I really loved The Mitchells vs. the Machines, as you may recall, so as soon as I heard there was a chance to talk to get Mike Rianda on Someone Else’s Movie, I was on it.

And so it came to pass: This week. Mike came on to discuss Lukas Moodysson’s delightfully raucous We Are the Best!, and the volatile emotional undercurrent that you can feel resonating in The Mitchells, too. We only had about half an hour, but we packed a lot into it. It’s a really fun one.

So listen to it! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher and get the episode immediately, or download it directly from the web.

And then you can go listen to last Friday’s NOW What, in which Richard Trapunski and Melissa Vincent talk about the year in music as an expansion of Richard’s already comprehensive cover package. It’s waiting for you on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and at the bottom of Richard’s web piece right here.

And then, read things! Here’s last week’s What to Watch page, and my look at the surprisingly-not-awful Golden Globes nominations that went up just this morning. And that’s pretty much everything I have until Thursday’s holiday movie special. So come back for that!

Hey, look! I posted on time! Mostly because there’s just the one thing to write about today, and that’s a brand new episode of Someone Else’s Movie.

This week, I’m joined by actor and producer Molly Quinn — whom you may know from Castle or Welcome to Happiness or her rip-snorting recurring role as Pemily Stallwark on The Thrilling Adventure Hour, and who is flat-out terrific in Mickey Reece’s new film Agnes, which hits theatres and VOD Friday — to discuss the gorgeous world of Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea.

If you’re familiar with Moore’s  work at Cartoon Saloon, you won’t need any further encouragement; if you aren’t, go look up the movie (which will be reissued in a Blu-ray boxed set next week by Shout Factory alongside its companion pieces The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers, just in time for holiday gift-giving) and you’re welcome. It’s a wonderful thing, mixing folklore and more immediate family drama to create something splendidly, specifically new.

We talk about it! A lot! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher and get the episode immediately, or download it directly from the web. And enjoy it, we had a swell time.

Oh, wait, there is one other thing: TIFF announced its picks for Canada’s Top Ten yesterday morning, and I wrote ’em up here at NOW. I am nothing if not attentive to the pulse of my homegrown cinema.

Also, I saw Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, and it’s a knockout. Just a knockout. See it on the biggest screen you can find.

… yeah, I know, I know. But it’s December now, and the awards screenings are going full bore; I saw five movies in theaters this week and another four or five here at home. It’s a miracle I can still see straight.

But as a wise man once said: This is Christmas, Theo! It’s a time of miracles! So let’s get the holiday spirit rolling with this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, in which actor and occasional filmmaker Brooke Nevin tackles the sugar rush that is Jon Favreau’s Elf.

Really, any conversation about Elf is going to be a blast. You’ll love it. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher and get the episode immediately, or gobble it up straight from the web.

And then you can get on to this week’s NOW What, in which Glenn, Kevin, Rad, Ramona and I dig into this year’s best television, and why we ranked stuff the way we ranked it. You can find the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify (sorry, I should have added those links months ago!), and also right here at the bottom of our cover story. And then read Rad’s interview with D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who’s doing exceptional work in Reservation Dogs. (Also, you should be watching Reservation Dogs.)

There’s not a lot of other stuff this week, as I’ve been swimming in those aforementioned year-end screenings for the upcoming holiday movie issue, and doing some other stuff that’ll be published in January. But here’s Friday’s What to Watch page, which is stuffed with the reviews you need to make good decisions. I hope it’s not too late.

This is the second straight year that Kate and I haven’t been able to go to New York for Thanksgiving, and I won’t pretend it’s okay. We have so few traditions as a couple, and having dinner at The Dutch is one I miss terribly. But there’s always next year, right?

And if I have to be thankful for stuff, let’s start with friends. Corey Mintz is one, and the publication of his new book The Next Supper gave me the excuse to get him on another episode of Someone Else’s Movie this week, talking about Adam McKay’s furious docu-comedy The Big Short and how its story of an entire industry wiped out by shell games and bad faith — and the people who saw that disaster coming — lines up nicely with what he’s learned about the restaurant industry.

You should listen to that: As always, a subscription to Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher will get it to you immediately, or you can download it directly from the web if you’re not into long-term digital commitments. But really, if you’re reading this blog and you haven’t already subscribed, I have some questions for you.

