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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: A One-On-One With Committed’s Vic Cohen

April 24, 2015Addison Wylie4 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Where there’s a Howie Mandel production, Vic Cohen is most likely close by.  It’s quite obvious the two comedians are close supportive friends, however audiences are seeing that connection run deeper in the documentary Committed. For twelve years, Mandel has recorded Cohen with a video camera and chronicled his budding career as a comic and as an outrageous, fearless performer.  The documentary has been also been shaped by co-directors Reed Grinsell and Steve…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Elephant’s Dream’ and ‘Milk’

April 23, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

Elephant’s Dream (DIR. Kristof Bilsen) By: Addison Wylie As Kinshasa’s struggling economy heals after the civil war in the DRC, its population waits for stable change.  People try to march on with their community through unfortunate situations with limited resources, but it’s achingly hard.  A sequence featuring a reckless fire burning downtown shows the audience how dire Kinshasa’s firefighting team is. Supreme danger spirals out of control, the help is flustered, and panicked pedestrians criticize. …

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Reviews

The Forger

April 23, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie I truly believe that everyone starring in The Forger knows they’re capable of more.  John Travolta, Tye Sheridan, Christopher Plummer, everyone.  There are moments in Philip Martin’s crime thriller where you can catch an actor glimpse at a chance to open up their performance, but these fleeting breaths are revoked by Martin’s generic filmmaking and Richard D’Ovidio’s routine screenplay. First of all, Travolta doesn’t fit the build of art theif Ray Cutter….

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Reviews

Lost River

April 22, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Josh Chenoweth Lost River marks the directorial and writing debuts of actor Ryan Gosling, known for mainstream successes like The Notebook as well as critical darlings like Drive. After getting a less than pleasant response at Cannes in 2014, I was curious to see if Lost River was really all that bad.  The answer: a resounding yes. Shot in a decaying suburb near Detroit (where else?), Lost River focuses on Billy (Christina Hendricks), a single…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Nuestro Monte Luna’ and ‘Welcome to Leith’

April 22, 2015Addison Wylie3 Comments

Nuestro Monte Luna (DIR. Pablo Alvarez-Mesa) By: Trevor Jeffery Nuestro Monte Luna is a story of a bullfighting school, and the teenage boys who attend to train in a well-hated tradition. Nuestro Monte Luna’s narrative starts strong.  It manages to immediately set up the scenario – you’re not just watching people in Choachi, but you are experiencing the little Colombian town through the camera.  However, as the movie trails on, interest wanes and clarity takes a…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘The Amina Profile’ and ‘Seth’s Dominion’

April 19, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

The Amina Profile (DIR. Sophie Deraspe) By: Trevor Jeffery The Amina Profile is three stories in one: a three-part politically charged long-distance romance with a twist;  a bit of Going the Distance meets a bit of Milk, with a lot of Catfish. It’s a story of civil unrest under a dictatorship told through a somber love story: two women meant for each other, with half a world between them – Sandra in Montreal and Amina in Damascus.  Six…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Lowdown Tracks’ and ‘Orion: The Man Who Would Be King’

April 17, 2015Addison Wylie5 Comments

Lowdown Tracks (DIR. Shelly Saywell) By: Gregory Breen If you have ever stopped to smell the roses and listen to a busker, chances are Lowdown Tracks will bring a tear to your eye.  In this heartfelt and engrossing film, activist and musician Lorraine Segato seeks to meet Toronto’s street musicians and record some of the wonderful tunes they play. Segato meets Woody Cormier, Anthony Van Zant, Maryann Epp, Bruce Bathgate and Katt Burr – five very special,…

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Reviews

The Dead Lands

April 16, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Mark Barber The Dead Lands is a rare pre-colonial narrative.  Rarely does a film provide a cinematic lens through which we may see a pre-westernized, pre-colonial native culture.  Given such emancipating opportunities, it’s curious that director Toa Fraser would make such a comfortable film for western audiences. Featuring an all-Maori (people indigenous to New Zealand) cast, young Hongi (James Rolleston) seeks revenge on a rival tribe that eradicated his people.  To do so, he…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Committed’ and ‘Hadwin’s Judgement’

April 16, 2015Addison Wylie5 Comments

Committed (DIR. Howie Mandel, Reed Grinsell, Steve Sunshine) By: Addison Wylie Vic Cohen was a faithful writer on The Howie Mandel Show, but had the presence of someone who was weak.  Mandel (who is naturally attracted to peculiar, desperate people) wanted to learn more about him, and decided to keep a camera rolling on the pair;  documenting their collaborations as well as Cohen’s growth as a confident performer. By capturing twelve years of footage, Committed…

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Reviews

Beyond the Reach

April 15, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Beyond the Reach is an illogical movie filled with ridiculous things.  Unfortunately, its tediousness stops me from recommending Jean-Baptiste Léonetti’s thriller as Friday night schlocky fodder.  It’s a shame since Beyond the Reach could effortlessly bring down the house in front of a drunken midnight crowd. Léonetti’s film is one of those movies that’s easy on the eyes, and gravel to our ears.  The filmmaker’s director of photography is Russell Carpenter, an…

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