Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

Dicks The Musical: Half-cocked Spoof Fails to Rise to the Occasion

Dicks The Musical: Half-cocked Spoof Fails to Rise to the Occasion

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 19, 2023Dicks: The Musical, Larry Charles, TIFF 23, Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, Meagan Mullally, Bowen Yang, Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, Comedy, Sexual identity, The Parent TrapComment

Pain Hustlers: Finding the Funny in Fentanyl isn't What the Doctor Ordered

Pain Hustlers: Finding the Funny in Fentanyl isn't What the Doctor Ordered

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 19, 2023Based-in-fact comedy filmmaking, Adam-McKay, Pain Hustlers, David Yates, Wells Tower, Opioid crisis, Andy Garcia, Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Unprincipled pharma marketing, Catherine O'Hara Comment

Original-Cin Q&A: The Creators of Dicks: The Musical, on 'Going There' with Nathan Lane and Friends

Original-Cin Q&A: The Creators of Dicks: The Musical, on 'Going There' with Nathan Lane and Friends

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 19, 2023John Waters inspired sex camp, Dicks: The Musical, Josh Sharp, Aaron Jackson, TIFF Midnight Madness movies, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Borat director Larry Charles, Bowen YangComment

Anatomy of a Fall: Did He Jump or Did She Push?

Anatomy of a Fall: Did He Jump or Did She Push?

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 19, 2023Anatomy of a Fall, Palme d’Or at Cannes, TIFF 23, Justine Triet, Sandra Hüller, Milo Machado Graner, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Camille Rutherford, Antoine Reinartz, Drama, European, legal drama, Courtroom dramaComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Nyad Directors & Trainer Recall the Epic Cuba/Florida Swim and Card Games With Actors Bening and Foster

Original-Cin Q&A: Nyad Directors & Trainer Recall the Epic Cuba/Florida Swim and Card Games With Actors Bening and Foster

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 18, 2023Nyad movie, Long distance swimmer Diana Nyad, Swimming from Cuba to Florida, Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Bonnie Stoll, Free Solo directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy ChinComment

The Persian Version: Nifty Bits Boost Cross-Cultural Mother-Daughter Conflict

The Persian Version: Nifty Bits Boost Cross-Cultural Mother-Daughter Conflict

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 18, 2023Maryam Keshavarz, Niousha Noor, Layla Mohammadi, Mother-daughter, Cross Cultural, Comedy, Drama, LQBT, Sundance, The Persian VersionComment

Killers of the Flower Moon: Scorsese at His Best Documents America at its Worst

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 17, 2023Killers of The Flower Moon, Adaptation, David Grann, Eric Roth, Marin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tantoo Cardinal, Lily Gladstone, American, Based on a true story, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow Comments

John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams: It Wouldn’t Be Halloween Without Him

John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams: It Wouldn’t Be Halloween Without Him

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 16, 2023John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams, John Carpenter., Horror, Halloween, Drama, Based on a true story, fact based dramaComment

Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal Person: Bloodless in the Best Way

Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal Person: Bloodless in the Best Way

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 13, 2023Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal Person, TIFF 23, Ariane Louis-Seize, Félix-Antoine Bénard, Sara Montpetit, Canadian, Quebec films, French language, Vampire-comedyComment

Original-Cin Interview: Relax, I’m From the Future’s Director on Opportune Casting

Original-Cin Interview: Relax, I’m From the Future’s Director on Opportune Casting

By Chris Knight

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 12, 2023Rhys Darby, Luke Higginson, Relax, I’m From the Future, Sci fi, Time travel films, Canadian filmComment

Lessons In Chemistry: Brie Larson Stars in Feminist Cooking Show Fable

Lessons In Chemistry: Brie Larson Stars in Feminist Cooking Show Fable

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 11, 2023Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV +, Lee Eisenberg, Bonnie Garmus, Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King, Alice Halsey, Adaptation, Period pieceComment

Foe: Faux Portrait of a Post-Apocalyptic Marriage

Foe: Faux Portrait of a Post-Apocalyptic Marriage

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 11, 2023Post apocalyptic stories, Climate change, Foe, Humans leaving Earth to survive, Artificial intelligence, Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre, Garth Davis, Iain ReidComment

October: A Month of Festivals to Improve the World - Planet in Focus, ImagineNATIVE, Rendezvous With Madness

October: A Month of Festivals to Improve the World - Planet in Focus, ImagineNATIVE, Rendezvous With Madness

By Liam Lacey

PreviewJim SlotekOctober 10, 2023Social issue themed film festivals, Planet in Focus, imagineNative, Rendezvous with Madness, Atilla, s-yéwyáw/Awaken, How to Blow Up a PipelineComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Strange Planet's Nathan W. Pyle on 'Jitter Liquid,' 'Star Damage' and Whether ETs Wear Socks

Original-Cin Q&A: Strange Planet's Nathan W. Pyle on 'Jitter Liquid,' 'Star Damage' and Whether ETs Wear Socks

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 6, 2023Webcomics, Strange Planet, The, The world through alien eyes, Nathan W. Pyle, Apple+, Tunde Adebimpe, Demi Adejuyigbe, Danny PudiComment

She Came To Me: An Ostentatiously Odd Sort-Of Comedy

She Came To Me: An Ostentatiously Odd Sort-Of Comedy

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 6, 2023Quirky relationship comedies, She Came to Me, Rebecca Miller, Personal Velocity, Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei, Artistic characters with creative blockComment

Strange Way of Life/The Human Voice: The Short and the Short of Almodovar's Mojo

Strange Way of Life/The Human Voice: The Short and the Short of Almodovar's Mojo

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 5, 2023Pedro Almodovar, Director's first short films in English, Strange Way of Life, The Human Voice, Gay-themed Western, Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal, Tilda SwintonComment

Joan Baez: I Am A Noise: Her Private, Public and Secret Life Dovetail in New Doc

Joan Baez: I Am A Noise: Her Private, Public and Secret Life Dovetail in New Doc

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 5, 2023Joan Baez, Music documentaries, Politically active musicians, Joan Baez: I Am A Noise, Karen O'Connor, Miri Navasky and Maeve O'Boyle, Mimi Fariña, Bob Dylan, David Harris, Repressed memories of abuse Comments

The Exorcist Believer: Hell Hath No Fury Like an Exorcist Scorned

The Exorcist Believer: Hell Hath No Fury Like an Exorcist Scorned

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 5, 2023The Exorcist: Believer, Horror, Reboots of classic films, Reboot, David Gordon Green, Lidya Jewett, Leslie Odom Jr., Olivia O’Neill, Ellen BurstynComment

Relax, I’m from the Future: Time Is a Blob, not a Line!

Relax, I’m from the Future: Time Is a Blob, not a Line!

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekOctober 4, 2023Relax, I’m from the Future, Luke Higginson, Rhys Darby, Gabrielle Graham, Janine Theriault, Julian Richings, Time travel films, Canadian comedy, sci-fiComment

Original-Cin Q&A: The Royal Hotel's Kitty Green on The Outback and Women Living Dangerously

Original-Cin Q&A: The Royal Hotel's Kitty Green on The Outback and Women Living Dangerously

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekOctober 3, 2023Julia Garner, The Assistant, The Royal Hotel, Australian Outback, Women in dangerously remote situations, Jessica Henwick, Kitty Green, Hugo WeavingComment