TIFF 2026 Review: ‘Ink’
Danny Boyle's Kinetic Tabloid Journalism Drama Is A Thrilling Look At The Birth Of Rupert Murdoch's The Sun

By
Travis Hopson
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Danny Boyle, fresh from reviving the zombie 28 Years Later franchise, injects heist thriller energy into the ugly origin of modern media with Ink. It’s the pulse-pounding story of Rupert Murdoch, now known as the infamous creator of Fox News, spreading tall tales as fact all around the world. But that ugliness didn’t start there, it began in the 1960s when Murdoch, played by Guy Pearce, acquired The Sun tabloid newspaper in the UK, and hired straight news man Larry Lamb, played by Jack O’Connell, to run it.

The Sun was a failing rag back then, and Murdoch’s acquisition and attempted revival were seen as a joke. Murdoch had yet to become the top shoveler of misinformation and conservative bullshit at this point, and when you hear him railing against the elitism that fuels the top newspaper, he almost sounds like a raging liberal. He encourages Lamb to do something wildly different that will reach the audience that isn’t being catered to.

The first half of Ink unspools with the kinetic camerawork that Boyle has been known for since Trainspotting. Crazy camera angles, insane close-ups, and the occasional speed ramp energize Lamb’s gathering of his team, which plays out like a crime boss gathering a team of thieves for the perfect bank job. It’s an exhilarating feat how Boyle and screenwriter James Graham, adapting Graham’s stageplay, energize the hiring process. After an initial failure that Murdoch feels plays it safe, Lamb goes all out and doesn’t mind breaking a few taboos of the UK newspaper scene. That means hiring Jules Davies (an excellent Claire Foy) to run a page entirely dedicated to women’s issues. It also means stories about drinking, clubbing, and sex, with half-naked models plastered on the front page. Predictably, the sales start to skyrocket.

What’s interesting is how Ink shows how Murdoch and Lamb often squabbled about The Sun’s racy content. Murdoch wasn’t a fan of a lot of it, but rather than put his foot down and stop it, he usually gave in to the rising sales numbers, a precusor to the Murdoch who pushes Trumpism at every turn today, regardless of the consequences.

Ink only loses steam when it takes on the shape of a true-crime flick, and the kidnapping of Muriel McKay, wife of The Sun exec and Murdoch confidante, Alick McKay. Lamb takes it upon himself to start making the news rather than covering it, and it’s a decision that leads to tragic consequences, and a heavy choice for Murdoch to make. While still thrilling, Boyle’s dynamic camerawork is dialed down a notch to cover this dark chapter, and the film suffers as a result.

Still, it’s good to see Boyle back in this terrain again. He hasn’t been this energized by a subject in ages, with the last time being his Steve Jobs biopic in 2015. Leave it to Boyle to deliver a newspaper movie that couldn’t be more different than The Post, Spotlight, or any of the others to emerge in recent years. The warning Ink issues comes too late, as we are living with the rotten state of journalism right now. Boyle is at the top of his game while delivering this message, though, and people would do well to pay attention.

Ink opens in select theaters on December 11th, followed by Netflix on January 8th 2027.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘The Surgeon’
Michelle Yeoh Is Scalpel Sharp In A Delightfully Brutal Action Flick With Martin Freeman

By
Travis Hopson
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American audiences who have only known Michelle Yeoh for her roles in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Wicked, and maybe even Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will never understand just how furious an action star she was back in her Hong Kong prime. The closest we’ve gotten to that version of her is in The Surgeon, a blast of a good time that allows Yeoh to cut through bad guys like a hot scalpel through soft flesh…literally. This is one of the most enjoyable action roles for Yeoh in quite some time, but it also won’t be for those who get squeamish from watching an episode of The Pitt.

The Surgeon is the brainchild of writer/director Roshan Sethi, a certified physician who co-created the long-running medical drama The Resident. If I was this guy’s patient, I would have some serious concerns because there’s some sick, twisted stuff racing through this guy’s brain. Yeoh plays Eliza, a world-class surgeon who, after 40 years of excluding everything else from her life, is quietly being forced into retirement. No more need to keep that insurance policy on those golden hands of hers.

Any hope to live a quiet life of gardening and sewing is interrupted when she is kidnapped by gun-toting thugs, who force her to do surgery to save the life of their leader, Sean, played by Martin Freeman. She operation itself is pretty heinous, with entrails and guts being pulled out by the armload, enough to make even the toughest of Sean’s henchmen gag. But Eliza’s not an idiot. She knows the general rule for this sort of thing, as seen in literally thousands of action movies with megalomanical baddies, that once she’s done with the operation they wll kill her anyway.

