Films That Matter
No Caine, No Gain
Following in the recent action craze launched by John Wick, fusing it with The World is Not Enough Bond villain’s inability to feel pain, adding in some of the sadism found in Home Alone and its sequel, and throwing in some rough and tumble comedy to boot, Novocaine (2025), co-directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, holds no punches, or perhaps packs quite the punch if you’d prefer. Not for the weak of heart... an early warning to the wise – if you don’t like R rated violence then this movie is likely not for you, as it does not hold back in any which way. Though it does contain action, comedy, and romance, don’t let those last two genres suggest that this is a light date night foray for couples.
-
Star Pick with Jenny Lampa
How Hours Mark the TimeThe HoursApril 26, 2016Interweaving multiple stories can be a complicated thing to do. For every film that succeeds at structuring several tales into one powerful story, there are twice as many that fall flat. One movie that takes on this challenging task, tackling three separate narratives that take place in very different eras, is the 2002 dramatic motion picture The Hours. The film features several powerhouse performances from three superb actresses (Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore), so it is perhaps not surprising that actress Jenny Lampa, who has earned rave reviews and has received a number of acting nominations for her performance in the Swedish thriller The Break-In, selected this as one of her favourite movies.
-
Bigger, Fatter, and Oh So Greek
My Big Fat Greek WeddingMy Big Fat Greek Wedding 2April 19, 2016Back in 2002, My Big Fat Greek Wedding hit the world by storm. . . and when all was said and done, it became the top grossing romantic comedy of all-time (without ever being number one at the box office). It told the story of an intensely smothering yet loving Greek family living in Chicago by way of our lead and voice over narrator Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos – who wrote the story and got an Academy Award nomination for her effort). The plain and slightly nerdy woman, who works at her parents’ restaurant and cannot seem to find love, sets us up for a feel good story that combines the concept of finding love in the most unexpected places with a positive spin on Greek-American stereotypes that hit right on the mark.
-
Snatch and Grab
Snatch.April 3, 2016The first thing that came to mind after watching Guy Ritchie’s 2001 crime film Snatch was that it must have been a bugger to write. Ritchie, who both scribed and directed the movie, concocts a motion picture that feels like an amalgam of film noir, a British crime caper, a boxing flick as well as a comedy – all thrown onto the screen by some sort of high powered rocket launcher.
-
Three’s Company
10 Cloverfield LaneMarch 18, 201610 Cloverfield Lane is an unusual quasi-sequel to the 2008 handheld found-footage Godzilla-like monster movie Cloverfield. I watched the original in theatres back when I was at University, and it struck me as a rather exciting, large scaled horror movie. The gargantuan scope of that picture is interestingly scaled back to the complete opposite in this loose spin-off.
-
Star Pick with Stephen Harper
The Enigma that is Man and MachineThe Imitation GameMarch 15, 2016One of the more critically acclaimed films to come out of 2014 was the World War 2 drama The Imitation Game, which follows Alan Turing, a mathematical prodigy who builds a machine that can break the Enigma – a German device that decodes their secret military messages. Someone who wholeheartedly agreed with the praise this movie received is former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper – who proclaimed that it was easily his favourite film of 2014.
-
Vigilante Justice
Gran TorinoHarry BrownMarch 1, 2016I am excited to announce that a new feature has come to Filmizon.com – the ability to do a Dual/Duel movie review. I can think of no better way of putting the new set-up to the test than comparing one of the best films of 2008 – Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, to a lesser known, but equally strong picture – 2009's Harry Brown, starring Michael Caine.
