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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Lowdown Tracks’ and ‘Orion: The Man Who Would Be King’

April 17, 2015Addison Wylie5 Comments

Lowdown Tracks (DIR. Shelly Saywell) By: Gregory Breen If you have ever stopped to smell the roses and listen to a busker, chances are Lowdown Tracks will bring a tear to your eye.  In this heartfelt and engrossing film, activist and musician Lorraine Segato seeks to meet Toronto’s street musicians and record some of the wonderful tunes they play. Segato meets Woody Cormier, Anthony Van Zant, Maryann Epp, Bruce Bathgate and Katt Burr – five very special,…

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Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

April 5, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Mark Barber The Oscar-nominated doc Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me follows the title legendary country singer through both his final tour and his struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.  Necessarily poignant (if artificial) and urgent about the subject and his inevitably fatal illness, the film still occasionally struggles with the presence of exploitation. Numerous interviews with family, friends, and celebrities set up a touching rumination on the ineluctable flow of time.  But the oft-witty Campbell serves…

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Festival Coverage

Canadian Film Festival ’15: The Cocksure Lads Movie

March 19, 2015Addison Wylie4 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Musicians Mike Ford and Murray Foster have a shared enthusiasm for toe-tapping britpop.  This appreciation motivated the compadres to develop The Cocksure Lads, an imitation homage to the lively tunes. Foster has taken the ruse further with The Cocksure Lads Movie.  While the comedy is lightheartedly harmless, I have a disagreement with how this nutty band has taken the leap to the big screen. The Cocksure Lads, a tame group of goodie-goodies,…

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The Wrecking Crew

February 6, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie When you pay for admission to see The Wrecking Crew, a rockin’ doc from Denny Tedesco (son of legendary guitarist Tommy Tedesco), you pay to hear a number of stories from the title band themselves. The Wrecking Crew was made up of talented musicians who lent their instrumentals to famous musicians like The Beach Boys, Herb Alpert, Cher, and Frank Sinatra.  While the singers belted out their momentous lyrics and choruses, Tommy…

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Heartbeat

November 26, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Heartbeat is a nice party guest that’s too shy to say anything.  After a while, you’re a little annoyed that they haven’t involved themselves more.  And when they finally speak up, they fish for compliments in a coy manner but also try and convince you that they have low self esteem.  By the end of the night, cleaning up crushed red cups and mopping up spilled brew is more fun than trying…

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Eternity: The Movie

October 22, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Not everything in Eternity: The Movie works.  However, filmmaker Ian Thorpe shows audiences that clean comedy leads to the best kind of laughs with this lo-fi send-up to the 1980’s. Barrett Crake plays Todd Lucas, because – I suppose – Jon Heder had a busy schedule.  Lucas is new to the Californian lifestyle.  Instead of one-night stands with bodacious babes, he wishes to escape the business and get to know a girl…

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Festival Coverage

The Reel Indie Film Fest’s So-So Trove

October 13, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie The sporadic weather and the dropping temperature suggests that watching movies at a classy venue is the best way to stay snug.  Lucky for you, the Reel Indie Film Fest rolls into Toronto this week. The festival opens Tuesday, October 14 at 7:00 pm with Greg Olliver’s Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty and wraps up on Saturday, October 18 at 9:30 pm with the intriguingly titled March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads….

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Reviews

God Help the Girl

October 11, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie God Help the Girl matches the sweetness of its leading female Emily Browning.  It’s also a film that has allowed the actress to let her hair down, or at least style it into a bob. Browning has shown glimpses of how great of an actress she could become.  However, she attracts roles that have her looking forlorn in dreary circumstances.  As far as I know, God Help the Girl is her first…

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STRANGE PARADISE: Year of the Horse

August 12, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Wylie Writes’ coverage of TIFF’s Jim Jarmusch retrospective began with a mixed bag of shorts, and ends with a mixed bag of concert cutouts and behind-the-scenes glimpses. It’s undoubtable Jarmusch captures a raw vision of Neil Young and Crazy Horse with his scattershot Year of the Horse.  The filmmaker catalogues footage from unique perspectives;  the performances are especially visceral if occasionally obscured.  He switches between different film stocks (16mm, Hi-8 video, and Super 8)…

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Brothers Hypnotic

June 7, 2014Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Brothers Hypnotic seems like it does everything right. It’s a good looking doc and an even better sounding one.  Filmmaker Reuban Atlas knows how to show how music can explode with vibrance as various crowds bob their heads happily.  All the songs that are featured and played by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are great examples of the band’s range and how their chemistry expands their performance etiquette. The boys in the ensemble all…

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