By Mr. Will Wong

Lana Condor has propelled herself into this generation’s official Stream Queen, finding tons of success with the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Franchise. And now she branches into the dark side, yet still managing to be light in another Netflix venture in darkly-comedic Series BOO BITCH. She even serves as Executive Producer.

The eight-episode Series centers on Helen (Condor) who is agreeable, but barely noticed at school. In fact year after year, despite demanding a correction, her classmates still confuse her as “Helen Who”. Determined to get noticed, she and her best friend Gia (Zia Colletti) devise a master plan to live their best lives, taking on new personas, and Helen becoming Erika! But much to her demise, she discovers that she might now actually be a ghost!

While BOO BITCH falls into some of the similar “disregarded teen girl who blossoms” tropes as others before, its choice to have Erika ponder mortality, life and regret, adds an element of meaningfulness to it. The Series explores consequence to action and atonement, and this helps Erika win us over despite her intentions on the surface being superficial. If there’s one thing beneath all the teen drama and politics that you can take away here, it is that you too should be living your life to the fullest!

Condor as always is an engaging lead and has about of fun with it. BOO BITCH‘s biggest revelation though, is Aparna Briell who plays Queen Bee Riley, who is threatened by the arrival of Erika. She possesses some of that energy of Euphoria‘s Maddie and makes bad look investing! These episodes fly by rather quickly, a perfect, breezy weekend binge!

BOO BITCH streams July 8, 2022 on Netflix.

Set to take place again this year between August 25-28, 2022 at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, FAN EXPO CANADA returns once again! Even more celebrity guests have been added to the schedule, including, a just-confirmed Charlie Hunnam!

List of those confirmed so far:

• JEFF ANDERSON (Clerks, Zack and Miri Make a Porno)
• SEAN ASTIN (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Goonies)
• JACOB BERTRAND (Cobra Kai, Kirby Buckets)
• BILLY BOYD (The Lord of the Rings trilogy)
• LEVAR BURTON (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Perception)
• GINA CARANO (The Mandalorian, Deadpool)
• ANTHONY DANIELS (Star Wars universe)
• ASHLEY ECKSTEIN (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
• ROBERT ENGLUND (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
• GIANCARLO ESPOSITO (The Mandalorian, Breaking Bad, The Boys)
• TREVOR FEHRMAN (Clerks II)
• DAVID FOLEY (The Kids in the Hall)
• TYLER HOECHLIN (Superman & Lois, Teen Wolf)
• CHARLIE HUNNAM (Sons of Anarchy, The Gentlemen)
• RYAN HURST (Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, The Mysterious Benedict Society)
• MARTIN KOVE (Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid)
• PEYTON LIST (Cobra Kai, Bunk’d)
• CAITY LOTZ (Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow)
• JES MACALLAN (Legends of Tomorrow, Mistresses)
• JASON MEWES (Clerks)
• DOMINIC MONAGHAN (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Lost)
• BRIAN O’HALLORAN (Clerks)
• LANA PARRILLA (Once Upon a Time, Why Women Kill)
• EMILIO RIVERA (Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C., On My Block)
• MICHAEL ROOKER (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead)
• THEO ROSSI (Sons of Anarchy, Army of the Dead)
• KATEE SACKHOFF (The Mandalorian, Another Life, Battlestar Galactica)
• WILLIAM SHATNER (Star Trek)
• KEVIN SMITH (Clerks)
• BRENT SPINER (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels)
• BITSIE TULLOCH (Superman & Lois, Grimm)
• CARL WEATHERS (The Mandalorian, Rocky, Predator)
• MING-NA WEN (The Book of Boba Fett, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
• ELIJAH WOOD (The Lord of the Rings trilogy)
• WILLIAM ZABKA (Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid)

For a complete list of guests, info and tickets, visit: fanexpocanada.com

After its Premiere at Sundance, HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL is set to hit theatres this Summer.

