Film Feature: Chad’s Top 20 Films of 2024

It’s been an odd year for movies, partly due to the lasting effects of labor strikes. There are very few masterpieces, and just as few disasters. Instead, 2024 featured a lot of solid 3-3.5 out of 5 star films, a healthy selection of entertaining fare that enabled the theater industry to finish the year far ahead of what many analysts had feared (box office-wise). Well, without further ado, here’s my ranked Top 20 best films of 2024 (and don’t forget to check out Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2024 as well):  Continue reading “Film Feature: Chad’s Top 20 Films of 2024”

Film Review: “Sugarcane”

Sugarcane depicts the importance of breaking a generational cycle of trauma and exposing the truth

If you’re unfamiliar with “Indian residential schools,” which were boarding schools run by the Catholic church for Indigenous children in Canada and the United States, their existence marks a horrific chapter in North American history with repercussions still being felt (and investigated) to this day. Sugarcane is a new documentary by co-directors Emily Kassie and Julian Brave Noisecat that brings us into the emotional fold of these repercussions. Sugarcane shines a specific spotlight on the Canadian residential school system and the traumatic impact they’ve had on generations of Indigenous families. It’s a troubling and devastating documentary, but all the more important viewing for the strength and resilience it represents. Continue reading “Film Review: “Sugarcane””