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May 2015

Festival Coverage

Inside Out 2015: ‘Everlasting Love’ and ‘Those People’

Everlasting Love (DIR. Marçal Forés) By: Addison Wylie Everlasting Love is a depressing time at the movies.  It’s not scary, all the characters are unlikable, and it slowly shuffles to its grisly finale. With its familiar theme of cruising in an eerie world, I’m reminded of Stranger by the Lake.  Though I didn’t particularly like Alain Guiraudie’s slow burn, his film has an edge on Everlasting Love.  Stranger by the Lake had elements of conviction in a faceless…

Reviews

Welcome to Me

By: Trevor Jeffery Kristen Wiig should keep doing her thing, because it’s definitely working for her, and Welcome to Me shows it. Shira Piven’s Welcome to Me introduces itself masterfully: five minutes in and you know Alice Klieg (Wiig), her recently-unmedicated illness, and you have a good idea of how her life up to now has been.  And, how someone like her winning $86 million can have negative consequences. Alice throws money around like most…

Reviews

Cheatin’

By: Addison Wylie Legendary animator and filmmaker Bill Plympton explores the human condition to hurt what we love in his latest poignant piece, Cheatin’.  It’s full of emotional fervour and sensitivity while coming equipped with the filmmaker’s signature brand of off-beat humour. It all starts at a carnival during an amusing, scary bumper car ride – of course, it does.  Ella is gawked at by the fair’s male population, and is seen as an obvious…

Festival Coverage

Inside Out 2015: ‘Grandma’

By: Shannon Page Paul Weitz’s Grandma manages to cover a lot of emotional territory in its short run-time without feeling rushed or over-reaching itself.  Lily Tomlin plays lesbian poet Elle Reid who is still mourning the recent death of her life-partner Violet when her teenage granddaughter, Sage (Julia Garner), arrives at her door pregnant.  Together, the two women embark on a day-long quest to find the money for Sage’s abortion. It has been twenty-seven years since…

One-on-Ones

Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Dan Abramovici

By: Addison Wylie Mars Horodyski’s Ben’s at Home is a film you can’t help but root for.  I’ve been cheering the movie on since I saw it at this year’s Canadian Film Festival, and was overjoyed to hear it won Best Feature as the festival was winding down. Besides its win at the Canadian Film Festival, Ben’s at Home has won all sorts of affection; which is very impressive considering how small scale the movie is. It’s a daunting…

Reviews

Iris

By: Addison Wylie Fashion icon Iris Apfel has such wonderment, such humbling intellect, and such bewildered enthusiasm.  She’s firm, but looks at her fame as dazed and unfazed.  Her presence is infectious, and in Albert Maysles’ documentary Iris, she helps raise the film to another level.  Without her, the audience would be stuck with Maysles’ cut-and-dry traditional filmmaking. Movie goers are taken through Apfel’s influential history, and observe her optimism when others appreciate her opinion….

One-on-Ones

Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Nick Kroll

By: Shannon Page It’s not exactly uncommon to find comedic actors who have made the transition, or at least attempted the transition, to more serious acting roles. Nick Kroll’s latest creation, the indie-comedy Adult Beginners, is an undeniably sharp departure from the character-based sketch comedy that the comedian’s fans have come to expect from his Comedy Central show, Kroll Show.  Though it has its comic moments, Adult Beginners, which explores the relationship between two estranged…

Reviews

Roar

By: Addison Wylie Drafthouse Films’ track record is uneven, but you have to give them credit for being able to uncover bizarrely profound work.  As for their current experiment, they’re giving Roar – an outrageously irresponsible survival film – a second chance.  Knowing the production company, they see cult potential in Noel Marshall’s dangerous film. Roar was littered with problems during production including multiple injuries to the cast and crew, as well as natural disasters…

Reviews

Camp Takota

By: Addison Wylie Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, and Hannah Hart are three charismatic personalities who have found impressive fame through YouTube.  Each actress has found their calling (whether its through video blogging, cooking, or both) and have deservedly garnered lots of attention for it, which has then followed with more victories (Hannah now has a cook book, Helbig hosts her own show on E!, and Mamrie is a writer who earns steady work). What’s important…

Reviews

88

By: Addison Wylie 88 is proof a film can go feral.  It’s a version of Memento that’s been influenced by exploitation schlock and left out in the sun for too long.  It’s fun for a bit, but the film runs out of steam.  The rowdy trashy energy sends the film to a place of no return – fandom purgatory. April Mullen has appeared in front of the camera in various supporting roles, and has now…