Latest

Documentary

Reviews

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry

July 3, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Mary Dore’s She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry is a solid film, and joins the ranks of other docs that remind us of how unbalanced the past was through.  The documentation stuns and embarrasses, but Dore sticks with professionalism and avoids turning her film into a shame project. Dore reinforces the power of communication in critical times.  Before feminism was taken seriously, women who felt discriminated were often ignored.  A female character type was established…

Read More
Reviews

Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

June 19, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie A familiar rule of thumb states that one should stick to what they know.  Comedian Adam Carolla has used that guidance to establish his filmmaking career.  It’s how he created some big laughs with his cathartic comedy Road Hard, a film featuring Carolla playing a cranky stand-up comic. Fans of the Aceman know that Carolla is also quite knowledgable about cars, racing, and the days of classic Hollywood.  It makes complete and…

Read More
Reviews

Deli Man

June 18, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie There have been so many recent films catered to the foodie crowd, you expect Erik Greenberg Anjou’s Deli Man to do the same.  Luckily for audiences wanting something new, this love letter to Jewish delicatessen is more focused on the history behind the food. The film coheres to the logic of its main subject Ziggy Gruber (owner of Houston, Texas’ hot spot Kenny and Ziggy’s), and agrees there’s more to a delicious…

Read More
Reviews

Some Kind of Love

June 12, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Trevor Jeffery In Some Kind of Love, the filmmaker makes a sloppy observation that his family is emotionally distant from each other, and he presumes that this is interesting and unique enough for an audience. Filmmaker Thomas Burstyn travels to London to document his aunt Yolanda Sonnabend, a 77-year-old hoarding, shut-in painter.  When he arrives, he finds his uncle (renowned AIDS researcher Dr. Joseph Sonnabend) living with her and caring for her.  Burstyn turns the…

Read More
Reviews

(Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies

June 6, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie That title is a turn off, but (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies is an enthralling investigative film that will hopefully serve as a role model for documentarians. Duke University professor Dan Ariely speaks to a crowd of eager ears at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey.  He stands at the foot of the stage and explains numerous experiments his team has conducted to test society’s moral fibre and…

Read More
Reviews

Sunshine Superman

June 5, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Carl Boenish wanted to test the human spirit.  In doing so, his willingness to jump off breathtaking heights pioneered what we know now as “BASE jumping”.  Filmmaker Marah Strauch has matched Boenish’s go-getter attitude and gumption with Sunshine Superman, a documentary about the jumper’s fearless outlook and how he serves as an inspiration for adventure and living life to its fullest. If you’ve seen James Marsh’s Man on Wire, you’ll sense Marah…

Read More
Reviews

Dark Star: HR Giger’s World

June 3, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Mark Barber Swiss surrealist H. R. Giger was something of a phantom, often disappearing into one of the many nooks and crannies of his own home.  Yet, what makes Giger so unique and compelling–both as an artist and as a person–is another elusive phantom in Belinda Sallin’s Dark Star: HR Giger’s World. Dark Star disappoints not in its reasonably zealous adoration of Giger’s cyborg nightmares, but in its simplistic analytical approach to both himself and…

Read More
Festival Coverage

Inside Out 2015: A One-On-One with Filmmaker Kyle Reaume

June 2, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Shannon Page One of the great things about film festivals is their potential to showcase and foster emerging talent.  The Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival’s Local Heroes short film screening is aimed at drawing attention and giving space to local filmmakers.  It’s a space where audiences can see what is being created in their own back yards, and where beginning filmmakers have the opportunity to see their work screened alongside more established artists….

Read More
Festival Coverage

Inside Out 2015: ‘Game Face’

May 30, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

Game Face (DIR. Michiel Thomas) By: Addison Wylie Game Face presents honest opinions and interviews from athletes who feel weighted by blanketed discrimination about their performance based on their personal lifestyle and sexuality.  Determined, the jocks rise against the odds, and show their peers and LGBTQ audiences that they’re worthy contenders – not just in their sport, but in society. Michiel Thomas’ film follows two underdogs: transgener MMA fighter Fallon Fox and Terrence Clemens, an openly…

Read More
Reviews

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story

May 30, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie As someone who is a follower of Sesame Street’s history and a fan of Caroll Spinney, I feel I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story was speaking directly to me and other admirers who may fall in the same categories as I do.  Kids may connect with Spinney’s Big Bird, but Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker’s documentary is meant to click with those who grew up with the child-like muppet; as…

Read More