Countdown to Halloween Part 3 - Always Read the Terms and ConditionsCountdown | Directed by Justin Dec | 2019 | Horror | PG-13 | 1 H 30 M By Jocelyn Illing You are a nurse who learns that one of your patients had an accident in their stairwell to the hospital. You are concerned, but also suspicious. There has been an app going around, claiming to predict people’s deaths, so you decide to investigate. You go into the patient’s room and take his phone from his personal effects, but oh no, it’s locked. What do you do? Obviously, you take the phone down to the morgue, find his body, and test different identification techniques until you unlock the phone. Is this okay procedure? Probably not. Does it showcase the determination of Justin Dec’s Countdown’s heroine Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail)’s determination in the fight to cheat the app, and therefore death? Yes. The premise of Countdown, as you may already be able to tell, is quite simple. Quinn is your typical horror movie blonde, a nurse who has recently acquired her license. During her congratulatory cake-break, she and her co-workers discuss the new phone application that supposedly predicts when you are going to die. Quinn and her co-workers are mostly skeptical about the legitimacy of the app, claiming that not only is impossible to predict one’s death but it’s also unnatural. However, later in the day as she receives an invitation to join the app by one of her co-workers, Quinn’s curiosity gets the better of her and she creates an account. The only problem? She skipped through the terms and conditions, the rules of the app which help to determine her fate. What I liked about this film is that it doesn’t seem to be trying to hard. It knows that it’s a commercial horror movie with a catchy premise and uses that premise to keep the audience engaged. Although not all of the characters are thoroughly fleshed out, they all have redeeming qualities which make us root for them; Quinn is a health care worker trying to report her creepy boss; Jordan is her little sister, grieving after their mother’s death; and Matt is… the hot guy that keeps Quinn company? (I should mention that one of the main tropes in American horror movie’s is conventionally beautiful people. Countdown ticked off that box). Like many other horror films of the past five years, Countdown’s villain takes its form in a piece of technology. Through this framing, the film is commenting, rather comically, on the dangers of technology. We all know that no one reads the terms and conditions for they are too long, too boring, and we assume that there won’t be any consequences for skipping them. Countdown’s argument seems to suggest that we really need to think hard about the information we are giving to websites and phone apps, for there indeed will be consequences down the road. In the end, the film comes down to two essential questions, one philosophical and one not so much. It first asks the viewers that if you could learn the exact date you will die, would you want to know? I think this is a rather interesting conversation for it causes one to think of what they would do if they knew when they were going to die. Would they live their life to the fullest, or crumble and count down the days? The film also asks, in the digital age, what are the consequences of not reading the terms and conditions? Yes, death is a bit of an exaggerated consequence, but it gets us thinking about how we often give our information to companies without thinking. While the film itself was not particularly scary (minimal jump scares, not really any gore, semi-creepy looking demons), the plot was interesting enough to capture my attention and make watch the entire film. Countdown is an easy watch, but not a regrettable watch.
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Countdown to Halloween Part 2 – New is Not Always BetterChild’s Play | Directed by Lars Klevberg | 2019 | Horror | 16+ | 1 H 30 M By Jocelyn Illing Living in the current age of sequels, reboots and remakes, it has become evident that new is not always better. Many filmmakers are not able to capture the essence and magic of an original, the thing that made the movie successful in the first place. To be clear, I am not referring to the elements of movies that made them great cinematic pieces of art, for a film does not have to be, for lack of a better phrase, “made well”, in order for it to be successful. Some films are just so bad or campy that they capture the hearts of audiences. Lev Klevberg’s 2019 reboot of the Child’s Play franchise is an example of such a failure. The turn to digital, while providing some important commentary on our increasingly digital worlds, removed the camp-factor and took itself too seriously. Klevberg’s film begins in a modern-day Vietnam factory where workers are tirelessly building the hottest new toy, the Buddi doll, under poor work conditions. A disgruntled employee manipulates the doll he had been working on, disabling its safety functions before placing it in line with the rest of the dolls to be packaged and shipped. We then cut to Chicago, where a customer at the local supermarket is returning a Buddi doll, claiming that it isn’t functioning the way it is supposed to. Tired single mom and supermarket attendant Karen (Aubrey Plaza) decides to take the defected toy home and give it to her teenage son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) as an early birthday gift. Although Andy rejects the gift at first, claiming it to be a toy for little kids, he soon forms a bond