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Indie

Reviews

Loitering with Intent

March 12, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Mark Barber Loitering with Intent has all the right ingredients for a compelling short film.  Unfortunately, it has been unnecessarily bloated into an 80-minute feature. Raphael (Ivan Martin) and Dominic (Michael Godere) are two struggling actor-writers who are commissioned to write the screenplay for a low-budget Chandleresque noir film.  The screenplay subplot is quickly dropped once the two are settled in their writing retreat: the cottage they occupy suddenly becomes a festering nightmare of…

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Reviews

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

March 5, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Spike Lee took to Kickstarter to fund his latest joint Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.  It was a bold move that opened up the floodgates for skeptics to start criticizing the filmmaker.  Zach Braff endured the same with his campaign to make Wish I Was Here. Lee brings more of an argumentative crowd compared to Braff’s followers and naysayers.  Some see Spike Lee as a self-serving loudmouth, but loyal fans believe he has…

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Reviews

The Skeleton Twins

February 1, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie I liked Craig Johnson’s indie The Skeleton Twins, but it’s a stickler of a movie to justify.  It hardly has a narrative except when it peppers in a loose story towards the final leg, and it’s a character study that’s light on characterization.  To say it’s either one or the other doesn’t feel right.  Without the film’s stellar leading performances, The Skeleton Twins truly would be floating. Johnson has recruited Saturday Night…

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Reviews

Copenhagen

December 5, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Copenhagen is bound to be compared to Lost in Translation or Cairo Time.  A young man (William played by Game of Thrones’ Gethin Anthony) embarks on foreign travels and runs into a young woman (Effy played by Frederikke Dahl Hansen) who becomes very interested in the man’s personal journey.  They drink in the scenery, taste the culture, and slowly develop something that’s more than a friendship.  However, complications arise – as they…

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Reviews

Honeymoon

September 20, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Bea and Paul are that cute couple you wish to never go out to dinner with.  They’re not terrible people or arrogant, they’re just overwhelmingly in love.  They’re those newlyweds who have cute nicknames for each other and always have an enamoured smile plastered on.  On the car ride home, you’re significant other would turn to you and say, “They were nice. We should be more like them.” Maybe that’s why I…

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Reviews

The One I Love

September 16, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Every moviegoing year has a movie like The One I Love.  That one movie where everyone who sees it unanimously and silently agrees to keep quiet about it. It’s a neat decision to witness.  It shows that the average audience still loves a challenge and still loves to keep a secret, hoping that their friends can one day see the movie and join the club. Just as many who have seen and…

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Festival Coverage

TIFF 2014: Wet Noodle

September 6, 2014Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Wet Bum features a superb performance by TIFF Rising Star Julia Sarah Stone.  Her helpless presence draws us in, as if we feel the need to lend her a shoulder to cry on.  But, it’s her earnest portrayal of fourteen-year-old outsider Sam that signifies the puzzling phases of fitting in among your peers, and trying to swallow the lump in your throat when you’re singled out for being different. The film that…

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Reviews

A Master Builder

July 22, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Last year, I caught a humbling documentary called André Gregory: Before and After Dinner.  Cindy Kleine’s candid look at Gregory’s life and multi-talented career stole my heart and made me very interested in what the artist had to offer for the future. In the doc, Gregory and his close collaborator Wallace Shawn are working on their latest work – an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder.  You may remember Shawn for his…

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Reviews

Wish I Was Here

July 18, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Epiphanies are mentioned in Wish I Was Here, Zach Braff’s return as a filmmaker.  It’s during a scene where Braff’s Aidan Bloom camps out with his two children Tucker and Grace (played by Pierce Gagnon and Joey King) on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where they find a gorgeous view of the desert on top of three isolated boulders. This talk about epiphanies made me nostalgic for Braff’s 2004 indie hit Garden…

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CrowdFUNding

CrowdFUNding: Forbidden Films’ ‘Headless’ Horror

July 7, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie My most anticipated movie of 2014 is one I’ve already seen, but has yet to make a widespread appearance in theatres or on DVD/VOD.  I want to recommend this excellent indie as soon as it shows its bloody face. Found screened for horror hounds at last year’s Toronto After Dark.  It left the audience – particularly me – shaken and disturbed.  The low budget flick about a sibling who discovers his stoic,…

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