CINEMA | 'Dear Evan Hansen' Sings and Screams x TIFF 2021

"I have to tell them."

Toronto International Film Festival

Novelist turned filmmaker Stephen Chbosky directs Tony-winning star Ben Platt in the film version of the 2016 smash Broadway musical hit. Ostensibly a high school story about a horrible but initially unintentional deception gone awry revolving around depression and suicide, Dear Evan Hansen really feels like a teen musical told out of its time here.

SCREEN | St. Vincent Tours 'The Nowhere Inn'

"Your life isn't crazy or interesting enough to make a documentary about."

IFC Films

Musician Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) and fellow singer/actress Carrie Brownstein, both playing themselves, offer a fictionalized attempt on documenting Clark's career in the Lynchian music mockumentary, The Nowhere Inn. Structured like a typical rock documentary following an artist on tour, the very much scripted film (co-written by the duo) blends together concert footage with fake behind-the-scenes sequences and talking-head interviews as supposedly helmed by Brownstein who stands in as the director of the film-within-a-film.

CINEMA | Seeing Through 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye' x TIFF 2021

"I'm so sick from my faith in you!"

Toronto International Film Festival

The Eyes of Tammy Faye stars Jessica Chastain (also a producer) and Andrew Garfield as controversial televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker. It offers an intimate look at the extraordinary rise and fall of the duo through a religious bent of the American dream during the 1970-80s. Their unbelievable story of fraud and redemption encapsulates so much of contemporary religion in politics while also mirroring our obsession with so-called "reality"-based entertainment.

GRUB | Trendy Dining x Haven Kitchen + Bar x Langley

Langley—Haven Kitchen + Bar markets itself as "modern casual dining", whatever that means to you. Located just off a seemingly random car park somewhere in the suburban depths of the Fraser Valley, the trendy spot feels intimately hip and vibrant with a nice array of dishes and beverages to enjoy.

GENRE | Oscar Isaac Goes All In – 'The Card Counter'

"I like anonymous gambling."

Focus Features / VVS Films

Veteran filmmaker Paul Schrader has made another brooding crime-based drama about a highly-skilled but detached loner with a checkered past living on the margins of society. The Card Counter presents a straightforward yet mesmerizing character study about a recently released prisoner, a quietly tortured but soulful Oscar Isaac, playing low-level card games to pass the time.

GRUB | DownLow Chicken Shack x Opening x UBC

UBC—(August 31, 2021) Commercial Drive's now famous Downlow Chicken Shack is set to open its second location—they also serve DownLow Burgers out of The American bar—on campus and just in time for freshman students to enjoy on University Boulevard's stacked restaurant row full of dining options.

CINEMA | 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Fights Back

"I always bet on Asian."

Marvel Studios

Japanese-American filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton takes classic Asian cinematic tropes from the martial arts fantasy genre and themes about sons running from their destinies and abusive fathers mixed with wuxia influences in Marvel Studios' latest superhero effort, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Starring magnetic Chinese-Canadian stuntman turned comedic actor Simu Liu of Kim's Convenience fame as the original Master of Kung Fu, the film is a thrilling and action-packed adventure story about fractured families and mystical legends.

VIFF 2021 | Auditing Dreams – 'Strawberry Mansion' x Fantasia 2021

"Dream of me and I'll come to you."

Fantasia/Vancouver International Film Festival

VIFF 2021—Written and directed by sophomore indie filmmaking duo Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley (who also stars), Strawberry Mansion can be best described as a sort of surrealist lo-fi cosmic romance adventure. Set in the year 2035, we follow a tax auditor who must account for fees to be paid on an elderly woman's recorded dreams.

GENRE | Social Horror – Tell Everyone About 'Candyman'

"Candyman ain't real, ni**a!"

Universal Pictures / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Sophomore director Nia DaCosta follows up the 1992 supernatural slasher film of the same name alongside co-writer/producer Jordan Peele in a sleek direct sequel to the original Candyman based on the character created by British playwright Clive Barker. This Candyman is a striking contemporary African-American retelling told through a fresh take on the urban legend where the killer spirit once again appears if you say his name five times in a mirror.