One of my favourite surprises of last year was finding out how Jacob Vaughan’s creature feature Bad Milo played with a packed crowd. The scene was set at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre during one of Toronto After Dark’s pre-screenings to hype up the upcoming and highly popular genre showcase. The pre-screening audience award ended up going to Matt Johnson’s innovative indie The Dirties, but hanging in as a close runner up was Bad Milo. It proved…
By: Addison Wylie The Spectacular Now is the movie about high school I wish I had growing up. It’s easily identifiable and relatable to anyone who felt growing pains or knew someone having a wobbly time through secondary education. James Ponsoldt’s coming-of-age dramedy features two exceptional performances from up-and-comers Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, who play unexpected friends who eventually become smitten with each other. Though, Teller’s motormouth Sutter Keely won’t directly admit it since…
By: Addison Wylie After Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’s slow success, a sequel has been in high demand from its cult community. What that crowd – as well as the film’s cast and crew – didn’t realize is that capturing that same lightning in a bottle is easier said than done. Director/co-writer Adam McKay returns with the film’s original Channel 4 news team (Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Steve Carell, with Will Ferrell leading the…
By: Addison Wylie Here’s an interesting proposal. Take the producers behind romantic hits such as Love Actually and Bridget Jones’ Diary and apply their genre knowledge in a direction that turns romantic comedies on their ear. Then, bring in Dan Mazer to write and direct the sweet and salty hybrid. Mazer has plenty of experience shocking audiences with filthy jokes. His résumé consists of behind-the-scenes work on Da Ali G Show as well as lending his penmanship…
By: Addison Wylie I went into The Internship having a hard time looking past its one note joke premise involving two out of place funny men working at Google. But, it was the comedy’s first couple of scenes that made me question if I was going to be eating crow by the end credits. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson playing Billy and Nick – a couple of out-of-touch, amusingly snide and bitter watch salesmen –…
By: Addison Wylie While I try hard not to make the obvious crack at a movie, Hansel & Gretel Get Baked really does feel like a movie that’s been conceived by a bunch of stoners progressively coming down from their rich buzz. It begins on ecstatic notes. For one, Duane Journey’s horror/comedy has some delicious gore that had me squirming. It’s the type of execution that sets the tone for how much of a riot…
By: Addison Wylie It’s appropriate that If I Were You’s climax includes a theatrical production because Joan Carr-Wiggin’s film is a full-on farce that would play well on stage. When I say “farce”, I mean a comedy of errors set at Defcon 4. This is the type of film where someone ties a noose around their neck with full intentions to hang themselves, only to forget about the rope until they try and walk to…
By: Addison Wylie If you’re not a stranger to movies featuring a favoured comic performing stand-up, the beginning of Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain should be another walk in the park from stage left to stage right. Before we get to Hart’s routine which sold out New York City’s Madison Square Garden (twice!), audiences are given a Cloverfield-esque intro showing Hart having to defend himself at an after party. After countless patrons questioning him and…
If you’ve been keeping up with my writing at Film Army, you would’ve been more than acquainted with our coverage of this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The festival which focuses on bringing hardcore genre films (short and feature length) to eager audiences has been stronger than last year but still hit-and-miss. While gems like We Are What We Are and Big Ass Spider! had audiences glued, other horrors like Silent Retreat and Septic…
By: Addison Wylie It’s always a bad sign while watching a movie when you realize the first three minutes are probably going to be the best moments the film can offer. Machete Kills kicks off with a trashy trailer for a third Machete film – appropriately titled Machete Kills Again…In Space. The insane trailer shows audiences which characters have returned and what battles ensue, essentially giving away spoilers about the film you’re about to watch….