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The Toxic Avenger

September 5, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

“Extreme” “Gruesome” “Unreleasable” These words, among others, have been used to describe Macon Blair’s adaptation The Toxic Avenger, along with the film’s tumultuous journey to the big screen. The popularity of the horror genre, however, hasn’t wavered; leading to studios and distributors making big, ambitious swings. The hit success of Terrifier 3 certainly helped The Toxic Avenger find a home, along with a “carte blanche” decision to release it “unrated” in the United States. Although, Canada had no problem issuing…

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She Talks to Strangers

September 2, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Bruce Sweeney (Crimes of Mike Recket, The Dick Knost Show) returns to the big screen (since 2018’s Kingsway) with She Talks to Strangers, a brazenly funny black comedy that gives the Canadian filmmaker a turn to mine for gold in the trends of compulsive true crime followings. The backbone of Sweeney’s Toronto-set thriller, however, is the condensed, character-driven story of clumsy curmudgeons picking feuds with each other to gain a sense of control. Leslie (Camille…

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Boys Go to Jupiter

August 22, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Julian Glander’s vaporwave indie Boys Go to Jupiter is an exercise in procrastination. Experienced by the characters, but felt – with each painstaking step – by the audience. In a Floridian suburb, high school dropout-turn-courier-for-hire Billy 5000 (voiced by Jack Corbett) has set a goal to save $5,000. Why $5,000? Because Billy 5000 supposes he could finally get his life moving with that much dough. He’s also discovered a currency glitch through his courier’s app that…

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Shook

August 16, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Shook puts the “eh” in GTA; as in someone from the Greater Toronto Area recognizes something they see in the movie, elbows you and says, “eh! Remember that? From Toronto! Pretty neat that it’s in a movie, eh?”. Truth be told, Amar Wala’s feature filmmaking debut has been conceived from a genuine, semi-autobiographical point-of-view (expanding on Wala’s short film of the same name starring Fondi ’91‘s Raymond Ablack and The Joke Thief’s Sugith Varughese). However, Wala’s attempts at authenticity…

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Magnetosphere

August 4, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Nicola Rose’s sophomore feature Magnetosphere reminded me of Nickelodeon programming I grew up with – family friendly fodder that used sitcom conventions as an entry way for outcasts to identify with off-beat humour and a unique perspective on life.  While the nostalgia is hard to shake, with this current collection of coming-of-age films aimed at pre-teens, Magnetosphere is in a league of its own. Maggie (played by newcomer Shayelin Martin of Wild Goat Surf) sees…

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Oh, Hi!

August 1, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Oh, Hi! would make a surefire date flick for seasoned couples who have since shed their desperation for romance. Having that self-assurance would make Sophie Brooks’ off-kilter rom-com much more satisfying. If you’re a couple that is more green, hey, there’s nothing wrong with a film provoking some interesting post-screening chats about comfort and communication over some coffee and pie. Issac (Logan Lerman of The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Iris (Theater Camp’s Molly Gordon,…

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Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Nicola Rose

July 29, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Magnetosphere is a sophomore indie from filmmaker Nicola Rose and a standout flick for pre-teens. Pitching itself as a reliable coming-of-age story from a teenage wallflower, Rose uses specific experiences, such as viewing life through synesthesia, to identify with broader and universally relatable growing pains; all while issuing a warm and welcoming feeling for anyone watching her latest effort. I wanted to speak with Nicola Rose about making such an inviting film. From casting her ensemble…

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The Wedding Banquet

July 27, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Fire Island filmmaker Andrew Ahn follows up his streamer sleeper hit with The Wedding Banquet, a contemporary remake of Ang Lee’s 90s rom-com of the same name. While I can’t comment on how faithful this adaptation is to its source material, outsiders (like myself) will enjoy Ahn’s genre-clashing family dramedy. Much of The Wedding Banquet can be perceived as a farce – misunderstandings and personality swaps build up to a grand charade where the masqueraders will benefit…

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Boxcutter

July 10, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

Boxcutter is both a love letter to Toronto and a hate-letter from struggling, hustling artists trying to make it in the big city. This is a well-meaning Canadian indie with bounds of excitement, and it’s unfortunate that so much of that passion gets lost in the shuffle of the production’s immaturity. Playing out like an RPG version of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, robbed amateur rapper Rome (Ashton James) must locate copies of his missing…

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40 Acres

July 8, 2025Addison Wylie0 Comments

40 Acres represents the best qualities of Canadian cinema. R.T. Thorne’s outstanding survival thriller is enormously entertaining with taut and rhythmic tension, but the movie also pitches hauntingly beautiful scenery (a near-future dystopia using Northern Ontario as a backdrop) and a metaphorical vision about land being usurped from minorities. The blockbuster hit A Quiet Place was a sensory experience for audiences to perceive the stark hopelessness of an apocalypse through silences. In comparison, 40 Acres offers movie goers…

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