By: Addison Wylie Seen as a brave folk hero to some and a menacing nuisance to others, teenager Colton Harris-Moore outran police forces, bounty hunters, and watch dogs for nearly three years. He hitched rides, stole money, and was infamously known for stealing airplanes and crashing them on new islands to loot. Fly Colt Fly marks the first feature-length movie from Andrew and Adam Gray and their documentary is out to chronicle Harris-Moore’s fugitive escapades…
By: Addison Wylie When the only bad thing about your feature film debut is its marble-mouthed title, it’s a sign that your ambitious film is close to being sublime. When you get past that weak title, AKP: Job 27 is a really good time at the movies. It treads trodden ground by being centred around a private hitman on a mission in unfamiliar territory (the territory being Toronto), but its Michael L. Suan’s vision of…
By: Addison Wylie Personally, my knowledge of the Federal Reserve goes about as deep as a mall fountain collecting pennies and dimes. Naturally, Jim Bruce’s documentary Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve should be the perfect vehicle to educate people like me who need a bit more information about its history and the possibly bleak future it has ahead of it. Jim Bruce seems like the right filmmaker for the job seeing that he’s…
By: Addison Wylie The T24 project – a challenge in association with the Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival – asks filmmakers to create, produce, edit, and hand in a short film within 24 hours. Teams are given a lengthy essay question about the chosen theme, and are then sent off into the city. I remember the days of attending T24 screenings and feeling excited to tell others about the great shorts that screened. With prior…
By: Addison Wylie 360 Screenings is quickly becoming one of Toronto’s hottest ticket events for film lovers. Founders Ned Loach and Robert Gontier have built immersive experiences throwing audiences into the world of a secret movie and then revealing the mystery at an undisclosed location with a vast heritage. When you pay for a ticket, you enlist your trust into Loach and Gontier to bring the goods. That said, they have always managed to bring…
By: Addison Wylie Acting as this year’s Fame High at TIFF Next Wave, I Learn America is also about a select group of students who attend high school and face frequent obstacles. In Fame High, those students were hampered when chasing a creative dream. In I Learn America, these young immigrants try and understand the American dream. New York City’s Lafayette is the home of International High School. The school opens its doors for nearly…
By: Addison Wylie I don’t know what possession is more crucial and harmful: the ones that occur in Here Comes the Devil within the Tijuana cliffs or the wrestling match between mature horror and fanboy immaturity that litters the film’s screenplay. Adrián García Bogliano’s horror is one of those movies where audiences can tell there are heavy influences driving the film. It’s also one of those movies where these homages don’t simply stay on the filmmaker’s…
By: Addison Wylie Tali Barde’s feature film debut For No Eyes Only is set as a tense thriller adding a modern twist to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. It doesn’t come through on being a thriller. Instead, it’s accidentally profound. What I admired most about For No Eyes Only is Barde’s perceptual take on modern day voyeurism without being too on the nose. Sam (a mopey loner played convincingly by newcomer Benedict Sieverding) suffers from a…
By: Addison Wylie It was nice to see a young adult book series stick to its gritty tone and not feel the need to make it lighter for a mainstream audience. That’s exactly what The Hunger Games did with its first venture to the big screen. It did, however, succumb to attributes that felt reminiscent to other franchises with a widespread teen audience. One of these beats being complications with affection between two strapping young…
By: Addison Wylie Odd Thomas is certainly an odd case indeed. Stephen Sommers’ adaptation of Dean Koontz’s novel has good things about it, yet it has difficulty coming together as a whole. Anton Yelchin stars as Odd Thomas, a sweetly distraught hero with an ability to avenge the deaths of others. He’s approached by silent spirits who then lead him on paths, and it’s his duty to right whatever wrongs he faces. The local police…