Late last year, Canadian indie Toronah snuck into a single theatre in the titled city. The film piqued my curiosity, and I did some more research. I ended up missing out on the film, but I began a dialogue with the film’s director Rick Smiciklas. When I mentioned that I was interested in reviewing his film, Smiciklas suggested that a reality show titled Wingmen would act as a good introduction to Toronah since key players crossover.
Most of what Yoav and Doron Paz offer movie goers in their horror film JeruZalem feels re-gifted. We’ve seen this sort of panicked science fiction in films before – from tent-pole thrillers like Cloverfield to foreign imports like [REC]. While that may sound like the “jaded critic” side transforming me as one of the film’s demons would, I feel like I have a legitimate argument.
The Orange Man is voluntarily uneven. After presenting itself as slasher horror, the film has a change of heart and decides to be a break-up comedy for bros, and then flip-flops some more. It’s a shame since the slasher bits are the most fun.
This weekend, the ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival hits theatres in the city’s downtown core – you won’t want to miss it. The selected documentaries hold their own importance against each other, and show how hopeful futures are still within reach against global issues. The selections are raw, but the filmmakers are and determined to be heard.
Addison Wylie 2015 was a great year for movies, and I hope returning readers will see those results on the lists below. However, I understand if my favourites at the tip of the iceberg aren’t surprising – they haven’t changed since the mid-year report. A couple of excellent documentaries, and an army of dogs set the bar astronomically high. On another note, I hope people will consider checking out the films that flesh out the…
Dirty Grandpa wasn’t a film that I expected to enjoy as much as I did. The casting of the two leads had me doubtful.
I’m compelled to call the Romanian drama One Floor Below a “one man show” since it features a solitary character (Sandu played by Teodor Corban) dealing with a possible murder he heard from outside an apartment, and how he handles confrontation with the alleged suspect. The camera is focused on him, and Corban does follow through with his end of the deal – he’s very believable.
There are ultimately two extremes within the canon of horror cinema: those films which are focused on artistry and only use the set pieces of horror to create atmosphere, and those films which are focused on being scary without much artistic flair. Christian Hallman’s Sensoria manages to bring these two extremes together by being neither artistic nor scary, resulting in something that just seems to exist for about an hour and twenty minutes. I considered using…
Eco-friendly independent documentaries are sometimes a hard sell to the general moviegoing public. Unless you have pre-invested interest in the subject matter (in this case, fracking) or the film’s guiding hand (in this case, indigenous activist Caleb Behn), these movies can come across as droning strolls through textbooks of material. It’s a shame since so many of these films are thoughtful and important.
The Masked Saint has a premise you’d expect in a Saturday Night Live sketch: a former wrestler takes to preaching, but turns to the past when he realizes how the sport can help himself and his community. It’s a near impossible sell despite being inspired by true events, but it’s a set-up that hooks curious audiences toward a satisfying film.