Odd Man Rush
Odd Man Rush is surprisingly sweet and thoughtful for a film that revolves around hockey. Unfortunately, a meandering pace prevents this sports-centric flick from being a true breakaway.
Hockey
Goon: Last of the Enforcers
Goon: Last of the Enforcers arrives five years after the surprise hit Goon, and it’s as if the audience never left these characters. Even though the film is working under a different director (Jay Baruchel taking over for Michael Dowse), this sequel makes sure it stays within the same surly vein as its delightfully crude predecessor.
Wylie Writes’ Two-On-One with Wyatt Russell and Marc-André Grondin
Goon: Last of the Enforcers is the sequel to Goon, the surprisingly successful 2011 indie-comedy about a bouncer from Massachusetts named Doug Glatt (played by Seann William Scott) who begins a career as an enforcer for a minor-league hockey team in Halifax. In the new film, six years have passed. Doug and his love interest, Eva (Alison Pill), are now married and expecting a child but their happiness is complicated by injuries and rival players…
Goon: Last of the Enforcers
The original Goon (2011) was a special thing: an indie sports-comedy that was funny without being over-the-top, and heartfelt without being outright cheesy. It was also indisputably Canadian without relying on stereotypes or clichés. The film made the audience care about Doug (Seann William Scott), a dim-witted but kind bouncer from Massachusetts who uses his better-than-average brawling skills to become a professional enforcer for a minor-league hockey team in Halifax. We were invested in his…
Hello Destroyer
Kevan Funk’s Hello Destroyer, a complicated and clinical disclosure of the underlying traumas associated with hockey, was well-received at TIFF last year for a good reason: there aren’t many films brave enough to de-mythologize Canada’s national sport.
Across the Line
At first glance, Across the Line is a common film that exposes a type of impressionable racial discrimination filmmakers have acknowledged before. This time, the devastation hits close to home (Nova Scotia) and allows a breakout director to handle the heavy material in a different way that doesn’t dance around the aftermath.