Tag: Romance

The Beast of Mossy Bottom: Four Hilarious Reasons Ewe Will Love Shaun the Sheep

Aardman’s expressive flock delivers plenty of laughs in this kid-friendly Halloween romp. Not everything has to be scary, and Shaun the Sheep The Beast of Mossy Bottom nicely gives fans young and old something to guffaw at. And we got news too about the home video release:

Shaun the Sheep The Beast of Mossy Bottom DVD
Available to preorder on Amazon USA now

GKIDS & StudioCanal
Available on VOD
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD January 26, 2027.

As a kid-friendly film for the season, Shaun the Sheep The Beast of Mossy Bottom brings a little scare to its quiet hamlet. Shaun has come a long way since his introduction in Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995). That little sheep went on to lead his own TV series in 2007, with the Farmer, Bitzer the dog and the flock turning life into anything but a quiet country retreat. Aardman built this world around visual gags and expressive characters. Nobody needs a proper conversation for us to understand who’s causing trouble.

The leap to features gave that mischief more room to roam. Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) took the flock to the big city, while Farmageddon (2019) brought an alien visitor to the countryside. For someone who loves silent films like I do, the appeal is easy to understand. A look, a gesture or a badly timed mishap can carry the joke. That’s nothing to bleat at, pardon the pun.

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The Fox Is Fur-Real: Mix Romance with the Supernatural and Nobody’s Safe!

A talking fox promises to fix Nick’s love life, but getting exactly what he wants comes with sinister consequences. Dario Russo’s The Fox mixes a strong cast, surreal humour and supernatural meddling into one of the oddest parables I’ve seen brought to life.

The Fox 2025 Movie Poster
Played at Toronto After Dark Festival on. Oct 18th, at the Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre

Dario Russo‘s hell-bent-for-leather feature debut, The Fox, has to be one of the oddest parables I’ve ever seen brought to life. After a documentary-style introduction narrated by Olivia Colman (Paddington in Peru), who also voices the titular animal, we meet Nick (Jai Courtney), a fox catcher who helps his father look after their rural property in the Australian outback. But that’s not quite where the film begins. Instead, the narrator suggests that any animal living out there might love to be human for a day, if not longer. After seeing how these people behave, I wonder if they’d reconsider!

Nick’s relationship with Kori (Emily Browning) is going nowhere, even after he proposes marriage. He thinks everything is fine, but she’s deeply unhappy and secretly sleeping with Derek (Damon Herriman), the husband of her best friend Diana (Claudia Doumit). It’s a messy arrangement, and Nick is the last person to recognize just how doomed his romantic future might be.

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Can You Sweetly Smell What’s Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You Ahead of it’s Debut?

Amusingly, just who Sasaki meets at till number two is a cue that life may well change for him. If Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You borrows from Mötley Crüe, he may have just met the girl all the bad boys want.

Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
©Jinushi/SQUARE ENIX,Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You Production Committee

Crunchyroll
Streaming link here.

From manga to anime, fans can now sample what’s cooking in Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You (スーパーの裏でヤニ吸うふたり). The series will make its official debut on July 4, and the first 12 mini-episodes offer an early taste of why this story from Jinushi has built such a loyal following. What is presented is more than another adult romance, and its appeal comes from how gently it observes loneliness, routine, and the small moments that make life feel less grey.

Sasaki (Takuya Satō) is an overworked office worker whose life has settled into a dull, joyless rhythm. One of the few bright spots in his day is a local supermarket, where the cheerful smile of cashier Yamada gives him a small reason to keep going. When another woman, Tayama (Seena Hoshiki), invites him to smoke behind the store, what follows plays with identity, attraction, and the difference between how people present themselves at work and who they become after hours.

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An Italian Kung-Fu Hustle Is Happening In The Forbidden City. Is Yaxi Prepared?

The Forbidden City blends Italian gangster cinema with martial arts action as a woman searches Rome’s Chinatown for her missing sister. Yaxi Liu’s transition from stunt performer to leading actor anchors the film, even if the choreography and story occasionally stumble. Strong cinematography and cultural tension keep the experience visually engaging.

The Forbidden City 4K CoverWell GO USA
Digital Release: March 17, 2026
Home Video: April, 21, 2026 (available to pre-order here)

When filmmaker Gabriele Mainetti mixes high-octane gangster action with martial arts in modern-day Rome’s Chinatown, The Forbidden City becomes a clash of cultures that feels both unusual and ambitious. Whether the conflict comes through fists or gunfire, two very different worlds collide when Mei (Yaxi Liu) arrives searching for her missing sister. The reason for that search becomes clearer in the opening sequence. The siblings were secretly raised during China’s one-child policy era, and although the film never fully reveals when they were separated, the implication is that Mei has spent years searching.

Part of me still feels this story might have worked better as a period piece. That said, what Mainetti presents is effective in its own way. The film offers a glimpse of how Chinatowns exist beyond the usual cinematic settings of North America or Asia. In this case, the story unfolds in Rome. Without the occasional landmark or explicit mention, the location can be easy to miss, but the cinematography and production design give the city a textured, lived-in feel.

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Just What A Useful Ghost Offers Is Not Seduction, But Suction

A Useful Ghost turns grief, spirituality, and social satire into one of the most offbeat supernatural films in recent memory. Blending heartfelt loss with possessed appliances and sharp cultural commentary, this Ghost Month standout is equal parts absurd and affecting.

A Useful Ghost Movie Poster
Playing at the Victoria Film Festival Feb 14th, 2026 at The Roxy (2657 Quadra St.) at 2pm. Buy tickets here.

Filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke has crafted a supernatural film that doesn’t just tug at the heartstrings, it suggests grief doesn’t always need to be sucked up. A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) weaves several tales together to create the ultimate Ghost Month film. Originally debuting in August 2025 for Southeast Asian audiences, it’s now making a well-deserved splash across the international festival circuit.

The film introduces a series of suffocating situations. There is Tok (Krittin Thongmai), who dies at work from chest congestion. Elsewhere, an unnamed academic (Wisarut Homhuan) insists it isn’t dust but industrial pollution choking him. He buys a vacuum cleaner that promptly malfunctions. When Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjad) arrives to fix it, he has no idea he’s about to be seduced.

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Luc Bresson’s Dracula Has Enough Bite To Be Memorable

Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale reshapes the familiar myth with a sweeping origin, a centuries-long hunt for reincarnated love, and a boldly camp performance from Caleb Landry Jones. It’s uneven in its digital effects, but the pulp energy and gothic romance make it a surprisingly fun Valentine-season watch.

Luc Bresson's Dracula Movie PosterLuc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale is certainly a different beast. Just when fans of the vampire tale think they’re getting another retelling of Bram Stoker’s classic, what’s presented here begins elsewhere. It offers a great deal of backstory that may have been imagined but never fully dramatized. The novel itself is structured as a series of letters, memos, and recordings recounting how the Count made it to London.

In this auteur’s take, the broader backdrop remains familiar, but the narrative lens shifts. The universe is largely set in France, though any revolutionary parallels feel faint at best. Instead, the focus rests on the Ottoman invasion of Romania, and how young Prince Vladimir (Caleb Landry Jones) vows to save his people from this encroaching tyranny. His fear is not only for his homeland but for Elisabeta’s (Zoë Bleu) safety. Should the enemy breach their borders, she would be taken prisoner. He knows this all too well.

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