By: Addison Wylie It’s almost inevitable to go into The ABC’s of Death with leery reservations. The anthology’s premise involves moviegoers sitting through 24 horror short films – each one involving a letter of the alphabet tying itself to the short’s climactic gruesome activity. One immediate question pops to mind upon hearing this pitch: are audience members going to be too distracted from watching the movie by counting down each letter of the alphabet? Will we…
By: Addison Wylie Dark Skies wants its moviegoers to leave slightly chilled, but, instead we leave feeling cold. As the credit crawl began and the lights dimmed back on, you could feel the waft from everyone’s shoulders shrugging as they huffed out of the theatre. The unenthused reaction isn’t because Dark Skies is a bad movie, but because we don’t like seeing something that had so much potential settle with being “just ok”. One would…
“Do toddlers have standards for entertainment?” I found myself asking that a lot during The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, as I was watching what the filmmakers behind the film thought they could serve to children. Judging by box office numbers, life-size colourful creatures jiggling around and trying to find magic balloons for a surprise party for their talking pillow proves kids do; as well as parents paying the price of admission. The film…
By: Addison Wylie A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III feels like it’s been directed by two people. It hasn’t. Roman Coppola is the lone director, as well as the lone screenwriter. But, it has that feeling because it very much feels like two movies have been fused together – a straight-forward break-up movie with a sitcom mentality and a heartfelt hyperactive ode to art deco and 70’s art and fashion. We start with…
By: Addison Wylie What do you say about a movie that can be summed up in a baffled head shake? You’ll find yourself doing that a lot if you dare endure Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. The premise for this unnecessary new spin on the classic fairy tale feels like a studio executive playing a game of chicken with Hollywood – seeing just how far they could take a ridiculous story and milk…
By: Addison Wylie Mama is another horror film “presented by” creep master Guillermo del Toro. So, it’s no surprise that Andrés Muschietti’s new year horror, Mama, resembles 2011’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, another film that was “presented” by del Toro. That’s going to be either a deal maker or breaker to those who saw the Katie Holmes driven flick about small, scary creatures that occupy a looming and ominous house. As someone who…
By Addison Wylie As far as sub-standard horror goes, Texas Chainsaw 3D is as by-the-numbers as scary movies go; if you skim the surface. However, I think John Luessenhop’s film is smarter than it looks and deserves more credit than it’s throwaway January release date gives it. Texas Chainsaw 3D takes us to the beginning of the long-running story; except this time, it wishes to wipe the slate clean. This sequel to the original Texas…
By: Addison Wylie With his first feature film, director Colin Trevorrow (with the help of screenwriter Derek Connolly) has conjured up this gem that pokes fun at, while still embracing adolescence and growing up. It all starts with our lead female played by character actor Aubrey Plaza – who has always had a certain quality to her presence and to her line-reading that can be summed up in one word: pubescent. In Safety Not Guaranteed,…
By: Addison Wylie Tom Hooper wowed audiences with The King’s Speech. Well, most audiences – I thought it was inspirational but ordinary, with stylistic cinematography that overshadowed many elements of the story. Nonetheless, his film won multiple Oscars; including Best Picture. He may follow suit with his adaptation of Les Misérables; in both the award garnering sense and the cinematography sense. Hooper has brought his shooting style to his latest feature following Jean Valjean (played…
By: Addison Wylie I would love to see what writer/director Judd Apatow could do with a film that punches out after 90 minutes – including credits. This Is 40 starts out strong and funny, but is then torpedoed by needless subplots that are tediously stretched out causing the runtime to slowly expand. Apatow has shown with his previous directorial work that he loves to let his material breathe. Not in a pretentious way, but in…