series | Film Festival Today

Series Review: “Kaleidoscope” Weaves a Catchy Web, Despite Clichés

January 1, 2023

Series Review: “Sonic Prime” Is a Fun, Safe, Family-Friendly Good Time

December 15, 2022

Series Review: “Stranger Things” Season 4, Volume 1, Bursts at the Seams but Still Entertains

May 25, 2022

Series Review: “The Girl from Plainville” Turns Its Sensationalized Subject Matter into a Slog

March 28, 2022

Series Review: “The Dropout” Proves a Mostly Worthy Investment

March 2, 2022

Series Review: “Vikings: Valhalla” Is Epic, If Hardly Fresh

February 25, 2022

Series Review: Season 2 of “The Witcher” Trades Strangeness for Stability

December 15, 2021

Series Review: “True Story” Deftly Weaves Comedy and Crime Together

November 24, 2021

Film Review: “Halloween Kills” Struggles but Still Succeeds

October 14, 2021

Series Review: “Dopesick” Is a Harrowing Portrait of American Evil

October 12, 2021

TIFF Review: “A Private Life”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 15, 2025
A Private Life (Rebecca Zlotowski, 2025) 3 out of 5 stars There is one primary reason to see A Private Life, from director Rebecca Zlotowski (Just the Two of Us), and that is Jodie Foster (Nyad), whose riveting performance is further enhanced by the fact that she speaks French throughout. Well, make that two reasons, as Daniel Auteuil (An Ordinary Case), in the role of her ex-husband, is equally compelling. Together, they provide the highlights ... >>
TIFF Review: “A Pale View of Hills”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 15, 2025
A Pale View of Hills (Kei Ishikawa, 2025) 3 out of 5 stars Born in 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan, Nobel-prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro emigrated to England in 1960. His subsequent bicultural upbringing has given him a unique perspective on the world that has informed much of his writing, specializing in the emotional reserve that humans layer on top of experience to avoid looking closely at hard truths. His novels The Remains of the Day (1989) ... >>
TIFF Interview: “Steal Away” Co-Writer Tamara Berger and Director Clement Virgo
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 14, 2025
Toronto-based director Clement Virgo just premiered his latest feature, Steal Away, which he co-wrote with wife Tamara Berger, at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (where I reviewed it). They previously collaborated on the 2005 Lie with Me. This new project is an adaptation of Karolyn Smardz Frost’s 2017 nonfiction book Steal Away Home and is set in a world that is neither the here nor the now, but possibly both, an amalgam of times ... >>
TIFF Review: “Franz”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 10, 2025
Franz (Agnieszka Holland, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars The writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924), though he died far too young (of tuberculosis), left behind a literary legacy that has lasted into our present. Works such as his story “In the Penal Colony,” his novella The Metamorphosis, and his novel The Trial have proved enormously influential, even though most of his works were only published after his death. We have his friend Max Brod to thank for us ... >>
TIFF Review: “Steal Away”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 9, 2025
Steal Away (Clement Virgo, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars Set in a land that exists outside of a specific era and place, yet suggestive of many different locations and moments (including the here and now), director Clement Virgo’s Steal Away plunges the viewer into a simultaneous idyll and nightmare. The freshness of youth—and youthful desire—runs directly into the brutality of human greed, destroying the innocent dreams of our teenage protagonists. ... >>

10 Picks for TIFF 2025
September 1, 2025
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Our Coverage of 2025 Oscar Nominees
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Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and ...>>