Synopsis:

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a satirical comedy starring Regina Hall as Trinitie Childs – the proud first lady of a Southern Baptist megachurch, who together with her husband Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), once served a congregation in the tens of thousands. But after a scandal forces their church to temporarily close, Trinitie and Lee-Curtis must reopen their church and rebuild their congregation to make the biggest comeback that commodified religion has ever seen

Universal Pictures Canada & Focus Features will release HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL. in theaters on Friday, September 2, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures Canada)

The fourth annual SiriusXM Top of the Country competition is set to take to Calgary as part of the CCMA’S COUNTRY MUSIC WEEK 2022, airing live on SiriusXM! A huge headliner also is set to be announced. The top three finalists have been selected based on public vote!

Meet your Top Three:

Shantaia

• 2019 SCMA Emerging Artist of the Year, Shantaia hails from a small town, Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. Currently living in Nashville, Shantaia has written with some of the biggest writers and has opened for Kane Brown, Chris Lane, Ryan Hurd, Charlie Major, Emerson Drive and more, and has played festivals all across Canada, and Americanafest. Her newest single, Broke to Brand New has just hit Top 40 on Billboard and Mediabase in Canada, making it her highest-charting single yet.

SACHA

• With the release of her sophomore EP, WE DID, featuring her viral hit track “What The Truck” (with The Reklaws), the fastest-ever Canadian country song in history to go GOLD, SACHA is just getting started. Named to CMT’s Next Women Of Country 2021 and Sounds Like Nashville 2022 Artists to Watch, SACHA has been featured in major North American press including CMT, Rolling Stone Country and Billboard and has also appeared on multiple A-list editorial playlists.

Josh Ross

• Josh Ross is an emerging singer-songwriter based in Nashville. A native of Waterdown, ON, Josh packed up and moved to Nashville right after college. Spending the past 2 years dedicated to developing his writing and voice, Josh independently released ‘Tall Boys’ in August which has amassed over 2.5M streams. On Feb 11th, he released ‘First Taste of Gone’ and it has already cracked the Top 40 at Canadian radio and he’s just getting started.

(Photo credit: SiriusXM)

A new Trailer and Poster have arrived for Apple TV+‘s upcoming Animated Feature, LUCK!

Synopsis:

From Apple Original Films comes the story of Sam Greenfield, the unluckiest person in the world, who when she stumbles into the never-before-seen Land of Luck, sets out on a quest to bring some good luck home for her best friend. But with humans not allowed, her only chance is teaming up with the magical creatures who live there to do it. “Luck” is produced by Skydance Animation. 

Apple Original Films’ “Luck” features the voice talents of stars Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Noblezada, Simon Pegg, Flula Borg, Colin O’Donoghue, John Ratzenberger and Adelynn Spoon. The animated feature is directed by Peggy Holmes from a screenplay by Kiel Murray, with John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and David Eisenmann producing for Skydance Animation.

LUCK will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on August 5, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Apple TV+)

It was a huge night at Scotiabank Area as Machine Gun Kelly brought his Mainstream Sellout Tour to Toronto! The Actor/Singer has been making headlines of late, punctuated also by his relationship with Actress Megan Fox and recently smashing glass on his face! And fans came out in droves to hear his hits “my ex’s best friend”, “I Think I’m OKAY”, “forget me too” and more. Following the Show, hoards of fans crowded around his Tour Bus outside the venue for a chance to get close to him and some lucky fans got their signs and body parts signed even! He partied with the likes of Drake and The Weeknd, both in-town at a private event north of the City following the Show.

A quick Clip of him going onto his Tour Bus: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fANareumhbw

Supporting him were iconic Avril Lavigne, who just concluded her own Canadian Bite Me Tour in May, highlighted by an appearance at the JUNO Awards in Toronto! Lavigne was back again, drawing many of her own fans out to the Show, joining Machine Gun Kelly on-stage for “Bois Lie“, plus performing an hour-long set of her hits. We were extremely lucky to get a Snap with Lavigne. She was joined by her family on her Tour Bus as they head to the Tour’s next stop in Kansas City.

Opening the Show was up-and-comer Iann Dior, whom like Machine Gun Kelly, also hails from Texas. Dior among others, performed his hits “Emotions”, “Live Fast Die Numb” and more. Dior drew a big crowd following the Show, graciously stopping to pose for Selfies by his Tour Bus!

