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Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story

August 10, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie There’s nothing new in Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story that you haven’t already seen in other found footage horrors.  See if you can keep score at home: a small news crew ([REC]) are stringing together interviews and B-roll for a project (The Blair Witch Project), when suddenly a box of abandoned videocassette tapes containing disturbingly transfixing footage is discovered (name that Paranormal Activity sequel). A looming creature – evoking infamous Internet legends…

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The Gift

August 9, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Trevor Jeffery The Gift isn’t an exception to the notion that suspense-thrillers lose substantial value on subsequent viewings, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be one hell of a ride the first time through. Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) seek a fresh start in California, not far from where Simon grew up.  An old high school acquaintance, Gordon (still going by his high school nickname, Gordo) (Joel Edgerton) approaches Simon and Robin…

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How to Change the World

August 5, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Ecology activists finally have their own Muscle Shoals.  Just as Muscle Shoals made audiences feel as if they were living through incredible years of music, Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World takes the viewer through a vivid recollection of the conception of Greenpeace. Paul Watson, Patrick Moore among others (including Robert Hunter, who co-founded the movement which promotes anti-war and eco-friendliness) are interviewed about various expeditions that were eye-openers to the public…

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Superfast

July 31, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Superfast is a spoof of the Fast and the Furious franchise brought to audiences by infamous filmmakers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.  How long do you think it takes for them to set up a joke where someone swaggers onto the street and gets hit by a car?  Not too long. The aim of the Superfast game is to reenact a scene and point out the obvious. I would’ve gone in another…

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Fantasia Fest 2015: ‘Antisocial 2’

July 30, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie My experience with Cody Calahan’s Antisocial 2 started with a surprise.  Antisocial offered some squeamishly great effects but was by no means “one for the books”.  While ultimately forgettable, it did leave on enough of a cliff-hanger to provoke thoughts of a sequel.  However, it was a small production and the chances of seeing another Antisocial were slim. For Calahan to push himself to continue the story of Sam – the Social…

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Best of Enemies

July 30, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Mark Barber In 1968, an ailing ABC network hired progressive author Gore Vidal and conservative intellectual William F. Buckley to shed some light on the 1968 Democratic and Republican Party Conventions.  This dialectical meeting of minds changed the way politics is mediated through television.  It overemphasized opinion and discussion, bringing about the birth of punditry. Best of Enemies tells the riveting story behind this “political odd couple.”  Despite their toxically unamicable relationship, Buckley and…

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Fantasia Fest 2015: ‘The Demolisher’

July 26, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Director Gabriel Carrer’s screenplay of The Demolisher is practically speechless until 18-minutes into the film.  However, the audience is so acquainted with the heart-aching leads by then, that Carrer’s film could’ve gotten away with completely being a silent film. If film critic-turned-filmmaker Chris Alexander is carrying out a similar yet more minimalist approach with the horror genre, Carrer could’ve done the same with this crime thriller.  Nonetheless, The Demolisher is really good.  And…

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A Hard Day

July 25, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie A hard day is right.  Nothing appears to be going well for  Detective Gun-soo (played by Seon-gyun Lee).  On the eve of his mother’s burial, he hits a drifter with his car while a corrupt operation to which Gun-soo was deeply involved with crumbles away.  The sudden hit-and-run has the unconventional homicide detective thinking on his toes.  He stows the body in the trunk of his car and brainstorms a connecting idea…

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Unexpected

July 24, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Cobie Smulders continues to collect indie cred with Kris Swanberg’s Unexpected, where the How I Met Your Mother actress plays high school teacher Samantha who learns of her surprise pregnancy during her final year at an inner-city school ceasing closure.  At the same time, Samantha discovers one of her students is also with child (Jasmine played by firecracker Gail Bean). Unexpected doesn’t issue a new perspective on poverty-stricken pregnancies, or a new display of…

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The Look of Silence

July 23, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Trevor Jeffery There are so many documentaries covering atrocities.  It’s easy, or necessary, to forget that sometimes;  there is so much horror that to consider it all – all the time – isn’t healthy.  The Look of Silence isn’t so much about the importance of its subject, or about squeezing emotions from an increasingly apathetic audience.  It’s about humanity and acts of evil, and how people will twist their perspective to retain the last…

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