July 2022
Mr. Malcolm’s List
Call me a wet noodle, a buzzkill, or a “namby-pamby” (a term I learned from this movie), but I did not fall under the romantic spell of Mr. Malcolm’s List. In fact, I thought Mr. Malcolm’s List was pretty cheesy. Then again, the love-struck emotions in Emma Holly Jones’ period piece are supposed to hit those levels of mushy sentimentality. It’s just a matter of reigning them in before they spill over to become just…
Apples
Produced and completed during our current era of COVID, Apples is a strange and accidentally timely import from Greece, following a vacant mind (Aris Servetalis) during the early stages of a pandemic that’s quietly sweeping over the public. Victims who are affected by the unknown sickness lose their memory at the drop of a hat. Those who don’t have any immediate support are referred to a rehabilitation program for the unidentifiable where they must complete…
The Sea Beast
Directed by Oscar-winner Chris Williams (Big Hero 6) and brimming with adventure and good humour, The Sea Beast is an all-around great flick that exceeds its family-friendly demographic.
The Long Rider
The Long Rider is a welcomed return to documentary filmmaking for director Sean Cisterna (Moon Point, Kiss and Cry, From the Vine).
Stanleyville
By: Jeff Ching I was excited when I found out that Stanleyville was the feature directorial debut of Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who wrote 2013’s The Father – one of the most criminally underrated dark comedies of all time. The Father was a Canadian film about a husband and father trying to move on with his life after dealing with the shocking news of his wife getting arrested for cheating on him…with a minor. What a concept, and a hilariously…
American Werewolves
In rural Michigan, dozens of individuals have reported sightings of a terrifying bipedal creature stalking forests and country roads at night. Standing six-to-seven feet tall, with fearsome glowing eyes and a head resembling a canine, the Michigan werewolf (or “dogman”) is a well-documented urban legend. Startlingly similar is the so-called “Beast of Bray Road” sighted in the neighbouring state of Wisconsin. Like the Michigan dogman, the beast stands upright on two legs and has the…
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On has always found a way to make people laugh through short films and literature. For their next trick, creators Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate effortlessly expand on their concept to include more of an emotional core to Marcel’s world in this self-titled, feature-length debut.
Morbius
The output of movies based on comic book properties isn’t slowing down any time soon, which is why I appreciate filmmakers who take a different crack at the genre. While some of these anomalies are laughed off or forgotten by their demographics, I tend to stick up for these weird flicks (I got a kick out of the buddy comedy dynamic in Venom) . What I’m trying to say is that I wanted to be on…
Lux Æterna
I’ll be reviewing Gaspar Noé’s Vortex very soon, and I wanted to use the filmmaker’s latest short Lux Æterna as a gateway to his latest feature. I’m a fan of Noé’s polarizing work from what I’ve seen (Irreversible, Enter The Void), but his latest projects utilize a split-screen technique I haven’t seen him play around with before. As a provocateur, the writer/director has been know to explore and experiment with “gratuitous filmmaking”. It’s overkill for…