By: Mark Barber Adam Macdonald’s Backcountry is a terrifying mix of Jaws and Blair Witch, but manages to avoid the usual kitschy pastiche of recent Canadian genre films. Unlike the campiness of Wolfcop and Hobo with a Shotgun, Backcountry is an intense, serious horror film. Inspired loosely by tragic events, Backcountry follows a Toronto couple, Alex (Jeff Roop) and Jenn (Missy Peregrym), as they become lost in a camping trip in a northern Ontario park….
By: Mark Barber The post-apocalyptic Canadian film Turbo Kid has only one audience in mind: kids who grew up on Power Rangers. Yet the film is too gruesome and violent for kids, and too vacuous for anyone else. Set in a desolate post-apocalyptic world, an unnamed kid (Degrassi’s Munro Chambers; character simply billed as “The Kid”) finds a suit that formerly belonged to the comic book/real life superhero character Turbo Man (unrelated to a similar character…
By: Shannon Page John Erick Dowdle’s (As Above, So Below; Quarantine) action/thriller No Escape is about an American businessman named Jack (Owen Wilson) and his wife (Lake Bell) who, along with their two young daughters, are caught in the middle of a violent coup in an unnamed Southeast Asian country. The film is surprisingly well-constructed and nuanced – all things considered. The script, which was co-written by Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle, manages to be more self-aware…
By: Addison Wylie Strange is right. Magic? Not so much. Oscar winner Gary Rydstrom takes a stab at feature length directing and writing with animated musical-fantasy Strange Magic, a movie that shouldn’t be anyone’s “first” for anything. It begins as a novelty act with some redeeming moments of punchy animation and terrific duets, and then pushes its luck too far. The story (conceived by Star Wars’ George Lucas) gives audiences two opposing territories. There’s a…
By: Addison Wylie Before Paul Rudd was Ant-Man, before Elizabeth Banks was one of comedy’s leading ladies, and before Bradley Cooper became an Oscar nominated actor/producer, all three actors starred in an indescribable indie comedy called Wet Hot American Summer. The movie also served as a launching pad for Parks and Rec’s Amy Poehler, Stella’s Michael Ian Black, Bad Milo’s Ken Marino, and Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Joe Lo Truglio – all of whom had never…
By: Trevor Jeffery Ciarán Foy’s Sinister 2 startles to the point of frustration, but frightens beyond its use of clichés. In the cellar of his runaway family’s newly squatted home, Dylan joins a pack of ghost kids to watch the snuff films they made, in order to stop his nightmares. It seems counterintuitive, but the snappily dressed leader of the pack insists it helps. Dylan Collins, his brother Zach and his mother Courtney (Shannyn Sossamon)…
By: Addison Wylie How to Make Love Like an Englishman is such a long title. A shorter alternative would be: Weekend Matinée for Mom and Dad. Like last year’s cloying And So It Goes, Tom Vaughan’s rom-com is a film that uses the likability of its stars as counter programming to attract movie goers – primarily older ones who want to spend the tail end of Summer distancing themselves from bombastic blockbusters. Luckily, How to Make…
By: Shannon Page Starring Lola Kirke (Gone Girl) as first-year university student Tracy, and Greta Gerwig as her thirty-something future stepsister Brooke, Mistress America is ultimately about dreams; it is about the things we want to accomplish as well as our goals and desires. It is also about two women at very different places in their lives who inspire one another. These characters aren’t always good people and their actions don’t always make them likable to…
By: Shannon Page Despite the understated aesthetic appeal of a few scenes, Israeli writer and director Nadav Lapid’s drama about a kindergarten teacher (Sarit Larry) who discovers a prodigal talent for poetry in one of her young students is remarkably dry of feeling. As the plot moves through an earnest attempt to explore the necessity for preserving art and beauty in a world that is increasingly hostile and dismissive of poetry, the characters motivations and…
By: Addison Wylie Aaron K. Carter’s thinly budgeted zombie romp Dead Kansas wears the same pants as that punch drunk comedy Tetherball: The Movie I reviewed in April. Not only because the filmmaker reached out to Wylie Writes to get an opinion on his modest horror, but Dead Kansas is also filled with that same vigour that can only be supplied by friends who make films because that’s what they love to do. These cinephile fellas pulled together resources…