Film reviews where the movie title starts with a letter from N to Z.
Featured image: Timothy V. Murphy as Ben in New Year. (Courtesy of Nathan Sutton.) In New Year, celebrity photographer Kat (Elisha Renee Sutton, who also co-writes the film) and her esteemed playwright husband, Ben (Timothy V. Murphy), host a New Year’s Eve party, inviting some of their closest friends to celebrate and usher in the … Continue reading “New Year” Review and Interview | In Conversation with Nathan Sutton, Elisha Renee Sutton and Nelson Lee | The Filmcraziest Show
As I’ve enjoyed more and more documentaries over the past little while, the documentaries made for entertainment, or behind-the-scenes documentaries, are some of my favourites. That’s exactly the case with Surviving Supercon, from director and editor Steven Shea, which takes us on a behind-the-scenes look into the Florida Supercon. Founded by by husband-and-wife team Mike Broder and Sandy Martin, their event has grown to attract over 60,000 fans, and this documentary focuses on their 2018 Fort Lauderdale event.
For this Filmcraziest.com review, Arpit Nayak takes a look at the Sony Liv web-series "Tabbar," a story about family where one decision puts an ordinary family into a very dangerous situation. Arpit calls it an "exquisite dark thriller, both gripping and engaging." Available in countries like India, UAE, Canada and more.
The Rescue is the first documentary I’ve seen at TIFF, as part of their TIFF Docs programme. It’s a documentary about the rescue efforts in Thailand in 2018, when a soccer team of 12 kids and their coach found themselves trapped in the complex Tham Luang cave system.
I have a terrible memory, but I’m sure I tracked this story when it made global headlines in 2018. I must have missed some important factors about it, as I was picturing them being lost deep in a cave, or being caved in somehow, where I was picturing a 127 Hours or Kirk Douglas film Ace in the Hole kind-of scenario. I didn’t realize it was flooding that trapped them. These are some of the perfect details tracked.
Featured image: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Powder Keg. (Courtesy of Route 504 PR.) Directed by Ole Christian Madsen. Written by Lars Kristian Andersen, Ole Christian Madsen. Starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jakob Oftebro, Lars Brygmann. Runtime 1h 46 min. Released Sept. 7, 2021 (in Canada); March 5, 2020 (in Denmark). In Powder Keg (Krudttønden in Danish), we learn about the terrorist … Continue reading Review: Powder Keg (Krudttønden) (2020)
Here's a review out of Fantasia for the anime film Pompo: The Cinéphile, which is a love letter to the joy of cinema and making films, filled with some great characters.
Mark O’Brien’s The Righteous explores the interesting “hook” of a mysterious stranger coming upon a home. The mysterious stranger is O’Brien’s Aaron Smith (“Original, I know,” says Aaron), who comes upon the property of an elderly couple one night, leg injured.
The home is owned by former priest Frederic Mason (Henry Czerny) and his wife Ethel Mason (Mimi Kuzyck), the reason Frederic left the priesthood. Playing with fascinating themes of sin, retribution and penance, Mark O’Brien creates quite the compelling storyline in his feature directorial debut, where he also writes the screenplay.
In the film, we first meet young couple Kat (Regina Lei) and Jim (Berant Zhu), getting ready for an ordinary day. However, today, after a year of living with the Alvin virus, it’s permanently mutated into something rabid. It turns everyday, fine citizens into feral sadists who give into their primal urges. In the film, Jabbaz throws every caution to the wind, creating a totally bonkers action-horror film.
It’s filled with anxiety as we watch as we never know what will happen. It’s injected with the pure insanity of each film in The Purge series (the good ones), but dialed to 11. It’s also just The Crazies on crack. The first kill we see is haunting, and a big kudos to Jabbaz for choosing this greasy first death. If you’re watching the film and you’re immediately turned off by this first kill, there’s a decent chance this won’t be for you. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Featured image: Nick Cassavetes and Nicolas Cage in Prisoners of the Ghostland. (Courtesy of Mongrel Media.) Directed by Sion Sano. Written by Aaron Hendry and screenplay by Reza Sixo Safai. Starring Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes. Runtime 1h 40 min. Prisoners of the Ghostland premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and had its Canadian Premiere … Continue reading Fantasia Film Festival Review: Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)
The first 20 minutes of Perry Blackshear’s When I Consume You immediately catches our attention. It throws us into something unsettling as one of the film’s main characters, Daphne (Libby Ewing) is pulling a tooth from her mouth, emotionally distraught in a bathroom. It has our attention, and even if we couldn’t exactly tell what this would be about 20 minutes in, I didn’t mind.
That’s part of the fun, not being able to tell the direction where a film will be going. And in these first 20 minutes especially, Blackshear’s script subverts expectations in a memorable way, which I won’t spoil. And I don’t want to spoil too much about this film as it does feel so unpredictable, so the basic logline and premise is that a pair of siblings, younger sister Daphne and older brother Wilson (Evan Dumouchel), aim to get revenge on a mysterious stalker. The film does maintain that unpredictable edge throughout the film, where only around the 45-minute mark is where we really know what type of film this is.
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