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The Latest Articles and Appearances from Rachel Ho

Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud •

Does The Drama approach an 'untouchable' subject?

There's been a ton of buzz surrounding The Drama, starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, since it hit theatres on April 3. The movie hinges on a dark secret that stirred up controversy even before the film's release. Film critics Bilge Ebiri and Rachel Ho talk to guest host Amil Niazi about the premise, and why the movie still lands even if you know the spoilers.

WARNING: This conversation includes spoilers for The Drama.

Thumbnail photo: A24

Commotion is where you go for thoughtful and vibrant chat conversations about all things pop culture. Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud calls on journalists, critics, creators and friends to talk through the biggest arts and entertainment stories of the day.

Subscribe to our podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74eCEvD5LU56cNRrhzNSAb
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/commotion-with-elamin-abdelmahmoud/id1531347005
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/commotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commotioncbc

#podcast #popculture #thedrama
Exclaim! •

'Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story' Is a Fresh, Funny Twist on Canadiana │ Exclaim!

Ben Johnson has seemingly always had a sense of humour about his downfall as a Canadian sports hero. Eighteen years after winning the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics — and having it unceremoniously taken away three days later when Johnson's urine sample tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug — Johnson participated in a commercial for the now-defunct Cheetah Power Surge Energy Drink. "I Cheetah all the time!" Johnson says to camera with a slight grin on his face.It shouldn't be a...
Exclaim! •

Amanda Seyfried: "I Just Want a Seat at the Table Like Everyone Else" │ Exclaim!

"I'll be fine, I'm eating my meat stick in the box," Amanda Seyfried reassures me as we say our goodbyes, waving something akin to a pepperoni stick to the camera as evidence.In the midst of working through a conveyor belt of interviews over Zoom, the WiFi on Seyfried's farm in Upstate New York went out, forcing the actor to relocate to a nearby restaurant that provided her with a grey-padded cubicle to complete her press duties."It's really cozy," Seyfriend says, but even still: "I'm in a box."...
Exclaim! •

'The Drama' Serves Piping Hot Tea and Incisive Commentary │ Exclaim!

To call The Drama a dark comedy almost feels trite. Finding humour in the most difficult and inopportune moments in life can be healing, but the vast majority of us would agree that there are limits. But in discussing the darkest of subject matters in the modern day, writer and director Kristoffer Borgli manages to elicit laughter so incredulous, a new subgenre should be created to describe the experience of watching The Drama. I don't even know if schadenfreude is sufficient.The film begins wit...
Exclaim! •

The Mere Existence of 'The AI Doc' Proves the Value of Human Artistry │ Exclaim!

The first question Daniel Roher asks his interview subjects in The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is a simple, albeit loaded, question: "What is AI?"Each of the AI experts give a knowing laugh, acknowledging that it's near impossible to provide a succinct and accurate answer given the breadth of the topic. That same attitude can be applied to the documentary as a whole. Co-directed by Roher and Charlie Tyrell, The AI Doc attempts to offer a broad overview of a concept that defies gene...
The Globe and Mail •

Queer Canadian drama Maya & Samar is a beautiful act of compassion cosplay

Maya & Samar

Directed by Anita Doron

Written by Tamara Faith Berger

Starring Nicolette Pearse, Amanda Babaei Vieira and Agni Scott

Classification 18A; 95 minutes

Opens in select theatres March 20

About halfway through Maya & Samar, journalist Maya (Nicolette Pearse, in an impressive lead performance) is reminded of a warning her professor gave her in university about “stories crossing cultural lines of understanding,” as her university pal Rebecca puts it.

It’s a warning that arguably see...
Exclaim! •

Rose Byrne Can Expertly 'Tow' the Line Between Funny and Frustrating │ Exclaim!

Rose Byrne has always been a phenomenal actor, but only recently has she received the proper credit for her talents, thanks to her Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated turn in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. Portraying the real-life story of Amanda Ogle in Stephanie Laing's Tow opens up yet another side of Byrne's repertoire as an actor, as she embodies the frustration and mind-numbing challenges of the legal system and homelessness while also carrying a quirky levity.Ogle's story began in 2017, wh...
Exclaim! •

A Surprisingly Great Reboot Leads March 2026's Streaming Must-Sees (and Must-Skips) │ Exclaim!

