Seen in September

Rocky and Rylan in Project Hail Mary

End of summertime viewing. The beginning of the fall schedule. Remember when TV had seasons? No? Don't worry, it never mattered much. For the first time in a long time I saw a couple of Toronto International Film Festival mantinees. I thought the cost of tickets would deter the crowds but that didn't seem to happen ("gala" screenings cost over a $100 a seat, while "regular" old films in the festival went for about $35). One great thing about seeing a movie during a festival is actually the audience, not the film itself. Everyone is usually into it and are up for whatever they're about to see, and that feeling might be worth the cost of admission.

Project Hail Mary
Prime Video
Ryan Gosling saves the world, and then another world. Rylan Grace (Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship with temporary amnesia (presumably caused by the hibernation process he’s just woken from) and pieces together what led to his predicament. The predicament is that he’s the only surviving astronaut sent to find out what is killing our sun. This sci-fi story is from Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, so it’s a fun mix of actual science and actual fiction. Along the way, we discover Grace wasn’t really the typical hero you might expect sent to save the Earth. He also meets and collaborates with an alien who he nicknames Rocky based on the alien’s appearance. There are a lot of fun “what-ifs” and set pieces that have a satisfying (if slightly open) ending.

Pompeii: Out of Time
Disney+
Did you know Tom Hiddleston studied Classics and learned Latin at university? Well, now you do because he won’t shut up about it. Hiddleston’s interest in antiquity and the real human tragedy of Pompeii is at the core of this limited series that walks us through the volcanic explosion that led to the loss of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The plaintiff.

Coyote vs Acme
This movie, based on a one-page comedic short in the New Yorker, Coyote v. Acme, was highly anticipated, if only just to see it make it to theatres. A contemporary financial strategy of studios like Warner Brothers has become to burn millions of dollars making a film only to decide the result is more valuable as a tax write-off. I suppose the calculus is that instead of paying for marketing and distribution, you simply shelve the film and use the cost to balance the books. Fortunately, that business-savvy cynicism lost out in this case as Hollywood creators let fans know this is a good film and deserved better than being a line item in an accountant’s ledger. As a fan of Looney Tunes, I enjoyed seeing the cast of characters come back to life in a Roger Rabbit-like movie that had cartoons living among live-action actors. One thing I didn't like was the washed out colouring of the film. I assume that was a choice to make the cartoon characters pop more on screen but I would say it gave the entire movie an unappealing pallor. It is amazing to me that Warner’s has squandered these characters in a way that, say, Disney or the Muppets never would. We find Wiley E. Coyote convincing a small claims lawyer to take on the Amazon-like mega corporation, ACME, in a civil suit. Is Wiley really looking for reparations, or is his genius-level scheming something more? As one reviewer said, this might be the most surprising anti-corporate film of the year.

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I am Someone's Boomer

You might be old if…

There was a point when I realized that I had become the thing I hate. The establishment. As it turned out, I loved it. Yet, just as my peeps became the adjudicators of culture, it was over. For a moment, we were a small but powerful lobby. I recall seeing the film Spider-Man: Homecoming and was struck by how the music was my music. At first, I thought, “This soundtrack is awesome. The Ramones, The English Beat, Flock of Seagulls, Spoon!” These are Gen Xer touchstones. Then I thought, “Hey? What’s going on here?” Turns out, my nostalgia was the new discovery for the kiddos. Not fair! Get your own music, you entitled brats! Oh, they have their own music… but now they’re taking ownership of our music too? Growing up in the 70s and 80s, one thing that bothered me was the ever present Boomers who made television, films and controlled the music of our airwaves. It took me years to accept Bob Dylan's talent because I was simply too exhausted from hearing Boomers make a saint out of old guy who sang in an uninterpretable mumble.

It is amusing when someone “discovers” something “new” without realizing that isn’t new in any way other than to themselves. I just saw a post about someone discovering technical draughting pens, of the type I used in school and had been used by my professors before me, as the new great thing. They are not new, nor great. They clog like the Dickens and are impossible to clean. I do remember those moments as a kid when I’d learn something mind-blowing only to hear everyone else has known it all along. I once came home from school asking our mother if she knew the human heart didn’t look anything like a cartoon Valentine. When she laughed and said, “Of course,” my only thought was, “Why didn’t you tell me? What else do you know?” But… kids today (yes, I hear it), digital natives that they are, act like they invented the Internet. I have really bad news for you. Some Boomers invented the Internet, so, you know, blame them for its continuing decline.

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Amore Librorum

Book Bar, Toronto. Photo by Maya Visneyei. See more here.

“…nearly half of all women read just one novel or short story in 2022, but only one in four men did.”
- Alaina Demopoulos, The Guardian, 03 Sep 2026

“Reading scores among American 12th-graders have fallen to their lowest level since testing began in 1992, with 32% of seniors performing below basic. The share of adults on the bottom rung of the international literacy survey rose from 19% in 2017 to 28% in 2023. Harvard’s Martin West notes that just 14% of 13-year-olds read for fun almost every day in 2023, down from 27% in 2012.”
- Lee Escobedo, The Guardian, 15 Aug, 2026

I’d like to say I read a lot as a teenager in the 1980s because I wanted to maintain high academic standards, or that I knew it would sharpen my mind and critical thinking across many disciplines, but none of that was true. It was pure escapism. It was easier to read a good book than do homework. It was easier to read a book when the main TV was showing news. There was no chance of watching videos on a phone. If you wanted a video, you had to drive 20 minutes to the closest video store and rent one. There was no social media and no distracting Internet. The Internet was for scientists and soldiers, and maybe deviant nerds. In all those ways, it’s easier to see how books were the cheapest and most accessible forms of escape. For me now, it’s still true. The easiest way to forget about war, famine, the climate crisis, or the Cheeto in Chief is reading about something entirely different and completely made up. I read a lot and usually have two or three books on my nightstand. The downside is I read very slowly, so the list of what I want to read expands at an ever greater rate than I could ever keep up with.

