C.J. Prince
@cjprince.bsky.social
Sometimes film critic, sometimes film programmer.
acquiredcinema.substack.com
acquiredcinema.substack.com
I wrote about Todd Rohal's Fuck My Son! and Radu Jude's Dracula, two films from this month designed to piss off audiences that also happen to use AI. One film is bad, the other is a fun bit of anarchy in the tradition of David Wain/Michael Showalter.
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
The Pleasures (and Displeasures) of Provocation
On Todd Rohal's Fuck My Son! and Radu Jude's Dracula
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I wrote about Todd Rohal's Fuck My Son! and Radu Jude's Dracula, two films from this month designed to piss off audiences that also happen to use AI. One film is bad, the other is a fun bit of anarchy in the tradition of David Wain/Michael Showalter.
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
Shelby Oaks is out this weekend, which I reviewed last year. The version coming out now is different thanks to reshoots and a new polish on the edit, although I suspect it's not enough to address the film's foundational issues.
My review at @thefilmstage.com:
thefilmstage.com/fantasia-rev...
My review at @thefilmstage.com:
thefilmstage.com/fantasia-rev...
Fantasia Review: Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks is an Uninspired Horror Mishmash
There’s been a bit of mystery surrounding Shelby Oaks, the directorial debut of Chris Stuckmann. A YouTuber who got his start reviewing films and has now amassed over two-million subscribers, Stuckman...
thefilmstage.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Shelby Oaks is out this weekend, which I reviewed last year. The version coming out now is different thanks to reshoots and a new polish on the edit, although I suspect it's not enough to address the film's foundational issues.
My review at @thefilmstage.com:
thefilmstage.com/fantasia-rev...
My review at @thefilmstage.com:
thefilmstage.com/fantasia-rev...
What if you think One Battle After Another is a fun collection of set pieces and you find its political content largely sealed off/adjacent rather than super urgent/relevant
October 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM
What if you think One Battle After Another is a fun collection of set pieces and you find its political content largely sealed off/adjacent rather than super urgent/relevant
Reposted by C.J. Prince
Come join @cjprince.bsky.social, @tylekurner.bsky.social, Lena Wilson & me on Saturday afternoon as we ponder what we even mean by queer and trans stories? How has this shifted in the last 5, 10, 50 years (or more)?
And what that means for what stories get told, reach you, and are still missing!
And what that means for what stories get told, reach you, and are still missing!
🌈 What makes a story queer or trans? Depends who you ask — and when it was made.
Is it about LGBTQ+ characters or filmmakers?
Or something else entirely?
How we define it shapes how we assess the state of queer + trans cinema today.
Join us Saturday to discuss: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
Is it about LGBTQ+ characters or filmmakers?
Or something else entirely?
How we define it shapes how we assess the state of queer + trans cinema today.
Join us Saturday to discuss: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
September 29, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Come join @cjprince.bsky.social, @tylekurner.bsky.social, Lena Wilson & me on Saturday afternoon as we ponder what we even mean by queer and trans stories? How has this shifted in the last 5, 10, 50 years (or more)?
And what that means for what stories get told, reach you, and are still missing!
And what that means for what stories get told, reach you, and are still missing!
Reposted by C.J. Prince
👥 Featuring Elspeth Brown, @emilygarside.bsky.social @bwestcineaste.bsky.social, Anamarija Horvat, Angelo Madsen, @cjprince.bsky.social, @tylekurner.bsky.social, and Lena Wilson
👉 Save your seat: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
👉 Save your seat: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
September 22, 2025 at 10:36 PM
👥 Featuring Elspeth Brown, @emilygarside.bsky.social @bwestcineaste.bsky.social, Anamarija Horvat, Angelo Madsen, @cjprince.bsky.social, @tylekurner.bsky.social, and Lena Wilson
👉 Save your seat: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
👉 Save your seat: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
Reposted by C.J. Prince
Kaouther Ben Hania's Venice winner The Voice of Hind Rajab is noble in its intentions but filled with questionable choices around its execution. Read @cjprince.bsky.social's review:
TIFF Review: The Voice of Hind Rajab Brings Questionable Palatability to the Genocide in Gaza
In January 2024, the Palestine Red Crescent Society received an emergency call from Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl traveling in a car with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Gaza City. The Israeli army...
thefilmstage.com
September 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Kaouther Ben Hania's Venice winner The Voice of Hind Rajab is noble in its intentions but filled with questionable choices around its execution. Read @cjprince.bsky.social's review:
Reposted by C.J. Prince
Stillz's Harmony Korine-backed Barrio Triste is exhilarating, tense, personal, enigmatic, and among this year’s best first features.
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's review:
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's review:
TIFF Review: Barrio Triste is One of the Year’s Great Debuts
At barely two years old, Harmony Korine’s “post-cinema” company EDGLRD is already branching out. After directing AGGRO DR1FT and Baby Invasion, Korine takes on a producer role for Barrio Triste, the f...
thefilmstage.com
September 14, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Stillz's Harmony Korine-backed Barrio Triste is exhilarating, tense, personal, enigmatic, and among this year’s best first features.
