Daniel’s Gotta Die is one of my favourite comedies of the year so far. It sports a terrific cast and inspired direction, and fearless dark humour. Since this exotic ensemble comedy has many working parts, I was interested in finding out more details about how the production came together so well.
Be Still, an experimental biopic on Canada’s trailblazing photographer Hannah Maynard, educates and hypnotizes viewers. Thanks to filmmaker Elizabeth Lazebnik, Be Still channels Maynard’s creative vision and offers viewers a very special perspective. Eager to know more about the movie, I contacted Lazebnik to pick her brain.
The winter holidays are fast approaching, and ’tis the season for an onslaught of Christmas movies. While most of these movies are usually found on cable or on subscribed streaming services, this will be the second year that Vortex Media screens a seasonal flick in select theatres before it heads to Super Channel.
From his breakout with My Awkward Sexual Adventure to his recent collaborations with other actors and returning filmmakers, Jonas Chernick has been an actor/screenwriter to watch for. The projects he creates or attaches himself to are filled with an unforgettable, compassionate energy. His latest collaboration with director Jeremy LaLonde (How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town) and Becky’s Amanda Brugel is one of his strongest efforts to date, but it also might be the most he…
I Used to Go Here works as a coming-of-age story, a college comedy, and a self-reflective character piece. While the cast and crew deserve credit for how well the film pulls off this hat trick, writer/director Kris Rey is the glue holding this project together. With her latest film, Rey continues to prove her expertise in characterization and intentionally awkward comedy, and how magic can be made when those two elements are perfectly mixed together. I recently…
Directed and co-written by veteran Samuel Gonzalez Jr., Battle Scars confronts the long-term effects of war through acts of of desperation by a disoriented young soldier learning how to piece his life back together. During the film’s festival run, it picked up awards at the San Diego International Film Festival (Best Military Film), the Orland Film Festival (Best Screenplay), and the Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival (Best Feature).
Director Kire Paputts follows up his modest feature debut The Rainbow Kid with The Last Porno Show, an envelope-pushing character drama chronicling the personal arc of an aspiring actor taking over his estranged father’s faded adults-only move theatre. It’s a really good movie that doesn’t shy away from anything and bares it all. It stuck to me like shoes to the floor of a sold-out screening room.
Writer/director Geordie Sabbagh, as a storyteller, has a real grasp on the importance of conversations and, as a filmmaker, he’s figured out how to convey these discussions with flavour.
“This makes me want to puke. Sorry, this came into my head. Sorry.” These were the words spoken by Robert Eggers, before he made a point about the relationship between Andrej Tarkovsky and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The singular voice behind the instant classic The Witch and The Lighthouse provided evidence of two important parts of his personality: the first being his self-effacing tendencies despite how well-read he is—after all, any great artist is first a great student—and…
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.