Michael J. Fox and father of Nickelodeon slime among Order of Canada appointments

Michael J. Fox wears his Order of Canada pin everywhere.

He wears the little white pin on talk shows; he wears it to meet up with friends — his fellow Canadian New Yorkers Martin Short and Lorne Michaels make sure of it, he quips. And he wore it when he accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the final days of Joe Biden's presidency.

"My intrinsic Canadianism is a bigger part of me than my relationship with the States," he says on a video call from New York, Emmy Awards lined up on the shelf behind him.

The actor and Parkinson's advocate has worn the white pin for 16 years, since he was first named an officer of the Order of Canada. But he'll soon be able to upgrade to the red version of the snowflake-shaped insignia as he's promoted to companion, a higher rank within the order, whose living membership is capped at 180.

Winnipeg co-ops among models examined in film

We see theatre artist Debbie Patterson making her way toward the Old Grace Housing Co-operative’s entrance in her wheelchair, then settling inside for a steaming cup of tea. The co-op is her home.

“Well, I’ve always loved this neighbourhood and wanted to stay in this neighbourhood. I lived in a big, three-storey Wolseley house and then got MS and couldn’t do the stairs,” she says in a voiceover.

“Having a place I could move into that was completely accessible was just a godsend at a perfect time when I needed to stop living in my house, so I could stay in my neighbourhood and continue to be in a safe place.”

It’s one of the opening scenes of Meeting a Moment: The Art of Social Architecture, directed by Danielle Sturk and produced by Leslie Stafford, which appears on CBC Gem today and airs on CBC TV Saturday.

Supergirl? More like So-so girl

I like Supergirl, played in this new DCU outing by Australian actor Milly Alcock (House of Dragons).

As superheroes go, she’s pretty relatable. Her place is a mess. She eats cereal for dinner. She wears a vintage Blondie T-shirt. She gets into fights in bar parking lots. And all that casual, scruffy attitude can’t hide a moral backbone made of steel.

That’s why I wish her movie was better.

James Gunn’s planned multi-project DCU reboot got a solid start with last year’s Superman. This Supergirl- centred followup isn’t all bad. It has a lot of feel-good fan-service and fun, friendly charm, and Alcock is a standout as our fabulously messy heroine.

Cutting comedy, frilly diversions

Do not go gentle into that good small-screen summer. There are difficult decisions to be made, philosophically and narratively, and intense Bear-ish drama to be endured.

The beauty of the bleak

Summer has officially begun, and the Dave Barber Cinematheque is ringing in the season with a seven-day festival full of despairing, shocking and unpleasant cinema.

Lead film programmer Olivia Norquay could hardly wait for Bleak Week.

Started in Los Angeles by the American Cinematheque in 2022, this year, the festival is expanding to 73 cities and nearly 100 theatres across the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. Each venue then plots its own program of “uncompromising” films that “wholly embrace a cinema of despair in pursuit of unpleasant truths and raw empathy.”

Norquay — who selected 17 films from directors such as Béla Tarr (The Turin Horse), Agnès Varda (Vagabond), Michael Haneke (Funny Games) and Barbara Loden (Wanda) — says that even though this is the first year of participation for Winnipeg’s only downtown movie theatre, programming bleakness is nothing new at the Dave Barber Cinematheque.

Kevin Alves on the emotional Vancouver set of ‘Yellowjackets” final season

"Yellowjackets" actor Kevin Alves says there's been "lots of tears of joy" since he and his co-stars received the final two scripts for the survival saga last week.

"Reading that was a lot of emotional stuff for everybody," the Toronto-born Alves says by phone from Vancouver, where the series has been shooting since February. 

"You know, seeing how the show's ending and that was really beautiful.... The environment on set has been incredible with the support people have given each other."

Alves says filming is expected to continue for another month-and-a-half, but he's coy about what that could involve for the stranded teen characters who appeared to finally make contact with the outside world in the Season 3 finale.

Never mind playing catch — there was plenty of bonding to do with dad at the cinema

My dad didn’t teach me how to hammer a nail, change the oil in a car, or tie a knot that wouldn’t slip. But afternoons shared with him in a dark cinema shaped who I am in ways I was slow to fully appreciate.

Poignant lead performances anchor tense Aussie horror

Bleak, beautiful and sad, this small Australian film combines art-house horror with a queer coming-of-age story. This is a monster movie in which the monster is homophobic hatred.

Naim and Ryan (Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen) are two teenage boys first seen doing teenage-boy stuff — breaking into an abandoned factory and goofing around.

