Entertainment
The 7 most underrated films of October: From an international selection of horror gems to one of the year’s best rom-coms
Appropriately for a list of the best overlooked films of October, this month’s rundown is dominated by horror movies. Studios and streamers didn’t disappoint this year, providing viewers with a diverse selection of genre content to choose from as Halloween approached. And there was something for everybody — fans of schlocky horror got Terrifier 2, director Zach Cregger made a memorable debut with the singularly subversive Barbarian, while Guillermo del Toro presented a veritable cheese platter of scary films in his Netflix anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities.
You can check out our lists of top films from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September by clicking on them.
Bros – Available to rent and purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, YouTube etc in the US
The title card for Bros.
Co-written by Billy Eichner, directed by Nicholas Stoller and produced by Judd Apatow, Bros had some of the best comedic minds in the business attached. Proudly promoted as the first major studio film to feature an entirely queer cast, Bros isn’t just a solid step in the right direction for representation in Hollywood, but it’s quite easily the best romantic comedy in months. A post-pandemic shift in audience behaviour, and not homophobia, is likely the reason behind its disastrous box office performance.
The Stranger – Netflix
The title card for The Stranger.
Deliberately bleak, relentlessly dark, and yet so engaging, director Thomas M Wright’s Aussie thriller gives Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris a great platform to play off of each other. It helps that the movie itself is unique, flipping genre tropes on their head, and focusing on the most unusual aspects of a rather straightforward story about an undercover policeman trying to extract a confession from a suspected child murderer.
Saloum – Streaming on AMC+ and Shudder in the US
The title card for Saloum.
Easily among the most inventive spectacles of the year, the Senegalese film Saloum combines horror, fantasy, and action for a heady cinematic mix that will undoubtedly delight fans of all three genres. But what makes Saloum extra special is the undercurrent of genuine emotion beneath the stylised thrills.
Halloween Ends – Streaming on Peacock in the US
The title card for Halloween Ends.
You might wonder what a relatively successful mainstream horror sequel that even general audiences would be familiar with is doing on this list, but hear me out. Halloween Ends could’ve been a safe trilogy-capper that gave fans of the franchise exactly what they wanted, but director David Gordon Green delivered a movie so unexpected that it was positively begging for controversy. Knowingly kneecapped by Universal — the movie was released day-and-date on streaming — Halloween Ends has the makings of an instant cult classic, and years from now, it will be regarded as an underrated entry in the iconic horror franchise.
Speak No Evil – Streaming on AMC+ and Shudder in the US
The title card for Speak No Evil.
The best scary movie of the year, Speak No Evil unfolds like a comedy of manners for around 45 minutes before taking a left turn so severe that it shakes you to the very core. Part social satire about European culture and part claustrophobic thriller about a couple from hell, the film — helmed by the Danish director Christian Tafdrup but shot mostly in English — turns into a disturbing mind-melter in its memorable final moments.
God’s Creatures – Available to rent and purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, YouTube etc in the US
The title card for God’s Creatures.
A slow-burn psychological drama of uncommon cultural specificity, directors Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmes’ film transcends its rural Irish setting and becomes something scarily universal as it goes along. Paul Mescal will probably attract awards attention for the upcoming Aftersun, but his performance as a toxic young man in this film is no less special. The real star of this movie — about a mother’s love for her son, and the moral dilemma that his actions put her in — is the great Emily Watson.
Piggy – Streaming on Hoopla in the US
The title card for Piggy.
Director Carlota Pereda’s film is brutal in more ways than one. For around half-an-hour, it plays out like a particularly distressing drama about a bullied teenage girl; for the next 30 minutes, it turns into a paranoid thriller; and it ends in a bloodbath. Along the way, it flirts with fantasy and romance. Some might feel that Piggy is overcooked, a mishmash of socially relevant themes and genre thrills, but the filmmaking is so uncompromising, and the character work so deft. Piggy is a real feast for horror fans.
Entertainment
Queer photographer Evergon, witchy artists Fastwurms among Governor General winners | Globalnews.ca
Evergon, 77, said he was hopeful he’d receive one of the Artistic Achievement Awards eventually, but he’s “gobsmacked” that it’s actually happened.
Over the course of his career, which is now in its fifth decade, the artist born Albert Jay Lunt said he’s seen attitudes towards his work shift alongside the perception of the LGBTQ community.
“There’s pieces that were scandal 40 and 50 years ago, and there seems to be no scandal with those pieces at the moment,” he said in a phone interview ahead of Tuesday’s announcement.
“Matter of fact, there has been no scandal.”
A retrospective of the Montreal artist’s work is on display at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City. The museum describes his art as audacious and carnal, exploring issues of sexuality and the body as they intersect with identity.
His portfolio features photos of men that can veer towards the pornographic, including nude self-portraits.
