Hot Docs 2021 is upon us, and as you can imagine we are all about it this week. Here’s NOW’s review directory, which will be updated over the course of the festival, and here’s today’s episode of NOW What, in which I talk to Citizen Minutes producers Lisa Jackson and Lauren Grant about how they delivered eight short documentaries without ever meeting their directors in the flesh.

And here are all the regular things you expect from us: NOW’s What to Watch column for the week, and our monthly lookaheads for Netflix, Amazon, Crave, Disney+ and CBC Gem. I also wrote a thing yesterday about David Cronenberg announcing a new movie; that’ll be nice, I hope.

Stay warm, everybody. April’s going out cold.

Between the Oscars and closing NOW’s Hot Docs issue, things have been a little busy here — not only did I miss out on last Friday’s post, I didn’t even put anything up yesterday. So, my apologies, but in my defense you do get all this sweet. sweet content.

So let’s start with this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, in which Violation co-writer/director Dusty Mancinelli celebrates Back to the Future Part II, which is not exactly the movie I would have expected him to choose — his partner Madeleine Sims-Fewer went with Possession, after all — but you know what, it’s nice when people surprise you.

So go listen to that at all the usual spots — you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or download it directly from the web — and then maybe travel back to 2015 for Matt Austin Sadowski’s episode on the original Back to the Future, just to hear what the show sounded like when my guests and I were in the same room. Seriously, those were the days.

Also! There are two episodes of NOW What for you, both of which are really Rad episodes: Last Friday, he assembled a panel of experts to discuss the affordability crisis facing Toronto real estate, and just yesterday we released his conversation with Tanya Talaga and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers about the projects they’re bringing to Hot Docs on Thursday, which offer different perspectives on the same awful story. Give ’em a listen, you’ll learn something.

And elsewhere on the NOW site, there’s last Friday’s What to Watch column, my analysis of this year’s odd, frustrating Academy Awards ceremony and a 40 at 40 conversation with Ron Mann, whose career has gone in some fairly unexpected directions after Poetry in Motion put him on the cover in 1982.

Also, my review of The Mitchells vs. The Machines went up yesterday. It’s so good, you guys. Clear some time on Friday.

UPDATE: Wait, I forgot! I’m also on this week’s episode of Jeremy Lalonde’s Black Hole Films podcast, talking about Walter Hill’s 48 HRS. with Jeremy, Ian MacIntyre, Ken Cuperus and Rob Scarborough.

Yes, of course I turned it into an advocacy podcast for Streets of Fire. And yes, we’ve already recorded that episode. Stay tuned.

On this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, things get a little wild as actor-writer-director-producer Brea Grant, whom I’ve been hoping to get on the podcast for a while, tackles the whirligig foolishness of Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Joe Dante’s 1990 deconstruction-by-sledgehammer sequel to his 1984 blockbuster.

We get to talk about all the history Dante is sending up, our favourite monsters, sweat pants — it makes sense in context — and all sorts of other stuff. Join us!

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

And if you haven’t caught up to Ben Blacker’s episode on the first one, it’s right here waiting for you.

Then you can check out today’s brand new NOW What, where Glenn talks to comics Elvira Kurt (legend) and Nour Hadidi (younger legend) about how they’ve managed the transition to virtual performance over the last year.

It’s a lively, insightful conversation,  because of course it is. Look who’s having it! It’s available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or right at the bottom of Glenn’s 40 at 40 story on Elvira.

Look, it’s been a busy week.

Want proof? Check out NOW’s shiny new 2021 Rising Screen Stars issue, which celebrates the emerging talents of Kiawentiio, Valerie Tian, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli and Caroline Monnet, all artists from whom you’ll be hearing a lot more in the immediate future and beyond.

I wrote Madeleine and Dusty’s profile and helped with some of the other stuff, and reached out to Kelly to program the double feature in this week’s NOW Streaming newsletter. (Have you subscribed to it yet? You should subscribe to it! She gave me three choices!)

I also wrote some other stuff, contributing reviews to this week’s What to Watch column — as well as a longer review of Nobody, which is very good and now available as a premium VOD rental. And earlier this week I wrote about the premature end of Kim’s Convenience, and what that means for both its cast and its audience.

I know there are worse things going on in the world, and especially right here at home, but saying premature goodbyes to Kim’s and Wynonna Earp within days of each other was pretty depressing. They were anchors, in a way, and I’ll miss them both a lot.

Oh, also the latest episode of NOW What is out, and it’s about how concert promoters and venues are planning for the return of live music in September. Will it happen? Will we want to go? Who the hell knows? But I talked to Richard and the Phoenix’ Lisa Zbitnew about it for half an hour, and that’s what really counts.

On this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, we get a little personal.

It happens in kind of a roundabout way, as Honeydew writer-director Devereux Milburn and I talk about Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love — the one that should have set Adam Sandler on a completely different path as an actor, and instead made it even more frustrating that he spends so much of his time making lame comedies in exotic locations. But what are you gonna do, the guy likes wearing his own clothes and getting paid ridiculous sums of money to hang out with his friends.

Still, this movie has power, and Devereux and I discuss its impact on each of our lives in what turned out to be a pretty meaningful episode. I think you should listen.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or if you prefer you can download it directly from the web.

