The Upside
By: Jessica Goddard A perfectly harmless buddy film with charming performances from an A-list cast, The Upside weaves compelling drama with light comedy.
By: Jessica Goddard A perfectly harmless buddy film with charming performances from an A-list cast, The Upside weaves compelling drama with light comedy.
I didn’t know why this movie was titled Slapped: The Movie, until I looked up the YouTube web series the stars created. Before, I thought there was a Slapped: The Television Series or a Slapped: The Album that the filmmakers didn’t want to be associated with. But, I still don’t understand why Slapped: The Movie is two hours long when this half baked, body-switching, gross-out comedy has barely enough juice to fuel a 22-minute sitcom.
New Yorker Nina is a stand-up comic with a blunt repertoire. Her material is R-rated in a competitive way; as if she’s trying to out-disgust other comedians at the open mic. The truth, however, is her jokes are stale. They’re not worthless, but Nina’s routine is on autopilot. However, it’s what she has to do to survive in a world dominated by daunting masculinity and crass jokes.
The Happytime Murders is a bawdy comedy that’s being sold as “dirty Sesame Street”. However, as the film fired off obscenities and crude visual gags, I couldn’t help but be distracted by other filmmaking elements.
There is a certain sort of film that defies classification. The quick description is the sort of film that is not perfect by any stretch of the term, but which contains just a little something that manages to hit on a collective pathos in the audience. Those films release a positive feeling into the audience that can actually be felt when one is in such an environment. Green Book is just such a film: it…
Alopecia, an autoimmune condition that causes hair loss of different degrees, is an issue that forces those living with it to be in a constant state of awareness; having to find their own individual way to address it. This self-conscious struggle of those personally effected is the topic at bay in Foxy, a concern that was also hindering co-director/co-writer/star Trista Suke before making this thesis project with co-director/co-writer Ellis Poleyko.
Anna and the Apocalypse (DIR. John McPhail) Another day, another multi-hyphenated genre film.
I’ll Take Your Dead (DIR. Chad Archibald) The multi-hyphen horror film is just a concept that is here to stay. Despite everything being a hyphenated genre lately, very few films actually know how to do it well. The issue is that these films are often so lost in their own muddled genres, that they forget to specialize in one. Very rarely can someone pull off an actually balanced hyphenated genre film, leading to practical magic when…
By: Trevor Chartrand Part romance, part crime-drama, The Old Man & the Gun is the gripping, yet low-key, story of notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford). Based on the true story of a life-long criminal and prison escape artist, the film examines Tucker as a unique breed of villain. Always calm and in control – but not in the suave, Ocean’s 11 type of way. When Tucker robs a bank, he’s simply courteous, polite,…