with the robot doll. However, Andy soon witnesses the power of the toy’s artificial intelligences and the murderous length it will take to protect his “best buddi”. This is what didn’t work in the film. For starters, the design of the Buddi doll, when compared to the Chucky doll from the original series, was not that creepy. Due to its robotic form, the Buddi doll could not make the same facial expressions as the original possessed doll. Although it would move its mouth mechanically, it could never achieve a look as sinister as Chucky’s, a fact mentioned in the movie when Andy wants to use Buddi to scare his mom’s boyfriend. This new origin story of the Buddi doll also prevents it from being as terrifying as Chucky as its agency is the direct product of his programming. There is a bit of creative licence between turning off safety mode and murdering people, but the magic just isn’t there. As the entire plot revolves around the Buddi doll, the movie falls rather flat. Another fault of the movie was the casting of Plaza. Plaza is known for playing sarcastic and irresponsible characters that are still extremely likeable, for they make the audience laugh. Unfortunately, her knack for sarcasm does not benefit her when playing Karen. I just felt that Plaza was not believable as a mother. Throughout the film she seemed to stay on a neutral level that is characteristic of her previous rolls. Even when her son was in danger, Karen didn’t really show any strong emotions. Although this might be the product of artistic licence, it did lead to the character being very unlikable. However, there are a few things that the film did get right. For starters, the casting of Mark Hamill as the voice of the Buddi doll was excellent. Hamill has made a respectable career post-Star Wars as a voice actor due to, in my opinion, is ability to channel those creepy voices inside of your head that sometimes wake you up at night. I was also impressed by Bateman’s performance as the sweet, loner kid Andy. The most interesting component of the film is perhaps its overarching themes of the dangers of capitalism and technology. The story is set up as a revenge plot against corporations who exploit their workers. We further see the effects of consumerism as people become transfixed by the Buddi doll, its popularity prompting the store to host a launch party for the doll’s second edition. As we watch the film we also begin to see how technology shapes the lives of all of the characters. Not only is Buddi an electronic toy, but also a product of smart technology with the ability to connect to and control all other Kaslan Corporation products. Throughout the film we begin to see the power that Buddi has in controlling different aspects of our lives. In the end, although this reboot worked to showcase some of the flaws in our current consumerist, technological society, it wasn’t scary and lost the magical campy feeling of the original. It is just another film about Artificial Intelligence gone wrong. Countdown to Halloween Part 1 – That Moment When You Forget About Much Horror Movies Trigger Your Flight or Fight ResponsesGerald’s Game | Directed By Mike Flanagan | Horror | TV-MA | 1 H 43 MIN By Jocelyn Illing Since we are now in the middle of October, I thought it was about time that I begin watching scary movies on the regular. Searching through my endless Netflix cue I had to decide exactly which type of horror movie I was in the mood for. Early 2000s supernatural? 1970s gore? One of the Chucky movies? Gerald’s Game had been on my list for quite some time and a friend had mentioned it the other day, so I thought why not? What I did not know when I chose to watch this film is that it triggers many bodily responses that I had never really experienced when watching a film. Clearly after my dry spell of not watching horror films, this was not the best way to ease back into it. However, although I felt my heart beat faster, sweat dripping down my neck, and my stomach churning so much I feared that something might come up, it was all experienced in the best way possible. These responses are perhaps one of the most powerful effects of cinema, and I welcome them with open arms. Gerald’s Game begins with a simple premise; Jessie (Carla Gugino) and her much older husband Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) escape to their country cottage for the weekend in order to spice up their marriage. Almost immediately after they arrive, Gerald makes the purpose of this trip known, leading Jessie into the bedroom and, much to Jessie’s surprise, retrieving a pair of handcuffs that he had packed in his over-night bag. Now, if the two of them were on the same page in terms of their sexual kinks, I would have applauded them for their experimentation. