Richard Linklater’s confectionary romcom tears the house down at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Paradoxically breezy yet unpredictable, Hit Man is a full-blooded rejuvenation of its genre, buoyed by volcanic chemistry and capital “M” movie star performances from Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. A movie about self-actualization and the moral chasms we pave over, it’s sexy, funny, and just a little twisted. Minor spoilers ahead…

Crackling with confident, formal prowess and visual electricity, M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin is the director’s best film since 2004’s The Village. A family’s impossible choice framed by ratcheting tension and blistering performances, Shyamalan’s latest nerve-jangler is a chamber piece artfully designed to quicken pulses and break hearts. There isn’t a single wasted shot in Knock at the Cabin’s firecracker, 100-minute runtime: it’s astonishing to watch. Minor spoilers ahead…

Detective Benoît Blanc is back in another intricate whodunit in Rian Johnson’s sprawling sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. A new location, a new mystery, and a new cabal of suspicious, bumbling elites are at the center of yet another murder, and it’s up to the world-renowned gumshoe to solve the case. Glass Onion is frantic and far from the airtight elegance of its predecessor, but Johnson’s wit and craft remain electrifyingly. Frequently surprising, frequently uproarious, this is one mystery you won’t want revealed ahead of time. Minor spoilers ahead…

This marks my second year attending Toronto International Film Festival virtually. And while I won’t be able to access some of the biggest screenings - here’s looking at you, Dune, Last Night in Soho, Spencer, and Power of the Dog - this allows me to cover a wide range of smaller films, and my favorite slate of TIFF: Midnight Madness. Some of my planned coverage includes Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the Danish thriller The Guilty, Jimmy Chin and Chai Vaserhelyi’s cave rescue doc The Rescue, and Rob Savage’s second pandemic-era horror film DASHCAM. All reviews in viewing order…

Once again, I have the privilege of being invited as accredited press to Fantasia Festival, North America’s largest genre film festival. With a larger focus on Asian genre cinema and some eye-popping premieres, this year’s festival will undoubtedly be a cinematic feast. This page will be your portal to my coverage, a full list of all of my Fantasia Festival 2021 film reviews. All reviews in viewing order…

Kicking the moral complexities of his bracing “Frontier Trilogy” to the curb, Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead is a by-the-numbers action thriller buoyed by its character work and unique setting. A properly subdued performance showcases Angelina Jolie’s quiet gravitas, revealing just how much her presence has been missed on the big screen. Its narrative may be thin, but Those Who Wish Me Dead’s dual threats of ruthless assassins and unforgiving elemental forces leave a lasting impression. Minor spoilers ahead…

Welcome to my coverage of 2021’s Sundance Film Festival! Far away from the hustle and bustle of its usual Park City home, this year’s festival - like many before it - has been transformed into a virtual experience due to COVID-19, but that doesn’t diminish the caliber of its offerings. This year’s festival sees a variety of special film events, such as a robust short film program, a wide selection of genre showings, and gala presentations. This year marks my first year as accredited press at Sundance, and I’m so excited to be able to review a selection from the festival. You can find my entire coverage here.

Whether it’s the gala premieres or its NEXT and Midnight titles, there’s plenty of genre fare to go around at Sundance. I watched a ton of films at the festival this year, and even though I would like to, it’s impossible for me to write full-length reviews for everything. So, here’s a special edition of Strange Harbors Capsule Reviews, covering the wide range of this year’s genre films at Sundance. Minor spoilers ahead…

Welcome to my coverage of 2021’s Sundance Film Festival! Far away from the hustle and bustle of its usual Park City home, this year’s festival - like many before it - has been transformed into a virtual experience due to COVID-19, but that doesn’t diminish the caliber of its offerings. This year’s festival sees a variety of special film events, such as a robust short film program, a wide selection of genre showings, and gala presentations. This year marks my first year as accredited press at Sundance, and I’m so excited to be able to review a selection from the festival. You can find my entire coverage here.

This year, I have the privilege of being invited as accredited press to Fantasia Festival 2020, North America’s largest genre film festival. This is my very first experience at a film festival as press, and even though it’s mostly digital due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m extremely excited to be among the first to see some of the best genre films from all around the world. This page will be your portal to my coverage. I’ll be working my way through plenty of titles, some that won’t see full release until next year. All of my reviews will be in viewing order…