Like: Seriously, why not? And: What about NOW What, the other podcast I make every week? Corey was on last week’s episode, as it happens, with Richard doing the formal interviewing; Richard’s back today in his official position as music editor, joining Rad and me for a conversation about the Grammy nominations and what they say about the state of the cultural landscape, and the music industry in general.

Podcasts. They never stop coming. You know what else never stops coming? Movies! Especially this time of year, when the studios start throwing awards contenders at us all willy-nilly. This week’s What to Watch page is filled with potential contenders — not you, House of Gucci — and you’ll find even more on last week’s page, and also Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Is there anything else? Did you read my Cowboy Bebop review? Because I liked it! And the December lookaheads are rolling out, with NOW’s previews of what’s coming to Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video Canada already up and Crave and CBC Gem to follow early next week. I’ll post ’em here as they arrive. It’s the least I can do.

On this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, Montreal filmmaker Kaveh Nabatian  — whose new drama Sin La Habana arrives on Apple TV as it wraps up its Toronto run at the Carlton — joins me to talk about Wong Kar-wai’s exquisite drama Happy Together — the one where Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung go to Buenos Aires in an attempt to save their decaying romance.

Kaveh’s own film has some intriguing connections to that, and we tease them out over the course of the episode. But more importantly, we celebrate Wong’s outstanding achievement in the field of melancholia. And you should too.

So check it out! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher and get the episode immediately, or download it directly from the web if that’s more your thing. I’m not the boss of you.

And then you can listen to last week’s episode of NOW What, in which Richard and I talk to event safety expert Janet Sellery about the lessons of the 2012 Radiohead tragedy, and how they could be applied to what happened in Houston earlier this month. It’s grim, but good.

Also grim but good: Passing and Portraits from a Fire, two films that are now available to stream (via Netflix and VOD, respectively), and which I reviewed, along with Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and Apple’s The Shrink Next Door, in last Friday’s What to Watch column. Check that out, why don’t you.

The material may be grim, but this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie is a goddamn delight.

That’s because I’m joined by Jim Cummings — the writer, director and star of Thunder Road, The Wolf of Snow Hollow and the brand-new comic thriller The Beta Test — to talk about a movie he believes is perfect in every way: David Fincher’s Zodiac. And you know what? He might have a point.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to hear him make his case, or download the episode directly from the web. And yes, I was not the biggest fan of Fincher’s film when I first saw it back in 2007, but I’ve come around. It knows exactly what it’s doing.

And once you’re done with that, you should check out last Friday’s NOW What, where Enzo walks me through next year’s municipal election and what it all means for Toronto’s future. And then there’s the What to Watch page, with capsule reviews of Eternals, Spencer, The Beta Test and the new season of Big Mouth; you can also read my review of Red Notice, the algorithmically designed all-star Netflix entertainment that starts streaming Friday.

This is how much I care about you, you see.

On this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, I’m joined by actor and Lakeshorts International Short Film Festival artistic director Michelle Nolden for a conversation about Mike Leigh’s excellent 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, a film I hadn’t revisited in a while for petty yet entirely valid reasons — as you’ll hear in the episode.

I’m relieved to report that the film remains entirely brilliant, absolutely packed with great performances and Leigh’s unerring sense of place. I’m sorry I let it sit for so long, but in a way it kind of works for our conversation: Like all great movies, coming back to it after a long time away just reveals how much I’ve changed.

Still curious about the reason I didn’t watch it for a while? Best get to listening, then, Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or download it directly from the web.

And because I was so diligent about catching everyone up in my last post, that’s pretty much it for today! Except for one more thing: My review of Eternals went live on the NOW site today, and whoooooo boy. That’s a bad movie.

… well, this isn’t Tuesday. Jeez. But things have been pretty busy this week. Turns out it’s actually pretty difficult to produce an audio tour if you’ve never done one before! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s start with this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, in which I’m joined by Scott Miller Berry — a filmmaker and Toronto film programmer who’s currently one of the team behind this week’s Rendezvous with Madness film festival — to discuss Lizzie Borden’s 1983 agit-pop classic Born in Flames, which turns out to be scarily relevant to the present day.

(Seriously: A story about women being radicalized into direct action by a patriarchal, quasi-totalitarian American government? Nah, no one could connect to that in 2021.)

Give it a listen, and you’ll see what I mean: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or download it directly from the web.

And then you can move on to not one but three episodes of NOW What, because I have been delinquent in my blogging.

