Tag: Family

When Home Bodies is Casey Walker’s Sophomore Film Debuting At Fantasia 2026, This Sci-Fi Thriller Is Sure to Haunt!

Two sheltered twins get an unexpected new family member in Casey Walker’s eerie sci-fi fable, Home Bodies, and it seems home schooling can lead to other unsettling concerns.

Home Bodies Official Poster
Played at Fantasia Film Festival on Thu July 23, 2026 9:30 PM at the Cinéma du Musée

* Potential Spoiler Alert

While waiting for news about Casey Walker‘s movie Ithaqua, also slated for release this year, I’m glad his surreal science fiction fable Home Bodies is getting lots of love at Fantasia Film Festival 2026. It’s a beautifully constructed and self-contained story set in the future, one where human experimentation is very real, and we should all be afraid, very afraid.

Blue (Ian Ho) and Red (Emma Ho) are twin siblings living a very sheltered life. They’re not allowed to go out, and while they get to grow up and be who they are, nobody’s filling them in on the birds and the bees, or teaching them how to socialize or the world beyond their four walls. And just how they’re “raised” is rather bizarre. All they have access to are neon coloured VHS tapes and a rather surreal television show called Barn. It’s best not to say too much about this Sesame Street wannabe, but that’s the gist I got.

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In Toy Story 5, How Many Friends Are Needed?

Pixar shifts the spotlight to Jessie in Toy Story 5, delivering a heartfelt story about growing up, moving on, and finding human connection in an increasingly digital world.

Toy Story 5 Soundtrack CoverAnyone who grew up watching Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) won’t find them at the centre of the action. In Toy Story 5, the focus shifts to Jessie (Joan Cusack) as the new “Justice of the Peace,” and as for the others, they’ve been busy. While the cowboy is spending his best days with Little Bo-Peep (Annie Potts) to rescue abandoned toys, Buzz has an eye on the cowgirl, an idea first introduced in the second film. The allusions are there, and choosing not to rush that relationship is a smart move.

But do we really need more tales? I’d say yes. After 31 long years, most fans have either moved on or are waiting to see what PIXAR does next.

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A Woolly Mystery Awaits, Sherlock! The Sheep Detectives Are On The Case….

The Hardy Boys can’t help here in solving the case, when a seemingly negliant father of twins care more for his flock than his kids. As there’s more to the mystery, The Sheep Detectives are on the case to find out who murdered this parent!

The Sheep Detectives PosterAlthough the title of The Sheep Detectives is deceptive, just who is doing the work has the right mix of a human and animal whodunit mixed with the pastoral charm unique to Anne of Green Gables. Here, George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) leads a simple life. Most of his worries begin and end with his sheep. He tends to them like any loving parent would, doting on them when it’s time to shear their wool and making sure they feel comfortable afterward. He even reads them “bedtime stories,” although his choices lean toward murder mysteries rather than fairy tales.

The flock listens, almost as if they truly understand every clue, motive, and hidden threat. When George finally goes to sleep, that’s when the magic begins. We discover that the sheep are highly intelligent and live a Toy Story-style life once the humans are no longer watching. Or should that be A Secret Life of Pets?

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We All Swim With The Pout-Pout Fish in the Deep Blue Sea

It’s worth diving in with a yellow submarine to view the life found underwater in The Pout-Pout Fish. This adaptation of the bestselling series by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna offers plenty of action, along with a thoughtful look at courage in the face of environmental change.

The Pout-Pout Fish PosterThe Pout-Pout Fish had me wondering if Mr. Fish is somehow a distant cousin of Red from Angry Birds. Their personalities are not quite the same, but both characters exist in worlds that seem determined to tell them to cheer up. Here, the glum Mr. Fish (Nick Offerman) has his solitude interrupted by a very chipper young seadragon named Pip (Nina Oyama), who mistakes his home for a safe refuge. When trouble hits their stretch of reef off the Meanjin coast, located off of Brisban, the two have little choice but to work together.

An overgrowth of seaweed drifts in with the tides, turning the area into a maze of thick kelp that leaves the local marine population struggling to navigate. This spreading plant also creates a darkness that other marine life find unsettling.

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Charlie the Wonderdog Has Some Bark, But Can He Bite?

Charlie the Wonderdog 2025 Movie PosterCharlie the Wonderdog isn’t a complete wash. It’s an animated film with its heart in the right place despite leaning on a familiar premise: cats versus dogs. The latter takes the heroic lane while it seems every purring entity is cast as villainous. At least the origin story avoids retreading the Superman template. Instead, the narrative centres on two pets who gain super abilities and how they choose to use them. One leans toward saving the day, the other toward domination, driven by a lifetime of mistreatment by his owner that fuels a lingering vendetta.

This bowser (voiced by Owen Wilson) has known nothing but love since entering Danny’s (Dawson Littman) life as a toddler. That emotional framing gives the film its strongest footing. Now much older, this tween is facing the quiet reality that his longtime companion is nearing his sunset years. This canine isn’t as spry as he once was, and the boy simply wants his best friend comfortable and cared for. That dynamic shifts when this dog is kidnapped alongside a neighbourhood cat (Caitlynne Medrek) and subjected to alien experimentation. They are returned with renewed vigour and the ability to talk.

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Avatar Fire and Ash. On Why My Journey With This Franchise Is Truly Over.

James Cameron can still build spectacle, but the latest return to Pandora in Avatar Fire and Ash expands outward through action rather than deeper into the metaphysical questions that once made Avatar resonate.

Avatar Fire and Ash Movie PosterThere was a time when James Cameron’s films mattered. He burst onto the scene with The Terminator, and from there his command of the blockbuster only grew through Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, and Titanic. Each project felt bigger, bolder, more assured. Ego may have inflated alongside his skill, but when he’s focused with one universe, Avatar Fire and Ash is falling flat. I’m not wowed by the digital graphics. I want deeper, spiritual, meaning.

I read the first film as Cameron’s take on environmentalism, filtered through soul transference and a very direct moral lens. It wasn’t subtle, but it had intent. The second film pushed into new territory, including a deeper engagement with spiritualism. That spark, however, was nowhere to be found on Cameron’s third return to Pandora. I found no meaning between the lines, no sense of discovery.

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