Katherine Monk 399 results

Katherine Monk is a former movie critic with The Vancouver Sun and Postmedia News, as well as co-founder of The Ex-Press. She still watches a lot of movies. She can be heard talking about them on CBC Radio, and you can read what she thinks about them here, exclusively in The Ex-Press.

The Dead Don’t Die Doesn’t End Well

Movie review: The Dead Don’t Die Jim Jarmusch’s send-up of horror tropes feels like a basic lesson in what zombie movies symbolize — a cultural descent into empty consumerism and brain-devouring distractions -- but little more.
3.5Score

Dark Phoenix destined to split audiences as much as it splits character

Movie Review: Dark Phoenix Simon Kinberg reignites Dark Phoenix with an emotional match that strikes gritty issues, and challenges superhero stereotypes by featuring a morally conflicted, and ultra-powerful, woman in the lead. No wonder the fan boys hate it so much.
2.5Score

Secret Life of Pets 2 regurgitates comic hairballs

Movie review: The Secret Life of Pets 2 Like its predecessor, The Secret Life of Pets 2 proves the people at Illumination Animation pay attention to animal behaviour. So if this collection feels more like a random string of events pulled from strange places, we can find a way to forgive the mess, and love it anyway.
4Score

Rocketman showers glitter on Elton John’s glorious whole

Movie Review: Rocketman Director Dexter Fletcher swallows some of the uglier truths about the arena rock sensation that defined the 1970s in an entertaining spectacle that brings real feeling to what many considered a pop music sausage factory.
3.5Score

Aladdin’s magic remains, but we could always wish for more

Movie Review: Aladdin Director Guy Ritchie brings the animated classic to life with a greasy edge, some updated songs and a knack for action. He even succeeds at turning the magic carpet into a tightly-knotted character that steals every scene with its manta like moves and sassy tassels. It’s only when the movie stands still long enough that we start to notice a strange lack of dramatic tension.
3.5Score

Booksmart turns the page on teen girl stereotypes

Movie Review: Booksmart Olivia Wilde’s feature debut looks at coming-of-age formula through a distinctly female lens, where acceptance and affirmation don’t rely on stunts or smashing a beer can into your forehead -- but the enduring loyalty of a best friend.
3.5 Score

Kristen Stewart courts a world of vampires in JT Leroy

Movie Review: JT Leroy Director Justin Kelly stands knee-deep in a stinky literary scandal to sift through worthy bits of narrative, and muck out a good story about a writer who found her voice through a gay, male prostitute -- then convinced her sister-in-law to play along.
4Score

The Biggest Little Farm reclaims a barren landscape with love, labour, and loss

Movie Review: The Biggest Little Farm When a California couple traded in their Santa Monica lifestyle for an abandoned apricot and avocado orchard, they thought Mother Nature might lend a helping hand. Yet every success brought a new pest, until they found a way to resurrect what industrialized farming ploughed under.  
4Score

John Wick 3: Parabellum keeps the puppy love alive

Movie Review: John Wick 3 - Parabellum John Wick may not wax eloquent, but he can fire up a storm in this continuing action saga that lets Keanu Reeves do what he does best: say little, bring elegance to action sequences and create chemistry with cute canines.

Don McKellar finds truth and reconciliation Through Black Spruce

Interview: Don McKellar The award-winning writer, actor and director says bringing Joseph Boyden’s bestselling novel about a Cree woman in search of her missing twin to the big screen felt like the right thing to do -- because it wasn’t his idea.