By: Jeff Ching Clean Slate is a documentary that can be described as The Fabelmans meets Dopesick. Instead of trying to cover the opioid crisis and the countless lives that have been ruined because of it, Clean Slate takes a more grounded approach; simply focusing on two best friends (Cassidy and Joshua) in rehab, whose lives have been ruined by their addiction to painkillers. However, Cassidy and Joshua share one passion – their love of…
A “found footage” horror anthology gets a seasonal spin in The Christmas Tapes, but it’s only further proof as to why these projects are a tough task to pull off.
As much as I’m a sucker for anything Jackass related, I’m compelled by the slew of strange copycats that followed the success of the stunt-and-prank franchise. Call it a guilty pleasure, I suppose, but it taps into a time that felt dangerous and outrageous, and the behaviour was often deemed as “just a phase” and otherwise ignored (despite the constant warnings and disclaimers slapped on to Jackass by MTV and Paramount Pictures). If independent third-parties…
When I reviewed a sci-fi flick named Ashgrove at this year’s Canadian Film Fest, I sensed that it was a different type of movie for its director Jeremy Lalonde. It was significantly more dramatic than his previous work, which have either been ensemble comedies (Sex After Kids, How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town) or high-concept projects (The Go-Getters, James vs. His Future Self), and I felt like he was challenging himself as a storyteller to look…
Academy Award-winning director Laura Poitras (Citizenfour; My Country, My Country) doesn’t hold back in her latest documentary, a devastating portrait of fiery artist and activist Nan Goldin. Words like “heartbreaking” and “inspiring” are insufficient to describe this powerful story of community, activism, and survival.
By: Jolie Featherstone This is Santa like you’ve never seen him before. Tommy Wirkola’s Violent Night is a bloody action flick blended with some heart-warming Christmas cheer. But yeah, lots of blood.
Baking All the Way fits in with the company of schmaltzy holiday flicks, but the cast’s genuine charm elevates this festive flick.
The winter holidays are fast approaching, and ’tis the season for an onslaught of Christmas movies. While most of these movies are usually found on cable or on subscribed streaming services, this will be the second year that Vortex Media screens a seasonal flick in select theatres before it heads to Super Channel.
