part of the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival

Backstage Madness, a film from Kyrgyzstan from director Amanbek Azhymat, opens with a frenetic, violent sequence fueled by its central character’s inner rage. The character in question, an unnamed screenwriter (Bolot Tileberdiev) typing away at his office typewriter, first appears to be writing a script commissioned by an overtly creepy young man looking to live out his fantasies of non-consensual sex on-screen. The screenwriter loses his cool with the festering creep when the young man starts describing his real-life sex crimes. The scene shifts in tone at least three times as the humor sours into a disgust which begets on-screen violence (which, frankly, evoked some confusion in this dear viewer). It is evident that this all takes place in the imagination of the writer, who culminates the sequence gunning down a crowd of angry people (in his mind, of course).

There is perhaps a meta-textual commentary to this opening sequence, given that the plot immediately turns to focus on Continue reading Backstage Madness — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

After School (Straf) — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review

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After School is screening as part of the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

“We’re men, but we also have a little boy inside of us … a little baby inside.”

After School is something of a comedy of errors, in which the prime error is leaning into all the wrong ideas about masculinity. It is not a satire, per se, but its characters present as exaggerated versions of what the “manosphere’ produces and invites. Edwin (Rutger de Bekker) is a schoolteacher who has no control over his classroom. This is a metaphor for his life in general. His coworkers mostly step over him. His wife left him for a shaman peddling hallucinatory drugs. His daughter is embarrassed of him. His students have made him an internet lolcow, posting classroom pranks to the point where his viral status causes him to lose a promotion. He is the perfect candidate for a midlife identity crisis.

When alcohol, boxing, and male camaraderie combine, Edwin is inspired to stand up for himself in the classroom. The next time his students prank him Continue reading After School (Straf) — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

You Are the Film — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review

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You Are the Film is screening as part of the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Madoka (Marika Ito) is going to see a film. It is not a popular title, and it is playing at a tiny theater attended by no one but herself. But it is a film shot locally, so she decides to give it a try. In the film, Kazuma (Kai Inowaki) is going to see a film. What he sees on that cinema screen is Madoka. Madoka is a playwright for a small theatre troupe, Kazuma is the frontman of a fledgling rock band that’s going nowhere. Their lives not only share similarities, but they are seemingly operating in direct parallel—a parallel they are able to physically see through the apparatus of the cinema screen. They see each other through the screen and can communicate to one another, and both want the other to leave the theater so something interesting can happen in their respective film.

Madoka, upset to hear from the synopsis of the “film” in which she is starring that some of her actors want to drop out of her new production, is the first to leave the auditorium. Kazuma watches as, Continue reading You Are the Film — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Dance Freak — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review

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Dance Freak is screening as part of the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Obie (Robbie Rackleff) wants to build a birdhouse in his birdhouse-building class. Obie’s girlfriend Dorty (Megan Koester), who’s a popular candidate in the mayoral race, just dumped him. The Salad Boys (Allen Cordell, Adam Enders, Sarah Sherman) recently force-fed Obie a concerning amount of salad. Obie has been told that a man dancing freakily out in the parking lot—a Dance Freak, if you will—has made himself “available” to Obie. Obie is being investigated for murder.

Thus is Dance Freak, the debut feature film from Alan Resnick and Robbie Rackleff. It is a surrealist comedy with horrific undertones, although these descriptors do little to describe the feeling and atmosphere of the film.

Rackleff (who also writes and stars) and Resnick were previously members of the Baltimore-based arts collective known as Wham City. Resnick is perhaps best known for Continue reading Dance Freak — Fantasia Festival 2026 Movie Review →

Lists

Fantasia International Film Festival 2026 — Lineup Preview


It is July, and that means it is time for the Fantasia International Film Festival. It’s one of my favorite film events to cover, as it always introduces me to new faces in the world of speculative genres. This year’s Fantasia has films from some big names—Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse), and Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) among them. Today, I want to dig a bit deeper into the program, including some names that I am pleasantly surprised to see. Here are five films that might be worth putting on your radar.