This love of reading also has led to a love of bookstores. It’s odd how many people love an independent neighbourhood bookstore (in a Hallmark Christmas movie), yet most bookstores, even successful ones, are always hanging on by a thread. Most local businesses know that bookshops act as magnets to the neighbourhood. Ironically, Barnes & Noble, once the antithesis of small local bookstores, have revitalized their business by treating each of their own locations as an independent bookseller. I buy a fair number of books, which is a problem because they take up so much room, though fortunately, I also like being surrounded by books. I’ve gone to bookstores with others who were not at all interested, and it sort of breaks my heart a bit and confounds me. Standing in a well-stocked bookshop to me is like being in a fancy patisserie surrounded by cakes or a gallery of fine jewels. Being surrounded by so many things that catch your eye can be overwhelming and make me a bit giddy - like a clotheshorse standing in a vintage clothing store.

Toronto has some great bookstores, not just for what they sell but how welcoming the store is. I’ve been making it a quiet side quest to visit them all this summer. I may have to expand into autumn. I’ve put them in order of geographic proximity if you ever wanted to try and do your own version of the New York Times Book Crawl right here in Toronto.

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Seen in August

Never look a gift horse in the mouth… look in the belly.

Summer brings the sun, the lightning, the bugs, the ice cream, the hay fever, the bike rides and the movies.

The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s imagining of the classic 2000-year-old story of Odysseus as told by Greek poet Homer is suitably epic. It apparently took over 12 hours for Homer to recite his poem, so critics should excuse Nolan for leaving some stuff out. While the original poem touched on themes of homecoming, longing and resilience, this modern take depicts “the cunning” Odysseus (Matt Damon) as a softened, damaged war veteran. The visual experience of the film is hard to deny, but there are moments of dialogue that sound a bit like a first draught. It’s very believable that Nolan writes his film chronologically in one sitting - perhaps without rewrites. Despite that, there are scenes, such as warriors hiding in a wooden horse, the depiction of Circe’s (Samantha Morton) witchcraft, and the vision of Cyclops that were wholly new and powerful. Odysseus’ stay with Calypso (Charlize Theron), however, as others have said, felt more like a beach holiday resort. I actually prefer The Return with Ralf Fiennes as a rumination of the effect of war on those touched by it, but there’s no denying Nolan’s monumental achievement regardless of how much it may be praised or criticized.

A holiday never looked hotter.

La Piscine (The Swimming Pool)
Criterion Channel
I’m not sure a sexier cast has ever been assembled for this French thriller/sexual drama. Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider) are enjoying a sunny St. Tropez summer holiday in a fantastic villa with a beautiful pool when Marianne receives a phone call and casually invites her ex-lover Harry to join them. Harry (Maurice Ronet) appears with his teenage daughter. The flirty interactions with Harry and Marianne put Jean-Paul’s nose out of joint. It doesn’t help that Harry’s daughter, Penelope, is the striking Jane Birkin, who draws Jean-Paul’s gaze. There are some dated sequences and maddening plot turns that may put off some viewers. Yet, it’s the measured pace that gives this film its summertime vibe and adds tension between the characters. A recent remake (or film inspired by) with Tilda Swinton and Ralf Fiennes, A Bigger Splash, injects a lot more tension and viability to the whole proceedings in my opinion, and it’s also got a great summer tone set on an Italian island instead of the French Riviera.

Pluribus S01
Apple TV+
Imagine a zombie/alien invasion film where the zombies and aliens turn out to be really nice. The premise of this series is that an alien virus has turned most of the world’s population into a very pleasant hive mind, which is to say everyone is really just one. Except for a dozen people with natural immunity, including our protagonist and the rest of Earth’s antagonist, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn). This is my favourite kind of sci-fi. There are no laser battles, lovable green aliens or artificial gravity, but the story keeps trying to address the “What if?” questions that get murkier and murkier.

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American response to Canadian government rejecting trade offer.

via GIPHY

La Agrodolce Vita

Eric Rohmer was able to capture a kind of enjoyable listless ennui of a summer day better than anyone else. Still from The Green Ray (1986).

When I think of an ideal summer, I think of trips, but not exciting trips. No camping trips, no road trips, no paddling down white water, no arduous hikes on hot hillsides. No, I think of the little trips to go for a dip in a cool pool on a hot day, or to pick up some fresh berries at a market. My idea of summer is a lazy breakfast on the deck, a swim in an outdoor pool, a nap in front of a fan, or a meandering bike ride under a canopy of trees, the dappled light cascading over me. Since living in Ontario, I’ve found the hum of cicadas on a hot day to be the ambient soundtrack of summer.

As a kid, summers seemed eternal. As a working adult, you realize all too quickly that your summer amounts to about ten weekends and maybe a week away somewhere. It’s so easy for those few days to be wrecked. What are the slayers of summer, the flies in the sun block, encumbrances to the enjoyment? Errands, crappy weather and ill health can all combine to kill a summer.

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