Movies

Movies

Alisha Wetherill / Amazon Content Services LLC / TNS Anne Hathaway brings plenty of campy energy to her role as Verity Crawford in the steamy thriller Verity.

Thriller has steam to spare, but story slogs

Alison Gillmor 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Based on a 2018 book by hugely popular, wildly polarizing author Colleen Hoover (whose novels It Ends with Us, Regretting You and Reminders of Him have also been made into movies), this new adaptation is being billed as a sexy psychological thriller.

There is sex — quite a lot of sex. As for those other descriptors, Verity is not only lacking in thrills. It’s almost laughably light on plausible human psychology.

Plausibility can be overrated, of course. Scripter Nick Antosca (2026’s Cape Fear) and director Michael Showalter (The Idea of You) could have thrown plausibility out the window and gone all-in on escapist fun.

But while there is a gorgeous modernist lake house and some excellent knitwear here, and Anne Hathaway, at least, seems to be having a ball with her deliciously two-faced role, Verity is mostly a sloggy mess, with draggy pacing, flat characters and a fatal lack of atmosphere.

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Movies

Philippe Bosse photo Jay Baruchel plays unsung Canadian stuntman Ken Carter in The Stunt Driver.

Baruchel soulful in role as frustrated Canuck daredevil

Randall King 4 minute read Preview

Baruchel soulful in role as frustrated Canuck daredevil

Randall King 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

For better and worse, the name of the barely famous Canadian stunt driver Ken Carter (a.k.a. The Mad Canadian) will always be associated with the name of his much more famous American counterpart Evel Knievel.

Both men made their livings cheating death, jumping vehicles over a series of ever-more-daunting barriers, breaking records and bones in equal measure.

Carter’s career was, well, just more Canadian, which is to say obscure. After Knievel unsuccessfully tried to fly a motorcycle over Snake River Canyon in Idaho, Carter got the notion of flying a Lincoln Continental a whole mile over a stretch of the St. Lawrence River as the ultimate challenge of his career.

What followed was not so much a test of courage but endurance, as Carter kept cancelling the jump over a period of years, determined to do it without killing himself in the process.

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Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

Movies

Vianney Le Caer / Invision/The Associated Press Files Tom Hiddleston, a.k.a. Loki, is 43 today.

Actors Tom Hiddleston and Aimee Lou Wood scheduled to walk TIFF red carpet

2 minute read Preview

Actors Tom Hiddleston and Aimee Lou Wood scheduled to walk TIFF red carpet

2 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

TORONTO - A drama about Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his wife Anna, who is said to have saved him from ruin, is among the films premièring today at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"Ripley" actor Johnny Flynn and "White Lotus" breakout Aimee Lou Wood star in "The Idiots(s)" as the writer couple, and both are set to walk the red carpet.

Other celebrities making an appearance at the festival include Tom Hiddleston, who's in town for the Canadian première of "Tenzing."

The biopic stars the English actor alongside Willem Dafoe and Genden Phuntsok, and tells the story of the Himalayan Sherpa mountaineer who helped lead the first successful summiting of Mount Everest in 1953.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

Sally Field shouts out Canada at Emmy Awards as Hollywood honours Catherine O’Hara

Sally Field shouts out Canada at Emmy Awards as Hollywood honours Catherine O’Hara

4 minute read Preview

Sally Field shouts out Canada at Emmy Awards as Hollywood honours Catherine O’Hara

4 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Canada's rocky relationship with the United States made its way to Hollywood on Monday night as Sally Field accepted a top prize at the Emmy Awards, while actors also paid tribute to the late Catherine O'Hara.

Field took home the trophy for best actress in a limited or anthology series or TV movie for her role in the Netflix drama "Remarkably Bright Creatures." At 79, she became the oldest Emmy winner in the category.

The movie, based on Shelby Van Pelt's 2022 novel by the same name, follows the deep bond formed between a widowed aquarium worker and a young aspiring musician played by Lewis Pullman.

The movie was filmed in Deep Cove, B.C., including some scenes at the Vancouver Aquarium.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

The Sultan’s Women Harem Productions Inc. The Sultan’s Women, about the lives of women in Ottoman ruler Murad V’s harem, is now streaming.

