Richard Crouse

FRANKENSTEIN: Bold, bombastic and beautiful, Guillermo del Toro‘s “Frankenstein” is an emotionally charged story of fathers and sons, of beauty and beasts and literary romanticism. It looks like a Gothic horror movie but can’t rightly be called a horror film. The creature (Jacob Elordi) has always been a sympathetic character, but del Toro humanizes him in a way unlike any other portrayal. The hulking creature is seemingly indestructible physically, but emotionally he’s a soulful character in search of family and love. The horror of the story comes from the abuses foisted upon the creature by Victor, played by Oscar Isaac, his creator, but certainly not his protector. “If you will not reward me with love,” the creature says to Victor, “I will indulge in rage.” Del Toro loves monsters and that affection is infused in every frame of the film as his creature explores what it means to be human.

TUNER: Niki, a piano tuner with perfect pitch and very sensitive hearing, played by Leo Woodall, discovers his talents are good for more than just tuning pianos when his mentor Harry (Dustin Hoffman) gets hit with massive medical bills. What begins as a surrogate father and son story becomes a crime drama as Niki uses his extraordinary hearing to crack safes. Academy Award winner Daniel Roher‘s narrative filmmaking debut is a character driven piece centered around a star-making performance from Woodall. He’s all understated charm as Niki, but this isn’t simply a story of a good guy who gets in over his head. Roher, who also wrote the script with Robert Ramsey crafts a finely tuned tale of the pursuit of perfection, loyalty and conquering life’s limitations.

& SONS: An uncompromising, but often very funny, family drama, “& Sons” is anchored by an inhibition free performance from Bill Nighy as an ageing literary superstar who drops a bomb of a family secret that literally blows up his family. No spoilers here, but it is a testament to the clever writing, and powerful performances from Johnny Flynn, George MacKay, Noah Jupe and Imelda Staunton that and sons doesn’t get lost in the absurdity of its central premise. (NO SPOILERS HERE) A story of regret, legacy and the worst dad since Darth Vader, is a nuanced look at intergenerational pain and the difficulty of healing old wounds.

LITTLE LORRAINE: Based on true events from the 1980s involving a cocaine smuggling ring in a small Nova Scotia town, “Little Lorraine” places a gritty crime story against Cape Breton’s economic struggles post-coal mining to create a story that authentically portrays the moral dilemmas of the lengths desperate people will go to in order to provide for their families. A standout performance from Stephen McHattie as a rugged crime boss brings an escalating sense of danger to the rugged beauty of the surroundings.

THE LOST BUS: The old saying that something “spread like wildfire” is brought to literal life by director Paul Greengrass and stars Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera. Shot cinema verité style, “The Lost Bus’s” story of heroism amid the burning inferno of the 2018 California Camp Fire is an intense, you-are-there experience. Greengrass’s restless camera is in constant motion as he captures the action, but this isn’t an action film. Instead, it’s a horror film with the relentless fire as the monster. Driven by the intensity of the images, the movie loses marks for tin eared dialogue and underdeveloped characters. Made for Apple TV+, this will get a short run in theatres before moving to streaming, but it was definitely made with the big screen in mind.

JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME: Martin Short told “John Candy: I Like Me” documentary producer Ryan Reynolds and director Colin Hanks, they would not be able to find anyone with anything bad to say about John Candy. Short was right. Everyone in the doc speaks glowingly of Candy, his generosity of spirit and luminous talent, but this isn’t a straight up hagiography. Those nearest and dearest to the late comic actor, like his children Jennifer and Chris, widow Rose, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd and Catherine O’Hara, paint a colorful portrait of a larger-than-life character who battled fatphobia and an anxiety disorder.

YOU HAD TO BE THERE: Despite having virtually no footage from the stage production of “Godspell” that launched the careers of Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, and Jayne Eastwood plus musical director Paul Shaffer, “You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way)” does a good job of re-creating the time of creative growth and sense of exploration that made the show so dynamic. Firsthand interviews with the actors from the original run add humor, poignancy to the story of a stage show that was formative, not only in the lives of the performers, but also for the brand of humour and performance it nurtured.

WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY: The most fleet-footed, and best, entry in the “Knives Out” franchise, the star-studded “Wake Up Dead Man” benefits from the chemistry between Daniel Craig, as Southern detective Benoit Blanc and the young priest played by Josh O’Connor. Their scenes pop with energy and mystery, while Josh Brolin, as an unpredictable priest, brings an unexpected sense of menace. A tribute to locked-room mysteries, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and novelist John Dickson Carr, it mixes spirituality and death in a story that crackles with life.

CANCELED: THE PAULA DEEN STORY: A look at the scandal that ruined the career of celebrity chef Paula Deen, “Cancelled” is a sober, straightforward reconsideration of the facts. Director Billy Corbin guides the viewer through the unlikely rises of Deen to Food Network superstardom, and her rapid decline, but offers an opportunity for the people that know her best, and for Dean herself, to provide their sides of the story. It likely won’t rehabilitate Deen‘s career, but it does feel as though it provides a fuller look at the scandal’s eruption than previously seen.