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Film, Theatre and Television Articles

all mostly written for commercial film criticism under the name 'Kahn Duncan'

This Is Film - Conversations in Film and Pop Cultu •

A supernova of expensive animation can’t stop 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' feeling lost in space | This Is Film

When The Super Mario Bros. Movie crossed $1.3 billion at the box office in 2023, it set a somewhat disappointing precedent for Illumination. The film’s success suggested that nostalgia, brand recognition, and a thin, surface-level script were enough to drive massive returns. By being essentially a handsomely made child-minder, it turned what felt like a flashy distraction for kids into a cultural juggernaut. Many audiences brushed off criticism with the familiar refrain that it was “just a Mario...
The Curb | Film and Culture •

Ryan Gosling charts new career territory in 2026’s most unlikely and endearing hit, Project Hail Mary

Who would have guessed that the first blockbuster hit of 2026, and Amazon MGM’s biggest debut yet, would be a story about a man and a rock-shaped alien? Despite remaining culturally dominant through the Spider-Verse films, this is Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s first live-action directed feature since 22 Jump Street. With dazzling visuals, a hopeful narrative, and a greatest-hits remix of sci-fi’s most beloved tropes; Project Hail Mary is a rousing reminder that teaching, learning, and share...
The Curb | Film and Culture •

Less hiding, more hunting - Samara Weaving returns in a gory, high-energy sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come | The Curb

Co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have stayed busy since Ready or Not, helming both Scream V and Scream VI, as well as the vampire comedy Abigail. It’s been seven years since Samara Weaving’s Grace lit a cigarette in the aftermath of watching her Satan-worshipping in-laws go up in flames.The premise was a killer hook: survive a deadly game of hide-and-seek on your wedding night to earn your place in an ultra-wealthy and ultra-cursed family. The film became an instant hit, prai...
Novastream •

Primate Review | An uneven chimp-carnage horror with aspirations of Donkey Kong–level fun | Novastream

Considering director Johannes Roberts’ previous effort was the thoroughly detestable film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, expectations for Primate were understandably low. While it offers a few dashes of tension, terror, and chimp-chilling horror, the film ultimately settles into a middling slasher, content to fluff around in tawdry B-movie thrills and questionable execution.
Novastream •

MIFF REVIEW: Kim A. Snyder’s powerful documentary 'The Librarians' chronicles America's fight against censorship | Novastream

The Librarians is a sobering and essential documentary detailing America’s accelerating descent into theocratic censorship. Director Kim A. Snyder follows several brave librarians in states like Texas and Florida, placing the necessary spotlight on a profession that shockingly has become dangerous – both legally and physically. Just five years ago, such a claim would have seemed al...
The Curb | Film and Culture •

MIFF Review: Michel Gondry’s whimsical stop-motion adventure Maya, Give Me a Title is a labour of paternal love - The Curb | Film and Culture

Maya, Give Me a Title (Maya, Donne-moi un Titre) is a sweet and imaginative film about the intersection of art and parenthood. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry combines a simple animated style with masterful stop-motion technique to create an hour-long compilation of short films—all inspired by titles creatively provided by his young daughter, Maya.
The Curb | Film and Culture •

MIFF Review: Exit 8 loops its protagonist—and its audience—in a psychologically draining descent - The Curb | Film and Culture

Exit 8 is an inventive and repetitive exercise in expanding what was once a simple video game into a character-driven psychological horror. Based on the 2023 adventure game The Exit 8 by developer Kotake Create, director Genki Kawamura transforms what is essentially a glorified spot-the-difference simulator into an anxiety-fuelled time loop exploring isolation, emotional paralysis, and the fear of fatherhood.
This Is Film - Conversations in Film and Pop Cultu •

Elio (2025) | Film Review | This Is Film | Pixar returns with a reminder that friendship and community can extend beyond the galaxy

Elio is a delightful family adventure that channels the cosmic possibilities of the universe into a story of hope, empathy, and connection. The film follows eleven-year-old Elio (Yonas Kibreab), a lonely and displaced boy who dreams of being abducted by aliens and finding a new home at the behest of his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), a U.S Air Force Major...
The Curb | Film and Culture •