Docudrama reveals lives of harem’s wilful women

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Preview

Docudrama reveals lives of harem’s wilful women

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

A stable of admiring women centred on a domineering patriarch, a secretive world of sexual oppression — the connotations of the word “harem” are not especially positive or progressive.

But there are famous examples of women who navigated this coercive hierarchy not merely to survive but ultimately to command vast influence, some rising from slavery.

The Sultan’s Women — a docudrama written, produced and directed by Emmy- and Peabody-winning, Morden-born filmmaker David Rabinovitch which has recently become available on Tubi, among other platforms — depicts this world in the turbulent final years of the Ottoman Empire, whose collapse also ended the institution.

Told with a Game of Thrones-like relish for elite intrigues, the film opens in the 1870s, with liberal-minded sultan Murad V and his sprawling harem. Ultimately placed under “house arrest” for nearly three decades in Çırağan Palace in what was then called Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), Murad’s harem had women stronger in will, if not formal position, than the unstable, deposed sultan.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

WARNER BROS. PICTURES Nicole Kidman (left) and Sandra Bullock fail to find the magic again in the sequel to the 1998 movie.

Movie review: sequel to cult classic fails to conjure same charms

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Preview

Movie review: sequel to cult classic fails to conjure same charms

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

“You’ve heard tell of the Owens sisters,” says a handy voiceover at the start of this unsatisfying sequel.

Why, yes, they were in a movie 28 years ago, which did so-so box office at the time but went on to develop a large and loyal cult following.

That first Practical Magic go-round, adapted from the book by Alice Hoffman, was full of crowd-pleasing “You go, girl” empowerment and witchy shenanigans, making for a sweet, supernatural-lite kind of vibe.

It wasn’t a great movie, but it had its own hokey, Halloweeny charm. It was a pumpkin spice latte before pumpkin spice lattes were even a thing.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

Manitoba artists in TIFF spotlight as fest begins

Manitoba artists in TIFF spotlight as fest begins

Randall King 7 minute read Preview

Manitoba artists in TIFF spotlight as fest begins

Randall King 7 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Expect Winnipeg film production — and Manitoba talent — to grab its share of the klieg lights at the 2026 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which starts today and runs to Sept. 20.

On the TIFF menu: the feature film debut of a local filmmaker who began taking short films to the festival 10 years ago.

In 2016, Ian Bawa arrived at the festival with three collaborators — Markus Henkel, Milos Mitrovic and Fabian Velasco — debuting their outrageous satire Imitations to the Short Cuts program, devoted to short films.

Bawa kept coming, scoring a short film hit in the COVID-truncated 2020 edition of TIFF with a personal project titled Strong Son, which featured his own father, Jagdeep Singh Bawa, in the role of a bodybuilder’s stern father.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ben Akoh, curator and organizer of African Movie Festival Manitoba. Akoh founded the festival in 2017.

Film fest showcases Africa’s best

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Film fest showcases Africa’s best

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Winnipeggers are sometimes accused of living within the Perimeter, meaning a visit to Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, might be out of the question for your weekend travel plans.

But the African Film Festival in Manitoba — which kicked off Monday and runs to Sept. 20 — gives local audiences three feature-length opportunities to embrace stories from a nation that’s widely considered the home of African cinema.

Chief among these is Katanga, a tense re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Scottish play told in the Fulah language. Directed and written by Dani Kouyaté, the film was the winner of the the Etalon D’or — the top prize — at last year’s FESPACO, a biennial celebration of Pan-African film and television held in Ouagadougou.

Starring Mahamadi Nana and Prosper Compaore, the film also features a striking, late-career performance by Rasmané Ouédraogo, who starred in the Palme d’Or winner Tilaï — in which a man returns to his village to find his fiancee has become his father’s second wife — in 1990.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

Bell Media Rapper Jay-Z (left) and producer Rick Rubin chat in Jay-Z in 8.

Rap moguls, rock legends amid slate of fall shows

Denise Duguay 5 minute read Preview

Rap moguls, rock legends amid slate of fall shows

Denise Duguay 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Even in this advanced age of streaming dominance, September still marks a welcome but also overwhelming arrival of new and returning programming. As usual, the focus here remains on brand-new series and movies, but some returns are worth briefly noting.

