No Men Beyond This Point
No Men Beyond This Point is a Canadian comedy that isn’t constantly funny as it is consistently clever.
2016
Hockney
I have liked pop art for as long as I can remember, but I really fell in love with the movement after seeing a large retrospective of pop art from around the world at the Tate Modern last year. There are so many ways to use this movement for revolutionary purposes, through the reappropriation of established cultural artifacts and ideologies. But, as certain artists have proven, it is also exceedingly simple to not use it…
Hot Docs 2016: ‘Credit for Murder’ and ‘Tickled’
Credit for Murder (DIR. Vladi Antonevicz) By: Shahbaz Khayambashi A video appears on YouTube which depicts the ritualistic slaughter of two men by masked individuals: one man is beheaded and the other is shot. The video appears to come from Russia. The Russian authorities say it is fake, until one man is identified after his father comes forward. This is the beginning of an unusual and captivating story about Russian neo-Nazis, recounted by a Jewish filmmaker…
Hot Docs 2016: ‘Aim For The Roses’ and ‘Wizard Mode’
Aim For The Roses (DIR. John Bolton) By: Shahbaz Khayambashi After describing the premise of this documentary to a friend, her response was short and simple: “sounds stupid.” I have to say, I didn’t disagree with the sentiment that it sounded “stupid”, but the final result is one of the most exciting, most unusual documentaries I have ever seen.
Hot Docs 2016: ‘Fear Itself’ and ‘Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World’
Fear Itself (DIR. Charlie Lyne) By: Shahbaz Khayambashi What is the source of fear and why does it excite us when we are seated in a dark room, watching awful things happen to photogenic strangers? This is not the question that documentarian Charlie Lyne attempts to answer in his latest work Fear Itself, a deeply personal study of the horror genre told through the same metatextual and introspective methodology that previously manifested itself in directorial efforts like Beyond…
Fifty Shades of Black
What happened? I was supposed to like Fifty Shades of Black. As someone who wasn’t afraid to stand up for Marlon Wayans’ Haunted House spoof series, Wayans’ riff on Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey should’ve been up my alley. So, indeed, what happened?
Monkey Up
Robert Vince is at it again with talking animals in Air Bud Entertainment’s Monkey Up. After directing the stupefyingly popular Air Buddies franchise, Vince returns to talented monkeys after cutting his teeth with such films as MVP: Most Valuable Primate and MVP: Most Vertical Primate.
American Hero
Faux-doc American Hero takes place in New Orleans, a city still overcoming its devastation post-Katrina. It’s in this state of recovery where a local named Melvin and his telekinetic powers find a meaning. He’s a persuasive street magician to those who need something to believe in and a wild partier to his compadres, but a disappointment to the ones he loves.
Prisoner X
Much of Prisoner X’s scenery is dark and grey, which describes my experience watching Gaurav Seth’s movie. It’s not very stimulating and I was left feeling cold.