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Upon being handcuff, Jessie shows extremely visible signs of discomfort and even expresses verbally that she does not give consent. Hushing her, Gerald continues his little game (see what I did there) until he gets his comeuppance. He has a heart attack and falls on top of Jessie. Alone, apart from the stray dog who gnaws on her husband’s corpse, and handcuffed, Jessie must race against the clock and find a way to escape before it is too late. When I first started watching the Gerlad’s Game I was hesitant about the its potential. From what little I had heard of the film; I was afraid it was just going to be some torture porn film that would make me so uncomfortable that I would have to shut it off after the first 20 minutes. Thankfully, the film dug a little deeper into the characters and the scenario. The structure of plot (I’m going to try my best not to spoil it) invited us into Jessies’ psyche so that we can better understand her and so that her situation becomes even more real to us. This is partly how the film causes our bodies to respond in certain ways. We can empathize with her and steps into her shoes. Additionally, Gerald’s Game gifts us with many other horror movie tropes - such as gore, jump scares and ghosts - that act as delightful little cherries on top of this deliciously frightening sundae. What I also did not think about when choosing to watch this film was how it would relate to my current situation. Although I am not handcuffed to my bedpost I have been “confined” to my house since the beginning of the pandemic. Staying in one place for two long and seeing the same people over and over again is enough to make a person to go mad. As I watched Jessie talk to herself and experience hallucinations, I could not help but feel her loneliness and fear of the future (to a lesser degree of course). Additionally, I began to think about what I would do if I were in her situation? Would I panic and give up or would I be able to find the strength in me to problem solve and fight my way out? I think that might be what makes horror films, such as this one, so scary; your ability to put yourself in the protagonists situation and think “what if this happened to be in real life.” Kind of a dark note to end this review but yeah. by Marcus Ogden Since our screening of The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981), a few people have asked me about what other Italian horror films are worth watching. I wouldn’t call myself an expert on the topic, but I’ve definitely made it my niche. My main interest has been the giallo, which is an Italian subgenre of horror and thriller named for the yellow covers of the pulp books they were based on. If I were to describe the genre briefly, I would say it’s where the play of gender dynamics and mystery found in film noir meet the stylized sex and violence of 80’s slashers. There are certain hallmarks people attribute to the genre such as leather-gloved killers, an emphasis on sexuality and gender, an obsession with Freud, and highly stylized filmmaking. These films reserved a space among the exploitation/B-movie milieu of the 60’s and 70’s, but later into the 80’s and even in the present many filmmakers are inspired and influenced by giallo films. This list will explore 6 ‘deadly’ giallo films from some of the major directors of the movement that I believe are great entryways to the genre. Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975) The first film I’ll recommend is Dario Argento’s Deep Red, as it was the first giallo I watched and it spurred me to find more. Argento is the most prolific Italian horror director, with a streak of great movies starting in 1970 with Bird With the Crystal Plumage and ending with The Stendhal Syndrome in 1996. Deep Red follows pianist Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) trying to solve the murder of a famous psychic, with the help of journalist Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi). This film serves as both an interesting mystery as well as an exciting slasher flick. Argento has such a strong way of infusing a film with energy and intense visual pleasure through his use of shot composition, vibrant colourization, and very rhythmic editing. Deep Red is his first collaboration Nicolodi, who went on to write Argento’s landmark film Suspiria (1977). The film is also Argento’s first collaboration with the band Goblin, who would go on to produce memorable soundtracks for Argento’s later films, as well as work for other filmmakers such as George Romero. Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964) I would be absolutely remised to not include this Mario Bava directed classic. Blood and Black Lace is critically acclaimed and often considered the archetypal giallo, even the name hints towards the interplay of sex and violence that makes up the genre. The film stars western star Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, and Thomas Reiner. It opens with the murder of a model by a masked assailant, and what follows is a murder investigation that unearths the many secrets of a Rome fashion house. Establishing the narrative template of slashers to come, Blood and Black Lace is an excellent mixture of noir and horror. The film dons a classical aesthetic with a jazzy brass rich soundtrack and a focus on vice, but injects vivid colours and violence into the interplay of darkness and lightness. Bava was part of an older generation of horror directors than the others I’ll be mentioning, but his films are considered highly influential to later slashers as well as to directors like Quentin Tarantino. A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971) Lucio Fulci is best known for his surrealist horror classic The Beyond, as well as his film Zombi 2 which was marketed as a fraudulent Dawn of the Dead sequel. Fulci also directed a handful of giallo films, one being A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin. The film follows bourgeois wife Carol (Florinda Bolkan) who murders her licentious neighbour Julia (Anita Strindberg) in a dream only to find the following morning that her neighbour was murdered in the same way that she dreamed of. As she struggles to parse reality from dreams, her family members investigate the murder to clear her name as well as their own. Set in London, this intricately