Fisherman's Friends: One and All (out Feb 23) is an inferior sequel to the 2019 original. While the first movie was a fun comedic drama which promoted a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction true story, this is a contrived follow-up which belittles the characters and creates fake tension. Grade: C.

Close (out Feb 16) is a Belgian drama about two 13-year-old boys who, despite being long-time friends, start drifting apart after starting high school. This is an incredible film! The documentary-like feel adds authenticity, the cinematography is stunning, and the music is haunting. Above all else though, Close achieves its emotional power because of two of the finest performances I've ever seen from child actors. You can't miss this. Grade: A+.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (out Feb 16) is dull. I like the characters but they've got very little to do here. It's heavily padded (e.g. an unnecessary Bill Murray cameo) with stiff dialogue, slow plot, and relentless CGI. Jonathan Majors has potential as a new villain but his character is barely developed. Grade: C.

Knowing the Score (out Feb 16) is an Australian documentary about composer Simone Young who started out in the 1980s and has achieved numerous honours across her lengthy career. Using a bunch of archival interviews and footage, her story is an interesting one. Grade: B+.

Women Talking (out Feb 16) is an intense, gripping drama from writer-director Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz). A group of women from a remote, heavily religious community have been raped and they must decide whether to do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. It covers many topics including topics such as community, family, power, gender imbalance, adolescence, groupthink, religion, and forgiveness. Grade: A-.

Magic Mike's Last Dance (out Feb 9) is an odd film. The plot is more fantasy than reality, the "deep" narration adds zero, and aside from a rain-soaked finale, the dance numbers grow tiring. As illogical as their connection was, I didn't mind the banter between Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek Pinault. Grade: C+.

The Son (out Feb 9) is from Academy Award winner Florian Zeller (The Father) and is the story of an already fractured family trying to deal with a teenage son battling mental health issues. It avoids providing easy answers (that’s a good thing) and while it’s a little disjointed in the second half (the Anthony Hopkins cameo isn’t necessary), I believed in these characters and their actions. Grade: B+.

Spoiler Alert (out Feb 9) is based on actual events and is the story of two gay men, their up-and-down relationship, and a health issue that will change their lives forever. The film has a few cool quirks (a dreamlike fake sitcom) and stars Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge share good chemistry/banter. Grade: B+.

Corsage (out Feb 9) is a slow-moving drama which follows a year in the life of a 19th century Austrian empress. It reminds us that “royalty” isn’t as glamourous as is often perceived. Star Vicki Krieps (Phantom Thread) is a very good but on the whole, it’s not particularly interesting. Grade: B-.
 

Knock at the Cabin (out Feb 2) sees writer-director M. Night Shyamalan take a big swing… and miss completely. He deserves credit for taking chances but, as he has done with several recent films, he’s struggling to create realistic characters, dialogue and reactions. The “news reports” we see in this movie are laughably bad. It’s the tale of a family on holidays in a remote forest who are visited by 4 unconvincing strangers on a world-changing mission. Grade: C-.