Ryan Coogler's Sinners mixes Blues, vampires and gangsters: birthing a transcendent masterpiece - The Curb | Film and Culture

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a Southern Gothic fable that combines music, history, religion, and horror: building into an imaginative, cinematic eruption. Set in 1932 in rural Mississippi, the film follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) who return to their home of Clarksdale to establish a Juke Joint for the local Black community. Little do they know sinister forces are gathering...
The Curb | Film and Culture •

The Accountant 2 improves on the original, but Ben Affleck's ledger still needs balancing - The Curb | Film and Culture

The Accountant 2 is a mishmash of tone that has surplus of entertaining laughs but a deficit of consistency and genre coherence. The action thriller is a direct sequel to 2016’s The Accountant, in which Ben Affleck’s Christian Wolff must team up with his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) to help treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) solve the murder of someone close to her...
Novastream •

Death of A Unicorn Review - a satirical unicorn frenzy whose horns needed sharpening | Novastream

Death of a Unicorn suffers from ‘eat the rich’ fatigue, an increasing malaise present in the popular genre of class war satire, where bluntness and broadness replace originality and bite. Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega fail to anchor a horror-comedy send-up of big pharma in which unicorns become more than the stuff of fantasy—they become a Jurassic Park resource for the rich...
This Is Film - Conversations in Film and Pop Cultu •

Snow White (2025) | Film Review | This Is Film | a newly revised Princess of the People fails to rejuvenate Disney's waning kingdom

Disney’s Snow White is the equivalent of watching a focus group argue over a doomed rebranding – no one is happy, but everyone agrees it doesn’t work. Despite Rachel Zegler’s substantial vocal performance, Snow White’s quest to reclaim her kingdom from Gal Gadot’s woefully performed Evil Queen does little more than babysit children in a dark room for 109 minutes. It’s a floury apple that, once bitten into, is ripe only for disappointment.
The Curb | Film and Culture •

Black Bag is a slick, flirtatiously entertaining chamber piece - The Curb | Film and Culture

With 'Black Bag', Steven Soderbergh is giving Ridley Scott a run for his money by showing how quickly a big-named director can whip up a consistent number of movies in a short space of time. After the intriguing experiment that was the supernatural drama Presence, a film only released two months ago thanks to distribution issues, Soderbergh and his collaborator, writer David Koepp have followed up with a stylish, stripped-back spy drama.
Novastream •

Eat The Night Review - a bleak, tragic French thriller seeking human connection through the virtual and the real | Novastream

Eat The Night is a sombre yet propulsive look at conflict, connection, and love through the intersection of the real and virtual worlds. Co-directors Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel’s second feature juxtaposes a small-time turf war turned queer love story against two siblings who share an obsession with an online video game known as ‘Darknoon’....
This Is Film - Conversations in Film and Pop Cultu •

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy | Film Review | This Is Film - Bridget’s final diary entry is witty, charming and unexpectedly moving

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is a surprisingly earnest coda that adds a charming and moving final page into Bridget’s unexpectedly long diary. Based once again on Helen Fielding’s novels about everyone’s favourite ‘hapless, romcom heroine’, the fourth entry in the now-decades-old series finds Bridget balancing motherhood, friendship, grief, guilt, and, of course, two doting love interests.
Novastream •

'Magic Beach' is a well-intentioned experiment that stays playing in the shallows | Novastream

Magic Beach is an animated portmanteau film that plays in the shallows but struggles to venture out to sea. Based on the beloved picture book of the same name by Alison Lester, the film blends live-action and an array of animated stories to present a magical beach that can bring various children’s dreams to life. Robert Connolly, whose personal friendship with Lester inspired him to oversee the production, creates a well-intentioned experiment that reminds children of their capacity to imagine....
The Curb | •

Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man underwhelmingly howls through a tired reimagining - The Curb | Film and Culture

Wolf Man is a disappointing reboot of the 1941 lycanthrope horror The Wolfman starring Lon Chaney Jr, struggling to build momentum despite a promising prologue. After an estranged father leaves his Oregon farm to his son, family man Blake (Christopher Abbott) relocates his fractured family, only to find he must contend with a supernatural force threatening all he holds dear.
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