It isn’t long before Eliza has decided to fight back, going against her personal belief to “embrace the inevitable” when death looms. These guys have fucked with the wrong doctor. Cranking up the Thin Lizzy soundtrack in her own head, Eliza goes wild with a scalpel, turning the bad guys’ internals into mincemeat. The action is cleverly staged to show what Eliza sees; the bones breaking, the joints shattering, a key organ ripped to shreds. It’s nothing for her to stab a guy in the pelvis and literally split him in two, or to poke another in the nose so hard that his brain literally leaks out.

Clocking in at just 92-minutes, The Surgeon is lean and brutal. It’s a fantastic role for Yeoh that shows once again that she is one of the most well-rounded actors around, as credible when beating up a bruising Russian thug as she is performing complicated surgery. While Freeman makes a solid villain, this is Yeoh’s movie and it’s one that her fans will have to be in a coma to miss.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘I Play Rocky’
Anthony Ippolito Shines As Sylvester Stallone In Peter Farrelly's Knockout "Making Of Rocky" Dramedy

By
Travis Hopson
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Eight years ago, Peter Farrelly, having recently split from the directing duo with his brother Bobby, brought civil rights comedy Green Book to TIFF, where it won the People’s Choice Award on its way to Best Picture at the Oscars. Things haven’t gone so well for Farrelly since. His next three films, I will politely say, were not great. But he’s back with the “making of Rocky” dramedy I Play Rocky, which had the audience on its feet on multiple occasions. A true crowd favorite, it’s a film that could see Farrelly return to the Oscar stage, and do for star Anthony Ippolito’s career what Rocky did for Sylvester Stallone.

The film is about Stallone, after all, so maybe there’s kismet to Ippolito getting the same kind of Rocky bump for his performance. Ippolito is not only a dead ringer for Stallone, he captures the voice, the mannerisms, and the blue collar determination to see his dream through. Written by Peter Gamble, I Play Rocky is about how a broke ass Stallone, tired of losing out on acting roles, was encouraged by his then-girlfriend Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb) to write something for himself. Inspired by journeyman boxer Chuck Wepner’s valiant match against Muhammad Ali, Stallone banged out the Rocky script in 3 1/2 days. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff (PJ Byrne and Toby Kebbell) loved it, and so did the studio. They threw tons of money Stallone’s way but he wouldn’t budge on one non-negotiable caveat: that he play Rocky himself.

Gamble’s script is broad, big on laughs, and occasionally oversells the biggest emotional beats. What it does best is recreate Stallone’s real-life underdog struggle, showing him at rock bottom sleeping on the street, starring in softcore porn movies, and wondering when his big break will ever come. Turns out, he’d have to create that big break for himself. Tracy Letts is hilarious as studio chief Sandy Maddox, who can’t understand why this nobody actor is refusing a $300K check just so he can star in a boxing movie that will likely flop. The realities of Stallone’s life are constantly testing his resolve. I Play Rocky finds the heart and soul within Stallone’s story. He’s poured everything into this character who is willing to risk everything for a chance to be a winner, could Stallone do anything else but follow Rocky’s example?

There are many ways in which I Play Rocky‘s production mirrors aspects of Rocky, and one of those is the brilliant casting of Stephan James as Carl Weathers. James, for the brief time he’s on screen, overshadows Ippolito as the charismatic Weathers, who would play the flamboyant showboat champion, Apollo Creed. Weathers was such a huge presence in the movie that he stole scenes from Stallone, and eventually became an integral part of the franchise.

The entire cast surrounding Ippolito is strong. Robb takes what could’ve been a cookie-cutter “supportive wife” role and makes a meal out of it, with Sasha the first person to show any real belief in Stallone. Matt Dillon growls as Stallone’s verbally abusive father, and Jay Duplass is great as Rocky director John Avildsen, a role that Duplass personally lobbied Farrelly for.

