By: Trevor Chartrand Director Stacey Lee raises some important questions in Underplayed, a documentary about diversity in the music industry. Specifically, the film focuses on electronica (or dance music) and the women who make it. Often left behind on a concert schedule predominately populated by men, these artists are underappreciated and underrepresented, especially in this particular genre.
By: Trevor Chartrand Based on a true story, 398 Days: Hostage is the harrowing account of a Danish photographer captured, tortured and held hostage in Syria for over a year. Young and ambitious, our protagonist Daniel Rye Ottosen (Esben Smed) is an Olympic contender with the Danish gymnastics team, until a knee injury shatters his dreams of pursuing the gold medal. Short on prospects and in need of work, Daniel starts his career over with…
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Wendy Morgan has made an interesting and thought-provoking film with her drama Sugar Daddy. The movie features the story of Darren, an aspiring musician who joins a paid dating service to make ends meet until her music career takes off. While acting as arm candy for wealthy older guys at high society functions is by no means prostitution, Darren struggles with her own self-worth and the moral implications of selling herself…
By: Trevor Chartrand Irreverent, crude, absurd and insane, Donny’s Bar Mitzvah is a bizarrely entertaining comedy that somehow manages to function coherently – while at the same time doing everything wrong. The film is certainly funny, bordering on hilarious, but incredibly immature. Keep the kids out of the room for this one, folks.
By: Trevor Chartrand Doors is an anthology-style sci-fi film from the producers of V/H/S, featuring four short stories all set in the same universe. Each story or segment is helmed by its own filmmaker, giving us a variety of perspectives and approaches to one shared idea. Without a doubt, the film is an interesting experiment and a great way to showcase the uniqueness of the creative mind. Given the same premise, each filmmaker turns in a…
By: Trevor Chartrand In the delightfully surreal Death of a Ladies’ Man, director Matt Bissonette addresses some hard-hitting subjects in a mature (yet somehow silly) way. This darkly funny film was heavily influenced and inspired by the work of Leonard Cohen, and the late artist’s presence in the film will not go unnoticed. The film explores themes and ideas present in Cohen’s music, and features a soundtrack that includes plenty of Cohen songs.
By: Jolie Featherstone With the stately air and solid bones of a 1940s crime drama, The Last Vermeer is a respectable debut feature film from Dan Friedkin, a former stunt pilot and producer.
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Fredric Golding takes a look at climate change with Meltdown, a documentary that focuses on the decline of melting glaciers in Greenland, the world’s ‘ground zero’ for evidence of climate change. The film features an odd-couple collaboration between Yale Science professor Tony Leiserowitz and renowned photographer Lynn Davis – two vastly different personalities with a shared interest in raising Global Warming awareness.
By: Jolie Featherstone When second-generation homicide detective Riley Sanders (Jacque Gray) returns to work after a traumatic experience, she’s partnered with the idealistic and stoic Paul Carr (Devin Liljenquist). When Paul brings Riley up to speed on current cases, they realize that two of the crimes are very similar: the victims were bound in enclosed spaces and died of heart attacks. Their investigation leads them to find that the killer is targeting people with clinically-diagnosed…
