Win It All
Life can fluctuate, and I believe that’s the point Win It All is trying to make. Then again, filmmaker Joe Swanberg may have just set out to make a straightforward character study, in which case that works too.
Comedy
Folk Hero & Funny Guy
There’s nothing more easygoing than a road movie with good music and likeable leads. In a nutshell, that’s Folk Hero & Funny Guy, a comedy starring Alex Karpovsky (The Foxy Merkins, HBO’s Girls) and Wyatt Russell (Goon: Last of the Enforcers) as best friends who tour working class cities, exhibiting their passions.
Sandy Wexler
After nearly a decade of bad comedies starring Adam Sandler, it feels weird to call his recent vehicle “good”. It’s also funny, good-natured, and features Sandler at the top of his form. Somebody pinch me.
First Round Down
My introduction to filmmaking duo Brett Butler and Jason Butler was imperfect. Prior to the release of their indie Mourning Has Broken, I interviewed Brett. He was an all-around standup guy who was grateful for when he and his brother won Ingrid Veninger’s “1K Challenge”, granting them access to make their dark comedy starring character actor Robert Nolan.
The New Kid
I don’t know much about MyFrenchFilmFestival, but Rudi Rosenberg’s The New Kid has made me want to study up on the online global collective.
Wilson
By: Nick Ferwerda Wilson (Woody Harrelson) is a lonely man who is maybe a bit too honest. He struggles to adapt to the modern-age of communication, which only irritates his lack of social awareness, but he’s truly shook up when his father passes away – the only family member Wilson had left in his life.
Canadian Film Fest ’17: Filth City
Budding filmmaker Andy King has been in hot water with former Toronto councillor Doug Ford, the brother of late mayor Rob Ford who was caught up in worldwide controversy involving drug use caught on tape. The plot of King’s feature Filth City is centred around a belligerent, frantic mayor searching for a video that captures his illicit drug binging at a house party – you can see why Doug is a little mad.
It’s Not My Fault and I Don’t Care Anyway
Alan Thicke, in one of his final roles, is exceptional as self-help guru Patrick Spencer in It’s Not My Fault and I Don’t Care Anyway. As Spencer, Thicke is expected to peddle encouraging apathy with a smile – using nothing more than charisma to make his pitch. To think countless hosting gigs and ironic cameos didn’t prepare the entertainer for this movie would be foolish.
Goon: Last of the Enforcers
The original Goon (2011) was a special thing: an indie sports-comedy that was funny without being over-the-top, and heartfelt without being outright cheesy. It was also indisputably Canadian without relying on stereotypes or clichés. The film made the audience care about Doug (Seann William Scott), a dim-witted but kind bouncer from Massachusetts who uses his better-than-average brawling skills to become a professional enforcer for a minor-league hockey team in Halifax. We were invested in his…