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Festival Coverage

Wylie Writes @ Hot Docs 2014: A Doc with Braaains

April 26, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

Just as other festivals offer a “Midnight Madness” selection, Hot Docs hopes to bring in the same crowd with its Nightvision screenings. These documentaries feature brazen topics and massive cult followings;  films that are certainly unlike any other.  An added bonus is the discounted price of films screening after 11:00 p.m.  For a cool $7, treat yourself to some of these neat docs. If you’re into horror, you should give Alexandre Philippe’s doc a shot. Doc of the Dead (DIR. Alexandre Philippe)…

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Reviews

The Battery

April 17, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Jeremy Gardner’s slow burn horror The Battery has earned crowds of cheers reaching back to its early film festival days from genre movie goers.  Even though I wasn’t sold on this flabby flick, that’s great news for the filmmaker.  It’s a zombie movie that hardly shows you any of the walking dead.  That’s a tough sell! You see limited amounts of zombies because Gardner wants to set his sights more on the…

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Reviews

Oculus

April 10, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Mike Flanagan’s off-shoot elaboration of his short film Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan turns into a movie where things happen.  Things that aren’t really interesting or thrilling.  Just a lot of stuff that may or may not be real.  This is because Oculus is a horror film with no tension. Oculus is a movie that makes me appreciate Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.  It’s a sequel that…

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Reviews

Afflicted

April 6, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Afflicted isn’t a found footage film, but rather a mockumentary documenting Derek Lee and Clif Prowse’s year long trip around the world.  The film does, however, use the same techniques we’ve seen in previous found footage horrors.  Luckily, the filmmakers in charge of this creature feature know what they’re doing. In fact, there are a lot of things filmmakers/co-stars Lee and Prowse do brilliantly in Afflicted.  Firstly, the duo cover their asses extremely…

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Reviews

In Fear

March 13, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie In Fear marks the first time in a while where a film has really scared me using traditional minimalist tactics. We’re paired with Tom and Lucy – a complicated couple played by Iain De Caestecker and Alice Englert – as they head towards a secluded hotel via their tiny vehicle.  The search for the hotel brings them deeper into the woods and directional signs send them on a wild goose chase as the…

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Movie Lists

Wylie Writes’ Ten Best Movies of 2013

March 2, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Now that we’ve recognized the bad movies that were slingshot at audiences last year, it’s time to move on and engulf ourselves in the cream of the crop. 2013 introduced a wide variety of great films to audiences.  I feel like I say that every year, but as I scour my selected picks, the only thing these movies share are the odd genre they’re grouped in. Take documentaries, for example.  Audiences were…

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Reviews

Solo

March 1, 2014Addison Wylie1 Comment

By: Addison Wylie Solo starts out on an “A” game, but ends up finishing with a generous “C” grade. Isaac Cravit’s independent thriller is a straight-up campfire story – and, the filmmaker knows it.  Gillian (played by former Degrassi: The Next Generation co-star Annie Clark) needs to prove herself to be a capable camp counsellor in order to obtain a summer job.  The newbie needs to pull a “solo”, a two-night experience on a secluded…

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Reviews

Here Comes the Devil

February 15, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie I don’t know what possession is more crucial and harmful: the ones that occur in Here Comes the Devil within the Tijuana cliffs or the wrestling match between mature horror and fanboy immaturity that litters the film’s screenplay. Adrián García Bogliano’s horror is one of those movies where audiences can tell there are heavy influences driving the film.  It’s also one of those movies where these homages don’t simply stay on the filmmaker’s…

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Reviews

Odd Thomas

February 12, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Odd Thomas is certainly an odd case indeed.  Stephen Sommers’ adaptation of Dean Koontz’s novel has good things about it, yet it has difficulty coming together as a whole. Anton Yelchin stars as Odd Thomas, a sweetly distraught hero with an ability to avenge the deaths of others.  He’s approached by silent spirits who then lead him on paths, and it’s his duty to right whatever wrongs he faces.  The local police…

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Reviews

Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1

February 6, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Lloyd Kaufman has proven with Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 that you can go “back to the well” and resurrect a bawdy riot that was started more than two decades ago.  The filmmaking ringmaster returns to Tromaville to continue the story of plagued teenagers who are slowly mutating due to exposure of toxic waste. The nasty nuclear power plant (which was stationed beside the high school) has been torn down,…

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