plotted whodunit is beautifully shot and paired with a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone. Managing to be one of the more grounded and procedural films from Fulci, there is still a few psychedelic dream sequences and exciting scene found within. A certain scene in the film was convincing enough to be brought into court, where special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi had to prove that the gore in the film was fake to prevent Fulci from being jailed. The Fifth Cord (Luigi Bazzoni, 1971) Although I love the genre, I often accept the fact that a lot of giallo films are thinly plotted and unevenly written. However, Luigi Bazzoni’s The Fifth Cord is a giallo I would label as Cinema. The film stars Franco Nero as Andrea, a journalist whose life is starting to spiral as he suddenly becomes a suspect when people around him are murdered. Andrea decides to investigate when it’s clear that the killer is cutting off a finger of each victim as a countdown. The Fifth Cord has a very structurally sound and intriguing mystery and the viewer is just as compelled to investigate as the characters are, which is possibly owed to the film being an adaptation of a book with the same name. The film leans much more into being a neo-noir thriller rather than a horror film and fits right in with the New Hollywood films of the 70s. The Fifth Cord is a great giallo for anyone not interested in horror as it is still an effectively thrilling and stylish mystery. Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973) Between 1971 and 1973 Sergio Martino directed 5 well regarded giallo films, one of which being Torso which leans heavily towards the slasher end of the spectrum. The film follows Dani (Tina Aumont) and her friends as they are targeted by a masked killer who believes they can identify him. Although the film features more exploitative sexuality, it is worth watching for the many brilliantly shot and inventive slasher scenes, and its mystery that is rife with red herrings. There is also an interesting discussion around what could, and what could not, be shown as among the violence and nudity in the film, a certain scene stands out as being uniquely censored. Additionally, the film features an excellent soundtrack from Guido and Maurizio De Angelis. While a fairly simple film, Torso is credited as an early slasher and was screened as a double feature with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in American grindhouse theaters. The film has also been cited as an inspiration for horror director Eli Roth. Death Walks at Midnight (Luciano Ercoli, 1972)
Luciano Ercoli is another notable director with a handful of good giallo films, his most well-known being his two Death Walks films. Death Walks at Midnight is a campier giallo, but still just as entertaining and stylish as the others. Valentina (Nieves Navarro) is fashion model who takes an experimental drug and hallucinates seeing a man killing a woman with a spiked metal glove. When she comes to, she finds out that the murder had actually happened and that the killer is targeting her next. While the films plot may be convoluted at times, it builds up to a surprising twist and an epic conclusion well worth the journey. The film is well shot and appropriately exciting, with a great performance from Navarro who often portrayed capable and dominant female characters. Death Walks at Midnight also features a very catchy soundtrack from composer Gianni Ferrio and singer Mina Mazzini. Death Walks at Midnight stands out as one of the more outlandish and entertaining giallo films. As I conclude this article, it is hard for me to not list more and more films, as there are lots of strange, entertaining, and interesting films I’ve left out. Even the directors I already listed had other films I’d highly recommend. If you feel particularly drawn in to watching these and any other giallo films, I definitely recommend Tubi, and if you have a Calgary Public Library card then you can find some great ones on Kanopy. Of course, Shudder and Google Play are also good options for those willing to pay. Lastly, I should note that a lot of these films have very dated and problematic elements, but I think that they can still be enjoyed and seen through a critical and analytical lens that takes those elements into consideration. I lament that there isn’t any examples I know of directed by people of any diverse group, although recent works such as Knife + Heart (Yann Gonzalez, 2018), The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, 2013) and Cold Hell (Stefan Ruzowitzky, 2017) have shown that elements of the genre can be reworked to tell stories from more current and diverse perspectives. By Jocelyn Illing It is often interesting to see where an actor’s career goes after completing a major movie franchise. Even more interesting is how a child-actor continues after their star-making role. While some stars crash and burn (see Home Alone’s Macaulay Culkin), others grow and thrive (like Leon: The Professional’s Natalie Portman). A particularly interesting career is that of Daniel Radcliffe. Instead of continuing to make high-budget Hollywood films after completing the Harry Potter franchise, Radcliffe chose a different route, starring in a unique variety of both Hollywood and indie films. His selection-taste in his film roles is what makes Radcliffe an important actor to watch. I set out to watch all of Radcliffe’s post-Harry Potter films and rank them from the sublime indie roles to the the rather boring block-buster supporting characters.
