By: Addison Wylie Quirk McGurks. That’s my new label for elements found in independent cinema that are quirky for quirky sakes. It all started in 2008’s Sunshine Cleaning where Amy Adams’ character’s son Oscar liked to lick things because he liked to lick. Thinking longer about Quirk McGurks, I realized that in Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, a Quirk McGurk appears when the youngest son in the family starts masturbating in a library…
By: Addison Wylie A strange occurrence happens every so often where films dealing with similar subject matter will be released in the same year. This year, those films are Buried and 127 Hours. The subject matter at hand? Both films feature our lead protagonist trapped in a small space and we follow them as they fight for survival. Although the sticky situation is similar, the two films shouldn’t be compared. 127 Hours, the latest film…
By: Addison Wylie Due Date’s set-up is one we’ve all seen before. Take an uptight person and pair him up with a complete opposite for a long duration. Put both parties in madcap situations where their relationship will be tested. They may be upset at one another after their lifestyles clash but they may also endear each others own ways by the end. I’m not saying that this particularly happens in Due Date. In fact,…
By: Addison Wylie “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.” -Mugatu (Will Ferrell) in Zoolander Despicable Me is one of those movies where the glowing feedback is flabbergasting. What is it about this film that clicked with so many audiences? It helps that the film is geared towards families with younger children but still, what are families finding so charming about this film in particular? The writing is below pedestrian and the animation is as…
By: Addison Wylie Being a big fan of directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck as well as being a huge fan of Zach Galifianakis, I was greatly interested in It’s Kind of a Funny Story from the get-go. The two directors were the driving force behind a festival favorite in 2006 named Half Nelson, with Fleck directing, and Galifianakis has been a standout act with his film roles and with his comedy. It’s Kind of…
By: Addison Wylie Previously in the review for Aaron Green’s Frozen, I wrote about the concept of a bottle film; a film that takes place in one location. After viewing Frozen, I thought I was never going to view something that claustrophobic ever again. How exactly do you top being stuck on a chair lift in mid-rotation with no one around you? Easy. One makes a movie which takes place in a coffin buried underground….
By: Addison Wylie Paranormal Activity, directed by first time filmmaker Oren Peli, virally spread like wildfire across internet boards as well as word of mouth to a point where the film started climbing up the box office charts eventually becoming the #1 movie in America around Halloween; knocking the latest SAW film, at that time, for a loop. Paranormal Activity also helped the growth of Twitter. By having eager movie goers demand the film to…
By: Addison Wylie How exactly do you start off a review for Jackass 3D? Do you talk about the controversial history the show had before its leap to the big screen? Upset parents from all over the world feared this show. Even though there were disclaimers in front of the show stating that Johnny Knoxville and his band of merry morons were professionals, kids were still macing themselves and kicking their friends in the crotch….
By: Addison Wylie In this day and age, technology plays a key part in our lives. If we want something, there will most likely be a website that carries an infinite inventory and ships immediately. If we need to find out directions, we can find the quickest route in a matter of minutes. If we need a friend, there’s sure to be another hopeful soul searching through a forum for potential pals. Catfish captures these…
By: Addison Wylie Troll 2, a horror film released in 1989, has been named by people all over the world as “the worst movie ever made”. Its earned its title by possessing shoddy technical qualities, campy acting, and direction that is bad, to say the least. What movie goers tend to overlook is the life behind the movie; the cast and crew that took part in the filmmaking experience and how its affected them. Best…