Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon
Hey, parents! Do your kids like Moana? The Lion King? FernGully? Those Ice Age movies? They might find fleeting moments to enjoy in Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon, if the movie doesn’t frighten them first.
Articles by Addison Wylie
Emily the Criminal
It’s odd to perceive the high stakes drama Emily the Criminal as a game-changer for star/producer Aubrey Plaza, but it absolutely is. Her role in John Patton Ford’s feature-length filmmaking debut requires the actor to channel her deadpan demeanour towards a more serious direction that details her character’s desperation, exhaustion and, later, her vindictive desires – it’s an incredible performance in an exciting dramatic thriller.
Fall
I’m not afraid of heights. However, as I watched Fall with bated breath, I felt chills and quivers in my back and my legs which I’ve never felt before. Watching the movie’s climb-savvy leads (wayward friends played by Grace Fulton and Virginia Gardner) scale a 2,000 radio tower in the middle of the desert was enough for me to clasp my armrest. Watching them dangle from the tower after being stranded at the top was…
I Love My Dad
At the root of a dark comedy is sadness. Some examples may take more effort to trace back to that forlorn emotion, but the premise usually begins with an unfortunate circumstance and then carried beyond the point of comfort or absurdism; ideally to create humour. It’s all about finding amusing, and sometimes inappropriate, ways of interpreting that sadness. And, I Love My Dad is successful most of the time.
My Old School
My Old School is a peculiar documentary that intrigues audiences with an unconventional narrative gimmick, and further attracts viewers with its strange, entertaining, and deliberately confusing yarn. The movie is, simply, unforgettable.
Thirteen Lives
For three years, I have received an annual movie about the Tham Luang cave rescue. First, we had the experienced first responders recreating their efforts in Cave Rescue. Then, the team behind Free Solo made a documentary about the disaster with The Rescue. And now, the story receives the “Hollywood” treatment with Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives. Despite my personal exhaustion with this story, I was excited to see how this latest adaptation measured up to…
Honor Society
From Awesomeness Films (You Get Me, Spontaneous, Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series) comes Honor Society, a teen movie that’s darker than expected. Considering how annoying the film’s smug trailer was, I appreciated this unexpected edgier approach. However, the execution is imperfect and isn’t nearly as measured as it should be.
Becoming a Queen
Becoming a Queen is a very straightforward documentary that zeroes in on one person, their career, and their primary achievement. The film follows this standard structure well enough, issuing the occasional bit of history along the way, but I wish director Chris Strikes followed a less conventional format to this vibrant subject matter.
The Gray Man
A dependable cast (which includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thornton, and Julia Butters) is let down by weak storytelling and sloppy filmmaking in Netflix’s summer blockbuster The Gray Man.