The 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival runs from Thursday, July 16 to Sunday, August 2 in Montreal.

Blaise (Dimitri Planchon, Jean-Paul Guigue)

There is something about the flat, slightly off-putting art style of Blaise, which premiered in the ACID sidebar at Cannes, that has Continue reading Fantasia International Film Festival 2026 — Lineup Preview →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Faces of Death (2026) Movie Review

Have you watched Faces of Death, the cult VHS tape from the late-1970s that purported to show real-life deaths?

This is what I want to ask all of gen Z. I imagine my follow-up question would inevitably be: Have you heard of Faces of Death? We surveyed 100 people, and the top answer on the board is:”Huh?” Survey says, at number two, “I guess, kinda.”

The notion of invoking the IP of Faces of Death in the 2020s immediately intrigued and confused me (I say “invoke,” because this isn’t a remake). As a millennial, the tape existed for me only ever as a curious object from the past, not a scandalous object but a thing to check off the “what’s the most fucked up movie I can watch in my teens” list. Trying to reinvigorate the mythic, video nasty allure of it for the internet generation feels odd, because Faces of Death (1978) feels tame by today’s standards of exposure to violence.

Luckily, this is the exact angle that director Daniel Goldhaber and his scripting collaborator Isa Mazzei take when re-contextualizing the film for the present day. In the world of Faces of Death (2026), Continue reading Faces of Death (2026) Movie Review →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Original Song, Original Score, Sound (Part 7)

We have reached the conclusion. I couldn’t do it in one, but we got there in seven. Good enough. And we conclude with everyone’s favorite Oscar category…Best Sound. Nothing like them talkies. Alright, enough of this small talk. Come on in and take a seat, it’ll be brief.

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical. I’ve never seen anything quite like Part 4. Part 5 will open your third eye and show you a wondrous universe of the mind unlike any you’ve ever imagined. Actually, Part 6 is too much…its awesome power may be too much to behold, so just forget that one.

Best Original Song

This is another locked up category for KPop Demon Hunters. There isn’t anything Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Original Song, Original Score, Sound (Part 7) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Live Action, Documentary, and Animated Short (Part 6)

Part 6. I’m almost out of this numeric hellscape. So many numbers…all I see is numbers…I can’t even remember how I started down this path. Let us count the ways, but how? All I can think is “six.” Has it always just been 6?

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical. I’ve never seen anything quite like Part 4. Part 5 will open your third eye and show you a wondrous universe of the mind unlike any you’ve ever imagined.

Best Animated Short Film

There is one animated short that I have not been able to locate (most of the others are available on YouTube), so of course that will be the one that wins. The Three Sisters—look out for it. Of the four I have seen, this race could go a number of ways. I don’t think Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Live Action, Documentary, and Animated Short (Part 6) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Documentary, Animated Feature, International Film (Part 5)

What can one say about Part 5? I’m being non-rhetorical…I’m running out of numerical-based banter. We’re still doing Oscars predictions.

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical. I’ve never seen anything quite like Part 4.

Best Documentary Feature

I honestly don’t get the The Perfect Neighbor buzz, but it has won all over the place in doc categories. It is far and away Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Documentary, Animated Feature, International Film (Part 5) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup (Part 4)

Academy Awards predictions. Part 4. Trust me when I say that these are the most important predictions for your Oscar ballot. You will lose your office pool if you don’t pay careful attention to the next few paragraphs. They will seriously up your game.

Nah, I’m just kidding. This is mostly just a prolonged conversation about Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein. Enjoy. (Or don’t. It’s up to you.)

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical.

Best Costume Design

Frankenstein is the heavy favorite in this category, and for good reason. It has a type of period costuming that the Academy adores. And, frankly, Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup (Part 4) →

One man. Thousands of movies.