June 12, 2025

REEL | Dakota Johnson Makes A Match – 'Materialists'

"Six inches can double a man's value on the market."
Dakota Johnson Pedro Pascal Celine Song | Materialists A24
A24 / VVS Films
Dakota Johnson stars as a successful but defiantly single Manhattan matchmaker entangled in a New Yorker love triangle in writer/director Celine Song's sophomore film, the deceptively sophisticated throwback romantic drama, Materialists. Co-starring Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal as her dual love interests for a refreshingly traditional love rom-com-type setup, Song explores the nature of modern romantic love and its deeper complications through the landscape of the contemporary dating scene.

June 9, 2025

REEL | 'How to Train Your Dragon' Remakes Another Live-Action Fantasy

"Back into the fog we go."
Nico Parker Dean DeBlois | How to Train Your Dragon 2025
Universal Pictures / DreamWorks Animation
Longtime DreamWorks writer/director Dean DeBlois closely remakes his first animated adaptation of the children's fantasy book series of the same name by British author Cressida Cowell. This How to Train Your Dragon is basically more of the same, almost shot-for-shot Viking wonder but told in live-action.

June 5, 2025

REEL | Wes Anderson Spies on 'The Phoenician Scheme'

"I suppose I'm moved by this absurd performance."
Benicio del Tor Bryan Cranston Tom Hanks Mia Threapleton Wes Anderson | The Phoenician Scheme
Focus Features / Indian Paintbrush
The Phoenician Scheme, unmistakable auteur Wes Anderson's latest period ensemble romp, tackles the 1950s world of corporate espionage. Benicio del Toro, grizzled as ever, stars as an unscrupulous European industrialist mogul on the run from powerful forces looking to sabotage his grip on global markets at all costs.

June 3, 2025

GATHER | Web Summit Vancouver 2025 x Global Tech Conference

"Vancouver is one of the world's most beautiful cities, with a flourishing tech community."
Web Summit Vancouver 2025 | Vancouver Convention Centre West | Coal Harbour
NBA champions Metta World Peace and JaVale McGee
Waterfront—(May 30, 2025) It sure felt like almost everyone was at the inaugural Web Summit Vancouver multi-day global conference, replacing Collision Conference's five-year run in Toronto. Long considered the "Olympics of Tech" and hosted by the Dublin-based technology events company, the gathering took over three levels of the Vancouver Convention Centre West for as many days at the tail end of May.

June 2, 2025

REEL | Tom Hiddleston Reflects on 'The Life of Chuck'

"Our man Krantz is the Oz of the apocalypse."
Chiwetel Ejiofor Tom Hiddleston | The Life of Chuck
Neon / Elevation Pictures
One might be surprised to learn that Stephen King firmly believes in the transformative power of dance and math to save us from the apocalypse! A frequent adapter of the prolific author's literary works, Mike Flanagan trades in the horror genre for a sweetly life-affirming reflection on existence in his slightly fantastical film adaptation of the short story of the same name, The Life of Chuck, starring noted dance enthusiast Tom Hiddleston as the otherwise oridinary eponymous accountant, Charles Krantz. Split into three acts told in reverse chronological order, Flanagan expresses a life's worth of joy in 110 minutes.

May 29, 2025

REEL | Top 10 Films of the 21st Century So Far

"She turns and walks away."
Tony Leung Maggie Cheung Wong Kar-wai | In the Mood for Love
Janus Films / Block 2 Pictures
1) In the Mood for Love ¹ (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
2) Mulholland Drive ² (dir. David Lynch, 2001)
3) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michel Gondry, 2004)
4) Ghost World ³ (dir. Terry Zwigoff, 2001)
5) The Social Network (dir. David Fincher, 2010)

May 26, 2025

FEAST | Global Flavours x Bar Asra x South Granville

"We want to celebrate the connection between cultures, ingredients, and people."
Bar Asra | South Granville | Vancouver, BCTokyo Silk (sake, Calpico, pomegranate, and vodka) + Nigata Paper Plane (bourbon, spritz, grappa, and lemon)
South Granville—(May 9, 2025) Bar Asra, the brand new cocktail bar and restaurant, comes from seasoned Sirka chefs Kanwardeep Ahluwalia and Baldeep Singh (also co-owners) and occupies the original hundred-year-old location of the legendary Vij's and later its sister restaurant Rangoli.

May 22, 2025

REEL | Accomplishing 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning'

"Our lives are the sum of our choices."
Pom Klementieff Tom Cruise Christopher McQuarrie | Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Paramount Pictures / Skydance
Our IMF team of star/producer Tom Cruise and now four-time co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie reteam for the retitled and reworked second half of the originally-planned two-part Dead Reckoning films and eighth, supposedly last entry in the current iteration of the TV-to-film franchise. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (formerly Dead Reckoning Part Two) takes a Spectre-type approach but with better stunts to retcon the mythology of all the previous seven movies across nearly three decades in a more cohesive but also overly complicated finale.

May 19, 2025

REEL | Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd End Their 'Friendship'

"I don't wish to continue this friendship."
Tim Robinson Paul Rudd Andrew DeYoung | Friendship A24
A24 / VVS Films
First-time feature filmmaker Andrew DeYoung directs comedian Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in the blisteringly funny, anti-buddy tragicomedy, Friendship. A nightmarish combination of an extended version of Robinson's very funny sketch comedy show, I Think You Should Leave, and the adult male friendship premise of Rudd's I Love You, Man, the darkly absurdist bromance film turns sour for a sidesplitting experience that's filmed deadly seriously like a crime thriller.