By: Addison Wylie Revolution could very well be one of this year’s most important watches, but by the end of the documentary, you’ll be wondering what’s more of a threat: carbon dioxide poisoning in our atmosphere or filmmaker Rob Stewart’s constant need to be on camera. I can’t ignore it. No one can. Stewart just loves to star in his own passion project. I hesitate to continue with this criticism about the director/producer/writer/cinematographer for fear…
By: Addison Wylie For audiences needing a psychological horror fix, Derek Franson’s Comforting Skin may do just the trick. It certainly did for me. It’s a film that starts unsteadily as our main lead is introduced to us. Koffie (yes, that’s her name, and she’s played terrifically by Victoria Bidewell) is down and out and feeling as if no one wants anything to do with her. She’s dishevelled, has a past that hasn’t been bright,…
By: Addison Wylie Alias made me frustrated. Watching Michelle Latimer’s documentary provoked me in a way that pushed me to talk back to the screen – something I rarely do. Alias focuses on a small handful of Toronto rappers trying to be heard and to please an audience with their music and lyrics. According to the synopsis, Latimer’s doc “digs deeper than the usual portrait of the rap world as glamour, guns and swagger.” I…
By: Addison Wylie The Resurrection of Tony Gitone is a drama abut traditions, family, and friends – that is, if you can make it out over the yelling and excessive upstaging. Ultimately, that’s what makes Jerry Ciccoritti’s film a particularly annoying watch. Riding high off of a new gig as a leading male in a popular director’s upcoming movie and clutching an attractive big name actress, Nino (played by Fab Filippo) and his date Vanessa Luna…
By: Addison Wylie Why is it that movies try so hard to find humour in LARPing? Lloyd the Conqueror, a comedy that was featured in this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival and will now be featured in a special theatrical run along with a VOD release, is the latest culprit of this confusion. LARPing, for those readers who may be unaware, is an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. It’s the hobby of building…
By: Addison Wylie I remember starring in a high school play, a play that shall remain nameless, where I didn’t know what was going on. Not in a way that I was passed out and my body was strung up resembling a Weekend at Bernie’s scenario; I legitimately did not know what the play was about, my character’s motivation, or what it all meant in the grand scheme of things. Being that the play was…
By: Addison Wylie Road movies have been done so many times, that they’ve now evolved into their own genre. They follow a similar formula, a straightforward plot, and feature a lot of robust side characters but grounded leads. With any frequent genre, it’s not so much how common those notes are but how the musician plays them. With Moon Point, an independently made Canadian feature, Director Sean Cisterna takes a heartfelt script that has an…