Farrelly hasn’t won himself any fans with his last few movies, and Green Book hasn’t aged particularly well. I went into this with low expectations, but I Play Rocky blew the roof off it’s so good. The crowd went wild for it, and so did I. When the Rocky theme music plays, and you see him running up those steps in Philly, it’s like you’re watching the 1976 classic all over again. Some will likely argue that the film doesn’t make a case for its own existence, but isn’t honoring Stallone’s unique personal triumph enough? His Rocky journey is the stuff that Hollywood dreams are made of, and there are too few of those stories that exist anymore, much less being told in way that can inspire others to also fight for what they believe in.

Amazon MGM Studios opens I Play Rocky in limited release Nov. 6th, expanding nationwide Nov. 20th.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘Being Heumann’
Ruth Madeley Stands Tall As Disability Rights Trailblazer Judith Heumann In Sian Heder's Rousing Biopic

By
Travis Hopson
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Five years ago, Sian Heder’s CODA emerged as the most popular film to premiere at Sundance, but nobody expected it to connect with people the way it did throughout the year. Eventually winning the Oscar for Best Picture, the film stuck with people who had never before considered the complex lives of those living with hearing disabilities. Now, Heder is back with another crowd pleaser that is sure to connect with audiences in the same way, Being Heumann, a joyful adaptation of the memoir by Judith Heumann, leader of the Disability Rights Movement.

Played by Ruth Madeley (who suffers from spina bifida), Judith Heumann is an indomitable force in the fight to secure equality for disabled Americans. Working out of San Francisco, she’s determined to see the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, passed by Congress in 1973 without many of them knowing what it was. As the first federal civil rights protections for disabled people, the costs to put the new regulations into action would be astromonical, and something U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) was unwilling to do, fearing for his job.

You’d think that everyone would be in support of adding wheelchair ramps to federal buildings, or regulating the height of sidewalks, would be something everyone could champion. But…have you seen the world out there? Y’know, the one where we have a President who openly mocks disabled people for sport? It wasn’t so different back in 1973, either, when people were more worried about the budget than simple human decency and kindness.

Heder, who co-wrote the script with Rebekah Taussig, isn’t shy about portraying Heumann as a flawed leader of the movement. Her walls are constantly up, she’s labeled an asshole by more than one of her supporters, and constantly fights with her more sensible colleague, Kitty Cone (Madeline Delp), a soft-spoken activist with muscular dystrophy. Heumann is a real firebrand, though, the kind that makes things happen when others can’t. Despite her disability, she’s also shown to be keenly aware of her sexuality; “Show your cleavage and cry”, she would say before going out to hold a press conference or speak at a hearing.

Being Heumann follows Heumann’s leadership during the 1977 504 Sit-In, where she and a large group of protestors took over federal buildings around the country to force Califano to sign the regulations. One thing the film does extremely well is show how disabilities affect people across all walks of life, and sometimes it can lead to conflicts within the community. The deaf aren’t always fighting for the same things as the blind, or those with MS, or mental disabilities. The movement also brought in supporters from unexpected places. Antwan Tolliver impresses as Brad Lomax, a member of the Black Panther Party diagnosed with MS, who uses his stature within the group to assist in Heumann’s movement.

It’s suggested that people want to keep the disabled hidden from view, because they fear becoming one of them someday. Anyone can become disabled at any time, from an accident or an illness, and that should be a uniting factor, not something that tears us apart.

Ruffalo plays Califano as a man stuck between a rock and a hard place. While he’s definitely the “villain” of the movie, Califano isn’t really a bad guy. In fact, the film goes out of its way to show that he’s been an activist supporting civil rights causes in the past, although he sorta sounds like a racist saying “Some of my best friends are black” as he defends himself. Califano thinks what he’s doing is right for the country, even if his stance against Heumann could destroy the legacy he’s built.

At the screening I attended here at TIFF, the crowd frequently exploded into cheers with each inspiring moment. It’s a film that seems like a shoo-in for the People’s Choice Award, often a bellwether for the Best Picture Oscar race. When Apple releases Being Heumann into theaters and Apple TV+ this November, it’s sure to be a winner with audiences everywhere, and will strike a chord with those who are living with the benefits of Judith Heumann’s tireless efforts.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’
Mahershala Ali Puts His 'Blade' Skills To Work In Bassam Tariq's Powerhouse Religious Action Flick

By
Travis Hopson
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Marvel fans who, like me, desperately wanted to see Mahershala Ali as the vampire hunter, Blade, will want to check out Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother because it gives you a taste of what might have been. An action flick that finally gives Ali and one-time Blade director Bassam Tariq a chance to finally strut their stuff. While it has considerably more on its mind than just butt-kicking, such as questions of faith and duty, it feels damn good to see Ali out there in all-black, wielding a blade and fighting for something he believes in.

