Not So ‘Brand New’ Cherry Flavor
The fun tricks used in the production design and lighting read extremely well on-screen but hardly fulfill their purpose of trying to inject glamour into a lack-luster story with nothing to say.

Directed by Ian Gabriel, “Four Corners” revolves around a 13-year-old chess whiz drawn into the Cape Town’s well-known child-gang culture. Touted as the first film to delve into the 100-year-old war between South Africa’s so-called Number gangs, the 26 and the 28, it blends the Sabela, Tsotsi-taal and Cape Afrikaans dialects and mixes established talents with non-actors and first-time thesps from schools and communities across the Cape Flats.
The fun tricks used in the production design and lighting read extremely well on-screen but hardly fulfill their purpose of trying to inject glamour into a lack-luster story with nothing to say.
Although Christmas is a time of year for love and cheer for all, holiday cinema has not always represented diverse communities. Being a holiday with Christian origins, much of its media consists of straight white families or straight white romances. Luckily, modern years have been bringing with them plenty of POC and LGBTQ+ representation that the holidays so desperately need.
A story about precarious tricks and unstoppable discipline to inspire young viewers. They'll learn that like any dream, achieving Cloud 9 is possible.
'Playing with Fire' was clearly a film made for a kid or tween-ish audience. Keeping that in mind, I thought 'Playing with Fire' was alright, though it did portray some harmful stereotypes.
An excellent exploration of taking a joke too far.
'The Fablemans' is Spielberg's most personal work to date, the cast delights audiences at the TIFF premiere.