When it comes to HBO’s award-winning juggernaut Game of Thrones, I’ve always been a stubborn bugger. Despite its acclaim and significant imprint in pop culture, it was an elaborate Middle Ages fantasy that didn’t interest me.
By: Sky Wylie HBO’s Game of Thrones has been at the top of the television game for the past 8 years. The fanbase has been considerably loyal, the ratings have been off the charts, and the buzz has been nonstop. With its final season now complete, spoilers run amok and the fans have spoken out about their disappointment with the series’ ending. If you haven’t seen the concluding episodes, what are you waiting for? Don’t…
By: Addison Wylie The music in Mavis! wins us over in a flash. I wouldn’t be surprised if filmmaker Jessica Edwards was actually tempted early on to make a straight concert film instead of a biographical documentary. Mavis! is much more than the gospel music that enraptured listeners; including musicians Bonnie Raitt, Chuck D, Bob Dylan, and recent collaborator Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco). The film is about Mavis Staples, the legendary singer behind a voice that…
By: Mark Barber Prolific documentarian Alex Gibney’s latest film is an insightful–if perhaps overlong–two-hour reminder of the controversial Church of Scientology. Based on and working extensively off of Lawrence Wright’s 2013 book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Gibney traces Scientology’s history from its very beginnings with its erratic and odd founder L. Ron Hubbard to the assimilation of Hollywood celebrities into the cult. Perhaps most distressingly, however, is Gibney’s chosen slate…
By: Addison Wylie Who would’ve expected one of the most important movies of the year to come swooping into theatres during the final weeks of 2013? Lucky Canadians are currently able to catch Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox – and I highly suggest they do. The documentary addresses a number of issues worth talking about, but it all begins with the stellar success of snowboarder Kevin Pearce. Pearce was garnering…
By: Addison Wylie Noah Baumbach’s most uplifting film to date (which is a major step up when comparing his latest to his last effort – the overly cynical and absolutely annoying Greenberg) has an almost immediately disarming look and feel to it. Taking on the aesthetics of a first or second year student thesis project, the black-and-white dramedy feels normal once we can identify what Baumbach’s movie resembles – leading us to focus on what…