By: Jeff Ching Are we seeing the genesis of Dev Patel as Hollywood’s next big action star? Will Monkey Man become a colossal action movie franchise similar to John Wick? Monkey Man is certainly in the running for this year’s best action movie.
By: Jeff Ching “Writer’s block is B.S. You’re just lazy,” says anybody that isn’t a writer… and they should shut their mouths.
By: Jeff Ching The idea of a random Joe Schmoe appearing in everyone’s dreams is an intriguing premise, but could Dream Scenario’s writer/director Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself) have ever imagined a better set-up than Nicolas Cage portraying this ubiquitous dream character? The answer to my rhetorical question is a resounding “hell no!”. In fact, at the post-screening Q&A at this year’s TIFF, Cage explained how he easily relates to this character and brought up the meme about himself;…
By: Jeff Ching I’ll get right to it without any literary foreplay: The Holdovers is one of the best movies of the year.
By: Jeff Ching The Saw series made it all the way to ten – wow. Before being notified about the screening, I had no idea the series had this many movies. I stopped after Saw III, I kind of lost track of the timeline after, maybe, Saw IV. Saw III was funny to poke fun at, with how elaborate “Jigsaw’s” plan was and how he must have a 300 IQ and put Nostradamus to shame for anticipating absolutely every…
By: Jeff Ching Wes Anderson is one of very few current directors where viewers can watch 10 seconds of a trailer promoting his film, and immediately identify it as “a Wes Anderson movie”. I don’t know whether that’s a good or bad thing, but credit to him for such a distinctive style. He may be the most “auteuristic” auteur ever, if that makes any sense. Does it? I don’t know. Moving on…
By: Jeff Ching Mind Leech was the closing film at the Toronto International Spring of Horror & Fantasy Film Festival.
By: Jeff Ching ReBroken is an ambitious and unique exploration of grief that qualifies as a thriller, drama, horror and a mystery. It’s an unpredictable puzzle that the audience slowly pieces together. But despite that selling point, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend Rebroken. I will always applaud a filmmaker for taking risks over playing it safe. However, I didn’t enjoy this experience, which could’ve been fixed had the film built an essential emotional connection to the material.
By: Jeff Ching I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a horror movie more relatable than Abie Sidell’s Cram. I also really don’t know if there will be a better horror movie this year. Cram was made for nerds with severe procrastination issues. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re one of those freaks that study for your exams a month in advance, watch this movie and understand the pain of being a procrastinator – this is in…
The 95th Academy Awards are tonight! Are any of Wylie Writes’ favourite flicks on the list of nominees? Have some of these titles have already been praised by the Academy Awards? Are there any hidden gems that may have not made the cut? The answers are: yes, yes and absolutely!