Reel Encounters

If there’s one thing that remains true about the box-office, year after year, it’s that horror films are a sure bet.

The opening credits of “Birds of Passage” are written in blood-red.

Of the nine films currently showing in local cinemas, six of them are either giant studio-remakes or sequels.

Throughout “Rocketman,” the new Elton John biopic with the stylised title of one of his most famous songs, I kept trying to think of a better name for the film.

In recent weeks, the newest Disney remake “Aladdin” and the third instalment of the “John Wick” action franchise have been dominating the sales at local cinemas.

Growing up is hard to do, whether your world is real or a fantasy.

The new romantic comedy “Long Shot” depends on a number of well-worn romantic tropes.

By either some coincidence or the predominance of nostalgia, we currently have two films in theatres heavily inspired by two comedies from the 1980s.

“Avengers: Endgame” picks up immediately after the end of the previous Avengers film, “Infinity War,” as we see the effect of Thanos’ great snap – culling all the living organisms on earth by half.

During a tense scene in the newly released “Hotel Mumbai,” a pair of gunmen enter a hotel-room toilet in search of a victim.

Amidst the ongoing battle between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe for dominance, the arrival of “Shazam” feels significant because of its divergence.

With the current state of things, it seems only a matter of time before every animated Disney film is refashioned and remade as a live-action film to sustain us on a constant diet of Disney content.

Jordan Peele made his directorial debut to critical acclaim in 2017 with the American horror film “Get Out.”

You really can’t put a price on representation. There is nothing quite like seeing shades of your life vividly represented in the media you consume.

“Triple Frontier” is a riff on a particular song. Five former soldiers, bound by their shared scars, team up to pull off a daring heist.

The final battle in “Captain Marvel” is a one-on-one fight between our hero and the film’s primary villain.

We hear the faintest sound of rabbits frolicking during the opening seconds of “The Favourite,” even before we see anything.

What a difference five months makes. “Green Book” was the last film I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Ten years ago, Henry Selick’s “Coraline” premiered as the first feature from animated movie studio Laika.

The title of the thriller/psychodrama/melodrama “Serenity” is a misnomer. The film justifies the title because Serenity is the name of a boat where a great deal of the film’s action is set.