By: Shannon Page Starring Lola Kirke (Gone Girl) as first-year university student Tracy, and Greta Gerwig as her thirty-something future stepsister Brooke, Mistress America is ultimately about dreams; it is about the things we want to accomplish as well as our goals and desires. It is also about two women at very different places in their lives who inspire one another. These characters aren’t always good people and their actions don’t always make them likable to…
By: Shannon Page Despite the understated aesthetic appeal of a few scenes, Israeli writer and director Nadav Lapid’s drama about a kindergarten teacher (Sarit Larry) who discovers a prodigal talent for poetry in one of her young students is remarkably dry of feeling. As the plot moves through an earnest attempt to explore the necessity for preserving art and beauty in a world that is increasingly hostile and dismissive of poetry, the characters motivations and…
By: Addison Wylie Aaron K. Carter’s thinly budgeted zombie romp Dead Kansas wears the same pants as that punch drunk comedy Tetherball: The Movie I reviewed in April. Not only because the filmmaker reached out to Wylie Writes to get an opinion on his modest horror, but Dead Kansas is also filled with that same vigour that can only be supplied by friends who make films because that’s what they love to do. These cinephile fellas pulled together resources…
By: Addison Wylie There’s nothing inherently wrong with Around the World in 50 Concerts, but there’s not a whole lot to it either. Heddy Honigmann’s documentary ought to be a hit with anyone who ever partook in band practice. As a former student whom attended extracurricular concerts, I was most interested in the doc when Honigmann showed how the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra traveled, which includes the process behind transporting these delicate instruments. I also enjoyed…
By: Addison Wylie Cruise ships can be vulnerable places, and the audience witnesses that in Stephan Bergmann’s dawdling doc The Last Gigolos. The viewer boards a ship occupied by an elderly crowd – most are single, all are eager to set sail. As the cruise moves from one destination to the next, the passengers find chemistry with each other as they discuss ways to stay energetic as well as their sombreness when grieving lost loved ones….
By: Addison Wylie Peter Bogdanovich (director of The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and What’s Up, Doc?) must have tons of clout. This would explain the overconfidence in his latest film She’s Funny That Way. This star powered, ode to screwball farces couldn’t help but remind me of when the Farrelly Brothers made a feature-length Three Stooges movie. Bogdanovich has made the movie he wanted to make, but the film itself reinforces that it’s currently hard…
By: Addison Wylie Final Girl is exactly the movie an up-and-coming actor makes in order to break into the biz. Later, when that actor has gone on to perform in bigger and better things, the breakout role is used as a nomination for film geeks to name obscure low-rent schlock that person had starred in. For some reason, actress Abigail Breslin has decided to work backwards, and make the low-rent schlock after earning an Oscar…
By: Trevor Jeffery Neil (Jesse Carere) is a regular high school kid: he enjoys hanging out with his friends, he’s awkward around girls, he’s good at magic tricks, he’s an unknowing blood sacrifice for his Satanic church, he likes video games. When he finds out that he is in fact a blood sacrifice for his Satanic church, he and his friend Matt (Daryl Sabara) quest to corrupt his purity through losing his virginity. While overall…
By: Addison Wylie There’s nothing new in Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story that you haven’t already seen in other found footage horrors. See if you can keep score at home: a small news crew ([REC]) are stringing together interviews and B-roll for a project (The Blair Witch Project), when suddenly a box of abandoned videocassette tapes containing disturbingly transfixing footage is discovered (name that Paranormal Activity sequel). A looming creature – evoking infamous Internet legends…
By: Trevor Jeffery The Gift isn’t an exception to the notion that suspense-thrillers lose substantial value on subsequent viewings, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be one hell of a ride the first time through. Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) seek a fresh start in California, not far from where Simon grew up. An old high school acquaintance, Gordon (still going by his high school nickname, Gordo) (Joel Edgerton) approaches Simon and Robin…