Welcome to March in Canada, where balmy spring days effortlessly blend in with winds and the odd blanket of snow. Our dear Wiarton Willie didn't want to deal with this topsy-turvy nonsense, but he didn't have a Scrubs reboot to keep him entertained.Alongside the reunion of Chocolate Bear and Vanilla Bear, Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence brings us a hilarious serial considering today's college campuses, while the creator of Derry Girls delivers another craic-ing gem. A couple of Canadians also featu...
Exclaim! •

'Nash the Slash Rises Again!' Celebrates the Red-Blooded Complexity of Its Subject │ Exclaim!

Music documentaries are a dime a dozen these days, but every now and then, one comes down the pipeline that builds the case for the never-ending sub-genre: to celebrate artists who shaped our culture without ever getting their proper due. A high order, but one Tim Kowalski faces down with aplomb in Nash the Slash Rises Again!Given that many younger people today (and myself) unfortunately don't have the familiarity with Nash the Slash that we should, Kowalski does well by situating audiences in t...
Exclaim! •

'The Bride!' Divorces Frankenstein from Misogyny │ Exclaim!

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus is the literary gift that keeps on giving to cinema. In the last three years alone, we've seen Shelley's creation inspire Oscar winners and brought unexpected (and frankly, undeserved) Oscar potential to others — and now, Maggie Gyllenhaal takes her turn at spinning the seminal Gothic novel, this time focusing on the creature's science-ordered bride.In Shelley's novel, the idea of the Bride expresses the disposable nature of women in society...
Exclaim! •

Christian Bale Says That His Frankenstein "Just Wants a Hug" in 'The Bride!' │ Exclaim!

"I kind of pictured him like the poor little lab monkeys that aren't allowed to have any association with anybody else, but just want a hug," Christian Bale says with genuine earnestness and unintended comedy."That's all that he's looking for," the Oscar winner notes.The "he" Bale associates with a lab monkey is Frank in Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride!, the latest iteration of Mary Shelley's seminal Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. In her sophomore directorial effort, Gyllenh...
Exclaim! •

Jeremy Dutcher Finds a Shared Language in First Film Score: "There Was a Time We Understood Each Other in This Land" │ Exclaim!

When Jeremy Dutcher contemplated composing his first film score, he sought out the advice of colleagues who had gone down this path before. The advice that stuck with him the most was, "Create what's in your heart and then give it away.""Don't be precious about it, you know?" Dutcher tells Exclaim! "It's different from making an album, because it's not solely your vision. You have to be in service of that collective vision, and Brett was so clear about what that was."At the Place of Ghosts (Sk+t...
Exclaim! •

A Legacy of Fear: Kevin Williamson's 'Scream'-Filled Influence on Horror and Millennials │ Exclaim!

They never got a moniker like the "Brat Pack," but for elder millennials, there's a particular group of actors who took over our cinemas and airwaves in the late '90s, from teen drama serials to rom-coms and, most importantly, the resurrected slasher. While many names can be pinned to this time in film and television, few have influenced the tone and style of the era more than Kevin Williamson.Best known as the screenwriter behind 1996's Scream and the creator of Dawson's Creek and The Vampire D...
Exclaim! •

Baz Luhrmann Allows Elvis to "Reveal the Man, Not the Myth" in 'EPiC' Concert Doc │ Exclaim!

"What would Elvis do?"That's the question director Baz Luhrmann and editor Jonathan Redmond kept front of mind while putting together Lurhmann's latest Elvis Presley-related film, the concert documentary EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert."Elvis would want it in 5:1. Elvis would want it in IMAX. He was always about the best, the biggest," Lurhmann tells Exclaim! over Zoom from Los Angeles. "[Those choices were] being guided by Elvis. But we tried to stay on point with letting Elvis have his voice. T...
Exclaim! •

'Paradise' Star Sterling K. Brown on the Politics of Division and Distraction │ Exclaim!

