By: Trevor Chartrand Big Gold Brick is the brainchild of writer/director Brian Petsos, whose first feature film comes fully-loaded with a surprisingly star-studded cast. Featuring Andy Garcia, Megan Fox, and Oscar Isaac, this surreal comedy-drama has its moments, but ultimately gets bogged down by a slow pace and a series of uneven tonal shifts.
The Worst Person in the World has a slightly misleading title. It seemingly refers to a specific individual and, at least during the first act of this movie, that individual appears to be Julie (Renate Reinsve). When Julie tries to focus on someone or something, she consistently has one eye on the next focal point. She isn’t hard to please and she isn’t stubborn, but she has an issue with commitment that she isn’t even…
Filmmaker Sean Baker follows up his American masterpiece The Florida Project, a drama about a helpless community living on the fringe of fantasy, with Red Rocket, another winner that dabbles in the same wheelhouse but broadening its scope to a rural population. And much like how The Florida Project found humour in innocence, Red Rocket finds humour in ignorance.
June Again is a pretty good movie that’s headlined by the first excellent performance of the year.
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a mind-melting, time-bending farce that works like a fine tuned juggling act.
By: Jolie Featherstone By beautifully capturing the stories of American communities that are rarely seen on screen, Sean Baker has the makings of a modern auteur.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (a title that sounds like misheard lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”) is specific enough to be a filmmaker’s vision. The problem is writer/director Radu Jude hasn’t found a cohesive or accessible way to deliver that vision to audiences.
A doc about filmmaker Kevin Smith poses an interesting challenge for the documentarian because Smith has been so open so often on public forums. What else can you explore that he hasn’t expanded on already? From feature-length behind-the-scenes bonus features to Smith’s lengthy discussions taped at colleges and concert venues, Smith has covered his life and career from (seemingly) every angle.
By: Trevor Chartrand JD Cohen’s Introducing Jodea looks and sounds like a movie slapped together by a high school student over the course of a weekend. From the first frame, the technical failings of the movie are painful, plentiful and impossible to miss. With a lacklustre cast and an agonizingly bland script, the movie ultimately leaves much to be desired.