Ali stars as Latif, a devout Muslim living in Houston with his wife and three children, including a newborn daughter. Latif, a quietly forceful man, is also a hitman. We meet him as he’s engaged in a bloody bathroom brawl that ends sloppily. But it ends that way for a reason; Latif gets a call that his wife and the kids’ mother has suddenly died. This turns his world upside down, as he’s now the sole caretaker and provider. Worse, he is running out of his wife’s breast milk, and the baby won’t take formula. What begins is a furious dash around the city to find more milk, and to be a good father at a time when his children need him home more than ever.

Complicating matters are Latif’s religious duties, which he begins to disregard as his faith is shaken. Even worse, his former boss is looking for payback and needs Latif to rescue his nephew, a Hallal pornographer (seriously, it’s funny), from the hit list of a gun-toting cult leader, Kwan, played by a scene-chewing John Cho in a performance that’ll make you forget about Harold & Kumar. Kwan has gathered his own following by preaching about his own righteous cause, forcing Latif to question the strength of his convictions.

The sight of Ali, carrying a satchel of breast milk in one hand, and a weapon in the other, is pretty awesome. This is probably about as close as we’re going to get to seeing Ali as Blade, so fans should soak it up. There aren’t as many fight scenes as there could be, but it’s definitely more than some might expect. What we do get is pretty incredible, with Ali a powerful force, quick and deadly, and on a couple of occasions showing the remarkable agility that made Wesley Snipes so convincing. He’s also got the dark sense of

More than his physicality, Ali impresses in the more dramatic moments, as Latif struggles with the violent acts he commits every day, flying in the face of the teachings he wants to instill in his kids. The performance reminded me of Forest Whitaker in Ghost Dog: The way of the Samurai, a film that also grappled with faith and personal codes of honor. Latif is challenged at every turn by his eldest daughter who has been forced to grow up before her time; by his friend and sheikh, played by Giancarlo Esposito, who warns him about bringing danger into the community; and also by his brother, played by Tramell Tillman, a successful doctor who has left the Muslim teachings behind to start a new life.

Incredibly, Tariq based Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother on a personal experience from years ago, where he, too, was a new father left scrambling to find his baby some breast milk when his wife became ill. As far as I can tell, Tariq didn’t do it armed with a machine gun and sword. However, the urgency that’s written into those early scenes, the desperation driving Latif, comes from a place that few will ever understand.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a title that becomes clearer along the way (but should still probably be shortened), delivers impactful action in an immersive world that this genre rarely explores. Latif is constantly running in and out of mosques, stopping to pray, hitting up a brothel, picking up the kids from school, and so much more. You’re constantly wondering where he might have to go next, what new enemy he must face, what new challenge he must endure as a parent, figuring it out as he goes along.

We might not ever get to see Ali and Tariq on a Blade movie together, and that sucks, but they’re making a statement with Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother that it’s our loss. While I could’ve used fewer lulls between the most violent sequences, it blends religion and action in a powerful, entertaining package that will hopefully be the first of many movies from this duo.

Amazon MGM releases Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother on September 25th.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘La bola negra’
Netflix's Dazzling Queer Historical Epic Is Poised To Be A Major Awards Season Player

By
Travis Hopson
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Netflix clearly has big plans for La bola negra, a sweeping historical epic taking place across three different stories across three separate timelines. What’s fascinating about Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s film is its own connection to history and how it presents a rarely explored chapter through a distinctly queer lens. With dazzling, surreal camerawork and a remarkable ensemble that includes two star-powered cameos, this one is poised to be Netflix’s heavy hitter going into awards season, possibly on the level of Emilia Perez a couple of years ago.

La bola negra starts off in shocking, explosive fashion during the most engrossing chapter set in 193. It’s here during the Spanish Civil War that we meet Sebastián (singer-songwriter Guitarricadelafuente in an excellent acting debut), trumpet player in a tiny village that has shown up to warmly cheer the arriving fascist army. Instead, the townsfolk are bombarded and gunned down by mistake, with Sebastián barely escaping with his life. He doesn’t get far, though, and is eventually picked up by the Nationalists. After claiming to be one of their own, he’s given a gun and brought into the fight, where he’s tasked with guarding a handsome prisoner, Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau), a Republican who is due to be interrogated and executed.

