A night of flirting and drinking leads up to House of Darkness’ initial scene, featuring a coy couple exchanging smiles as Hap (Justin Long) anticipates more canoodling with Mina (Kate Bosworth) at her place. She invites him in and, immediately, he can’t believe her house which resembles a castle-style mansion. For some reason, he shrugs off the peculiar detail that it’s lit by several candlesticks and that Mina is dressed for a long-ago period, but…
Set in the early-2000s, I Like Movies alternates between the double life of 17-year-old Burlington native Lawrence Kweller (Isiah Lehtinen) as an outspoken high school senior and an obsessive film buff at his local video store, Sequels Video. Lawrence is an opinionated know-it-all under both roofs, but he feels more in his element at Sequels and is elated when they finally hire him on as an employee.
The Good Boss offers a mannered approach to the self-destructive character study; separating it from similar company pitched in a much more frantic, anxiety-inducing tone (Nose to Tail, Uncut Gems).
At the root of a dark comedy is sadness. Some examples may take more effort to trace back to that forlorn emotion, but the premise usually begins with an unfortunate circumstance and then carried beyond the point of comfort or absurdism; ideally to create humour. It’s all about finding amusing, and sometimes inappropriate, ways of interpreting that sadness. And, I Love My Dad is successful most of the time.
My Old School is a peculiar documentary that intrigues audiences with an unconventional narrative gimmick, and further attracts viewers with its strange, entertaining, and deliberately confusing yarn. The movie is, simply, unforgettable.
“Do I like this movie, or do I just like the footage?” I frequently asked myself this during Fire of Love, a documentary about the relationship between volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft and their explosive expeditions.
Produced and completed during our current era of COVID, Apples is a strange and accidentally timely import from Greece, following a vacant mind (Aris Servetalis) during the early stages of a pandemic that’s quietly sweeping over the public. Victims who are affected by the unknown sickness lose their memory at the drop of a hat. Those who don’t have any immediate support are referred to a rehabilitation program for the unidentifiable where they must complete…
While I’m not head-over-heels for Slash/Back, Nyla Innuksuk’s lil’ sci-fi that could, I don’t want the filmmaker to be discouraged by my review. It’s best described as a Northern Canadian Attack The Block, which is an incredible compliment.
Craig Roberts’ The Phantom of the Open, while slightly flawed, is a surefire crowd-pleaser with a clever sense of humour, wholesome wit, and an excellent headliner performance by Oscar winner Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies).
