By: Addison Wylie Let’s not beat around the bush: the most comparable film you can mention when talking about Kyle Rankin’s Night of the Living Deb is Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead. Both Shaun and Deb are underdogs dealing with a zombie outbreak on the fly while trying to figure out their own issues with romance. The strongest thing you can say about Rankin’s horror/comedy is that while Night of the Living Deb is…
By: Addison Wylie Newfoundland receives its own Pootie Tang with Nik Sexton’s rowdy road comedy How to Be Deadly. Hold on though: before you start making snap judgements, that cinematic correlation is a compliment towards how Sexton’s bawdy flick finds a way to fit in. Pootie Tang, Louis C.K.’s infamous cult flick about an incomprehensible crime fighting celebrity, was – ironically – misunderstood. It was a millennial interpretation of the blaxploitation genre that was unfortunately…
By: Addison Wylie Cooties hits theatres and VOD at a fantastic time. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion’s skittish dark comedy/horror works as great escapism for a post-secondary crowd already dreading more responsibilities, and it’s an entertaining essential for future Halloweens. Scream Queens co-writer Ian Brennan and SAW co-creator Leigh Whannell have teamed up to make a subversive, gory lil’ number featuring self-centred teachers seeking safety after a virus unleashes itself onto children through batches of skunked…
By: Shannon Page While on a spa retreat in the countryside with her best friend (Karin Viard), Violette (Julie Delpy, who also directs) meets geeky computer engineer Jean-René (Danny Boon). Their romance gets rocky when Violette brings Jean-René into her sophisticated life in Paris and introduces him to her nineteen year old son, Lolo (Vincent Lacoste). An unhappy Lolo attempts to sabotage his mother’s new relationship. The script – which was co-written by Delpy and Eugénie…
By: Addison Wylie TIFF’s short film programmes have always featured creative work made by gifted people. This year, Peterborough born filmmaker Zack Russell is one of those people. She Stoops to Conquer marks Russell’s filmmaking debut, but he couldn’t be farther from being a beginner. His sweeping theatre experience has allowed Russell to gradually learn how to communicate with actors, how to block a scene, and how to understand the emotions behind a playwright’s work. After watching…
By: Addison Wylie David O. Russell hit the nail on the head by distancing himself from the farcical fumble Accidental Love. To say the film has had a tumultuous past would be putting it lightly – just as saying the movie is merely bad would be doing it a favour. Production on the film (formally named Nailed) began in 2008, and suffered from financial woes and reshoots. James Caan reportedly walked off the set over…
By: Addison Wylie Comedian/marijuana enthusiast Doug Benson has made it his mission to provide stoner versions of documentaries directed by Morgan Spurlock. He started with Super High Me (a half-baked spin on Super Size Me) and continued with The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled (a take off on The Greatest Movie Ever Sold). Benson checks off another title with Chronic-Con Episode 420: A New Dope, which isn’t just an obvious jab at Spurlock’s Comic-Con Episode IV:…
By: Shannon Page Starring Lola Kirke (Gone Girl) as first-year university student Tracy, and Greta Gerwig as her thirty-something future stepsister Brooke, Mistress America is ultimately about dreams; it is about the things we want to accomplish as well as our goals and desires. It is also about two women at very different places in their lives who inspire one another. These characters aren’t always good people and their actions don’t always make them likable to…
By: Addison Wylie Peter Bogdanovich (director of The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and What’s Up, Doc?) must have tons of clout. This would explain the overconfidence in his latest film She’s Funny That Way. This star powered, ode to screwball farces couldn’t help but remind me of when the Farrelly Brothers made a feature-length Three Stooges movie. Bogdanovich has made the movie he wanted to make, but the film itself reinforces that it’s currently hard…
By: Trevor Jeffery The Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival screens at the Innis College Cinema on Saturday, August 8, and I’ll be co-judging the event along with other selected online journalists. However, I was lucky enough to be given a sneak peek at some of the submissions.