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Festival Coverage

Affective and Absurd: A Toronto Youth Shorts Preview

September 23, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

The Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival is a terrific way for young filmmakers to enter the scene.  It’s a festival run by responsible believers who maintain faith in future generations of storytellers. The film festival has also given hard-working individuals a deserving premiere in an appreciated Toronto-bound theatrical venue.  The awards ceremony is an added bonus to those seeking genuine recognition, as well as constructive criticism by a panel of educated peers. This year, movie…

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Festival Coverage

LEFT’s Horror Fest is the Right Choice

July 2, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie It’s terrific news to report that Lost Episode Festival Toronto (or, LEFT) is back! Some of you who have been following me since my time at Film Army may have seen my coverage of the weekend-long festival last year.  It was a neat experience and certainly a film festival unlike any I’ve attended. For those who need a brief introduction, LEFT is a film festival run by fearless leader Johnny Larocque.  It…

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Festival Coverage

Wylie Writes @ Inside Out 2014: Who’s Tired of Vagina Wolf?

June 3, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf? (DIR. Anna Margarita Albelo) By: Addison Wylie There’s nothing more obnoxious than a movie that thinks its being clever.  Enter Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf?, an indie with all the self-absorption of Michael Urie’s He’s Way More Famous Than You helmed by Anna Margarita Albelo who wishes to become Lena Dunham through eccentric styles and a hipster soundtrack. Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf? has writer/director Albelo playing an exaggerated version of herself.  She’s…

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Reviews

Noah

April 4, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie I wasn’t going to see Noah to look for religious inaccuracies and become very picky about its epic portrayal of Noah’s Ark.  I left my biblical checklist at home. I went into Noah wanting to see how a creative filmmaker like Darren Aronofsky could handle a big budget blockbuster, and wanting to observe how well his integrity would float in mainstream waters.  This would be a first for the Oscar-nominated director who…

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Festival Coverage

Canadian Film Festival 2014: H&G is Lost

March 21, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Recently, we’ve seen Hansel and Gretel battle witches with steampunk weaponry in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and defeat a nefarious pot-peddling evildoer in Hansel & Gretel Get Baked.  I’m still racking my brain as to why these Brothers Grimm siblings got the resurgence they did. Perhaps, the timing of it all makes H&G initially refreshing.  It’s nice to see filmmaker Danishka Esterhazy take a low-key approach to this fairy tale and…

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Articles

Solo Speaks: A One-On-One with Annie Clark

March 2, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie After being featured at Toronto After Dark, the indie Canadian thriller named Solo is making a more public appearance with a theatrical run at Toronto’s Carlton Cinema. Carlton Cinema is a very appropriate venue seeing as the theatre and the film both share a level of independence.  Carlton Cinema is a quaint theatre that feels as if you step into another world of movie watching, and Solo’s lead is left in her own world…

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Reviews

Solo

March 1, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Solo starts out on an “A” game, but ends up finishing with a generous “C” grade. Isaac Cravit’s independent thriller is a straight-up campfire story – and, the filmmaker knows it.  Gillian (played by former Degrassi: The Next Generation co-star Annie Clark) needs to prove herself to be a capable camp counsellor in order to obtain a summer job.  The newbie needs to pull a “solo”, a two-night experience on a secluded…

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Articles

An Apocalypse at Toronto Youth Shorts’ T24

February 19, 2014Addison Wylie3 Comments

By: Addison Wylie The T24 project – a challenge in association with the Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival – asks filmmakers to create, produce, edit, and hand in a short film within 24 hours.  Teams are given a lengthy essay question about the chosen theme, and are then sent off into the city. I remember the days of attending T24 screenings and feeling excited to tell others about the great shorts that screened.  With prior…

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Reviews

The Selfish Giant

January 25, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie The Selfish Giant gives off an aroma of a film that will be remembered for a very long time.  The staying power of its troubled characters as well as the painfully realistic portrayal of a down-and-out community in Northern England are quite remarkable. This directorial feature debut from British director Clio Barnard trails the life of two young troublemakers trying to make sense of their early teens.  Both boys always yearn to…

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Reviews

Does It Float?: Don Jon

January 7, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

Upon the invention of this series, I was hoping Does It Float? would successfully show how a movie can be conceived in different ways.  It doesn’t always have to be a positive experience turning into a negative one or vice versa, however.  Maybe a movie could still be a solid watch on separate occasions for different reasons.  Who would’ve guessed Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s feature length directorial debut Don Jon would be that film to prove this? Don Jon was the first TIFF film…

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