By: Addison Wylie Tell me if you’ve heard this before. A group of hotheaded blokes are in search for quick cash. In order to collect, they kidnap a wealthy figure. Some of the kidnappers have a personal connection to the victim, and one of the ragtag crooks has “a lot on the line” after having found out his wife is expecting another child. He’s also a thief who has private chats with the hostage. Kidnapping…
By: Addison Wylie I consider Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson as two of today’s most capable actors. Elba is becoming more of a household name thanks to his appearances in Marvel’s universe, and his highly regarded turn as Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Henson remains as someone who makes you breathe a sigh of relief when they suddenly grace the screen in middling fare like Date Night and Larry Crowne. She…
By: Anthony King GOING IN: Pierce Brosnan is back and he seems pissed off. I don’t know where he went, but I know I haven’t seen him in a while. So, initially I was excited to see him in a new trailer. I’m not a huge Bond guy, nor do I particularly like Pierce in the role for a few reasons. Firstly, his Bond movies get increasingly more stupid and unrealistic as they go on….
By: Addison Wylie Right off the bat, Blood Glacier sells itself short by the title. It’s a title that sounds as if its pandering towards the crowds who giddily eat up ratty battle schlock that stick an experiment gone wrong against a super-sized version of Earth’s deadliest fish. Blood Glacier goes by another title, The Station. It’s a title that’s not so much bad as it is vague. If I had to pick between the…
By: Addison Wylie A high school ditzy clique suffers fatal injuries. The clique are brought back from the dead using Wiccan rituals, leading the ragtag undead to seek revenge. Yes, that premise is rote. But, when it comes to telling a story that simple, I imagine it’d be hard to screw it up. Surprisingly, the minds behind All Cheerleaders Die unfathomably do so. How do you do it? How do you mess up a movie…
By: Addison Wylie I have a bit of history with Silent Retreat. I caught Tricia Lee’s thriller at last year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival where it received its fair amount of warm reception. Though the filmmaker was clear about the film’s intentions in a post-Q&A, it was a pick at the festival that really rubbed me the wrong way. The flick’s primary problem was that it was dramatically overscored. It’s smothering music told the…
By: Addison Wylie The German Doctor (or its Spanish title, Wakolda) is a solid slow burn. It’s also a not-so-slow slow burn. Allow me to explain. It appears this film about a relocating Argentine family who is followed by an unknown yet concerned doctor would like to move at a more patient rate. The actors on screen are prepared to show their unease with properly drawn out weariness and filmmaker Lucía Puenzo shows he has the chops to tackle…
By: Addison Wylie Mike Flanagan’s off-shoot elaboration of his short film Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan turns into a movie where things happen. Things that aren’t really interesting or thrilling. Just a lot of stuff that may or may not be real. This is because Oculus is a horror film with no tension. Oculus is a movie that makes me appreciate Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. It’s a sequel that…
By: Addison Wylie Afflicted isn’t a found footage film, but rather a mockumentary documenting Derek Lee and Clif Prowse’s year long trip around the world. The film does, however, use the same techniques we’ve seen in previous found footage horrors. Luckily, the filmmakers in charge of this creature feature know what they’re doing. In fact, there are a lot of things filmmakers/co-stars Lee and Prowse do brilliantly in Afflicted. Firstly, the duo cover their asses extremely…
By: Addison Wylie Why is it that Out of the Furnace has so many accomplishments going for it, yet it’s an impossible recommendation? Telling someone to watch Out of the Furnace would be like telling someone to hold a bunch of wild snakes and assuring them they won’t get bit. Scott Cooper’s thriller is one of those movies you appreciate a few hours after having watched it. Viewing Out of the Furnace for the first…