Sebastián’s story is the most compelling by far, because we simply don’t see stories about what it was like to be a gay man in that time period and part of the world. Sebastián is clearly struggling with his sexuality, and isn’t willing to talk about it with anybody for obvious reasons. To do so would mean ostracism and likely death. His interactions with Rafael are played close to the chest, too, even though it’s obvious the feelings they have for one another. It’s this quiet secret that they know might have to be taken to the grave.

This story connects with another set in 1932, when Carlos (Milo Quifes), a young upper-class kid with a prominent father, attempts to join the exclusive casino club but is “blackballed” due to rumors that he’s gay. This storyline is based on queer Spanish poet Federico García Lorca’s unfinished work and a play by the film’s co-writer Alberto Conejero. This chapter leads us into the present, where a gay Spanish historian, Alberto (Carlos González), acquires the missing pages and learns of a personal connection he has to it.

The first thing that sticks out about La bola negra is the gorgeous production design and camerawork, with it resembling a vintage print from each time period. There are scenes that will be indelibly burned into memory, including a dazzling musical number and skiers racing down snowy slopes in a fantastical dreamscape. Speaking of rousing musical numbers, Penelope Cruz practically steals the entire movie as Nené Romero, a scantily-clad performer brought in to entertain the troops. Glenn Close doesn’t dance and sing or anything like that, but she shows off her Spanish-speaking chops as a historical expert aiding Alberto in his quest.

La bola negra, a movie trying to corral three massive storylines, inevitably gives some more attention than others. The contemporary segment just doesn’t hold the same grip as the others, which have the benefit of a historical sweep, romance, and tangible danger. However, the payoff is hugely satisfying when all of these stories converge, and you witness the ripple effects of Sebastian’s queerness across multiple generations. The final moments of La bola negra are as powerful as anything you’ll see all year. This is a movie that, fortunately, will get a short theatrical release before it heads to streaming. It’s too big a movie, directed with a grand scale, for it not to be seen on the big screen.

La bola negra hits theaters on October 16th before coming to Netflix on December 2nd.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘Gentle Monster’
Léa Seydoux Struggles With Her Husband's Dark Side In Marie Kreutzer's Unnerving Drama

By
Travis Hopson
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Director Marie Kreutzer’s previous film, the excellent royal drama Corsage, was ripped apart by scandal involving its lead actor who was caught up in child pornography charges. Whether her experience with that led her to write and direct the sobering, hard-hitting Netflix original, Gentle Monster, which tackles a similar topic, isn’t clear. Whether it was or wasn’t, Kreutzer’s gaze isn’t on the accused, but on the impact those accusations have on his stunned wife, played by Léa Seydoux in one of the finest performances of her career.

Seydoux plays Lucy, a concert pianist, with Laurence Rupp as her husband, Phil. Both of them are creatives, with him being a filmmaker in a bit of a rut. After he suffers a panic attack, they move with their playful son Johnny (Malo Blanchet) from the city to the German countryside to get away from it all.

Does moving away to a place ever work in movies? Or does it only provide a glimmer of hope before the horrors begin? Certainly, the latter is the case here. A seemingly normal day is disrupted by a knock on the door by the police, looking to serve a search warrant on Phil. They confiscate all of his devices and hard drives, while Lucy is left confused by what is happening. She only finds out the truth of the charges by following them to the police station and seeing a notice on the board: child pornography.

Gentle Monster isn’t so much about Phil’s guilt or innocence, although that is obviously important. It’s mainly about Lucy and how she copes with realizing that she doesn’t know her husband at all, that he’s this completely different person hidden away from her. There’s something monstrous, evil, in the kind of person who can do that to someone they love. But is that actually what happened? Phil tells her it’s all a mistake, even recruiting a lawyer friend to say that it was all just research for a documentary. There’s another dark cloud hanging over everything, and it’s the question of whether Phil did anything to hurt Johnny?

There’s nothing cut and dried here, no black and white answer to anything. It can be frustrating how Kreutzer sort of plays the middle ground for a long stretch. Our instinct is to want Lucy to pack up her shit, pack up Johnny, and get as far away from him as possible. But love doesn’t work that way. We instinctively seek reasons to understand and forgive the people we love when they screw up. How can Lucy possibly believe that her dopey husband is a potential pedophile?

