By: Addison Wylie For the past month, intrepid comedic actor Will Arnett has been promoting the bejesus out of his latest flick Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a hyperactive reboot of the original heroes in a half shell. He fearlessly sells his character (news cameraman Vernon Fenwick), the action sequences, and the New York City setting with utmost grit and spirited enthusiasm. If Tommy Boy’s Tom Callahan could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in…
By: Addison Wylie Audiences can witness Wes Anderson going through filmmaking periods. We’re not exactly sure what’s triggering these changes of pace, but those willing to follow the whimsical auteur don’t regret the trip. As of late, Anderson has been wearing his French influences on his sleeve – or, rather across his forehead. He made the transition with The Fantastic Mr. Fox and then went full-tilt Français with his highly acclaimed Moonrise Kingdom; nodding towards…
By: Addison Wylie In Dead Man, Johnny Depp plays William Blake, an accountant removed from society twice over. The loss of his parents has his mind aimlessly wandering and a new job in the West has Blake feeling further alienated. Then again, it would take a lot of adjusting to fit in with Machine’s homely, rugged community. After meeting a local woman and then meeting her beau, Blake is pitted and pinned to a murder…
By: Addison Wylie “If a movie does nothing wrong, does that make it a movie that does everything right?” I asked myself that during The F Word, and afterwards when I was developing my overall feelings towards Michael Dowse’s Toronto bound romantic comedy. The F Word does the trick, and goes through the hoops it needs to in order to please its general audience. We have two likeable leads (Wallace and Chantey played by Daniel…
By: Addison Wylie Let’s Be Cops is one of those comedies that’s hard to get behind. You want to go with it, you want to laugh along, but you can’t help but be put off by the film’s sense of plausibility. Director Luke Greenfield co-wrote this screenplay with Nicholas Thomas, and it’s a script that does more harm than good. The story starts off well enough with two schlubs (Ryan and Justin played by Jake…
By: Addison Wylie My feelings for Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai follow in the same vein as some sceptics felt about Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive – a whole lot of style and not much else. I could see what Jarmusch was trying to do with Ghost Dog. It was the same thing we later saw Refn carry out with Drive, except Refn executed his film much better. Jarmusch was wanting to…
By: Addison Wylie TIFF Cinematheque opens up a wonderful world of weird with Strange Paradise: The Cinema of Jim Jarmusch. The retrospective – which began on July 24 and runs until August 16 – screens Jarmusch’s unique filmography in pristine condition at the TIFF BELL Lightbox. The scheduling of the program jumps around, so faithful watchers are never following the career in chronological order. Something tells me this quirk is much like Jarmusch’s unpredictable sensibilities. Wylie…
By: Addison Wylie The legend of Hercules has been told time after time. Heck, earlier this year, movie goers even received another Hercules film. It didn’t do so hot (both with overall reception and with box office receipts), but maybe I’ll give it a watch down the road to wash away the dingy aftertaste Brett Ratner’s Hercules left behind. When a character as old as Hercules is dusted off and used to make another swords-and-sandels…
By: Addison Wylie Tammy is the latest instalment in a series of movies featuring Melissa McCarthy acting inappropriately. It garnered her an Academy Award nomination in Bridesmaids, it repelled good taste in Identity Thief, and brought in lots of giggles in The Heat. Now, her rude persuasiveness finds its way in the backwoods. Tammy, which embraces its hickabilly fog, has McCarthy playing the title role and hitting the road with her blunt, booze gulping grandma…
By: Addison Wylie When people gang up on Tyler Perry, I’m there to usually defend him. I might not be saying good things about his movies, but I’ve stood up for him from a business perspective. He knows his audience well, and that knowledge has led him to be one of the most profitable filmmakers of our time. But this time, I side with the haters. And, I can’t see his fan base happily accepting…