June 17, 2025

REEL | Racing 'F1' – Brad Pitt Tames His Need for Speed

"Create your own space. Hope is not a strategy."
Brad Pitt Joseph Kosinski | F1: The Movie | Apple TV+
Apple Original Films / Warner Bros. Pictures
Aging superstar Brad Pitt (also a producer) hits the track as a washed-out but still talented racecar driver cashing in his last shot at glory in blockbuster director Joseph Kosinski's expensive sports action drama, succintly titled F1®: The Movie (as it's being marketed as) after the highest class of global open-wheel single-seater formula auto racing, Formula One.

REEL | Pixar Abducts 'Elio' – A Family Space Adventure

"You're more puny than I expected!"
Yonas Kibreab Madeline Sharafian Domee Shi Adrian Molina | Pixar Elio
Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar and Filipino-American child actor Yonas Kibreab, who voices the eponymous eleven-year-old orphan boy mistaken by aliens as Earth's leader and abducted to the intergalactic version of the United Nations called the "Communiverse," come together for a heartwarming space adventure about family and friendship. Elio, directed by animators Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi (original director Adrian Molina also retains a co-directing credit) packs a surprisingly large amount of goofy alien fun into ninety-eight minutes.

June 16, 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 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 Canadian 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 perilous contemporary dating scene.

June 9, 2025

REEL | 'How to Train Your Dragon' Reimagines Itself in Live-Action

"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 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.