CINEMA | Guy Ritchie Rounds Up 'The Gentlemen'

"It's not enough to act like the king, you must be the king."

Filmmaker Guy Ritchie retreads his British crime story roots to tell another gangster yarn framed as a tabloidy movie script about drug kingpins and underworld crime bosses entangled in a turf war. The Gentlemen actually feels overly cleverly told as Ritchie plays with typical narrative troupes to unfold a stylish action comedy meets crime drama full of stars.

GETAWAY | Aloha! Honolulu x Waikiki Beach Bum x Oahu, Hawaii

Waikiki—(November 19 to 22, 2019) Aloha! For four gloriously tropical days and nights, I visited the scenic city of Honolulu on the third-largest island of Oahu (aka the "Gathering Place") in the remote Hawaiian Islands—squarely located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Let's relive a few sunny highlights.

CINEMA | Top 10 Films of the 2010s

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) The Social Network (dir. David Fincher, 2010)

2) Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

3) The Handmaiden (dir. Park Chan-wook, 2016)

4) The Favourite (dir. Yorgas Lanthimos, 2018)

5) Her (dir. Spike Jonze, 2013)

6) Frances Ha (dir. Noah Baumbach, 2013)

7) Once Upon A Time in… Hollywood (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2019)

8) Lady Bird (dir. Greta Gerwig, 2017)

9) Phantom Thread (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

10) Roma (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2018)

CINEMA | Top 10 Films of 2019

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Parasite * (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

2) Once Upon A Time in… Hollywood (dir. Quentin Tarantino)

3) The Farewell (dir. Lulu Wang)

4) Uncut Gems (dir. Josh & Benny Safdie)

5) The Irishman (dir. Martin Scorsese)

6) Portrait of a Lady on Fire * (dir. Céline Sciamma)

7) Marriage Story * (dir. Noah Baumbach)

8) 1917 (dir. Sam Mendes)

9) Her Smell (dir. Alex Ross Perry)

10) Little Women (dir. Greta Gerwig)

GENRE | Adam Sandler Wins – 'Uncut Gems' Hustles Hard

"This is me. This is how I win."

Indie filmmaking brothers Josh and Benny Safdie return to their propulsive, nerve-wracking style of New York cinema for their long-in-development passion project, Uncut Gems. Set in 2012, the hard-driving crime drama follows Adam Sandler's Diamond District jeweller meets degenerate gambler as he tries to hustle his way out of his numerous business and personal problems.

CINEMA | Last Hope – 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Ends

"Confronting fear is the destiny of the Jedi."

Blockbuster filmmaker J.J. Abrams returns to a galaxy far, far away to (definitively) end the Star Wars sequel trilogy he restarted in The Force Awakens and cap off what's become known as the nine-episode Skywalker Saga. Consider it unfortunate how much Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker is full of such wild highs and lows, overdone fan service, and some egregious retconning. It's hard to believe where the film went in ending the new Star Wars trilogy.

CINEMA | Greta Gerwig Rewrites the Delightful 'Little Women'

"Life is too short to be angry with one's sisters."

Actor/filmmaker Greta Gerwig cleverly tackles American author Louisa May Alcott's nineteenth-century New England set literary classic Little Women for her second solo directorial effort. This modern, non-chronological adaptation of the Civil War-era novel further proves Gerwig's talent and breadth for handling character and story on a grander, more ambitious storytelling scale.

BEERFEST | New in Town x Container Brewing x Strathcona

Strathcona—(December 4, 2019) Newly opened in the thick of Yeast Van's still bustling craft beer neighborhood, Container Brewing is already on its way to becoming another friendly and welcoming East Van brewery a couple weeks after its official opening.

CINEMA | To Hell and Back – Sam Mendes Memorializes '1917'

"I hoped today would be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing."

British filmmaker Sam Mendes has crafted a truly stunning WWI drama. Simply titled 1917, the film takes a continuous one-shot, nearly real-time approach to tell its basic men-on-a-mission story. Partially based on Mendes' paternal grandfather Alfred Mendes' own real-life accounts, the unbroken film captures the absolute grind and depth of the day-to-day horrors of war as seen from the frontline trenches.