We sense almost at once that all their wrestling and grappling is displaced desire. Ryan is a popular kid and Naim is a wary outsider, but a relationship grows between the two — tentative at first, then tender and passionate.

These adolescent feelings are complicated by the fact their families belong to a fundamentalist religious sect that dominates their tough small town.

Movie Review: ‘Leviticus’ makes a demon out of desire in an auspicious debut for Adrian Chiarella

What if the object of your desire was also the thing that's trying to kill you? Not slowly irritating you to death for leaving the toilet seat up again. We mean actively trying to strangle you.

That's the intriguing premise behind the horror-satire “Leviticus,” an auspicious feature film debut for writer-director Adrian Chiarella that's both deeply scary and a queer revolt.

Named for the book of the Old Testament often used to justify homophobia, the movie explores the burgeoning relationship between two young men that is shattered when so-called “conversion therapy” — a scientifically discredited practice — unleashes a demon that stalks them. Some have called the movie “It Follows” meets “Heated Rivalry,” but that's a disservice to Chiarella's ambition.

The film centers on Naim (Joe Bird, the breakout star of A24’s “Talk to Me” )and Ryan (newcomer Stacy Clausen), who we watch fitfully, awkwardly fall for each other, slowly exploring their sexuality and stutter-stepping into their true selves. Wrestling turns to flirtation, which becomes longing and tenderness.

From YouTube to Hollywood: Digital creators are remaking the movie business

NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the most promising young filmmakers in the movie business are arriving in Hollywood already experts at entertaining audiences and going viral.

The twin sensations of “Obsession” and “Backrooms” — both by 20-something YouTubers-turned-filmmakers — has put a new spotlight on an increasingly well-trod path to the director's chair.

Hollywood executives are scouring platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to find the next Steven Spielberg. There, young aspiring filmmakers are not only working on their craft but building a relationship with audiences that can transfer to the box office.

“These filmmakers are in a dialogue with their audience from the word ‘Go’. Their subscribers have direct input in each iteration of these things,” Mike De Luca, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chair, said at a conference last month. “By the time you get to the movie, they’ve had a billion test screenings.”

‘Obsession’ is a sensation. Everyone, including Curry Barker, is trying to figure out what it means

NEW YORK (AP) — Days before “Obsession” opened in theaters, its 26-year-old director, Curry Barker, made a bet with his manager and agent. They said if the movie opened above $20 million, they would all get tattoos.

“Obsession” fell just short. It debuted with $17 million. They were still thrilled. Barker made the horror film with just $750,000. It was enormously successful. But then something unexpected happened. The following weekend, “Obsession” easily cleared $20 million. And then it did again and again and almost a fourth time — an almost unheard-of staying power.

“It was just like: Holy cow. I didn’t think that was an option,” Barker says. “Now we’ve said if it hits $300 million, we’ll all get the tattoo. We had to make a new milestone. And I think we’ll reach it.”

Over the last month, “Obsession” has sent shock waves through Hollywood. Barker’s microbudget thriller has grossed $286 million worldwide, and it’s still going. On its fifth weekend in theaters, it was second only to Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” with $19 million. In North America, it has outgrossed “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.” It’s the biggest hit in the 24-year existence of Focus Features, which has had to postpone the video-on-demand release. It ranks among the most profitable movies ever made.

Cineplex raises price of CineClub memberships for first time

TORONTO - Cineplex Inc. says it's raising the prices of its CineClub memberships for the first time since launching the program.

Starting July 15, the cinema chain will start charging customers $10.99 per month for monthly memberships and $120.89 per year for annual memberships.

Since it launched CineClub in 2021, it has been charging members $9.99 per month or $109.89 per year, respectively.

Cineplex spokesperson Michelle Saba says the changes will help keep the program sustainable. 

Full disclosure: Spielberg’s latest a solid sci-fi outing

Steven Spielberg, who has been making feature films for over five decades now, is in “watch the skies” mode with his new sci-fi movie, a deliberately old-fashioned alien visitation story that is sometimes sinister, sometimes sentimental and often outright goofy.

Cineplex box office $60.5 million in May, concession spending per patron sets record

TORONTO - Cineplex Inc. reported its box office revenue rose to $60.5 million in May, up from $55.3 million in the same month last year, its highest May box office since 2019. 

The company also said May saw its highest monthly concession spending per patron on record. 

Cineplex says top performing movies for the month included "The Devil Wears Prada 2," "Michael," "Obsession," "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu," and "Backrooms."

The result for May compared with a $60-million take at the box office in April this year.

Love, music and the return of a weird noir

There really is no excuse for staying indoors, except for streaming these five viewing suggestions.