Patti Cake$
By: Jessica Goddard Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$ is a fresh and energetic take on the “wannabe rapper” sub-sub-genre.
Musical
Love in the Sixth
Jude Klassen’s feature film debut Love in the Sixth is a hodgepodge of “stuff”, but I kind of expected that.
La La Land
In this age of postmodernism, filmmakers are always willing to go back to the well and make films which are heavy on pastiche from an earlier Hollywood – these tributes are very hit-or-miss. Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is a strange film that succeeds at its recreations, but fails at everything else.
Hot Docs 2016: ‘Aim For The Roses’ and ‘Wizard Mode’
Aim For The Roses (DIR. John Bolton) By: Shahbaz Khayambashi After describing the premise of this documentary to a friend, her response was short and simple: “sounds stupid.” I have to say, I didn’t disagree with the sentiment that it sounded “stupid”, but the final result is one of the most exciting, most unusual documentaries I have ever seen.
Strange Magic
By: Addison Wylie Strange is right. Magic? Not so much. Oscar winner Gary Rydstrom takes a stab at feature length directing and writing with animated musical-fantasy Strange Magic, a movie that shouldn’t be anyone’s “first” for anything. It begins as a novelty act with some redeeming moments of punchy animation and terrific duets, and then pushes its luck too far. The story (conceived by Star Wars’ George Lucas) gives audiences two opposing territories. There’s a…
Into the Woods
By: Addison Wylie Most of the complimentary things I can say about Rob Marshall’s Into the Woods stem from how inspired its original work is. The broadway musical of the same name (written by James Lapine with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) interweaves your favourite fairy tales into a story that sprawls over three magical nights. The story then continues with a pragmatic epilogue which results in a topsy-turvy conclusion. Lapine’s musical has a…
Stage Fright
By: Addison Wylie Stage Fright is a spirited stab to revive the musical genre through comedy and horror. And thankfully, Jerome Sable’s game attempt at directing such a film satisfies his audience. Call it a yuk-yuck sort of flick. If a filmmaker isn’t working with cartoons or with Disney, it’s a daunting task for someone to make a musical from scratch. Musicals are – sadly – a tough sell in this day and age. Even…
Eternity: The Movie
By: Addison Wylie Not everything in Eternity: The Movie works. However, filmmaker Ian Thorpe shows audiences that clean comedy leads to the best kind of laughs with this lo-fi send-up to the 1980’s. Barrett Crake plays Todd Lucas, because – I suppose – Jon Heder had a busy schedule. Lucas is new to the Californian lifestyle. Instead of one-night stands with bodacious babes, he wishes to escape the business and get to know a girl…
God Help the Girl
By: Addison Wylie God Help the Girl matches the sweetness of its leading female Emily Browning. It’s also a film that has allowed the actress to let her hair down, or at least style it into a bob. Browning has shown glimpses of how great of an actress she could become. However, she attracts roles that have her looking forlorn in dreary circumstances. As far as I know, God Help the Girl is her first…