By: Addison Wylie I would love to see what writer/director Judd Apatow could do with a film that punches out after 90 minutes – including credits. This Is 40 starts out strong and funny, but is then torpedoed by needless subplots that are tediously stretched out causing the runtime to slowly expand. Apatow has shown with his previous directorial work that he loves to let his material breathe. Not in a pretentious way, but in…
By: Addison Wylie What makes the romance and the chemistry click between Pat Solitano (played by Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany Maxwell (played by Jennifer Lawrence) in David O. Russell’s impressive Silver Linings Playbook is that both off-kilter characters understand the hardest part of a relationship – knowing how to push the others’ buttons. Maybe it’s because both New Jerseyans live with similar bipolar disorders and the two troublemakers can connect on a familiar level. But,…
By: Addison Wylie The Apparition is one of the worst reviewed films of 2012. It currently resides at a whopping 4% on Rotten Tomatoes and has received plenty of negative word-of-mouth. However, I’m here to defend it – kind of. As a whole, it isn’t good in the slightest and it plods along at a snail’s pace until it exhaustively reaches the finish line at 78 minutes (excluding the credits filled with random spooky filler)….
By: Addison Wylie Dwayne Johnson continues his streak of children’s movies with his starring role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, a sequel to the surprise hit starring Brendan Fraser. It’s still slightly puzzling to see Johnson, a hulking ex-wrestler, in these simpler vehicles aimed towards young ones. Perhaps, he’s making these for a niece or a nephew. Maybe, it’s an easy paycheque. Out of the children’s movies I’ve seen starring the former “Rock”, Journey…
By: Addison Wylie Gerard Butler needs that “right” vehicle. He’s shown that he has a striking presence when he’s battling Persians and kicking messengers down wells in 300, but the actor has yet to play a charming post-300 role. The only references I have to cite are the awful comedies The Bounty Hunter and The Ugly Truth. Butler tried way too hard to get laughs while working with scripts that were MIA already and had…
By: Addison Wylie I had to pinch myself a few times during Christopher Nolan’s “epic” finale to his Batman saga entitled The Dark Knight Rises. I had to convince myself that not only was this well-crafted series coming to a close, but I also had to remind myself that I was sitting in a theatre watching one of the most disappointing and frustrating third chapters since The Matrix Revolutions. I’m going there, people. Strap in….
By: Addison Wylie I shouldn’t be exiting a theatre shrugging my shoulders and issuing “meh’s” after watching the much anticipated Life of Pi. It’s a movie with a massive magnitude of talent both in front and behind the camera, wild surreal imagery that I imagine is a trip in 3D (I saw it in traditional 2D), and a strong story of a young boy who’s beliefs in many religions helped him to survive on a…
By: Addison Wylie The power of suggestion is afoot in The Master. Not just in the film itself, but it surrounded the film’s promotion and lead-up to its theatrical release. With the mention of a cult and a leader confidently guiding followers through his “rational thinking and cleansing”, many linked Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest to Scientology and to L. Ron Hubbard, the creator of the infamous religion. It struck controversy around the film and the…
By: Addison Wylie Why is it that movies try so hard to find humour in LARPing? Lloyd the Conqueror, a comedy that was featured in this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival and will now be featured in a special theatrical run along with a VOD release, is the latest culprit of this confusion. LARPing, for those readers who may be unaware, is an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. It’s the hobby of building…
By: Addison Wylie The following is an unofficial transcript of how I imagine Director McG addressed his cast and crew before a shoot day on the set of the dismally empty romantic comedy-slash-action flick, This Means War. ********** DATE: Undisclosed TIME: Undisclosed LOCATION: Undisclosed…..but very glitzy. McG: Alright, everybody! Can I get everyone gathered over here around me before we get this show on the road? Beautiful, great! Everyone is here. My trusty crew and…