By: Addison Wylie The apocalyptic comedy This Is The End is a pretty good directorial debut from screenwriters/producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and on top of that, it’s pretty funny. More notably, it’s just about the closest thing North American cinema will get to emulating the meta movies of UK filmmaker Michael Winterbottom – for now Winterbottom has made popular films featuring actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing exaggerated versions of themselves. Their…
By: Addison Wylie There are short films that get wrapped up in their own mysterious styles and murky vagueness, and then there’s Jeremiah Kipp’s The Days God Slept. Kipp’s short film skates awfully close to being just another brick in the surrealistic wall but its consistency to its characters and story is what saves it, making it a memorable watch. The Days God Slept gives the power to the audience to assume the context of…
By: Addison Wylie A tragically troublesome story involving a 14-year-old executing a fellow eighth grader by aiming and shooting a gun at their head during class seems about as open-and-shut as cases come. However, filmmaker Marta Cunningham explores the event from every angle to get every side of the story that she can in Valentine Road. It isn’t because she’s suspicious and smelling something fishy in the events leading up to this kill. As a…
By: Addison Wylie The quiet character study In The Name Of is driven by a superb performance by Andrzej Chyra. His character of Father Adam is mesmerizing to watch. Chyra handles the subtleties that lie within his role and Adams’ motives so carefully. His readings and lines are filled with sincerity, subdued frustration, and hurt, but Chyra is able to tell all of this with a single hopeful glance. I really liked Malgorzata Szumowska’s film….
By: Addison Wylie The truth Morgan White’s doc The Rep holds is sad, but true. That constant dreaming of wanting to have access to a vintage movie house that screens older films is always apparent among film buffs and equally eager film buffs disguised as business men are wanting to bring that once-in-a-lifetime experience to an audience. It’s unfortunate that the process of getting a rep cinema off the ground and turning it into a grand…
By: Addison Wylie Horror movies usually guarantee fun at the movie theatre. Whether the quality of the movie is good or not, experiencing an eerie and tense film with a group of mostly strangers – who hopefully aren’t too gabby – is a riot. Everyone is witnessing the disturbing visuals and the scares for the first time making the overall vibe very exciting and relentlessly uneasy. However, some horrors have a hard time making that…
By: Addison Wylie Set against a bluegrass backdrop, Ellis and his best friend Neckbone (both played exceptionally by Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) scavenge through their surroundings to help a wayward, disheveled man named Mud find tools to rescue a tattered boat from out of a towering tree. As they travel back to the island where Mud (played by a striking Matthew McConaughey) roams and hides, the three work together to carry out this seemingly…
By: Addison Wylie Baz Luhrmann’s flashy adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby is a “production” in every sense of the word – as many of us expect it to be. In fact, the film evoked the same reaction I had when I watched Luhrmann’s much loved Oscar winner Moulin Rouge! in 2001. Judging from these two examples, I find Baz Luhrmann likes to scream and shout during the first thirty minutes or…
By: Addison Wylie Now that this year’s Hot Docs coverage has come to an end, it’s time to introduce my new video segment to you all. Does It Float? will have me revisiting films I gave positive reviews to and seeing if they hold up on a second viewing. Sometimes, a film can be heightened by the experience or with a certain type of crowd. With Does It Float?, I plan to give you both sides of…
By: Addison Wylie I could say that Sam Raimi’s OZ: The Great and Powerful puts the ‘Z’ in OZ because of how sluggish and boring it is, but that wouldn’t make for much of a review. Instead, OZ: The Great and Powerful can be compared to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, another big budget fairy tale that shares the same strengths and weaknesses as OZ. Like Tim Burton’s hit, Raimi’s family film is far more interesting…