Articles — Original Cin

Since 2017: Career film critics continuing the conversation

Original-Cin Chat: James L. Brooks, Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks talk Ella McCay

Original-Cin Chat: James L. Brooks, Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks talk Ella McCay

By Jim Slotek

InterviewJim SlotekDecember 9, 2025Ella McCay, Politically themed comedy, Emma Mackey, James L. Brooks, Albert Brooks, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julie Kavner, Movies set during the Obama administration, Jack Lowden, Rebecca HallComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Percy Jackson's Cast and Creator on Chariot Racing and enduring The Ironclad

Original-Cin Q&A: Percy Jackson's Cast and Creator on Chariot Racing and enduring The Ironclad

By John Kirk

Jim SlotekDecember 8, 2025Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Second season of young gods, The Sea of Monsters, Walker Scobel, Leah Sava Jeffries, Daniel Diemer, Creator Rick Riordan, Chariot racing, Authors creating TV adaptationsComment

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Young Gods Keep True in Season Two

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Young Gods Keep True in Season Two

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 8, 2025Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Second season of young gods, The Sea of Monsters, Walker Scobel, Leah Sava Jeffries, Daniel Diemer, Aryan Simhadri, Creator Rick RiordanComment

Wake Up Dead Man: Rian Johnson Delivers a Holy Gift for Mystery Lovers

Wake Up Dead Man: Rian Johnson Delivers a Holy Gift for Mystery Lovers

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 5, 2025The Knives Out series, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Whodunnits, Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, Murder in a church, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Director Rian Johnson, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden ChurchComment

Five Nights at Freddy's 2: Animatronics Unbound, More In-Jokes for Gamers

Five Nights at Freddy's 2: Animatronics Unbound, More In-Jokes for Gamers

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 4, 2025Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Movie versions of popular video games, Creator Scott Cawthon, Murderous animatronics, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew LillardComment

Merrily We Roll Along: Sondheim’s 1981 “Flop” Completes Its Comeback

Merrily We Roll Along: Sondheim’s 1981 “Flop” Completes Its Comeback

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 4, 2025Merrily We Roll Along, Maria Friedman, Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendez, Broadway, Movies based on Broadway musicals, Stephen Sondheim, MusicalComment

The Secret Agent: 70s-Era Brazilian Thriller with an Absurdist Twist One of the Year’s Best

The Secret Agent: 70s-Era Brazilian Thriller with an Absurdist Twist One of the Year’s Best

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 3, 2025The Secret Agent, TIFF '25, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Wagner Moura, Alice Carvahlo, Maria Fernando Cândido, Brazilian, Drama, Thriller, Political thriller, Portuguese, CannesComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendez & Jonathan Groff on Stage Hit’s Leap to the Screen

Original-Cin Q&A: Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendez & Jonathan Groff on Stage Hit’s Leap to the Screen

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekDecember 1, 2025Maria Friedman, Broadway, Based on a Broadway musical, Merrily We Roll Along, Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendez, Jonathan Groff, Musical, Stephen Sondheim, George FurthComment

Stranger Things Season Five: In Praise of the Keepers of the Role-Playing-Game Flame

Stranger Things Season Five: In Praise of the Keepers of the Role-Playing-Game Flame

By John Kirk

ReviewJim SlotekDecember 1, 2025Stranger Things Season 5, Dungeons & Dragons, The role of role-playing games, Show creators the Duffer Brothers, Noah Schnapp, Joseph Quinn, Millie Bobby Brown, Madeleine L'Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Winona RydeComment

Eternity: Till Death Do Us Part? Not So Fast!

Eternity: Till Death Do Us Part? Not So Fast!

