By: Addison Wylie I go out of my way to see faith-based movies – I’m oddly obsessed with them. Not because of the beliefs and not necessarily for the theatregoing experience itself, but because for two-hours, I get a glimpse into a whole other world. A world where prayer can be described as the only reliable resource and be discussed as a way to salvation, and problems can be solved by asking the lord for…
By: Addison Wylie The Stanford Prison Experiment is fascinating as it is disturbing. It’s too bad such an inhumane procedure had to take place in real life in order for us to receive this excellent and provocative dramatization. Stanford’s Dr. Philip Zimbardo took a leap of faith when designing an experiment which positioned 18 young men as guards and prisoners in a makeshift jail located in the basement of the university’s Jordan Hall. The two-week long…
By: Addison Wylie Veteran actor Bruce Greenwood and budding actress Ella Purnell are two performers who benefit the most from Frank Hall Green’s weak drama Wildlike. Purnell plays fragile teenager Mackenzie who has been taken advantage of, and in turn can’t trust anyone. Greenwood plays heartbroken wanderer Rene who hopes for a future of clarity and eventual happiness. When Purnell and Greenwood are together, their chemistry is suitably akin to oil and water, but they’re both convincing in their own right. Unfortunately, despite reccomending Wildlike’s…
Actor/comedian Vic Cohen is a great interviewee. He’s not only candid, but he also has an impressive ability to give straightforward answers whilst sticking to his brand of comedy. When I heard he was starring in David Spade’s new prank TV show Fameless (now airing on TruTV), Wylie Writes was willing to bend film-faithful guidelines to talk shop with Vic. You may have seen Cohen on various hidden camera television shows (Howie Do It, Mobbed). If you’re…
By: Shannon Page Wylie Writes had the opportunity to sit down with director Adam Salky (Dare), as well as writers Amy Koppelman and Paige Dylan, about their film I Smile Back which stars Sarah Silverman as a drug and alcohol abusing New Jersey housewife trying to keep herself and her family together. Koppelman and Dylan co-wrote the screenplay, based off of Koppelman’s 2008 novel by the same name. “The novel was incredibly helpful in making…
By: Mark Barber Goodnight Mommy exists at the intersection between Dead Ringers and Psycho, with a little bit of Misery thrown in for good measure. Twins Lukas and Elias (named for their actors, Lukas and Elias Schwarz) settle into their country home with their mother (Susanne Wuest), who is recovering from facial surgery after a brutal car accident. In the midst of divorce proceedings, she does not take the trauma and stress well, and begins…
By: Addison Wylie Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments, Pontypool) is a very busy filmmaker. In 2010 alone, the award-winning director released three films. If I don’t like one of McDonald’s films, I can at least find something I can appreciate about his filmmaking, but his latest horror Hellions suggests to me that the next best thing for his career may be some downtime. The main problem with Hellions, a film about a…
By: Addison Wylie Newfoundland receives its own Pootie Tang with Nik Sexton’s rowdy road comedy How to Be Deadly. Hold on though: before you start making snap judgements, that cinematic correlation is a compliment towards how Sexton’s bawdy flick finds a way to fit in. Pootie Tang, Louis C.K.’s infamous cult flick about an incomprehensible crime fighting celebrity, was – ironically – misunderstood. It was a millennial interpretation of the blaxploitation genre that was unfortunately…
By: Addison Wylie This isn’t the case with most sequels, but Pitch Perfect 2 is bigger in every way, and therefore better in every way. And, no, that isn’t a playful jab at Rebel Wilson and her Fat Amy character. This is a series that needs to rise to the occasion and use all the space around it in order to feel worthy. The film needs to break out of a boxed-in format and use every…
By: Trevor Jeffery At Toronto’s Fan Expo (an annual gathering for sci-fi super fans, comic book buffs, anime addicts, gaming geeks, horror… fans), badge-wearing nerds flock from all around, many garbed as pop culture icons, to enjoy a convention of collective interests. It’s a place where people can gather in community, compliment each other’s costumes, bathe in their favourite entertainment cultures and, of course, enjoy the celebrity guests.