Best Of

2016 Oscars Preview & Predictions

The 2016 Academy Award nominations set off an even bigger firestorm than last year, proving that for every step forward there seems to be two steps back (or at least that the Academy is overwhelmingly old and easily swayed by the types of movies they’ve always gravitated towards). (more…)

The Best Films of 2015

(and by “best” I mean my favourites)

2015 has come and gone, and left in its wake are a huge swath of movies to delight our eyeballs and earholes. Some franchise revivals missed the mark (I’m looking at you Jurassic World!) while others were blessedly good (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, phew). There were lots of gems both big and small – here are the ones I liked best:  (more…)

2015 Oscars Preview & Predictions

The Oscars are a time for revelry and merriment. The chosen few of Hollywood (our modern Babylon or maybe Sodom and Gomorrah) are given exultant praise while the rest of us sit at home, getting increasingly drunk and yelling at the TV. Grousing about the Oscars is a national pastime at this point, a sport comprised of poking holes at an overlong, self-congratulatory pageant that’s meant to celebrate artistic merit but more often than not simply rewards those who campaign hardest or appeal most to the Academy’s often middle-of-the-road tastes.  (more…)

Tainted Love: The Best Venereal Horror Movies

Horror movies prey upon our fears, whether directly (being chased by an axe-wielding maniac) or indirectly (like The Shining‘s representation of alcoholism and obsession). David Cronenberg said, “I think of horror films as art, as films of confrontation,” and as the Godfather of Body Horror he knows a thing or two about slimy, icky messes that can turn your stomach. (more…)

The Best Films of 2014

(and by “Best” I mean my favourites)

2014 was an amazing year of movies for a number of reasons. There seemed to be more quality films than any other recent year – perhaps since 2007 or even 1999 – and more surprising still was that they weren’t all released in the fall and winter, but rather spread out across a whole year of cinematic richness (for proof check out the Best of Summer 2014 Arthouse and Blockbusters, many of which appear here). (more…)

The Best Christmas-y Movies

Sure, you’ve got your perennial Christmas classics like A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa, but what about when you want to switch it up while staying on theme? That’s where the best Christmas-y movies come in – they all take place during Christmas but are not explicitly about the holiday.

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The Best Extreme Horror Movies

Horror’s a big category with lots of unique and worthwhile subsets like: vampires, romantic vampires, campy vampires, well-dressed vampires, teenage vampires, and possibly others too. Extreme Horror is one notable sub-genre and a relatively new phenomenon. It can be seen as the new millennium’s return to horror’s grisly roots after the largely sanitized post-modern efforts of the 90’s (like Scream and all its tongue-in-cheek copycats). With precursors like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Cannibal Holocaust, and the notorious Guinea Pig paving the way, the below twisted tales are standing on the shoulders of some rather fucked up giants. They all transcend the simple “torture porn” moniker and offer up some genuine meat to go with the all the gristle. If you’re looking for some of the darkest, mind-warping Extreme Horror movies then look no further: (more…)