When Saturday Night Live returns for a 52nd season on Sept. 26 on NBC, hosted by NBA star Jalen Brunson with music by L.A.’s Katseye, the Canadian simulcast moves from Global to CTV/Crave as announced by Bell Media in April.

This TV lover’s heart is also glad to note the return of the feel-goodiest series of the spring, Best Medicine (Season 2 premières Sept. 20/22 on Fox, Sept. 22 on CTV/Crave).

It follows a very grumpy (but soft on the inside) city doctor (Josh Charles, Handmaid’s Tale) returned to family roots and family practice in a coastal fishing village.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

Amazon MGM Studios Damian Lewis is the villain opposite a terrified mom (Gal Gadot) in the thriller The Runner.

TV to raise and lower your stress-hormone levels

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Preview

TV to raise and lower your stress-hormone levels

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2026

Is it just my Instagram feed that is flooded with prescriptions for how to stem the flood of stress hormones in these trying times? Consult a real professional and take care of yourselves out there. Like social media, TV is not letting up, however. The upcoming 25th (yes!) anniversary of 9/11 is accompanied by a slew of network and streaming programming, including 9/11: United We Stand — 25 Years Later on ABC tonight. As for fictional programming, here are a few harrowing highlights, with a couple of comedies thrown in for an attempt at balance.

●The Runner (movie premières Wednesday, Sept. 2, on Prime Video)

High-profile London lawyer and devoted mom Maia Marten (Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman) thinks her biggest challenge on this day is a big day in court. The problems and the stakes escalate immeasurably after a phone call interrupts her morning run. The title is apt, as this thriller has the heroine racing to meet one demand after another. Failure risks the lives of her near and dear and many more. Go!

● Mayday (movie premières Friday, Sept. 4, on Apple TV)

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Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2026

Movies

Dazed and confused stoner comedy hard to get right

Dazed and confused stoner comedy hard to get right

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Preview

Dazed and confused stoner comedy hard to get right

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Stoner comedy has always been kind of a dude thing. Think of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Cheech & Chong, Ice Cube’s Friday franchise, Harold & Kumar, basically any movie with the young Seth Rogen.

Screenwriter Dylan Meyer (Moxie) provides a much-needed gender swap in her directorial debut, giving us Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat as ride-or-die roommates Frankie and Molly. Dipping in and out of the gig economy and perpetually broke, they share their Los Angeles bungalow with two cats, a life-size cardboard cutout of Celine Dion and an enormously complicated “bong-a-tron” that takes up most of the living room.

Finally, finally, it’s women who get to be messy, aimless and really high.

Unfortunately, stoner movies — no matter the gender — are surprisingly hard to get right. The Wrong Girls is sweet and shaggy and intermittently funny, but Meyer ends up struggling with the genre’s common buzzkills.

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Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Movies

Supplied Modern American folk opera Hadestown reworks Greek myths to powerful effect. The Broadway hit is coming to select Winnipeg screens for a limited time.

Underworld musical translates well to silver screen

Alison Gillmor 5 minute read Preview

Underworld musical translates well to silver screen

Alison Gillmor 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 24, 2026

‘It’s a sad song, but we keep singing even so.”

That’s Hermes (Broadway icon André De Shields) speaking to the audience at the end of Hadestown, the much-adored musical now appearing on Winnipeg movie screens for a limited run.

The music is often beautifully, powerfully sad in this modern American folk opera by Anaïs Mitchell. Reworking the paired Greek myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, Mitchell isn’t looking for conventional happy-ever-afters. After all, a lot of this doom-laden story takes place in hell.

Instead, Hadestown finds its joy in the power of shared stories.

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Friday, Jul. 24, 2026

Movies

Apple TV Jake Johnson (left) plays a tennis player on the outs who begrudgingly takes up pickleball in the Ben Stiller-produced The Dink.

TV lineup promises pugilism, pickleball and partying

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Preview

TV lineup promises pugilism, pickleball and partying

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 21, 2026

Soccer seems to be here to stay. There’s been barely a minute to recover from the 2026 World Cup final. Big smiles are still lingering after last week’s news that Winnipeg has been awarded the Northern Super League’s seventh franchise, starting in 2027. And because it’s not real if it’s not adapted for TV, there are but two weeks to go before the much anticipated return of Ted Lasso, with Jason Sudeikis’s title character now coaching a women’s soccer team in Season 4 (Aug. 5 on Apple TV). Rolling with that sports theme but venturing to other (occasionally murdery) arenas, here are a few suggestions for some brand new non-soccer programming.