Machine Gun Kelly recently recruited popular British Guitarist Sophie Lloyd to his Tour and she put-on a scene-stealing display, placing all eyes on her during her skilful guitar solos. She was amazing also to stop for fans after the Show, many as excited to see her as the Supporting Acts!

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Check-out this new Trailer for WEDDING SEASON, coming soon to Netflix!

Synopsis:
After breaking off her engagement, leaving a successful banking career behind in the city, and moving to New Jersey for a fresh start, Asha (Pallavi Sharda) couldn’t feel more alive. Her mother, on the other hand, thinks that her oldest daughter is about to miss a lifetime of happiness if she doesn’t take her focus away from her new startup job and place it on finding a husband instead. Taking matters into her own hands, Asha’s mother creates an online dating profile in order to set Asha up with a “perfect” match. Enter Ravi (Suraj Sharma) — or rather Ravi’s parents — who have the exact same idea for their son. Asha and Ravi’s reluctant first date is a bust, and they quickly discover that each is in a seemingly different place in their life right now. After realizing her mother is relentless and will not give up, Asha proposes a plan to Ravi that would be a win-win for both: a pretend relationship to be each other’s date to get through the upcoming wedding season. Through countless invitations, dances and dresses in the next three months, Asha and Ravi slowly come to find that they might have more in common than they think. Maybe their parents were onto something after all.

WEDDING SEASON arrives August 4, 2022 on Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

We cannot wait to see this! David O. Russell is back with AMSTERDAMN this Fall boasting a star-studded Cast. Here’s a first look at the Trailer. Really curious to see if this will launch on the Festival circuit!

Synopsis:

A fascinating and richly intricate tale that brilliantly weaves historical fact with fiction for a timely, cinematic experience, 20th Century Studios’ and New Regency’s original crime epic about three close friends who find themselves at the center of one of the most shocking secret plots in American history, will open exclusively in theatres November 4, 2022.

“Amsterdam” stars Academy Award® winner Christian Bale, two-time Oscar® nominee Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Zoe Saldaña, with Oscar-winner Rami Malek and two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro. Written and directed by five-time Oscar nominee David O. Russell, “Amsterdam” is produced by Arnon Milchan, Matthew Budman, Anthony Katagas, David O. Russell, and Christian Bale, with Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, and Sam Hanson serving as executive producers.

(Photo/video credit: 20th Century Studios)

With Prime Day coming up next week, Prime Video has something exciting to share exclusively for Prime Video members!

Amazon has also announced that they will be unveiling an exclusive 60-second sneak peek of the upcoming and highly anticipated series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for Prime members across the world!

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be launching on September 2, 2022 and today, July 6, 2022 since 3:00 a.m. ET, Prime members in Canada have access to a 60-second first look at the show, available exclusively for 48 hours before it is unveiled to the public. To access, Prime members can sign into their account and go to amazon.com/RingsOfPower. And for those who’ve already added The Rings of Power to their watchlist, Amazon will also be picking 2 Canadian winners for a trip to the London Global premiere in August, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

(Photo credit: Prime Video)

Filmed right here in Toronto, Clement Virgo‘s BROTHER will get a huge debut home at TIFF ’22! Based on David Chariandy’s prize-winning novel of the same name, Virgo adapted the Novel for the screen.

Synopsis:

Brother is the story of Francis and Michael, sons of Caribbean immigrants maturing into young men amidst Toronto’s pulsing 1990’s hip-hop scene. A mystery unfolds when escalating tensions set off a series of events which changes the course of the brothers’ lives forever.

Brother stars Lamar Johnson (The Hate U Give), Aaron Pierre (Underground Railroad), Kiana Madeira (Fear Street) and Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us). The film is produced by recently announced member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, Damon D’Oliveira, as well as Virgo, of Conquering Lion Pictures, along with Aeschylus Poulos and Sonya Di Rienzo of Hawkeye Pictures. Executive producers are Aaron L. Gilbert and Steven Thibault of BRON and Laurie May and Noah Segal of Elevation Pictures.The film will be distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures and BRON Releasing will manage the sale in other territories.

(Photo credit: Elevation Pictures)