Kreutzer explores the relative nature of guilt and innocence from another angle in an important subplot involving the lead detective, Elsa Kuhn (Jella Haase), who has her own problems at home. A quiet, detached introvert who offers Lucy little in the way of support, we come to learn that she’s saddled with an aging father who is prone to abusing his female caretakers. One might think that a law enforcement officer working sex abuse cases would be better about handling this than Elsa, but she isn’t, because he’s her father, she loves him, and it’s her responsibility to watch over him. She and Lucy aren’t very different at all.

Gentle Monster is strongest when examining Lucy’s internal struggle. She faces not only confusion about what to believe, but also subtle accusations from those who feel she should’ve seen what was happening. Seydoux is a whirlwind of raw emotions: humiliated, angry, fragile, and determined, with the camera often in close-up on her to capture her intensity. Conversely, Phil is often shot in a position of weakness, an understated judgment in place of something more explicit in the screenplay.

This is a tough, unnerving movie, with Seydoux making her strongest play for awards consideration. Gentle Monster won’t be an easy watch, and with these crimes more prevalent than ever, it’s going to hit hard and very close to home for those impacted by them.

Gentle Monster opens in select theaters October 30th, followed by Netflix on November 18th.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘River’
Jane Levy And Jessica Rothe Lead An Atmospheric, Blood-Soaked Throwback Slasher Flick

By
Travis Hopson
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The Midnight section kicked off at TIFF with a bang thanks to Joshua Giuliano’s chilling slasher, River, which delivers all of the gruesome mayhem that Shudder fans have come to expect. It’s not a film that reinvents the wheel or anything like that, but then, nobody is asking for that to be the case. Giuliano, who just lined up a new horror project backed by Blumhouse Atomic Monster, brings atmospheric thrills and gripping sibling drama to a film that will leave you absolutely soaked through with dread.

River stars fan-favorite Scream Queens Jane Levy (Evil Dead) and Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) as estranged sisters, with the latter returning home from the big city to mourn the death of their father. Well, mourn might be an overstatement as they see their experiences with him very differently. The man was clearly complicated and had his share of personal demons. Cape Fear actor Max Mattern plays their scrawny, timid younger brother, who is hit the hardest by Dad’s death.

Heading out to their father’s favorite river to dump his ashes, their boat stops dead in the water. And in the midst of squabbling, they come under assault by a pair of masked killers, a man and woman, stalking them from both sides.

From the moment River begins, it grabs you with Giuliano’s clever stoking of our imaginations. While the camera pans over an empty vehicle left behind in the forest, we hear the voices of a doomed couple, young lovers, in the moments before they are attacked and slaughtered. Like much of the film, it’s a scene that is both beautiful and ghastly; a splash of blood here, a bloody retainer there, left out to rot and desecrate the beautiful natural surroundings.

The killers themselves are terrifying and relentless. Their masks do more to obscure their faces than outright hide them, which makes them even scarier because these killers aren’t shy about what they’re doing. Sure, they’re deep in the forests, but the attacks come non-stop and with little concern for anyone finding out. It almost feels like the siblings are trapped in a nightmare dimension with no hope of escape. The brutal assault isn’t just mindless violence, either. The killers go to great lengths to inflict as much psychological torture on them as possible, which only exacerbates the familial conflicts.

Just as River begins to feel a bit too familiar, Giuliano, who also wrote the screenplay, ups the ante with new characters that shift the dynamic and introduce more humor into the mix. The violence also cranks it up a notch once we get a full understanding of what is actually going on. Fortunately, River keeps it lean and tight, with satisfying drama and kills that will leave you eager for more, and given the film’s not-so-subtle post-credits tease, more could be exactly what we get.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘Rogue Trooper’
Duncan Jones Returns To Sci-Fi And Clones With His Quirky, Clunky Animated War Flick

By
Travis Hopson
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After eight years out of the spotlight, Duncan Jones returns with Rogue Trooper, a dark, deeply odd animated war film based on the cult favorite 2000 AD comic strip. Aneurin Barnard voices 19, a G.I., or “genetic infantryman”, designed by the Southers to breathe the poisonous air on Nu Earth and engage their enemy, the Norts. The squad of GIs are super-soldiers, clones (harkening back to Jones’ directing debut, Moon) with personalities that can be removed and placed in new bodies so as to learn and evolve. It doesn’t take long before 19 and his fellow soldiers are wiped out on their first mission, betrayed by an unknown traitor, and it’s up to him to return to base and warn the others before its too late.