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's review:
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's review:
Reposted by C.J. Prince
Arnaud Desplechin's Two Pianos is an ideal vision of the prestige film: handsomely mounted and splendidly acted while teeming with sudden tonal shifts and emotional volatility.
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
TIFF Review: Two Pianos is Another Rich, Thoughtful Drama from Arnaud Desplechin
The past rears its not-so-ugly head in Two Pianos, Arnaud Desplechin’s latest film exploring the ways gorgeous people make an even bigger mess out of the messiness of life itself. Set amidst the world...
thefilmstage.com
September 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Arnaud Desplechin's Two Pianos is an ideal vision of the prestige film: handsomely mounted and splendidly acted while teeming with sudden tonal shifts and emotional volatility.
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
Reposted by C.J. Prince
Genki Kawamura's videogame adaptation #Exit8 relies on horror’s tried-and-true method of leaning into allegory.
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
TIFF Review: Exit 8 is a Videogame Adaptation Heavy on Allegory
Adapting a video game like 2023's indie-horror hit The Exit 8 comes with a challenge. Unlike other adaptations, this has no real plot or story to work with––just a high-concept hook. A first-person wa...
thefilmstage.com
September 5, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Genki Kawamura's videogame adaptation #Exit8 relies on horror’s tried-and-true method of leaning into allegory.
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
Read @cjprince.bsky.social's TIFF review:
My annual round up of highlights from TIFF's Short Cuts programme is now live at @thefilmstage.com. As always, whittling it down to just ten films was difficult, and I wanted to mention other films I enjoyed and couldn't include...
thefilmstage.com/10-must-see-...
thefilmstage.com/10-must-see-...
10 Must-See Short Films at TIFF 2025
Comprising 48 titles from 28 countries, this year’s Short Cuts program at the Toronto International Film Festival doesn’t represent any sort of significant change from 2024 (48 shorts but from 23 coun...
thefilmstage.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:03 PM
My annual round up of highlights from TIFF's Short Cuts programme is now live at @thefilmstage.com. As always, whittling it down to just ten films was difficult, and I wanted to mention other films I enjoyed and couldn't include...
thefilmstage.com/10-must-see-...
thefilmstage.com/10-must-see-...
I got to see some titles from this year's Locarno Film Festival and wrote a few words about them. Includes Alexandre Koberidze's Dry Leaf, Jérôme Reybaud's A Balcony in Limoges, Julian Radlmaier's Phantoms of July, and Sho Miyake's Two Seasons, Two Strangers.
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
Locarno 2025: Dry Leaf, A Balcony in Limoges, Phantoms of July, Two Seasons Two Strangers
Thoughts on four films from the Locarno Film Festival, including this year's Golden Leopard winner
open.substack.com
August 18, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I got to see some titles from this year's Locarno Film Festival and wrote a few words about them. Includes Alexandre Koberidze's Dry Leaf, Jérôme Reybaud's A Balcony in Limoges, Julian Radlmaier's Phantoms of July, and Sho Miyake's Two Seasons, Two Strangers.
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
"Karsh, where we're going we don't need roads."
August 16, 2025 at 4:19 AM
"Karsh, where we're going we don't need roads."
Deadline revealed today that TIFF withdrew its invite to this film from the festival over several issue, including legal clearance of footage in the documentary.
deadline.com/2025/08/tiff...
deadline.com/2025/08/tiff...
August 13, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Deadline revealed today that TIFF withdrew its invite to this film from the festival over several issue, including legal clearance of footage in the documentary.
deadline.com/2025/08/tiff...
deadline.com/2025/08/tiff...
TIFF uploaded a trailer today for a documentary about a former IDF general rescuing his family on October 7, even though it wasn't in their TIFF Docs press release and there isn't a film page on their site. They made the video private but the trailer can still be viewed here:
vimeo.com/1105546177
vimeo.com/1105546177
The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue _ TRAILER
* Premiering at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival * Dir.: Barry Avrich Melbar Entertainment Group www.melbarentertainment.com Please contact: Laila…
vimeo.com
August 6, 2025 at 9:25 PM
TIFF uploaded a trailer today for a documentary about a former IDF general rescuing his family on October 7, even though it wasn't in their TIFF Docs press release and there isn't a film page on their site. They made the video private but the trailer can still be viewed here:
vimeo.com/1105546177
vimeo.com/1105546177
Is it an anti-woke reboot or a TBI
July 18, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Is it an anti-woke reboot or a TBI
There is no safe space to be a Luca Guadagnino hater
July 16, 2025 at 1:48 PM
There is no safe space to be a Luca Guadagnino hater
I wrote up some thoughts on a handful of films from the first half of 2025. Includes writing on Sinners, Warfare, Presence, Black Bag, Bring Her Back and more.
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
July 2, 2025 at 2:24 AM
I wrote up some thoughts on a handful of films from the first half of 2025. Includes writing on Sinners, Warfare, Presence, Black Bag, Bring Her Back and more.
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
open.substack.com/pub/acquired...
Me reading the news about Denis Villeneuve directing the new James Bond movie
June 26, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Me reading the news about Denis Villeneuve directing the new James Bond movie
Blue sky exclusive list of me fucking around
June 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Blue sky exclusive list of me fucking around
Cinematheque audiences
June 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Cinematheque audiences