Addison Wylie We’re halfway through the year, and I’m confident movies are “back on track”. 2014 had some admirable features, but it seemed like everyone collectively decided to focus on technical achievements. As far as award darlings are concerned, our minds have yet to be blown by this year’s selections. However, 2015 has given movie goers wonderful experiences. Killers made me feel queasy, but in a good way. Its story about two serial murderers was…
By: Shannon Page Adam Scott has been around for a while and his latest project, the indie sex-comedy The Overnight, is certainly not his first attempt at acting or producing. Though he is probably best known for his work as Ben Wyatt on the television sitcom Parks and Recreation, Scott has also appeared in movies such as Step Brothers, The Aviator and Our Idiot Brother. The Overnight stars Scott as Alex and Taylor Schilling (of…
By: Shannon Page In a lot of ways, Patrick Brice’s The Overnight is a very rare film. With a small cast and fairly straightforward plot (the entire movie was shot in only twelve days), The Overnight is a sex-comedy about parenthood and relationships that avoids the usual clichéd pit falls. When thirty-something parents Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling) move to L.A. and are eager to meet new friends, they jump at a dinner…
By: Shannon Page Hunting Elephants certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. There are a few laughs sprinkled throughout, but don’t go into this film expecting a passive movie going experience. The film boasts an impressive international cast that includes Iraqi-born actor Sasson Gabai (who audiences may recognize, or not, from his role in 1988’s Rambo III), Moni Moshonov of Israel, as well as the incomparable Patrick Stewart as a struggling English actor looking for…
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….
Sand Dollars (DIR. Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán) By: Shannon Page Like the Dominican Republic of its setting, Sand Dollars is both ugly and beautiful; it is complex and often overwhelming in its starkness, yet showcases a landscape that most would equate with paradise. Written and directed by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán, Sand Dollars stars Geraldine Chaplin (daughter of the legendary Charlie Chaplin) as an aging European woman who falls in love with a much…
Fourth Man Out (DIR. Andrew Nackman) By: Shannon Page In many ways, director Andrew Nackman’s first feature length film is a typical “bro comedy”. The central characters are a group of blue-collar men who have been friends since childhood it, and the film emphasizes the value of male friendships. Fourth Man Out focuses on a small-town car mechanic named Adam (Evan Todd) who decides on his twenty-fourth birthday to come out as gay to his three…
Everlasting Love (DIR. Marçal Forés) By: Addison Wylie Everlasting Love is a depressing time at the movies. It’s not scary, all the characters are unlikable, and it slowly shuffles to its grisly finale. With its familiar theme of cruising in an eerie world, I’m reminded of Stranger by the Lake. Though I didn’t particularly like Alain Guiraudie’s slow burn, his film has an edge on Everlasting Love. Stranger by the Lake had elements of conviction in a faceless…
By: Shannon Page It’s not exactly uncommon to find comedic actors who have made the transition, or at least attempted the transition, to more serious acting roles. Nick Kroll’s latest creation, the indie-comedy Adult Beginners, is an undeniably sharp departure from the character-based sketch comedy that the comedian’s fans have come to expect from his Comedy Central show, Kroll Show. Though it has its comic moments, Adult Beginners, which explores the relationship between two estranged…
By: Shannon Page You could be forgiven for feeling like you’ve seen Adult Beginners before – you probably have. Directed by Ross Katz, the film follows 30-something entrepreneur Jake (Nick Kroll) as he loses everything on the eve of his company’s launch and is forced to move in with his somewhat estranged and pregnant sister Justine (Rose Byrne) and brother-in-law Danny (Bobby Cannavale)in the suburbs. Desperate to stay away from Manhattan and his former business…