'The Walrus and the Whistleblower': Film Review | Hot Docs 2020

The timing couldn't be more fortuitous for the release of Mary Mazzio's uplifting documentary about the nation's first African American high school rowing team, which feels almost like a tonic for these troubled times. Narrated by Common and including NBA greats Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade among its executive producers, A Most Beautiful Thing, scheduled to open in theaters, powerfully demonstrates the healing potential of sports and the ways it can help bridge societal divides.

Where did the universe, humanity, our planet and chocolate ice cream come from? They were all created by a giant, all-powerful being made of spaghetti, with two googly-eyes on raised stalks and a pair of meatballs where cheeks would bulge. This is the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), and if there were any justice in the world, His story would stand as good a chance of being taught as fact in American schools as the anti-evolution narrative called Intelligent Design.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticTom Hanks shows what a commanding actor he can be from the first taut combat sequence of “Greyhound,” when the title warship, leading a convoy through the North Atlantic in the early months of World War II, spies a U-boat speeding toward it from a dozen miles away. As the German sub approaches, we hear a lot of rapid-fire military and navigational jargon shooting back and forth between the sailors (“Hydrophone effects slow rev, sounds like 60 RPM, sir!”).

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticEye-popping action steals the show in “Lupin III: The First,” the first computer-animated feature entry in the classic franchise about the French gentleman thief and master of disguise.

Richard Kuipers There’s a bit of everything and most of it works in “Chasing Dream,” the first feature directed by Hong Kong ace Johnnie To since “Three” in 2016.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticIn “17 Blocks,” Cheryl Sanford, matriarch of a low-income African American household in southeast Washington, D.C., talks wistfully of a “parallel universe” where she and her family enjoy cookouts, vacations and gift-filled Christmas mornings. This melancholy confession comes moments after a closeup of her casually snorting cocaine.

A persuasive argument, not that one should still be required, for handing women directors the reins more often on big-canvas action movies, The Old Guard represents a boldly assured step for Gina Prince-Bythewood away from the intimate romantic drama of strong previous work like Love & Basketball and Beyond the Lights.

Tom Grater, Jill Goldsmith Yesterday’s news that the European Union will not lift travel restrictions on the U.S. due to the scale of the country’s ongoing coronavirus outbreak prompted concerns about the re-start of American film and TV production based in Europe.As of today (July 1), travelers from 15 countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and China can cross borders into the EU, but the U.S.

Jill Goldsmith The Council of the European Union has kept restrictions on travel from the U.S. in place even as it lifts them for 15 other countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and China starting tomorrow, July 1.U.S.

iskwē stunned at the 2020 Juno Awards with a performance of her hit, "Little Star."

The 2020 Juno Awards make a pivot in light of the COVID-19 pandemic so everyone at home can celebrate Monday’s winners.

A Canadian company planned something very special for Pride Month.

Dino-Ray Ramos Associate Editor/ReporterWomen and Film, Los Angeles and The Black List unveiled the participants of the​ 2020 Feature Lab and Residency on Monday. The annual program is an expansion of the original writing lab which is a joint effort between WIF and The Black List.The program provides mentorship and career opportunities to seven rising women screenwriters over the course of a year.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been involving themselves in various philanthropic activities ever since they settled down in Los Angeles. The royal couple bid farewell to their Royal palace and duties back in April and flew to Canada with son Archie to begin a new chapter in their life.

Family Romance, LLC will be officially released for MUBI members on the streaming platform on July 4, after 24 hours of free streaming.The preview event will also offer an exclusive introduction and 15-minute Q&A interview with Herzog, who directed the film and also served as writer and cinematographer.The virtual preview will be available to stream in over 150 countries, including the US, Canada, India and Australia.The film, based on true events, follows a Tokyo-based company offering

We’ve already been locked up for three months, and just as restrictions have begun to ease this summer’s packed TV lineup is promising to keep us all indoors for many more weeks still.

Although it takes the form of an animated feature, writer-director Eiji Han Shimizu’s True North is definitely not for kids. But as a rare glimpse inside a North Korean prison camp, this grueling and poignant true-to-life tale can make for necessary viewing, especially for anyone interested in learning more about such an ongoing crime against humanity.

The 2020 ESPY Awards will be shifting the focus from outstanding athletic achievement to powerful conversations that address systemic racism head on.

The Weeknd and Caribou have been announced as nominees on the 2020 Polaris Music Prize longlist – check out the full run-down below.The annual awards ceremony celebrates Canada’s best full-length albums of the past 12 months.

Manori Ravindran International EditorCanada’s insurance solution for the film and TV industry could see a CAD$100 million ($75 million) government backstop instated to help productions restart in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Variety can reveal.Producers’ trade body, the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), has confirmed it has asked the federal government to contribute CAD$100 million ($75 million) to top up a “pledged reserve” of funds, pooled from the sale of