Best. Christmas. Ever!
Netflix’s first tentpole Christmas movie, Best. Christmas. Ever!, arrives a tad later than usual. Now that it’s here, you’ll be wanting to fall back even further.
Articles by Addison Wylie
Testament
Instead of strictly focusing on the negative aspects of “cancel culture” or “self-assured woke-ness”, with his latest film Testament, Quebecois filmmaker Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions) is curious to find if a heartwarming lede is ever being buried by self-righteousness and political correctness. And by doing so, the filmmaker has created a monster.
Hands That Bind
Kyle Armstrong’s sophomore feature Hands That Bind is a western that’s more introverted than expected.
The Delinquents
A reclusive bank employee, Morán (Daniel Elías), is tempted to use his privilege to take advantage of his workplace. His plot to rob the bank is on standby until the perfect moment – cue Román (Esteban Bigliardi), a teller who leaves work early and is used as an incidental accomplice once Morán steals $650,000. Román, now more aware, is brought into the fold by the amateur thief and is told to hold the money while…
Toronto After Dark 2023: Shorts After Dark
The short films featured at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival are always worth a watch. The selections hardly miss, and audiences are usually given a wide collection of different types of horror told from diverse perspectives. The shorts I did catch at this year’s film festival were consistent with the past, but also included some all-timer scares and laughs.
Toronto After Dark 2023: ‘The Deep Dark’
Nobody “phones it in” for Mathieu Turi’s subterranean thriller The Deep Dark, although their efforts are for naught; simply because this movie isn’t a good fit for their work.
Anatomy of a Fall
With Anatomy of a Fall, writer/director Justine Triet gives audiences one of the most realistic courtroom dramas ever made for the big screen.
Freelance
The swashbuckling comedic action-adventure sub-genre featuring a macho man saving a high-profile damsel in distress seems like a dated idea. It’s possible for filmmakers and storytellers to modernize this premise (The Lost City as a recent example), but to leave this two-dimensional dynamic at its infant stages for most of the movie feels like a no-win risk. If this is generally agreed upon, then pardon me for the switcheroo: I had a lot of fun with…
Mister Organ
David Farrier is an intrepid journalist and documentarian, but he may have met his match with Mister Organ, an unconventional film that changes its purpose almost as often as its subject changes his personality.
The Persian Version
As the youngest child in a large family of Iranian immigrants, Leila (Layla Mohammadi) has always felt like she hasn’t lived up to expectations; especially her often distracted mother Shireen (Niousha Noor). In her current years as a young adult, Leila has felt more distance grown between her and her mom. And as an expectant mother after a one-night-stand with an eccentric actor (Tom Byrne), Leila only anticipates the worse.