In the spirit of Harv Glazer’s Rubik’s Cube documentary 20 Moves, I really tried to sum up my opinion about the film in 20 words – it didn’t work. But, hey, I don’t mind elaborating on the aptitude of Glazer’s satisfying work.
In 2013, audiences were treated to two movies involving hostage situations in the White House: Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen and Roland Emmerich’s White House Down. The former performed well enough at the box office to merit a sequel, while the other languished in obscurity, likely due to its director’s notorious incompetence. And yet, much like its predecessor, London Has Fallen shows that in terms of quality, White House Down triumphed where Olympus had fallen.
Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas had a terrific output in the 1990’s: the gothic comic book adaptation, The Crow, and the superlative neo-noir/sci-fi film Dark City. Since then, however, Proyas has made few noteworthy cinematic contributions, and his latest, the 3D fantasy/adventure film Gods of Egypt, is abundant in imagination but lacking in novelty.
Jesse Owens is a fascinating individual and he absolutely deserves a biopic, but Race is not it. Interestingly enough, the title gives away many of the film’s faults: it conflates racism and running to an uncomfortable degree. Stephen Hopkins’ movie is almost completely devoid of subtlety – it’s so naive, it hurts.
For two-and-a-half years, Stefan Phillips has been working on his first feature length film titled The Pasta Killer with frequent collaborators that make up his YouTube ensemble ‘UnorthodoxPoppycock’. The project – a faithful film noir – was a labour of love.
Portrait of a Serial Monogamist, so far, is the best Canadian indie of the new year. Filmmakers John Mitchell and Christina Zeidler have co-wrote and co-directed an identifiable and balanced film about stalled romance.
Burr Steers’ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies arrives at an awkward time for horror mash-ups.
The ReFrame Film Festival couldn’t wait to begin. On Thursday, January 28, the festival held an exclusive sold-out Ontario premiere of Anne Troake’s OutSideIn, an experimental 3D film that featured choreography in its rawest form from two partially nude performers (Carol Prieur and Bill Coleman).
The sad state of the parody film is reflected in Fifty Shades of Black, the latest from A Haunted House director Michael Tiddes and Scary Movie alumnus Marlon Wayans. A spoof of the Fifty Shades of Grey film released last year, Fifty Shades of Black relies mostly on an inventory of aged pop culture references and unfunny scatological humour rather than interrogating the problems with its source material.
