By: Addison Wylie Marriage is hard. At least, that’s what I learned as I left the theatre having watched the critically acclaimed Blue Valentine. Lots of films have tackled the subject of relationships and fidelity and have portrayed the subjects in both a positive and negative light. Even if the films themselves have been forgettable, they usually make movie goers immediately reflect upon love and marriage. However, when the topics are presented in a gloomy…

By: Addison Wylie  Mother and Child is a character driven film that follows the lives of three individuals; Karen, played by Annette Bening, Elizabeth, played by Naomi Watts, and Lucy, played by Kerry Washington. Karen is close minded and instead of letting people into her life, she constantly forces them away by not thinking before she speaks. However, Karen was pregnant at a very young age and gave up her new born baby for adoption….

By: Addison Wylie Recently, films belonging in the Western genre aren’t being well received. It could be because Western films are few and far between. It feels as if filmmakers aren’t tackling the category as often as they could. However, it also takes a keen, creative director to make a Western into something inspiring and interesting that adds its own spin and because of that, the genre may seem intimidating. With No Country for Old…

By: Addison Wylie  The Freebie focuses on the concept of feeling tied down. Not particularly in a negative way. When settling down in, what feels like, a serious relationship, the thought of having intimate relations with only your partner and no one else is a shock to the system for some people. The Freebie demonstrates how even the seemingly “perfect” couple can hit this wall and humour the idea that there’s an alternative way to…

By: Addison Wylie Creating original comedies aimed towards a teen demographic is not an easy task. Sex and drugs, peer pressure, and crucial life changes are just some of the topics these movies may touch upon. Some filmmakers are able to take the content and spin it into gold. They are able to make the young audiences laugh and sometimes the teenagers walk away with learning something about how to adapt to the “real world”….

By: Addison Wylie Andy Kaufman, Tom Green, and Sacha Baron Cohen are three comics who share a similar sense of humor. The comedians take on a radically different persona and propose situations or questions to unsuspecting individuals. This act usually reveals authentic awkward and confused reactions from the public. With features like Bruno and more-so Borat, Cohen has been able to take this specific type of comedy and use it to confront audiences with topics…

By: Addison Wylie The Harry Potter series has always been an interesting set of movies to observe. Not only have they struck strong notes with fans of the books written by J.K Rowlings, but the films have transferred well to movie goers who haven’t even picked up a Harry Potter novel. Also, as the films have progressed, the work has gotten darker and more dreary and has matured along with the actors. Harry Potter and…

By: Addison Wylie Long distance relationships are tough codes to crack. Few couples manage to take this strenuous situation and make it work. Others find it hard dealing with the fact that they won’t see each other for long amounts of time, the constant phone calls and text messages, and having that meandering thought that the other person may be fooling around with other people. Going The Distance is a movie that is a bona-fide…

By: Addison Wylie When a genre film is released that has been deemed as “bad” or “underwhelming”, I’ll usually stick with my go-to rule of thumb. That rule is that if the director’s heart and passion is in the right place and an audience can see that integrity on the big screen, the film can be redeemed in some areas. Skyline, a sci-fi film directed by the Brothers Strause, seems to fall into this category…

By: Addison Wylie Mark Romanek’s last feature film was 2002’s One Hour Photo; a film that many stated was “hitchcockian” in it’s way to set up an eerie mood and in its method to study a sympathetic yet disturbing character suffering from both physical and emotional abuse. Now, almost a decade later, Romanek returns with Never Let Me Go where he continues to play with emotions but strays away from that uncomfortable tone One Hour…