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November 2015

Festival Coverage

Blood in the Snow 2015: Shahbaz on Short Films

November 23, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Shahbaz Khayambashi The Blood in the Snow Film Festival has returned to offer us a respite from the cold.  Unfortunately, this year’s short film picks are disheartening – viewers may be better off wandering the streets and suffering from frostbite.  I appreciate this festival for its attention to Canadian cinema, I really do, but this year’s batch of short films feature the sort of films that make Canadians badmouth their own cinema. The majority of these films…

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Festival Coverage

Blood in the Snow 2015: ‘White Raven’

November 22, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Shannon Page Andrew Moxham’s White Raven follows four friends (Andrew Dunbar, Steve Bradley, Aaron Brooks, and Shane Twerdun) as they head out for a weekend of male-bonding in the remote wilderness.  When one of the friends (Bradley) slowly begins to lose touch with reality, the others find themselves fighting for their lives. There is a lot going on beneath White Raven’s by-the-books survivalist horror surface.  At its core, the film makes a serious attempt to…

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Reviews

Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World

November 21, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Pause Charles Wilkinson’s latest documentary Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World at any given moment, and you’ll more than likely land on a stunning image.  The cinematography displaying the tucked away world of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia is almost too perfect, but that’s just how naturally beautiful it is. At first, it appears Wilkinson doesn’t have preferred motives in his filmmaking other than to shine a light on a lesser-known Indigenous community where…

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Festival Coverage

Blood in the Snow 2015: ‘Secret Santa’

November 20, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Secret Santa has been made to entertain, and entertain it does. Mikey McMurran’s horror throwback pays homage to an era where slasher films ruled exploitation cinema.  There was an unlimited supply of blood, actors camped it up, and synthesizer stings sliced through any scene with a hooded figure.  If you’re looking for visual and audio cues in a surface-deep tribute, you’ll be satisfied by the Cambridge native’s low budget lark.  Secret Santa…

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Reviews

Secret in Their Eyes

November 20, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Mark Barber Billy Ray’s Secret in Their Eyes, an American remake of Juan José Campanella’s 2009 film of the same name, is eerily reminiscent, both thematically and atmospherically, of Denis Villeneuve’s thriller Prisoners, but without going “full-blown Hollywood” in the last act.  In other words, Secret in Their Eyes succeeds where Prisoners didn’t, and in ways that highlight the moral ambiguity of its political context.  Much like how Prisoners worked as a moderately effective…

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Reviews

Drone

November 19, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Drone looks at the controversy attached to the airborne warfare from all angles;  including the conception of the device (including some neat trivial facts about how drones were first intended for fishermen searching for tuna), the budding utilization introduced by the Bush administration, and the ongoing decisive back-and-forth over whether it’s an effective tactic or just creating war crimes. Considering the subject matter and the high risk surrounding drones, it’s to no surprise…

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Reviews

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

November 18, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Lisa Immordino Vreeland continues to merge filmmaking with her love for fashion in Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict after debuting on the film scene with Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel in 2012. A newfound artifact serves as bedrock in Vreeland’s doc as the audience listens to the last interview given by world renowned art collector Peggy Guggenheim.  The interview remains conversational between her and biographer Jacqueline Bogard Weld, which allows Guggenheim…

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Reviews

The Trick with the Gun

November 18, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie The Trick with the Gun has a lighthearted voice, but the film shouldn’t be discounted.  Michael McNamara’s documentary is one of the most enjoyable and exhilarating films I’ve seen this year.  Though the film is easy for us in the audience, the same can’t be said for the film’s subjects who face a deadly task. Scott Hammel is a valiant magician whose illusions and motivational speaking have helped inspire young audiences.  He…

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Reviews

Do You Believe?

November 17, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie I believe the saying goes: everybody gets one.  Screenwriters Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon got theirs last year with the highly successful faith-based picture God’s Not Dead.  I was indifferent towards the film featuring an Atheist professor and his devout student debating God’s existence because I genuinely felt the screenwriters didn’t know any better.  I even shrugged off the tasteless ending where the film flips the ultimate bird towards non-believers. A year later, I’m…

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One-on-Ones

Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Max Joseph

November 14, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Many will recognize Max Joseph from his co-hosting gig on MTV’s Catfish, a modern mystery program featuring Max and Nev Schulman helping online romantics track down their ambiguous lovers.  Faithful viewers of Catfish, however, were given episodes early on in season 4 that were absent of Joseph.  This was because the filmmaker was still busy working on his feature film debut, We Are Your Friends. We Are Your Friends followed a group of pals trying…

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