Katherine Monk 367 results

Katherine Monk is a former movie critic with The Vancouver Sun and Postmedia News. She still watches a lot of movies… and writes stuff about them.

Widows buries thriller formula and finds female power

#OscarCheck2018 Movie Review - Widows Steve McQueen's follow-up to 12 Years a Slave is a female-driven heist film based on a beloved British TV series. For most directors, making a genre thriller would put them out of Oscar contention. But the award-winning McQueen isn’t your average director, and in the wake of #MeToo,  Widows could still blow things wide open.

Top Ten Movies of 2018

Movies: Top Ten Movies 2018 Black Panther changed Hollywood for the better to earn top spot on 2018’s list, but storytellers sought to pry our weary eyes open and see past preconceptions through a broad range of protagonists that transcended expectation.

Benson Shum brings joy to Disney destroyer

Interview: Benson Shum He grew up sketching trees in Stanley Park, now the Vancouver animator is breathing life into the pixels behind Ralph Breaks the Internet, the latest adventure for two arcade characters learning to console each other.

The Front Runner circles lapse of judgment in a losing cause

Movie Review: The Front Runner Jason Reitman recreates the late-80s political landscape to survey the moment when the sober Republic turned into All-American spectacle: Gary Hart’s soiled Presidential bid, spoiled by sex scandal and the rise of tabloid TV.

Outlaw King reimagines tribal history, bares Pine’s parts

New on Netflix/Movie Review: Outlaw King Chris Pine plays national folk hero Robert the Bruce in David Mackenzie's blood sausage of a costume epic that rewrites a few historical details to serve its dramatic cause, and quench our thirst for more Game of Thrones.

Bohemian Rhapsody misses Mercury’s sexy essence

Movie Review: Bohemian Rhapsody Rami Malek does an awfully good job of manufacturing an English accent and a sense of sweet mischief, but for all his talent and ambition, he lacks the physical magnetism that defined Freddie Mercury and Queen’s unique place in the arena rock pantheon.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? finds redemption in unsympathetic Israel

Movie Review: Can You Ever Forgive Me? McCarthy finds a morose incandescence in the conflicted and largely loathsome character of author Lee Israel, allowing the viewer to push past ribbons of inky deception and see a woman who felt wronged by the literary clique.

Free Solo transcends fear to achieve perfection

Movie review: Free Solo Alex Honnold’s bid to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes or assistance gives filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi a chance to explore existential fears through character, and one man’s ability to focus on the moment.

Hunter Killer: A canful of manliness

Movie Review: Hunter Killer Gerard Butler’s ode to Cold War formula serves up sub tropes and B-movie baloney for those seeking junk and hunk comfort food.

Halloween gets all dressed up as the original but has nowhere to go

Movie review: Halloween David Gordon Green’s ambitious reset of the Halloween franchise showcases a badass Jamie Lee Curtis as trauma survivor Laurie Strode, but for some stupid reason, fails to exploit the post-menopausal character with an axe to grind and a villain to kill.