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Wylie Writes

Reviews

La Chimera

Filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher is on the cusp of making a good movie with La Chimera but, in a feigned and suspicious manner, the writer/director can’t help but break the reality of her story to satisfy her own needs.

Reviews

Monkey Man

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.

Reviews

Good Burger 2

I liked Good Burger 2, but it also feels like it was made for me and, maybe like, ten other people.  Good Burger 2 is the sequel to its 1997 predecessor, which began as a recurring sketch on Nickelodeon’s variety show All That.  Milking nostalgia is a current trend, but when does it become too much of an inside joke?

Reviews

Someone Like You

Faith-based movies don’t really bother me.  They speak to a specific crowd, and drive home values that make those movie goers comfortable.  If the films strike a discord in the messaging, the filmmaking is usually so hokey that the movies are easy to ignore.  The odd exception exists (Unplanned, 2019’s worst movie) but, otherwise, these movies are like water off a duck’s back.  Fickle faith-based movies, on the other hand….

Festival Coverage

Canadian Film Fest ’24: Daughter of the Sun

When I wrote about Ryan Ward’s directorial feature debut Son of the Sunshine, I was humbled by the filmmaker’s response to my unenthused review.  I had labeled his film as “maple syrup melancholy”, a term I coined to encompass Canada’s ongoing trend of churning out depressing, empty movies.  I thought the term was clever, Ward didn’t think so.  The Canadian writer/director advised that, while disliking a movie and its motives is fine, labelling art can…

Reviews

Canadian Film Fest ’24: Place of Bones

Movie goers may instantly attribute Audrey Cummings’ Place of Bones with fellow westerns, but theatre aficionados may lean more towards low-end productions with sloppy offerings.  As someone who finds themselves in the intersection of both groups, Place of Bones pulls me towards my fellow theatre nerds and that, well, sucks.

Reviews

The Black Mass

By: Trevor Chartrand Readers, please note – if you’re not familiar with the serial killer Ted Bundy, The Black Mass will likely leave you feeling confused and alienated.  Then again, if you are familiar with Bundy and his capture, you’ll also feel just as confused and alienated…but probably disgusted as well.  By making this film, director Devanny Pinn has wasted the time of her crew, her cast, and anyone unfortunate enough to make the mistake…