By: Addison Wylie German music composer Richard Wagner is an enigma of sorts and produced music on a grandiose scale. Ralf Pleger’s documentary The Wagner Files explains that Wagner’s lengthy compositions caused a stir in the 20th century and went on to be some of the most revolutionary work to exist in the world of music. Richard Wagner is a provocative subject. His early failures with music erupted anger and vexation in him as he…
By: Addison Wylie Regrettably, I haven’t seen 1981’s My Dinner with André. I believe there’s an unwritten law that states that this is a cinematic crime being in the film critic position that I’m in. This also meant that I wasn’t in tune with the work of the classic’s star and co-writer André Gregory. Gregory is his own renaissance man having taken on duties as a theatre director, an artist, and an actor. You may have caught…
By: Addison Wylie Antisocial is middle-of-the-road fare, which I’m sure director/co-writer Cody Calahan doesn’t want to hear. He wants his film to act as a commentary for how immersed we are with technology and social media. In order to drive home the social satire, he and co-writer Chad Archibald use networking devices as a means to drag the living to a state of infection. Tech junkies start to hallucinate and graphically bleed out of the…
By: Addison Wylie The conceptual idea of a philosopher (in this case, Slavoj Žižek) walking audiences through beloved and forgotten films and giving their outlook on the film’s ideological take has potential. The documentary, however, has to have competent direction and a confident mind at the forefront in order for the project to work. The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology has neither. Sophie Fiennes’ doc is hitting home runs with most movie goers (it currently holds an…
By: Addison Wylie I went into The Internship having a hard time looking past its one note joke premise involving two out of place funny men working at Google. But, it was the comedy’s first couple of scenes that made me question if I was going to be eating crow by the end credits. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson playing Billy and Nick – a couple of out-of-touch, amusingly snide and bitter watch salesmen –…
By: Addison Wylie InRealLife is bothersome with its portrayal of the Internet, those who use it, and its overall miscalculated goal. It feels as if filmmaker Beeban Kidron is out to scare rather than to inform. Kidron even goes as far as to show the traveling of online information in the dankest of spots using creaky sound effects to get the viewer to put up their safeguard. I thought I signed up for watching a…
By: Addison Wylie This past Summer, R.I.P.D. received poisonous word-of-mouth and was considered a box office bomb. But, it wasn’t enough to push me away from seeing it. Call me a fool, but R.I.P.D. looked like it was up my alley. It looked like something I would want to see during some sunny doldrums. It looked like the right type of escapism that could be compared to the likes of Mystery Men. Now, having watched R.I.P.D., I understand…
By: Addison Wylie Jason Osder has taken on an anti-talking heads format with his striking documentary Let the Fire Burn and it pays off big time. The filmmaker chronicles the societal shakes that took place in Philadelphia during the late seventies through to the mid-eighties initiated by MOVE. Members of MOVE would call the collective an organization inhabiting a peaceful, non-violent state-of-mind. Others wouldn’t hesitate to call MOVE a cult with harassing methods bordering on…
By: Addison Wylie While I try hard not to make the obvious crack at a movie, Hansel & Gretel Get Baked really does feel like a movie that’s been conceived by a bunch of stoners progressively coming down from their rich buzz. It begins on ecstatic notes. For one, Duane Journey’s horror/comedy has some delicious gore that had me squirming. It’s the type of execution that sets the tone for how much of a riot…
By: Addison Wylie Stephen Hawking has – and is living – a miraculous and very special life. His work is inspiring other students also looking for a career in science, and his theories have sparked many discussions and have sold many copies of his bestseller A Brief History of Time. Filmmaker Stephen Finnigan has given Hawking the chance to tell his life story in his own words to audiences with the self-entitled doc Hawking. Finnigan’s…