● They Fight (movie streaming now on Disney+/Hulu)

This drama, set in Washington, D.C., concerns an ex-con who is drowning in doubt, from within and without, but trying to find his fight. The boxing gym beckons and it’s no spoiler to say he finally responds and learns that the best way to help yourself is to help others first. As they say in the trailer, “lock in!” Andre Holland (Selma) plays our hero alongside fellow acting heavyweights Samira Wiley (The Walking Dead) and Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth).

● The Dink (movie premières Friday, July 24 on Apple TV)

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Tuesday, Jul. 21, 2026

Movies

Sony Pictures Classics In Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, (from left) John Slattery, Ben Wang, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Zoey Deutch and Ken Marino are loosely inspired by characters in The Wizard of Oz.

Goofy ensemble comedy riffs on The Wizard of Oz

Alison Gillmor 5 minute read Preview

Goofy ensemble comedy riffs on The Wizard of Oz

Alison Gillmor 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

Unabashedly all over the place, this amiable ensemble comedy from director and co-writer David Wain (known for the sketch show The State and the Wet Hot American Summer movies) delivers a nonstop, hit-and-miss stream of dirty puns, slapstick gags and absurdist non sequiturs.

The plucky, self-deprecating cast manages to pull off some good comic moments. And as with the old Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker movies, when a bit doesn’t land, you can just wait 45 seconds or so for the next one.

Still, the film is riffing on The Wizard of Oz (with added sex jokes!). While’s there’s no need to go to David Lynch levels of obsession with this touchstone of Americana, it might help if all the funny stuff added up to something more.

The titular Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch) is a peppy, optimistic gal from rural Kansas, best known for penning an essay for her community newspaper titled Why I’m Never Leaving This Town.

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Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

Movies

Eric Zachanowich / Netflix The new Little House on the Prairie features (from left) Skywalker Hughes as Mary Ingalls, Crosby Fitzgerald as Caroline Ingalls, Luke Bracey as Charles Ingalls, and Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls.

Little house, big female energy and golf drama

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Preview

Little house, big female energy and golf drama

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2026

From its earliest black-and-white flickers to today’s kaleidoscope of small-screen streaming options, television has offered many pleasures.

This new handful of new viewing recommendations dances nicely along that spectrum, from a period drama with a much needed modern perspective, a weekend of she-raging, a couple of spy thrillers and golf as a path to true grace (and a few gut-laughs). Onward!

●Little House on the Prairie (series premières Thursday on Netflix)

Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House books, a new Winnipeg-shot adaptation moves beyond the 1974-83 sentimental TV adventures of the Ingalls family homesteading in the 19th-century American Midwest. The new effort promises to be not only grittier but also narratively broader, expanding beyond the story of the family planting roots in “free land.” Says the show’s Osage Nation consultant Julie O’Keefe, “If you’re going to tell the story, then you need to tell both sides.” The series has already been renewed for a second season. For more on the series, check out Randall King’s recent preview.

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Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2026

Movies

Supplied From left: Doug Smith, Sandra Hardy, Debbie Patterson and Greg Selinger discuss co-ops in Meeting a Moment: The Art of Social Architecture, which airs on CBC.

Winnipeg co-ops among models examined in film

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Preview

Winnipeg co-ops among models examined in film

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Friday, Jun. 26, 2026

We see theatre artist Debbie Patterson making her way toward the Old Grace Housing Co-operative’s entrance in her wheelchair, then settling inside for a steaming cup of tea. The co-op is her home.

“Well, I’ve always loved this neighbourhood and wanted to stay in this neighbourhood. I lived in a big, three-storey Wolseley house and then got MS and couldn’t do the stairs,” she says in a voiceover.

“Having a place I could move into that was completely accessible was just a godsend at a perfect time when I needed to stop living in my house, so I could stay in my neighbourhood and continue to be in a safe place.”

It’s one of the opening scenes of Meeting a Moment: The Art of Social Architecture, directed by Danielle Sturk and produced by Leslie Stafford, which appears on CBC Gem today and airs on CBC TV Saturday.

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Friday, Jun. 26, 2026

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