And then you can listen to the latest episode of NOW What, in which I try to make sense of the chaos of Ontario’s vaccination rollout by reaching out to the people working to bend it into shape: Toronto Board of Health chair Joe Cressy, NDP member of provincial parliament Bhutila Karpoche and Parkdale Queen West Health Centre senior director of client services Maureen Gans, all of whom do their very best to explain what’s going on without collapsing into incoherent rage. They’re far better people than I am.

That’s about it for today. But don’t worry, there’s plenty more to come. I’m already exhausted.

On today’s episode of NOW What, I tee up another panel from Rad, in which he assembles five photographers — one of whom is Sam Engelking, who shot that portrait of me and Dexter back in 2018 –to talk about shooting the city for Instagram, and how that’s helped them maintain their sanity through this long pandemic year. Also, it’ll make you nostalgic for the days when you could just, you know, go outside.

You can find it on on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or right here at the bottom of Rad’s story.

And then read the rest of the paper! This week’s What to Watch column is filled with stuff, and because of embargoes (and its general awfulness) you can find my stand-alone review of Thunder Force here. Remember, I watch these movies so you don’t have to.

When can I start drinking? I’ve been so good this week.

This week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie is about longing, as Doors writer-director Saman Kesh  takes me through his love for the neon melancholy fever dream that is Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express.

Fun fact: We were originally going to talk about Terminator 2, but Saman was so excited to see Criterion’s magnificent Wong box on my shelf that we got to talking about that, and then before either of us knew it we were off and running in an entirely different direction. But a good one, and one that turned out to be strangely purgative.

You’ll see. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or if you prefer you can download it directly from the web.

And then you can catch today’s episode of NOW What, in which Rad talks to the creative team who helped save a pair of television shows from, shall we say, unbearable whiteness … it’s a whole thing, you should just listen to the podcast. It’s at the bottom of Rad’s piece, but of course you can also find it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well.

What else? My review of HBO’s The Nevers is up, trying to figure out whether it’s even possible to separate the art from the artist when the artist is Joss Whedon and the art is about how people with structural power use that power to subjugate those with less of it.

I know. It’s tricky.

Oh, and I just wrote a thing about this year’s Oscar Shorts. which are pretty great except for the couple that aren’t. But every program has at least one title that’s straight-up brilliant, so that’s nice … even if those aren’t the ones most likely to win.

It’s Good Friday, and while there’s supposed to be a new episode of NOW What online for you all … well, it isn’t up yet. No idea why, but I’m sure it’ll go up eventually. Hang in there, I’ll let you know when it’s live. (UPDATE: It went up over the weekend! It’s about NFTs!)

In the meantime, there’s this week’s What to Watch page, which is chock full of both recommendations and some good old-fashioned stay-aways (The Serpent is trash, please watch literally anything else), and now that April is here we can revel in NOW’s monthly previews for Netflix, Amazon, Crave, Disney+ and CBC Gem.

On a personal note, my beloved local music shop Soundscapes has announced it’s closing its doors after this weekend, a victim of the pandemic (and, one assumes, Spotify). They’re closed today, but the clearout sale continues tomorrow and Sunday. Nothing gold can stay.

This week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie gets a little more personal than some, as filmmaker Emma Seligman joins me to talk about what seeing Edward Norton’s first feature Keeping the Faith meant to her sense of self and her artistic development.

Given that her own first feature, Shiva Baby, touches on a lot of the same themes as Norton’s movie — and that both Emma and I come from very similar backgrounds — it led to a really fun conversation about the function of religion in daily life, and a few other things besides. And who knows, maybe we’ll get a Keeping the Faith Blu-ray out of it.

Let me guilt you into subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher to get the episode instantly, or if you prefer you can download it directly from the web.

And then there’s the latest episode of NOW What, which is the audio of Rad’s livestream with Vixen Vu, Serena Ivy and Elene Lam about the horrible intersection of anti-Asian racism and sex-worker shaming. You can find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or right here at the bottom of this page. I take no credit for it, I just made a few cuts for time.

Also! I reviewed Godzilla Vs. Kong, which opens tomorrow and is a ridiculous amount of fun, and I wrote a thousand words on the Canadian Screen Awards nominations, which dropped this morning and made a lot of people very happy.

More stuff on Friday. Lots more.

There’s no bonus SEMcast this week — look, if I put one out every Friday they wouldn’t be special! Hopefully the latest NOW What will be fun enough to make up for it; I spent an hour hanging out with Rad and his fellow Scarberians Odette Eccleston and Steph Hinds talking about the way the borough is changing in light of expansion and gentrification, and the things about it they hope won’t change any further. It’s on all the usual podcast platforms, and at the bottom of Rad’s cover story right here.

Also, there’s a new What to Watch page, which offers a broad-spectrum look at new VOD and streaming titles as well as a deeper dive than usual into the disc of the week, Criterion’s gorgeous World of Wong Kar Wai boxed set; you’ll also find an expanded version of my Invincible review and a stand-alone review of The Irregulars on the NOW site, because we’re nice that way.

And if you’ll excuse me, I have to put the final touches on tomorrow’s NOW Streaming newsletter. You’ve already subscribed, right? I put a lot of work into that!