Latest

March 2014

Reviews

Authors Anonymous

By: Addison Wylie Authors Anonymous didn’t have any laughs in it for me, but I believe that’s because I couldn’t relate to it. The mockumentary about five writers who gather to critique their works-in-progress hopes to derive humour from these eccentric personalities.  One author is desperate for attention, one is the “ideas guy”, another likes to remind others of his future success while another writer can’t name a single author.  There’s a young slacker who…

Reviews

Homefront

By: Addison Wylie Every so often, a tall glass of ridiculousness helps break up moviegoing monotony.  Some filmmakers have tried their hardest to makes escapist entertainment, and have instead delivered films that were too heavy on lunkheaded machismo. Gary Fleder’s Homefront had come in under the radar – or, so it seemed to me.  Since it stars Jason Statham as the lead, it fell into that vaguely generic category most people seem to group Statham…

Festival Coverage

Wylie Writes at Hot Docs 2014

Out of all the festivals I’ve ever covered, the Hot Docs Film Festival is one of my favourites.  It’s a festival that always promises a deep array of different types of documentaries from a variety of different countries.  It’s very hard to find one doc that resembles another in Hot Docs. The press conference held at Toronto’s Bloor Hot Docs Theatre on March 18 certainly built the buzz well.  The audience had the pleasure of…

Reviews

Veronica Mars

By: Addison Wylie As someone who has never set eyes on the cult television hit Veronica Mars and knows extremely little detail as to what took place on the show, the film puts me in an unusual spot for this detective’s feature film debut. Rob Thomas’ film is bound to please any fan who’s been begging for a Veronica Mars reunion, but the real test is how it stands as its own movie.  Can outsiders…

Reviews

Out of the Furnace

By: Addison Wylie Why is it that Out of the Furnace has so many accomplishments going for it, yet it’s an impossible recommendation?  Telling someone to watch Out of the Furnace would be like telling someone to hold a bunch of wild snakes and assuring them they won’t get bit. Scott Cooper’s thriller is one of those movies you appreciate a few hours after having watched it.  Viewing Out of the Furnace for the first…

Reviews

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

By: Addison Wylie While it may not be one of the more memorable animated features in recent memory, Mr. Peabody & Sherman gives audiences a respectful amount of inventiveness and good humour. Making a splash during classic Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, time travellers Mr. Peabody and Sherman would rapidly entertain within a short period of time.  I always remembered these segments for their agility and their knack to glide across history using blink-or-you’ll-miss-’em tactics. The…

One-on-Ones

Down the Miller River: A One-On-One with Gabrielle Miller

By: Addison Wylie Opening this weekend is Canadian indie Down River, a drama that peers into the lives of three strong women pushed to extremes in order to fulfill an artistic destiny.  What they also have in common is their connection to Pearl, an old soul who is ready to drop everything if she’s needed for friendship and support. Down River is a character study that offers a fair bit to chew on and doesn’t…

Festival Coverage

Canadian Film Festival 2014: H&G is Lost

By: Addison Wylie Recently, we’ve seen Hansel and Gretel battle witches with steampunk weaponry in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and defeat a nefarious pot-peddling evildoer in Hansel & Gretel Get Baked.  I’m still racking my brain as to why these Brothers Grimm siblings got the resurgence they did. Perhaps, the timing of it all makes H&G initially refreshing.  It’s nice to see filmmaker Danishka Esterhazy take a low-key approach to this fairy tale and…

Reviews

Down River

By: Addison Wylie Down River has so much emotion in it, the film is almost bursting at the seams to contain all of it. Actor turned filmmaker Ben Ratner pushes his four lead actresses to the brink of hysteria, but for fathomable reasons.  Harper (played by Colleen Rennison) struggles as a lowly musician who’s losing touch of her sexuality, Fawn (played by Corner Gas’ Gabrielle Miller) is an actress who’s feeling a disconnect between her…

Festival Coverage

Canadian Film Festival 2014: The Birder Doesn’t Take Off

By: Addison Wylie I don’t blame you if The Birder’s premise doesn’t send you aflutter.  Ted Bezaire’s comedy is about a polite bird enthusiast (a “birder”) seeking retribution because he didn’t win the ‘Head of Ornithology’ position at his cherished National Park.  Did I also mention Tom Cavanagh plays the lead birder?  I’ll give you a moment to catch your breathe. I’ve always seen Cavanagh as someone who’s still trying to figure out where he fits…