By: Mark Barber Goodnight Mommy exists at the intersection between Dead Ringers and Psycho, with a little bit of Misery thrown in for good measure. Twins Lukas and Elias (named for their actors, Lukas and Elias Schwarz) settle into their country home with their mother (Susanne Wuest), who is recovering from facial surgery after a brutal car accident. In the midst of divorce proceedings, she does not take the trauma and stress well, and begins…
By: Addison Wylie Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments, Pontypool) is a very busy filmmaker. In 2010 alone, the award-winning director released three films. If I don’t like one of McDonald’s films, I can at least find something I can appreciate about his filmmaking, but his latest horror Hellions suggests to me that the next best thing for his career may be some downtime. The main problem with Hellions, a film about a…
By: Addison Wylie Newfoundland receives its own Pootie Tang with Nik Sexton’s rowdy road comedy How to Be Deadly. Hold on though: before you start making snap judgements, that cinematic correlation is a compliment towards how Sexton’s bawdy flick finds a way to fit in. Pootie Tang, Louis C.K.’s infamous cult flick about an incomprehensible crime fighting celebrity, was – ironically – misunderstood. It was a millennial interpretation of the blaxploitation genre that was unfortunately…
By: Addison Wylie This isn’t the case with most sequels, but Pitch Perfect 2 is bigger in every way, and therefore better in every way. And, no, that isn’t a playful jab at Rebel Wilson and her Fat Amy character. This is a series that needs to rise to the occasion and use all the space around it in order to feel worthy. The film needs to break out of a boxed-in format and use every…
By: Addison Wylie Cooties hits theatres and VOD at a fantastic time. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion’s skittish dark comedy/horror works as great escapism for a post-secondary crowd already dreading more responsibilities, and it’s an entertaining essential for future Halloweens. Scream Queens co-writer Ian Brennan and SAW co-creator Leigh Whannell have teamed up to make a subversive, gory lil’ number featuring self-centred teachers seeking safety after a virus unleashes itself onto children through batches of skunked…
By: Addison Wylie At this year’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Monty Python: The Meaning of Life captured the British comedians rehearsing for their final hurrah as they recounted cherished memories. Katja von Garnier’s concert doc Forever and a Day about German rock band Scorpions treads similar ground, but also made me feel the exact way the Pythons did – indifferent but not enough for me to completely disregard it. Forever and a Day is…
By: Addison Wylie Tig is refreshingly sensible. Then again, I guess that’s what happens when skilled documentarians Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York chronicle the ups and downs of a naturally funny and practical comedian. Tig Notaro worked very hard to earn stand-up credibility. Once her career found momentum, her dry wit opened the door for more opportunities. On the set of Lake Bell’s indie sleeper In A World…, Notaro found herself in weak health. Little did…
By: Addison Wylie Parents: if you feel your child is too old for those Air Bud movies but too young for Wild America and Alaska, that happy medium you’re looking for can be found in The Journey Home. A boy named Luke (played by Dakota Goyo) attempts to reunite a lost polar bear to its mother by travelling across perilous, icy terrain through flurries of snowstorms and over ice caps. The polar bear (which is eventually given…
By: Addison Wylie In five years, when you catch We Are Your Friends on cable, you’ll regret not seeing it in theatres. For me, I felt like I was watching an exciting, addictive shockwave. A realized movie that knew the power of music and its behavioural persuasion, as well as the importance of a key controller. The movie may not have fast cars or roaring dinosaurs, but We Are Your Friends calls for a big screen experience….
By: Addison Wylie I’ve accused some filmmakers and actors of being secret admirers of romances and rom-coms. Chris Evans (Captain America himself) can be added to that list for he not only frequents rom-coms (including this year’s smug Playing It Cool), but he has also unwisely started his directorial career with the lovey-dovey Before We Go. Evans’ romance doesn’t give in to typical clichés – it throws itself at them. Pardon the blasé backlash, but…