This would sound like a fairly familiar war movie except for one thing: 19 carries the memory chips of his fallen brethren inside of his backpack, gun, and helmet, and they chat with him constantly. Imagine a soldier who had to carry the souls of his dead brothers with him on the battlefield, and you’ll understand the pressure this puts on 19 to survive, even as everything seems to be working against him. Dropped behind enemy lines, he faces the deadliest sniper in the war, a flamboyant French showboat with a love for Edith Piaf. There are also a pair of junkers (voiced by Matt Berry and Jemaine Clement) who hope to sell 19 to the highest bidder. As the fight for survival escalates, 19 runs into a Mos Eisley-esque cantina full of baddies, and a bruising female fighter named Venus Bluegenes (Hayley Atwell) who gets off on smashing robots.

Rogue Trooper‘s weird quirks are part of its charm, and fans of British comedy will find a lot to love. Others will find the cultural gap pretty wide, with a lot of the gags specific to the Brit audience. The photorealistic animation will draw some comparisons to James Cameron’s Avatar, but it’s inconsistent and takes a lot of getting used to. Many of the characters are designed to resemble the human voice actors, and some of them look downright creepy. When the fighting breaks out, it’s ultra-violent and messy in the way war should be. However, the animation can’t always keep up, and there isn’t enough variety in the battles to prevent tedium from setting in.

Still, Jones deserves credit for taking a big swing with Rogue Trooper. At a time when endless wars seem to be the order of the day, a film that comments on the pointlessness of war is to be commended. There’s an audience out there for this, perhaps a small one that can appreciate the cultural specificity and cynical tone. It’s just good to see Jones back after too long away and making movies only he can make. Rogue Trooper doesn’t always work, but there won’t be another war movie like it for a long time, if ever.

TIFF 2026 Review: ‘The Stunt Driver’
Jay Baruchel Soars And Sticks The Landing As Canadian Daredevil Ken Carter

By
Travis Hopson
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What would you do to make sure people remember you? Would you do something dangerous? Put your life on the line? Canadian daredevil Ken Carter would. We in the United States have Evel Knievel, but Carter is known as the “Mad Canadian” for a reason. Jay Baruchel gives one of the best performances of his career in The Stunt Driver, a heartfelt and funny underdog story based on Robert Fortier’s acclaimed doc, The Devil at Your Heels.

Baruchel, sporting a thick goatee and a pair of goofy crossed eyes, doesn’t strike you as some wild man. But that’s the thing about these stuntmen like Knievel and Carter, is how normal they appear. Carter is a dreamer, who aspires to jump a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental one mile over the St. Lawrence River. It’s a seemingly impossible task, but Carter is less concerned about chasing history than he is chasing respect and recognition.

Writer/director Michael Dowse, who worked with Baruchel previously on another Canadian comedy favorite, Goon, focuses on Carter’s obsession with legacy and how it can not only be personally dangerous, but also manipulated by others. After years of costly delays, Carter’s shady promoter Bill Wilkins (played by Dan Bakkedahl), threatens to take it all away from Carter unless he does the jump whether conditions are safe or not. Carter, feeling the pressure to be better than Knievel, is driven by this need for everyone to be his friend, and to be remembered. “When I fly, everyone is my friend”, he says.

Those who know Carter’s story will understand that it has to take a darker turn, however, The Stunt Driver is full of heartfelt moments with the people who brought joy to his life. Ed Helms has a fantastic role as Dick Keller, a literal rocket scientist who reluctantly agrees to help design the car and make sure the jump is safe. He has no problem being blunt in his assessment that this stunt is absurd and stupidly dangerous, reiterating frequently that he’s not there to make sure it’s successful. The only thing he cares about is making sure Carter survives.

We also get a solid performance from Laurence Leboeuf as Carter’s supportive wife, Gloria, who, more than anyone else, carries the fear that each jump might be his last. Ben Foster is good as Knievel, a rival who Carter initially resents but has to learn to work with.

The Stunt Driver is frequently torn between celebrating its subject in a serious way, and telling the goofy comedy it also wants to be. The film is constantly fighting to portray Carter as the Canadian hero that he was to so many, as if fighting the same fight for respect that he did all of his life. The Stunt Driver is a lot like Carter; it has a big heart, big aspirations, and doesn’t always stick the landing. Carter was someone who refused to keep his feet on the ground, and it’s hard not to champion someone who saw the sky as the limit.

The Stunt Driver opens on September 25th from Independent Film Company.

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