By: Addison Wylie The Haunted House films have their haters. But, these comedies also have those happy-go-lucky appreciators who laugh like hyenas with each crass joke. The difference between those two audiences is that the haters will openly vent about how these movies stink, while the others are too embarrassed to admit they chuckled. A Haunted House was a guilty pleasure of mine. It was a minor comedy that found success during its theatrical run,…
By: Addison Wylie Guardians of the Galaxy plays as a gnarlier, more rugged version of The Avengers. But, only will that thought hit you after the credits have rolled. You won’t be put off by it though; Guardians of the Galaxy is a boatload of fun nonetheless. It’s only worth bringing up because when a generic formula is paired with this much originality, the combination can’t help but flare. Then again, I sort of expected this…
By: Addison Wylie Swearnet: The Movie follows three chowderheads trying to figure out where they fit in after their long time claim to fame. The three douchebags: Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, and Mike Smith. Those fucking tools that we’ve seen bumble around on television and star in this year’s jag-off road comedy Trailer Park Boys: Don’t Legalize It. They can’t be associated with anything that has to do with that fucking landmark in Canadian…
By: Anthony King GOING IN: Pierce Brosnan is back and he seems pissed off. I don’t know where he went, but I know I haven’t seen him in a while. So, initially I was excited to see him in a new trailer. I’m not a huge Bond guy, nor do I particularly like Pierce in the role for a few reasons. Firstly, his Bond movies get increasingly more stupid and unrealistic as they go on….
By: Addison Wylie Jennifer M. Kroot’s documentary To Be Takei is cheesy and cute. Then again, so is her subject: actor and activist George Takei. Takei, most notably known for his work on Star Trek as Lieutenant Sulu, is a busy man and yet we never hear him complain. When he’s not acting, he’s passionately speaking to crowds about homosexual orientation and the deserved right for same-sex marriage. After years of withholding his sexual preferences…
By: Addison Wylie God’s Not Dead – one of the many mainstream films to be released this year that central around religion – is a project that’s easy for select opinionated movie goers to pile on. With its earnest ambitions and its obvious preferences as to who the film is geared towards, some are ready to stamp Harold Cronk’s movie as manipulative pap just by viewing the trailer. Well, curiosity got the best of me…
By Parker Mott Sin City: A Dame to Kill For seems to almost prey on our memories (and, for some, admiration) of 2005’s first Sin City by reintroducing many of the same shadowy characters in the same grim, gutless city and not providing a narrative motor to make the return worth it. The film not only wastes the audience’s time, but the characters’s as well. Without injecting urgency to each plodding minute, A Dame to…
By: Addison Wylie As soon as I found out Señoritas was the feature debut for filmmaker Lina Rodriguez, everything started making sense. Señoritas reminded me a lot of Krivina and Tower, two indies I caught at TIFF two years ago. Both films featured up-and-coming filmmakers taking on character studies and applying a drawn out pace. What separates those two independent films from Señoritas is that they were building towards something. Krivina applied a twist that…
By: Addison Wylie In an attempt to be complementary, but at the same time seem unintentionally inconsiderate, I enjoyed Life of Crime because it lacked a notable visionary’s presence. It didn’t feel the need to impress the audience with any sort of pizazz. It has a solid story, an array of interesting people ranging from low-lifes to the pompous rich, and a good time period to reference through lavish art direction and a sensational score….
By: Addison Wylie It’s been about a week since I’ve seen Richard Linklater’s much anticipated Boyhood. I don’t usually give myself that amount of time to conceive a write-up. Boyhood’s different though. Boyhood’s an ambitious project that had Linklater shooting scenes over a 12 year period capturing his young lead Mason (played by Ellar Coltrane) mature into a strong-willed individual. He, along with his cast, crafted a story around that filmmaking method and then –…