By: Addison Wylie Is it just me, or does anyone else find this of coupling of comedic actor Tyler Labine and Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford unusual? I suppose this isn’t any weirder than pairing up Labine with Alan Tudyk (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) or sending Crawford off to recite puns on FOX’s Family Guy, but just looking at the poster for Mountain Men had me wondering how Cameron Labine’s film would play out. It…
By: Addison Wylie David O. Russell hit the nail on the head by distancing himself from the farcical fumble Accidental Love. To say the film has had a tumultuous past would be putting it lightly – just as saying the movie is merely bad would be doing it a favour. Production on the film (formally named Nailed) began in 2008, and suffered from financial woes and reshoots. James Caan reportedly walked off the set over…
By: Addison Wylie Comedian/marijuana enthusiast Doug Benson has made it his mission to provide stoner versions of documentaries directed by Morgan Spurlock. He started with Super High Me (a half-baked spin on Super Size Me) and continued with The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled (a take off on The Greatest Movie Ever Sold). Benson checks off another title with Chronic-Con Episode 420: A New Dope, which isn’t just an obvious jab at Spurlock’s Comic-Con Episode IV:…
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…
By: Addison Wylie How to Make Love Like an Englishman is such a long title. A shorter alternative would be: Weekend Matinée for Mom and Dad. Like last year’s cloying And So It Goes, Tom Vaughan’s rom-com is a film that uses the likability of its stars as counter programming to attract movie goers – primarily older ones who want to spend the tail end of Summer distancing themselves from bombastic blockbusters. Luckily, How to Make…
By: Addison Wylie Aaron K. Carter’s thinly budgeted zombie romp Dead Kansas wears the same pants as that punch drunk comedy Tetherball: The Movie I reviewed in April. Not only because the filmmaker reached out to Wylie Writes to get an opinion on his modest horror, but Dead Kansas is also filled with that same vigour that can only be supplied by friends who make films because that’s what they love to do. These cinephile fellas pulled together resources…
By: Addison Wylie There’s nothing inherently wrong with Around the World in 50 Concerts, but there’s not a whole lot to it either. Heddy Honigmann’s documentary ought to be a hit with anyone who ever partook in band practice. As a former student whom attended extracurricular concerts, I was most interested in the doc when Honigmann showed how the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra traveled, which includes the process behind transporting these delicate instruments. I also enjoyed…
By: Addison Wylie Cruise ships can be vulnerable places, and the audience witnesses that in Stephan Bergmann’s dawdling doc The Last Gigolos. The viewer boards a ship occupied by an elderly crowd – most are single, all are eager to set sail. As the cruise moves from one destination to the next, the passengers find chemistry with each other as they discuss ways to stay energetic as well as their sombreness when grieving lost loved ones….
By: Addison Wylie Peter Bogdanovich (director of The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and What’s Up, Doc?) must have tons of clout. This would explain the overconfidence in his latest film She’s Funny That Way. This star powered, ode to screwball farces couldn’t help but remind me of when the Farrelly Brothers made a feature-length Three Stooges movie. Bogdanovich has made the movie he wanted to make, but the film itself reinforces that it’s currently hard…
By: Addison Wylie Final Girl is exactly the movie an up-and-coming actor makes in order to break into the biz. Later, when that actor has gone on to perform in bigger and better things, the breakout role is used as a nomination for film geeks to name obscure low-rent schlock that person had starred in. For some reason, actress Abigail Breslin has decided to work backwards, and make the low-rent schlock after earning an Oscar…