He also created a series of nude photographs of his octogenarian mother, which the Musée national des beaux-arts says “renews the representation of the aging body as few artists have done.”
“She was the one challenging me: ‘I want the photos made of me now. I’m 80, I want them now,’” he recalled. “It was so fun to have them commissioned by her, as opposed to me whining: ‘Can we do this?’”
His mother died several years ago, he said, and he regrets that she’s not here to witness this recognition of his work.
Read more:
‘Being a brown woman, being queer’: B.C. illustrator uses art to express all of her identity
This year’s list of eight winners also includes David Garneau, who won the Outstanding Contribution Award.
His paintings and drawings speak to the experience of Indigenous men in North America and explores his own Metis identity and family history.
Meanwhile, Grace Nickel has won the Saidye Bronfman Award, which recognizes the best in fine crafts.
Nickel is a sculptor who renders natural forms in ceramics and porcelain as a way of exploring whether we can return to a natural life.
Also among the six winners of the Artistic Achievement Award is Fastwurms, a poly-disciplinary collective composed of Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse. The duo, who are based out of Mulmur, Ont., invoke images of witches in their performance art and immersive installations.
Germaine Koh, who was Vancouver’s first engineering artist in residence and who describes herself as an artist-organizer, was also recognized with an award.
Tim Whiten, whose work explores the experience of BIPOC people, was honoured with an award for a career that spans back to the 1960s.
Filmmakers Shannon Walsh and Nettie Wild also received awards.
Walsh’s portfolio includes five feature-length documentary films on topics that include labour rights and climate change.
Wild’s documentaries, meanwhile, take viewers behind the scenes of revolutions and social change.
Each winner will receive a $25,000 prize.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
Entertainment
Jonathan Majors, Marvel and ‘Creed III’ actor, arrested on assault charge in New York – National | Globalnews.ca
New York City police said that Majors, star of the recently released Creed III and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman. Police responded around 11 a.m. Saturday to a 911 call inside an apartment in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea.
“The victim informed police she was assaulted,” a spokesperson for the NYPD said in a statement. “Officers placed the 33-year-old male into custody without incident. The victim sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.”
A representative for Majors denied any wrongdoing by the actor.
“He has done nothing wrong,” the representative said in an email to the AP on Saturday. “We look forward to clearing his name and clearing this up.”
On Sunday, a lawyer for Majors, Priya Chaudhry, came out more forcefully, saying Majors “is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows” and blamed the incident on the woman having “an emotional crisis.”
Chaudhry said there was evidence clearing Majors, including “video footage from the vehicle where this episode took place, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, and most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations.”
An email seeking additional comment from the NYPD based on Chaudhry’s assertions was not immediately returned Sunday.
Majors was arraigned Sunday on a complaint involving misdemeanour charges for assault and aggravated harassment, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said. A judge ordered Majors released on his own recognizance on Saturday night with a limited order of protection. He was scheduled to appear in court on May 8.
In the meantime, the U.S. Army suspended its TV ad campaign featuring Majors that was intended to target younger audiences. The Army Enterprise Marketing Office said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. Army is “deeply concerned by the allegations surrounding his arrest.”
“While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete,” the office said in a statement.
Majors is one of the fastest rising stars in Hollywood. After breaking through in 2019′s The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Majors has starred in Da 5 Bloods, The Harder They Fall and last year’s Devotion. He also stars in the recent Sundance Film Festival entry Magazine Dreams, which Searchlight Pictures is to release in December.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
Entertainment
Jeremy Renner posts video update on treadmill after snowplow injury – National | Globalnews.ca
The update, shared to Renner’s social media accounts, comes nearly three months after the actor was severely injured in a snowplow accident on Jan. 1, 2023.
“I now have to find OTHER things to occupy my time so my body can recover from my will,” Renner, 52, wrote on Twitter. He added the hashtags “#mindful #intended #recovery.”
In the 15-second clip, Renner is seen walking on a high-tech treadmill. He explains to another man next to him that the machine allows him to walk on “only 40 per cent of my weight.” He said the treadmill is similar to walking with a cane.
On his Instagram story, Renner shared the same video with the same caption.
Renner’s snowplow accident left the actor with more than 30 broken bones after he was crushed by a seven-ton PistenBully snowcat. He sustained “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries” and underwent multiple surgeries.
At the time of the accident, Renner was trying to prevent a family member from being hit by the snowplow. Though the family member was saved from injury, Renner was pulled under the vehicle and crushed.
Last week, Renner shared a photo of the PistenBully snowcat, which had previously been in police custody, returning to his Reno, Nev., home.
“She’s finally making her way home!” Renner wrote next to a prayer hand emoji.
Renner, who plays the sharpshooting Marvel superhero Hawkeye, currently stars in the Paramount+ series Mayor of Kingstown.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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