Latest

Addison Wylie

Reviews

You Gotta Believe

You Gotta Believe is a sports movie that’s as hokey as you could, well, believe. Based around the true story of Little Leaguers who made an impression on sports fans when the team earned a ranking in 2002’s Little League Baseball World Series championship, You Gotta Believe pulls out all the stops to grab families by their heartstrings. However, the film doesn’t feel manipulative. As he exhibited in his heavier sports drama 12 Mighty Orphans, director Ty Roberts…

Reviews

Red Rooms

Red Rooms offers the best kind of challenge for its viewers. Despite being impressed by the filmmaking, the writing, and the acting, we feel a relentless wave of dread as the film confronts extremely uncomfortable subject matter and an unreliable lead character.

Reviews

My First Film

Using meta-mind-bending maneuvers to confront open wounds and find closure, with My First Film, director Zia Anger revisits her experience making her feature debut.  While this latest project may have personally assisted Anger, it’s not as graceful for audiences who are along for the ride.

Reviews

Deaner ’89

Canadians are currently witnessing a funny contrast in their local multiplex – Reagan is screening at the same time as Deaner ’89. If Reagan is supposed to accurately depict what the United States was like in the 80s, Deaner ’89 is the “meanwhile in Canada” example.

Reviews

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut is deservedly being treated as an event.  This restoration of the provocative 1980 swords-and-sandals historical drama is currently being screened in 4K Ultra High Definition at select theatres as part of an exclusive roadshow.  The movie is the epitome of a re-imagining;  a perfected cut that scraps all of the footage from the box office hit in exchange for a shot list of different angles and takes, as well as using…

Reviews

Reagan

Reagan is such a conservatively-made movie that it would almost be pointless to go after the film for its politics. Revered to most as the first conservative president of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan’s presidency was a touchstone of the 80’s and there’s no denying how deep his political influence ran afterwards.

Uncategorized

Wylie Writes @ Sudbury Indie Cinema

While Sudbury, ON may primarily be known for its mining industry, an arts community is aching to break out. This seems to be common with Canadian working class cities. Perhaps to counter their blue collar reputations, or because there’s a determination to find an outlet for creative voices and stories.

Reviews

My Penguin Friend

My Penguin Friend hearkens back to animal movies of the 90s – wholesome and cleaned up family flicks where an animal trainer was, off-screen, using all sorts of tricks to make a cuddly pet shake hands with a precocious child actor. My Penguin Friend is wise to use this nostalgia to remind viewers of how likeable and crowd-pleasing these films are; the reminiscing distracts audiences away from the lean film’s shaggier qualities (such as briefly…