Reel Encounters

One of my favourite creative moments in any medium is the beginning of the finale of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Sunday in the Park with George”.

There’s an undercurrent of restrained anxiety throughout the six episodes of the new Netflix miniseries, “The Chair”.

The acronym CODA – child of deaf adults – is, perhaps, an unusual name for the new Apple TV+ family drama.

There’s a lot happening in the computer-animated musical comedy “Vivo”. At its centre, it’s about the power of music, and seeking to prove that a single song can change a life.

How might things have been different if Marvel had decided to produce a “Black Widow” film that opened in 2017 to explore the past of Natasha Romanoff?

I’ve spent way too much time marvelling at the oddity of the title of Steve Soderbergh’s new crime drama, “No Sudden Move”.

There’s a bowling alley sequence in the early parts of “Gunpowder Milkshake” that sets up the full gamut of the tedium which will soon come to represent the film.

Are the “Conjuring” movies the most intriguing franchise of this century?

Poland. December 31. 1999. Four hours before midnight, and a 22-year-old man (Sebastian) takes a TV presenter and a security guard hostage.

“Zola” opens with the strains of a wistful piano as we watch two young women apply their makeup in a room that seems full of mirrors.

François Ozon’s “Summer of 85” feels like it’s juggling three different films in markedly different registers over the course of its 100-minutes runtime.

When “Love, Simon” premiered in 2018, it made headlines as the first major Hollywood studio film to focus on a gay teenage romance.

The opening moments of “Tragic Jungle” feature its best sequence. We hear, before we see, the forested jungle that will define the narrative to come.

In the climax of Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge!”, Nicole Kidman’s distraught Satine sings out a verse to her retreating lover, Christian, in a moment of affecting metatextuality.

“Cruella”, like many recent Disney live-action films, does not exist on its own – it’s signalling to the past and to the future in a kind of never-ending state of prolepsis.

Zack Snyder’s enthusiasm has always been his most distinctive characteristic as a filmmaker.

“French Exit”, Azazel Jacobs’ new film takes place in a world removed from our own.

About a decade ago I took my nephew, a child at the time, to see a rare live production of “Sesame Street” that was touring the region.

There’s a recurring scene in “The Disciple” that presents a critical window into its desolate world.

Later tonight the Academy Awards will – finally – close the curtain on the strange year in movies that was 2020.