Set in the early-2000s, I Like Movies alternates between the double life of 17-year-old Burlington native Lawrence Kweller (Isiah Lehtinen) as an outspoken high school senior and an obsessive film buff at his local video store, Sequels Video. Lawrence is an opinionated know-it-all under both roofs, but he feels more in his element at Sequels and is elated when they finally hire him on as an employee.
The Future of Film Showcase (or FOFS, for short) offers emerging filmmakers a platform to cut their teeth in storytelling and messaging all while experimenting with different styles. The shorts I caught at the FOFS featured an incredible amount of imagination and fearless ambition.
Full disclosure: Prior to his filmmaking debut with Out in the Ring, director Ryan Bruce Levey and I have worked together and we’ve kept in touch online. When he announced Out in the Ring, I was excited to watch the doc because I was interested in the subject matter: wrestling and the LGBTQ+ influence the sport has had over decades. The finished film, while mechanical in its style and a little long in the tooth,…
Stupid For You, a sophomore effort from musician-turn-filmmaker Jude Klassen, is an awkward movie. Sometimes deliberately, and sometimes unintentionally so.
In this efficient “hitman with a heart” tale from director Reem Morsi, The Last Mark is a confined thriller starring a conflicted crook (Shawn Doyle) and a kidnapped call girl (Alexia Fast) reeling for a “job” that went sideways after the escort witnesses the murder. The characters hide out at a safe house arranged by a fixer (Ashgrove’s Jonas Chernick) to escape the hitman’s unpredictable partner-in-crime (Bryce Hodgson). The dynamic between the unlikely fugitives is deliberately…
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…
Amanda Brugel (Kim’s Convenience, Becky) and Jonas Chernick (Borealis) are centre stage in Ashgrove, a two-hander character drama that serves as a great vehicle for both stars and an ethereal departure for filmmaker Jeremy LaLonde (The Go-Getters, How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town).
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Nick Gillespie’s Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break is a hilarious dark comedy that combines 2019’s Joker with 2004’s Napoleon Dynamite – featuring an inept dancing social outcast who plots vigilante justice. The titular Paul Dood (Tom Meeten) is a troubled man-baby who, despite living with his mother, has aspirations of achieving fame. On his way to an important career-making audition, Paul is delayed by a series of rude and apathetic citizens,…
Directed by Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer, Alien on Stage is an unexpectedly heartwarming documentary about an amateur theatre group comprised of Dorset bus drivers who set out to produce a stage adaptation of Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi/horror Alien. Though their initial adaptation is serious, they are given the opportunity to take their show to London’s West End as a comedy.
Combining martial arts with survival horror and thrills, Nightshooters may have a few rough patches – but it’s a hell of a good time.