2019
Midway
By: Jessica Goddard Full disclosure: I am bad at watching war movies. I watch war movies out of some (likely misdirected) sense of duty – if actual human beings lived these horrors, I should be able to stomach cinematic recreations of them, is my thinking. But, I find it very hard to watch people die (which I’ve chosen to attribute to a smug overabundance of empathy) even if it’s only a performance. For this reason,…
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
The best thing about Hobbs & Shaw, the first feature-length spin-off in the Fast & Furious series, is that anyone can watch it. It does a good job standing on its own legs and distancing itself from its popular franchise; allowing everyone to pick up on the same page. But perhaps in an attempt to give its spin-off series a safe start, Hobbs & Shaw is as typical as action movies come – Hollywood buys…
The Rise of Jordan Peterson
Patricia Marcoccia’s documentary The Rise of Jordan Peterson chronicles just *that*: the increased interest around the University of Toronto psychology professor, leading to his worldwide notoriety and success of his best-seller 12 Rules For Life. But while the movie does a good job bringing uninformed viewers up to speed on the popularity and controversy of Peterson, it doesn’t add much else to the conversation. The movie is just, kind of, “there”.
Toronto After Dark 2019: Shorts After Dark
The biggest strength of Toronto After Dark is, and always has been, the importance given to short films. Shorts are given their own programs, but they also play before features. Due to genre cinema’s specific limitations, shorts are both useful as a way to make a name for oneself and as a storytelling medium. As such, it’s important to look at what is happening in that world. Let’s take a look at the good, the…
Anthem of a Teenage Prophet
The melodic title of Robin Hays’ Anthem of a Teenage Prophet suggests, at the very least, a kind of experimental approach to tragedy and trauma. Instead, this adaptation of Joanne Proulx’s award-winning novel Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet is surprisingly familiar; replete with the traditional rebellious drug-fueled angst we’ve come to expect from cinematic representations of teenage life in the suburbs.
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘Enhanced’, ‘Werewolf’ and ‘The Wretched’
Enhanced (DIR. James Mark) The idea of a low budget superhero film is an undeniably commendable one. Superheroes are incredibly generic, and there is nothing that necessitates the bloated budgets that they tend to cost, so the idea of telling those stories with less waste should be celebrated. Unfortunately, the films that come out of this practice tend to be underwhelming. Case in point: James Mark’s Enhanced.
Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Robert Eggers
“This makes me want to puke. Sorry, this came into my head. Sorry.” These were the words spoken by Robert Eggers, before he made a point about the relationship between Andrej Tarkovsky and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The singular voice behind the instant classic The Witch and The Lighthouse provided evidence of two important parts of his personality: the first being his self-effacing tendencies despite how well-read he is—after all, any great artist is first a great student—and…