<h1>Daniel Eng</h1>

Daniel Eng

Posts by Daniel Eng:

Kokuho: An Actor’s Epic

Kokuho: An Actor’s Epic

Kokuho is a decades-long epic revolving around the world of Kabuki actors, a highly respected art form in which male actors take on the roles of female characters. The story begins with 15-year-old Kikuho (Ryo Yoshizawa), the son of a Yakuza (crime family) leader, who...

Canada Shore: The Party Life of Young Canada

Canada Shore: The Party Life of Young Canada

Full disclosure: most of my commentary on this show does not come from firsthand experience, but rather from secondhand tales. Canada Shore continues the spirit of the iconic Jersey Shore, transplanting the formula to a town that even some Canadians may not have heard...

Charlie the Wonderdog: Our Pets, Our Politics

Charlie the Wonderdog: Our Pets, Our Politics

Charlie (Owen Wilson) is a loyal golden retriever to Danny, a shy boy who feels most connected to him. Charlie and Danny have done everything together, growing older side by side. As Charlie reaches his silver years, something unexpected happens: he finds himself...

Daniel’s Top 20 Films of 2025

Daniel’s Top 20 Films of 2025

There are great movies every year and, depending on who you are, some years have more great films than others. For me personally, this year around 40 of the 100 films that I saw I would recommend to different kinds of people. All of those 40 deserve a shoutout but I...

Father Mother Sister Brother: Imagining Drama

Father Mother Sister Brother: Imagining Drama

Cannes regular (though not with this film) Jim Jarmusch tackles a three-part anthology film full of nuance and marked by a particular cadence. The characters have walls between them, and Jarmusch lets those walls become the drama. While all three parts share similar...

The Choral: Music as Hope

The Choral: Music as Hope

The Choral is very much an ensemble piece where we don't really see the journey of one person but rather, becomes a collective experience. It starts in a small town where the local Choral is putting on their new show in the midst of World War I. Even as auditions wrap...

The Voice of Hind Rajab: Why We Can’t Look Away

The Voice of Hind Rajab: Why We Can’t Look Away

Cannes Palm D'Or nominee Katouther Ben Hania has moved between narrative and documentary work for her past couple of films. For that reason, it is natural for her to bring the two styles together. In The Voice of Hind Rajab, she blends dramatized scenes with actual...

Anaconda: Snakes. Why did it have to be Snakes?

Anaconda: Snakes. Why did it have to be Snakes?

In the midst of unfulfilling lives, four friends reunite with Griffin (Paul Rudd), their most unfulfilled friend who brings a crazy idea to the group: to remake the 1997 film, Anaconda. Doug (Jack Black), Griffin's closest friend, has been an aspiring filmmaker since...