By: Addison Wylie By playing the role of Bianca ‘The DUFF’ Piper, actress Mae Whitman finds herself in the midst of being typecast. She plays this precocious misfit so well, that I can already envision casting agents salivating. The predicament Whitman and those eager agents find themselves in is that The DUFF isn’t a great movie nor particularly memorable. Its resonating buzz will be made up of satisfactory shoulder shrugs and head bobs from those…
By: Addison Wylie I tend to think I cover a lot of film festivals; especially those who screen short films. However, the Toronto Short Film Festival (March 16 – March 20 at Toronto’s Carlton Cinema) is new to me. By grazing over TSFF’s mission statement, the festival blends into the collection of similar screenings in the GTA. That said, I investigated more and was corrected. The Toronto Short Film Festival has a wide roster of…
By: Addison Wylie Roberto Minervini’s docudrama Stop the Pounding Heart has an intentionally intrusive presentation set in rural Americana. The audience peers in on extremely realistic conversations from a cast of unknowns to a prying degree. Stop the Pounding Heart is one of those films where you demand to read the screenplay afterwards because you’re dying to find out what was scripted and what was conjured naturally in front of the camera. With Minervini being…
By: Addison Wylie Standstill seems straightforward enough with its plot involving a photographer overhearing and witnessing the brunt of a murder. However, I believe, a lot of Majdi El-Omari’s story is up for interpretation. Movie goers will pull details out of El-Omari’s screenplay and apply them to their own vision of Standstill. Elements of mysteries and road movies ring throughout the black-and-white movie. Arihote (played by Atewenaron David Dearhouse) gives Wedad, the perplexed Palestinian murderer,…
By: Addison Wylie When I watch a documentary like Harold Crooks’ The Price We Pay, I think about that sparsely attended audience who would enjoy a doc this dense. I wonder how those movie goers find windows of fascination in a film that constantly slugs hefty loads of information towards them. How do they withstand this documentary that is so persistent to be dramatic through its B-roll, yet reels back when delivering essential facts? I don’t…
By: Addison Wylie David Cross is one of the best comedians working in the business today. His blunt, unmerciful opinion carries through his routine as he nails each punchline with the right amount of sarcastic wit. But as clever as he is, Cross’ brand of curt comedy needs to form in a new direction if he plans on carrying on making movies. HITS marks the comic’s directorial debut, and he also penned the screenplay that…
By: Mark Barber Loitering with Intent has all the right ingredients for a compelling short film. Unfortunately, it has been unnecessarily bloated into an 80-minute feature. Raphael (Ivan Martin) and Dominic (Michael Godere) are two struggling actor-writers who are commissioned to write the screenplay for a low-budget Chandleresque noir film. The screenplay subplot is quickly dropped once the two are settled in their writing retreat: the cottage they occupy suddenly becomes a festering nightmare of…
By: Addison Wylie I don’t consider my movie reviews to be the final word on any front. If anything, I’m your phone-a-friend lifeline. I may be dead wrong but I may also have the million dollar answer. I am, however, hopeful that my write-ups will help others fine tune their own projects. For instance, playwright Israel Horovitz may read my review of his film My Old Lady and comprehend it as a negative opinion, but someone…
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 Johanna Hamilton’s documentary has intrigue and suspicion. It makes you question the legitimacy behind our privacy. 1971 is about the shocking true story of intrepid activists obtaining and distributing confidential FBI documents. The files were finely searched through, and then sent to major news publications. This act of defiance led to an unraveling case that had America looking at the FBI under an uncomfortably naked light. A particular program titled Cointelpro had…