Alright Now
Jamie Adams’ Alright Now, a romantic dramedy following a rock star following a particularly brutal double breakup, boasts that it is completely improvised. Here’s the funny thing about improvisation: you need actors who are good at it.
Comedy
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser
The Netflix Gods heard my distain for the streaming service’s teen flick hit To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and they’ve gifted me a charming high school comedy titled Sierra Burgess Is a Loser as an apologetic gesture. Call it coincidental timing, I call it wishful thinking.
The Happytime Murders
By: Trevor Chartrand The Happytime Gang is here! Directed by the son of Muppets creator Jim Henson, Brian Henson brings us The Happytime Murders, a comedy that takes fun and lovable puppets into some dark new territory.
Support the Girls
Some of this year’s most endearing performances get buried by Andrew Bujalski’s faulty filmmaking in Support the Girls.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is too slight and trivial even by teen movie standards, but I’m hoping it will make its young viewers talk to each other more. So many misunderstandings and rumours in Sofia Alvarez’s stalled screenplay would’ve been squashed if people had stopped their worrying and had simple conversations with other characters.
The Death (and Life) of Carl Naardlinger
Television writer Katherine Schlemmer makes her first splash as a filmmaker with The Death (and Life) of Carl Naardlinger. And if you think that name is even remotely funny, then Katherine is happy you bought a ticket for her film. If you don’t, you best mosey into the next theatre.
Boundaries
By: Nick van Dinther In Boundaries, director Shana Feste tells a story that’s loosely based on her relationship with her father and their shared life experience; which makes it surprising that one of the movie’s biggest setbacks is how cliché it is, and how it lacks realism.
Hearts Beat Loud
There seems to be a new trend where every Summer, audiences receive a musically-savvy indie. Two years ago, movie goers relished in Sing Street, followed by Patti Cake$ the year after. This season, move goers will be put under a spell by Hearts Beat Loud, an effortlessly charming and heartwarming dramedy from writer/director Brett Haley (The Hero).