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 27, 2025Eternity, TIFF '25, David Freyne, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, Miles Teller, Movies about the afterlife, Drama, ComedyComment

Original-Cin Chat: Zacharias Kunuk on Trolls, The Fog Lady, and True Love in Wrong Husband

Original-Cin Chat: Zacharias Kunuk on Trolls, The Fog Lady, and True Love in Wrong Husband

By Liam Lacey

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 27, 2025Zacharias Kunuk, TIFF '25, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband), Canadian films, Canadian films at TIFF, Theresia Kappianaq, Haiden Angutimarik, Inuit directors, Drama, Fable, Indigenous storytellingComment

Original-Cin Q&A: Meadowlarks Director, Star on Unravelling a Fraught Indigenous Story

Original-Cin Q&A: Meadowlarks Director, Star on Unravelling a Fraught Indigenous Story

By Bonnie Laufer

InterviewJim SlotekNovember 25, 2025Meadowlarks, TIFF '25, Tasha Hubbard, Michael Greyeyes, Carmen Moore, Alex Rice, Michelle Thrush, Indigenous storytelling, Drama, Canadian, Based on a true storyComment

Hamnet: The Play's Ultimately the Thing, But Family, Love and Loss Make It Linger

Hamnet: The Play's Ultimately the Thing, But Family, Love and Loss Make It Linger

By Jim Slotek

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 24, 2025Screen depictions of Shakespeare's family, Hamnet, Author Maggie O’Farrell, Chloé Zhao, Stories of the plague, Jessie Buckley), Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Jacobi Jupe, Cinematographer Lukasz Zal, Awards season moviesComment

Sisu: Road to Revenge — Because Apparently the First One Wasn’t Wild Enough

Sisu: Road to Revenge — Because Apparently the First One Wasn’t Wild Enough

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 21, 2025Sisu sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge, Amplified violence, Director Jalmari Helander, Finland’s answer to John Wick, Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard BrakeComment

Blossoms Shanghai: Wong Kar-wai's 30-Episode Love Letter to the Robust City of his Birth

Blossoms Shanghai: Wong Kar-wai's 30-Episode Love Letter to the Robust City of his Birth

By Alice Shih

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 20, 2025Wong Kar-Wai, Film directors taking on TV series, Blossoms Shanghai, Jin Yucheng, Mao Dun literary Prize, '90s Shanghai as a moneymaking Wild West, Ge Hu, Zhilei Xin, Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival, The Sun Rises on Us All, Yan Tang, Yili Ma Comments

Rental Family: Brendan Fraser Anchors a Tale of Actors in Japan Whose Roles Offer Real-Life Help

Rental Family: Brendan Fraser Anchors a Tale of Actors in Japan Whose Roles Offer Real-Life Help

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 20, 2025American actors in Japan, Real life actors-as-therapists industry, Rental Family, Co-writer/director Hikari, Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Bun Kimura, Shannon Gorman, Akira EmotoComment

Wicked For Good: If You Fell Under Wicked’s Spell, This One’s Worth the Wait

Wicked For Good: If You Fell Under Wicked’s Spell, This One’s Worth the Wait

By Chris Knight

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 19, 2025Wicked: For Good, Sequel, Musical, Jon Chu, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Based on a Broadway musicalComment

Jay Kelly: High-Wattage Cast Unserved by Director Noah Baumbach’s Wobbly Satire

Jay Kelly: High-Wattage Cast Unserved by Director Noah Baumbach’s Wobbly Satire

By Kim Hughes

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 17, 2025Jay Kelly, Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer, George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, Jim Broadbent, Riley Keough, Netflix, Drama, Comedy, DramedyComment

The Beast in Me: Ace Casting Propels New Netflix Cat-and-Mouse Thriller

The Beast in Me: Ace Casting Propels New Netflix Cat-and-Mouse Thriller

By Karen Gordon

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 13, 2025The Beast in Me, Netflix films, Thriller, Claire Danes, Matthew Rhys, Jonathan Banks, Deidre O’Connell, Brittany Snow, Natalie MoralesComment

The Running Man: A Good Run, But Not Wright’s Fastest

The Running Man: A Good Run, But Not Wright’s Fastest

By Thom Ernst

ReviewJim SlotekNovember 13, 2025Re-imagining The Running Man, Director Edgar Wright, The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stephen King, Michael Cera, Glen Powell, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin, William H. Macy, Martin Herlihy, Sean HayesComment