Corporate Animals
Corporate Animals is aggressively heartless, as if it’s in a competition to be the cruelest dark comedy. But in doing so, the film sacrifices itself and proves to audiences just how two-dimensional it really is.
October 2019
Toronto After Dark 2019: A One-On-One with Precious Chong
At this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival (which is currently in full swing at the city’s Scotiabank Theatre), you won’t be able to shake Precious Chong’s wild performance in Zach Gayne’s Homewrecker. As Linda, Chong channels mousey and maniacal characteristics after she haphazardly kidnaps a new “friend” Michelle (Starry Eyes’ Alex Essoe). Chong is funny, but she’s careful not to exploit the character; allowing Essoe’s character to show empathy towards Linda under nerve-racking circumstances.
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘The Furies’ and ‘Mutant Blast’
The Furies (DIR. Tony D’Aquino) So, there are these seven women and seven monsters. The women are tasked with staying alive, while the monsters attempt to kill them. This plot could either be attached to a self-aware bit of amazing cinematic trash, or it could take itself too seriously and fail. Tony D’Aquino’s The Furies falls firmly into the latter category.
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘Blood Machines’ and ‘Homewrecker’
Blood Machines (DIR. Seth Ickerman) The cinema is a visual and narrative medium, but the narrative is often king. Way too many films will give up on the visuals to tell a story, leading to slightly stagnant results. As such, it is sometimes oddly refreshing to get a film which will sacrifice narrative cohesion in order to produce a spectacle of light and sound. Seth Ickerman is such a filmmaker and Blood Machines, a collaboration between…
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘Extra Ordinary’
Ghosts are just ordinary people who have died. Surely, that means they are all around us, right? Extra Ordinary starts with this quirky concept and adds satanism, post-domestic abuse, and driving school experience to turn the weirdness up to eleven. The film’s weirdness isn’t its only trick, however, because Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman’s film is roaringly funny despite that.
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘James vs. His Future Self’ and ‘Making Monsters’
James vs. His Future Self (DIR. Jeremy LaLonde) Jeremy LaLonde’s recent movies have truly owned their genre in a unique way. The Go-Getters was a gleefully foul play on the traditional buddy formula, and How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town was a charming sex comedy. With James vs. His Future Self, LaLonde takes a swing at crossing science fiction with a romance – it’s a sweet success.
Greener Grass
Greener Grass is a suburban social comedy dressed up as an irreverent weirdo. While it may paint itself into a corner by setting a high bar for itself, I loved being in its company nonetheless.
Toronto After Dark 2019: ‘The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale’ and ‘Witches in the Woods’
The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale (DIR. Lee Min-jae) The zombie genre has always managed to survive because zombies, as a monster, are wholly dependent on the zeitgeist of the time. Since they are brainless creatures, their existence can generally be justified by the anxieties of the time (military industrial complex, consumerism, conformity, racism, etc.). While that is an advantage to sub-genre, most zombie films follow the same template. The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale is no…
Mister America
Mister America could be the “nichiest” project ever made and, yes, I’m including Kevin Smith’s upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. But more importantly, Mister America is the level of Trump era satire we’ve been waiting for.
