Vick's picks movie reviews for March 2026

 - by Vick Silkenpen
   Movie Critic

Heated Rivalry: Season 1: When young actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie walked out on stage to make a presentation at this year’s Golden Globes, it was obvious the audience recognized them. Even if many people viewing at home did not.

By now, many know about these two in their portrayals as professional major league hockey players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, who glide over the ice for a living but secretly (to some) heat up bedrooms together.

We follow the unlikely lovers as they globe-trot and drift to different locations in their careers and venues, often at odds in their sporting rivalries, which their own ambitions exploit to advance their public personas. As they evolve off the ice in their numerous and explicit sex and love scenes, it goes from simple opposites attract scenarios into exploring far more complicated traits Aas Ilya wrestles with his promiscuous nature and Shane with his own delayed sexuality and more vulnerable nature. This setting sounds a bit cliched, but the romantic tension is undeniably there, thanks in large part to the chemistry between the two actors.

Other factors that seem to infiltrate are themes of consent issues and family pressures. Coming out in such a supercharged, macho sport as hockey causes all sorts of fears and complications. Repressed love intensifies as Shane and Ilya navigate the emotions of their queer relationship.

The script is well written, almost always rewarding those who stick with the irregular pacing throughout the episodes with bright climactic moments.

The series simply resonates with cultural significance, continually evoking emotional connections that transform even slightly curious viewers into fans.

Alias Grace: This miniseries adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s book is from 2017, but now that Netflix is streaming the amazing six episodes, it is a treat for binge-watching.

The story is very loosely based on true events. It is a historical crime-mystery drama that seethes with ambiguity as we watch a young psychiatrist (Edward Holcroft) try to analyze a young Irish immigrant servant girl named Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon). Marks was convicted in 1843 in Canada of  murdering her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery (Anna Paquin).

Some members of the pardon board think Grace might be a candidate for parole, especially if the psychiatrist can determine what “the truth” of the murders might be. Was she manipulated into it by a stablehand? To what degree did her possible past of abuse figure in? How much abuse was she subjected to in her job? Is she really the manipulator? Or is she possibly insane? Is there purposeful deceit involved by a clever woman, placating anyone and giving them what she thinks they want to hear in order to survive? Does she have multiple personalities below the surface, or is this a case of possession requiring a sort of carny hypnosis exorcism?

Gadon’s acting is so convincing and remarkable that by the time the series is on its last episode, you will be entertaining all of these questions.

The flashbacks of the ingenious narrative only add to the suspense as she recounts incidents, and we gradually gather the hint that we just may be dealing with the voice of an unreliable narrator. Still, the mystery of that dilemma is compelling. Grace’s accomplice in the murder (or perhaps vice versa?) was the stablehand who was hanged. Yet, Grace received a life sentence regardless of his ardent testimony that he was manipulated into the crime by her.

However, could that have been one more male in a patriarchal society structure attempting to subdue a female who had only ever experienced domination and abuse at the whimsy of males? It’s possible, but Atwood once again sides with removing any easy answers by including the abuse of power in general by Paquin as the female murdered housekeeper lording over servant Grace. This adaptation is by far the best yet done by Atwood, despite the recognized success of The Handmaid’s Tale.

The miniseries stars Sarah Gadon, Edward Holcroft, and Paul Gross.

The Gayly online. 3/15/26 @ 5:59 p.m. CST.