After helping usher in a new age of female centric comedies (Bridesmaids) and spoofing the buddy cop genre (The Heat), writer-director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy continue their fruitful collaboration with Spy – a raucous satire of secret agents that subverts many of the genre’s well-worn tropes while still paying homage. (more…)
If David Lynch had turned his attention towards the meandering lives of 20-something Quebecers during a hot, hazy summer the result might look something like Tu dors Nicole (“You’re Sleeping, Nicole”). (more…)
Have you ever wanted to see a time-travelling lone wolf cop (“I’m a cop. From the future.”) crotch punch Hitler (a.k.a. Kung Führer) in an epic 1980s style action adventure? Well, that’s a very specific fantasy but it’s realized in the insane new short film Kung Fury, a gloriously over-the-top fever dream of cartoonish violence and pastiche of all things supremely 80s, all set to a killer synth wave score and shot through with a healthy dose of absurdity. (more…)
Writer-director John Maclean’s Slow West is like a mash up of the Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson, filtered through a wry European sensibility. (more…)
The post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max roars back to life with the ferocious Fury Road, which proves that even a 30-year hiatus from screens can’t keep a good franchise down. (more…)
Time and time again, documentaries often prove that truth is stranger than fiction. The most fertile subjects don’t need to be exaggerated because they’re compelling enough on their own, and the HBO documentary Going Clear: Scientology and The Prison of Belief knows this trope and leans into it. (more…)
“I’m not going home poor!” shouts a sailor in Black Sea as he risks life and limb in the pursuit of gold. There’s an interesting subtext (that’s eventually brought to the fore) in this submarine/heist/action film about desperate men taking desperate measures to secure their futures in these times of austerity and financial uncertainty. (more…)
The improbably long lasting Fast & Furious films soldier on with signature excessiveness and goofy sincerity in Furious 7. The last instalment to star affable surfer bro Paul Walker in the face of the actor’s untimely passing, Furious 7 admirably manages this unforeseen hurdle and pays tribute to him in a mostly satisfying entry that amps up the action, emotion and one-liners to near unsustainable levels that nonetheless proves to be a mostly smooth ride despite some bumps in the road and a surplus of passengers. (more…)
“God has to be busy with everyone else” intones a young man near the end of the plainly poetic and visually sumptuous documentary Rich Hill. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful, like much of the film itself, and implies a faith that things can improve and a knowledge that it hasn’t yet happened for him. (more…)
Will Smith tries on a new cinematic persona in Focus, a puzzle box romance set in the illicit world of professional con men (and women). The movie seeks to combine the heist elements and effortless cool of Ocean’s Eleven with the smoky romance and rat-a-tat dialogue of Elmore Leonard adaptations like Out of Sight with varying results. (more…)
Glen On Film 