"The hope of every parent is that the world is a little bit better for their kids than it was for them. I think we're living in a time where that's not necessarily the case," actor Sterling K. Brown says with pause.While in Toronto promoting Season 2 of his hit series Paradise, Brown sits down with Exclaim! to consider generational inheritance — something that operates on a far greater scale than familial inheritance."Things are reverting [where the] standard of living for your children is not g...
CBC Arts •

The new animated feature Space Cadet channels Charlie Chaplin | CBC Arts

Montreal’s Kid Koala first made a name for himself in the world of music. Now, he's released his debut animated feature film — which, interestingly, contains zero dialogue.The movie Space Cadet is about a young girl in an astronaut academy and the robot she loves, and it's based on a graphic novel also written by the Canadian musician and deejay.Fittingly, Kid Koala says Charlie Chaplin movies served as inspiration for Space Cadet. What's more, the silent film comes a year after the Latvian film...
CBC Podcasts: Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud •

This Canadian animated movie will 'tug on your heartstrings'

Montreal's Kid Koala says Charlie Chaplin movies inspired his debut animated feature, Space Cadet, which has no dialogue. Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with film critic Rachel Ho about the modern silent film and how it's being received.

Thumbnail: Kid Koala | Les Film Outsiders

Commotion is where you go for thoughtful and vibrant chat conversations about all things pop culture. Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud calls on journalists, critics, creators and friends to talk through the biggest arts and entertainment stories of the day.

Subscribe to our podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74eCEvD5LU56cNRrhzNSAb
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/commotion-with-elamin-abdelmahmoud/id1531347005
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/commotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commotioncbc

#podcast #popculture #spacecadet
Exclaim! •

Kelowna Is Paradise in February 2026's Streaming Must-Sees (and Must-Skips) │ Exclaim!

February 2026 delivers us not only Valentine's Day, Family Day, Lunar New Year, Black History Month, the Winter Olympics and a perfectly tessellating month, it also brings some delicious streaming television.Reality TV surprisingly takes hold this month with Canadian misfires and smizing revelations leading the charge, while Marvel takes another crack at success and a Hot Docs gem makes its way to the mainstream(er).We're one step closer to warmer weather and sunnier days, so hang in there with...
Exclaim! •

Five Unique Experiences at the Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse │ Exclaim!

Film festivals pepper our great country from coast to coast to coast, but arguably none provides as unique an experience as the Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse, YT (currently on and running February 5 to 16).The largest film festival north of the 60th parallel, ALFF celebrates the emerging filmmaking industry in the north by showcasing filmmakers from the territory, as well as films made there and throughout the rest of the country. Aside from the thoughtful programming, the natural...
CBC Radio: Edmonton AM •

The legacy of Catherine O'Hara

It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem.

It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.

Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem.
Exclaim! •

Even Jason Statham Deserves Better Dialogue than 'Shelter' │ Exclaim!

I love a January action slop movie. Plane, Greenland, The Beekeeper — the sloppier the better. Give me a Jason or a Gerard doing the most with a gun and a prayer, and I'm down for the cause. But even I have my limits, and that, apparently, is Shelter, the latest Jason Statham-led movie to take the cinematic graveyard shift of January.Directed by Ric Roman Waugh, Shelter actually contains a compelling story, in theory: a mysterious man (Statham, naturally) living in an abandoned lighthouse with h...
Exclaim! •

'Mercy' Is a Fun Time That Glitches in the Final Minutes │ Exclaim!

Every filmmaker has their thing. Christopher Nolan flips and reverses time, Kelly Reichardt slows cinema down to a simmer, Quentin Tarantino loves feet — and for Timur Bekmambetov, it's telling stories through the screens that dominate our lives.When "screenlife" films became popular in the 2010s, movies like Unfriended and Searching experimented with telling stories through desktop screens and mobile phones, utilizing Skype chats, texting and Google Maps-like applications. The films themselves...
Exclaim! •

Maggie Gyllenhaal Finds a "Kindred Spirit" in Jessie Buckley as She Unveils New Trailer for 'The Bride!' │ Exclaim!

On the heels of Jessie Buckley's Golden Globes win for Hamnet over the weekend, the actor will be back in our cinemas in a hop, skip and electric shock.Written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Bride! brings to life the Bride of Frankenstein (or as Buckley says in the trailer, "just the Bride") with the Irish actor as the titular betrothed and Christian Bale starring as Frankenstein's monster.The official trailer for the film (due in theatres March 6) gives us an almost musical glimpse at w...
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