In last Friday’s episode, I talk to Jordan Tannahill about his master class at the Toronto International Festival of Authors (and the growing divide between Canada’s literary lions and the new generation that’s increasingly uncomfortable with certain attitudes among the Old Ones); you’ll also get my TIFF interview with Denis Villeneuve about his attempts to reframe the narrative of Dune in a more conscious manner.

Then there’s that audio tour I mentioned, a Haunted Toronto walk narrated by the Faculty of Horror duo of Andrea Subissati and Alexandra West, who bring just the right edge of self-awareness to the stories of tragic histories lurking behind the facades of the city’s spookiest sites. Also, creepy music!

Fun fact: A twenty-minute audio piece can nearly three full days to get right, with all the moving parts. But we got there.

And then you can catch up to today’s shiny new episode, where I chat with Alex and Andrea about their show and how it’s evolved over the six years they’ve been doing it. You should check it out sometime, it’s both informative and fun. And for the second segment, I talk to Edgar Wright about the lifelong obsessions that led to him making Last Night in Soho, the influence of English thrillers on giallo cinema and writing the film in collaboration with friend of SEMcast Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

You may also wish to check out my review of Last Night in Soho, which also appears in capsule form in today’s What to Watch digest along with looks at Antlers and Snakehead; I also owe you links to last week’s edition, and the full-length reviews of The French Dispatch (fine) and Apple’s Invasion (pointless) that ran on the web. And of course the November lookaheads are slithering out: So far we’ve covered Netflix, Amazon and Disney+, with CBC Gem and Crave dropping any minute now.

Sorry to have kept you waiting. Things will be back on track next week, I promise.

This week on Someone Else’s Movie, I’m joined by writer and producer Aaron Martin — creator of the very entertaining genre shows Slasher and Another Life, which dropped its very fun second season on Netflix last week — to talk about a movie he considers comfort food.

That would be The Out-of-Towners, the 1970 Neil Simon comedy in which Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis play a nice couple from  Ohio who set out on an overnight trip to Manhattan, and are eaten alive for their expectations of smooth travel, good service and general civility from the city that never sleeps because it’s busy eating nice couples from Ohio.

Given that Aaron specializes in shows where literally everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and also catches fire despite being situated in the vacuum of space, I can see how he finds this movie comforting. It’s just two people, after all. No one will ever miss them.

You want to hear this, right? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or download it directly from the web if you want to be one of those disruptor types.

And then you can go on to enjoy everything else I’ve done in the last week — including the latest episode of NOW What, in which I’m joined by Rad, Glenn and Alexandra West to trade Halloween movie picks that aren’t the dreadful Halloween Kills, followed by a chat with writer-director Julia Ducournau about making Titane, which is not dreadful in the slightest. (Have you seen that yet? You should see it.)

Elsewhere on the NOW site, my TIFF interview with Dune director Denis Villeneuve has been posted in advance of the film’s release this Friday — there’s even video! — and of course there’s Friday’s review digest, featuring my capsule takes on I’m Your Man, The Last Duel, The Velvet Underground and Criterion’s new restoration of Onibaba.

I think that’s everything. But there’s a lot more to come.

On this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, actor and filmmaker Fran Kranz — whose first feature Mass is one of the year’s best pictures, if I do say so myself — sings the praises of two films he saw at exactly the right time in his artistic development: Michael Haneke’s Time of the Wolf and Wong Kar-wai’s 2046.

Am I able to build a bridge bettween these two movies and Fran’s shatteringly personal drama? I certainly give it my best shot. But sometimes art has to stand on its own to be understood, you know?

(Fun fact: The photograph of Fran was taken around the time of The Cabin in the Woods’ release, but weirdly enough he looks exactly the same today.)

Anyway, it’s a really fun episode despite the heaviness of the assembled subjects, and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or download it directly from the web.

And then you should pull up the latest episode of NOW What, where Rad interviews Night Raiders writer-director Danis Goulet about her remarkable film and I talk to Andrew Haigh about his new project, a television adaptation of The North Water that processes Ian McGuire’s novel about a doomed whaling voyage through a queer lens. That’s on podcast platforms everywhere, or right here on our Podbean page.

Looking for more? There’s always last week’s What to Watch page, featuring our reviews of Lamb, The Rescue and Events Transpiring Before, During and After a High School Basketball Game, starring friend of SEMcast Andrew Phung. And that’s about it at the moment, though there’s more to come this week. Stand by.