Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Goodbye 2021. Hello 2022. Another weird year in the books.
I got asked two questions over and over this year. Every day someone asks me, “May I see your vaccine passport?” Every other day someone asks, “Do you think movies theatres will ever go back to normal?”
The answer is always an unabashed, “yes.” Theatres are open but audiences haven’t flooded back to fill seats (unless the name of the movie is "Spider-Man: No Way Home"), but I think they will.
Why?
It’s not just the lure of the popcorn or the Twizzlers. It’s an age-old ritual.
During the pandemic we've gotten used to watching movies at home or on our phones, but no matter what setup you have in your living room, the thing missing is the ancient practice of sharing entertainment with a large group of strangers.
It’s a primal thing, hardwired into our DNA, that dates back to when tribes of cave dwellers would sit around fires and tell stories through to the Globe Theatre, vaudeville, the talkies and right up to today’s IMAX and AUX screenings.
People have gathered to be entertained since there were tales to be told because there is no better way to enjoy the storytelling experience than surrounded by strangers who are laughing, crying, gasping — whatever — in response to a shared event.
In our double- and tripled-vaxxed era, no matter how large your TV or comfortable your sofa, home viewing misses the magical element of community. And these days we need as much of that as we can get. In the theatre you're getting the sound and the picture the director intended, but more than that, the experience brings people together, inspires conversation, respect and triggers actual physical interaction with others. Try that as you stream a movie on your iPhone.
In the wake of Omicron, the variant with the name of a supervillain, and whatever comes next, we may be hesitant to flock back to theatres but, when it is safe, I believe we will. I like the way English novelist Angela Carter described watching a film in a theatre. She called it "dreaming the same dream in unison" and that, for me, will never go out of style.
So, without further ado, here, in alphabetical order, is my "Nice" list of the films that made going to the movies in 2021, a pleasurable communal experience.
The search for identity is not a new concept in coming-of-age films but the First Nations context here, combined with Kiawentiio's breakout performance, make "Beans" important, vital cinema.
Every frame of "Belfast" radiates with the warmth of the connection Buddy shares with his family, and his family's relationship to their home and country. But set against a time of upheaval, this is a family drama, but not a political one.
"King Richard" may be the most inspirational movie of the year. Maybe ever. There is uplift in almost every frame.
"Licorice Pizza" is kind of flipping through a diary. Some details are vivid, some glossed over, but everything is relevant to the experience being written about. Like diary entries, the movie is episodic. Each passing episode allows us to get to know Gary and Alana a bit better, and just as importantly, reminds us what it means to be young and in love.
This image released by MGM shows Cooper Hoffman, left, and Alana Haim in a scene from "Licorice Pizza." (Melinda Sue Gordon/MGM via AP)
Like the people it documents, "Lift Like a Girl" is dynamic and scrappy, but still wears its heart on its pumped-up sleeve.
"Mass" is raw and real, devastating, nuanced and sombre, a beautifully acted study in misery that allows for a flicker of hope.
"Mogul Mowgli" occasionally bites off more than it can chew, but as uncomfortable as it can get, it is never less than compelling.
"Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" provides an emotionally raw portrait of a gifted, charismatic man who travelled the world but never quite figured out where he needed to be.
"Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm" is an exercise in nostalgia, but it's an entertaining one. A look back at rock 'n' roll's first residential studio, it's a guided tour through several generations of British rock's guitar.
Despite a rather joyous finale, "Spencer" has more to do with a psychological horror film than a traditional biopic.
"Tick, Tick... Boom!" is a celebration of the creative process and the following of dreams, director Lin-Manuel Miranda brings "Rent" composer Jonathan Larson's story to life with equal parts reverence and joy.'
This image released by Netflix shows Andrew Garfield, left, and Alexandra Shipp in a scene from 'Tick, Tick...Boom!' (Macall Polay/Netflix via AP)
"The Tragedy of Macbeth" is accessible without ever playing down to the audience. Masterful filmmaking mixes and matches the text with compelling images and wonderful performances to create a new take on the Scottish Play that is both respectful and fearlessly fresh.
"Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street" is a loving portrait, painted with clips that are sure to trigger happy memories for those who grew up watching the show, or even watching kids as they watched the show.
"Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" brims with excitement, pain, hope and, of course, dynamic performances and great music.
The storytelling in "The Velvet Underground" is linear, but the visuals are an idiosyncratic eyeful that match the ambitious nature of the music.
"West Side Story" is Spielberg's most compelling film in years. It reinvents, reimagines and re-contextualizes a classic story with energy, respect and lots of finger snapping.
This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Ariana DeBose as Anita, foreground left, and David Alvarez as Bernardo in "West Side Story." (Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios via AP)
An IMDB search reveals the name Above Suspicion has been used at least twelve times, dating back to 1943. This most recent addition to the ever-growing list of Above Suspicion titled movies is about as generic as the common name would imply.
"The Addams Family 2" is goofy, not ooky, with none of the eccentric charm of the 1960s TV show.
"The Comeback Trail" sings the praises of the power of the movies to inspire and transform lives. Film fans may enjoy the sentiment but they likely won't be as impressed by the slack pacing and obvious telegraphing of joke after joke.
"French Dispatch" is the most Wes Anderson-y film in the Wes Anderson playbook. If you forced a bot to watch 1,000 hours of Anderson's films and then asked it to write a movie on its own, "The French Dispatch" would be the result.
This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows, from left, Elisabeth Moss, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Fisher Stevens and Griffin Dunne in a scene from "The French Dispatch." (Searchlight Pictures via AP)
The first half of "Halloween Kills" offers up some fun when Myers is onscreen, lumbering his way toward another victim. Unfortunately, it's less fun when the vigilante mob endlessly chants "evil dies tonight."
The first movie was an over-the-top mish mash of exotic locations, violence, jokes and romance. The sequel, "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard," contains all those elements, but is somehow less than the sum of its parts.
The drama in "The Ice Road" quickly melts away like ice before a fire, leaving behind a residue of clichés, long, drawn out action and fight scenes, and dialogue borrowed from a hundred other, better action movies. A long and winding road to nowhere.
The lo-fi story of "Let Us In" relies on throwback practical effects, dark contact lenses and loads of alabastrine makeup, but the hair on the back of your neck will never stand up.
Nicolas Cage brings his patented oddball performance style along for the ride but even that isn't enough to give "Primal's" bland storytelling and lazy action some zip.
Nicolas Cage is pictured in a scene from the film "Primal." (Daniel Grodnik Productions)
"The Seventh Day" seeks to reinvent the exorcism movie via the buddy cop genre but succeeds only in combing the most hackneyed bits of each.
A strange mix of heartfelt drama and slapstick comedy, "The Starling" relies on very likable actors to try and bring a sense of balance to the material but not even McCarthy, Kline and O'Dowd can bend this mishmash of tones into a cohesive whole.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.