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Crimes of the Future

As much as I would love to compare David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future to his earlier horrors, I’m afraid I’m unqualified because I haven’t seen enough of that catalogue.  However, I can see a contrast between the Canadian’s long-awaited return to filmmaking and his other recent dramatic work such as A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method – all of which also star Viggo Mortensen.  Crimes of the Future, a gruesome…

Reviews

Slash/Back

While I’m not head-over-heels for Slash/Back, Nyla Innuksuk’s lil’ sci-fi that could, I don’t want the filmmaker to be discouraged by my review.  It’s best described as a Northern Canadian Attack The Block, which is an incredible compliment.

Reviews

Dual

Dual is a nifty near-future sci-fi that starts with an interesting and obviously satirical premise and elevates it to make comments on the dire state of personal interactivity.  It’s well-trodden territory for this genre, but writer/director Riley Stearns (The Art of Self-Defense) still finds original ways to keep his audience laughing, entertained, and on their toes.

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After Yang

After Yang chronicles the in-between of a family tragedy. Set in the not-so-distant future (similar to Spike Jonze’s Her), an assistive android named Yang (Justin H. Min, in one of this year’s strongest supporting roles) suddenly malfunctions. Yang’s assigned family are shaken up as they grasp for an action plan. The search for a satisfying resolution falls on the father, Jake (Colin Farrell), who slowly discovers more of Yang’s purpose as he shops around for repair…

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The Adam Project

Watching The Adam Project is like watching someone fall down stairs.  The movie stands steadily, stumbles, picks itself back up, and repeats that same process until the film is so exhausted with itself that it doesn’t bother to pull itself together.

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Between Waves

By: Trevor Chartrand Canadian filmmaker Virginia Abramovich makes her feature film debut with Between Waves, a captivating (albeit heavy-handed) exploration of mental illness and grief, framed through the sci-fi lens of inter-dimensional travel.

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Long Weekend

Long Weekend is a good rom-com, but a victim of unfortunate timing.  Without revealing too much, the film switches gears and invites another genre into the mix.  It’s an interesting wrinkle in the story and writer/director Steve Basilone handles it well.  But, it’s so comparable to last year’s crowd-pleaser Palm Springs that Long Weekend’s almost feels like old news upon arrival.

Reviews

The Mitchells vs. The Machines

The Mitchells vs.The Machines is very much cut from the same talented cloth as Sony Pictures Animation’s Oscar-winning hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.  The brilliant artists at Sony Pictures Animation, yet again, set a new bar for computer animation;  offering audiences indescribably energetic visuals that astonishingly never lose the film’s lightning-fast pace.  But just like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the story struggles to keep up with the film’s skill.  The movie assuredly commits its general theme to the…