*Note: Beast of Burden (Jesper Ganslandt, 2018, USA) has been omitted because I could not find a copy anywhere*
Les Quatre Cents Coups : |
Roma A knife-sharpener’s whistle amongst clay urban life. A housekeeper finds love, but he runs, leaving her with a child he refuses responsibility for. Waves of soap ebbing across a tiled garage. Cleo searches for her family, first in him, then closer to home. The posters for the PRI shouting their authority from every wall. Baby incubators guarding from the stones of an earthquake. Rich drunks firing pistols into the woods. A bear singing opera amongst a burning forest. Cleo, embraced by her children and their mother on a beach. Waves ebbing. Dedicated to Cuaron’s own nanny, and to the act of watching movies. |
Jocelyn Illing - President
Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley, USA) Another one of the most original films of the decade. This film was bananas. Riley takes one of the most mundane professions, telemarketing, and uses it as a platform to talk about racism and capitalism in the United States and to casually make your brain explode. Watching this film was definitely an experience, one that was made extra special by the accompaniment of a friend who endured all of its twists and turns with me. |
Elias Stang - Poster Designer
Anton Carpentier - Cinema Politica Coordinator
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE With all these dumb self-indulgent debates around superhero movies, it’s a breath of fresh air to see a film that transcends its genre and craft. The film is unabashedly a comic book film, worrying not about proving itself as a film but rather a continuation of a beloved character and an expansion of the medium. Mind blowing visuals accompany a poignant story that’s timeless and universal. It is perhaps, the greatest animated movie of the decade. Although, some other part of me really hopes someone picked Eight Grade for this year. |
Nicole Betts - Crash/Cut Editor
Annihilation (Alex Garland, USA) This was an unreal year for horror, and I had such a hard time picking which film to be crowned my favourite for 2018, but I have to give it to Annihilation. That movie stuck with me, I loved the themes and ideas it explored, the way genetics can be played with and what happens when that occurs, and that I was not given a straight answer. So many questions were raised, and so few answers were willingly given, leading to second and third viewings to spot the subtle hints to the truth. Not to mention, I already feared bears and this movie just slammed that fear home in the best possible way. This movie messed with my mind, scared the crap out of me, and made me think about it for weeks afterwards. Honourable mentions include A Quiet Place and Hereditary. |
2019
In 2019, Avengers Endgame became the fifth film to gross $2 billion worldwide, and is the highest grossing film of all time, making Zoe Saldana the second highest-grossing film actress of all time, her films collectively grossing more the $11 billion worldwide. Joker became the first R-rated film in history to surpass $1 billion. On March 20th, The Walt Disney Company completed its acquisition of the assets of 21st Century Fox, which includes 20th Century Fox and its subsidiaries. In world news, as of January 1st, 2019, all works published in 1923, except sound recordings, enter the public domain in the United States, the first to do so since the passage of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Same sex marriage became legal Austria, and the Chinese probe Chang’e became the first human-made object to land on the far side of the Moon. Britain left the EU, and Donald Trump suggested that the solution to hurricanes is to drop a nuke in the eye of the storm to disrupt it. The Mueller investigation concluded this year, finding that Donald Trump and his campaign did not collude with Russia…until the redacted Mueller report was released to the public. It reported several contacts between Trump campaign advisors and Russian individuals with government connections.
Elias Stang - Poster Designer
Jacob Bews - Crash/Cut Editor
Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, South Korea) A family of basement dwellers wait in a fog of pesticide. Instant noodles and tap water. Their parallel, a rich family in an impossible house. Rhymes to memorize a false past. Slowly, the penniless family integrate themselves amongst the wealthy strategically implicating former servants in firable offenses. A cuckoo family in another’s nest. Gourmet beef and instant noodles. The fateful campfire failure. Emotional labour. A father makes a choice. I can’t say anymore sorry you gotta see this one. |
Jocelyn Illing - President
Waves (Trey Edward Shults, USA) Never have I had such an emotional experience whilst watching a film. When the lights came up in the theatre, I turned to my friend and we both at tears streaming down our faces. Shults’ heartbreakingly real portrayal of adolescence hit me right in the GOD DAMN HEART. |
Anton Carpentier - Cinema Politica Coordinator
BOOKSMART (Olivia Wilde, USA) This is a beautiful love story disguised as a comedy. Olivia Wilde has an insanely strong directorial debut with this film. I love a coming of age story, as my previous picks suggest, but this film is undoubtably the funniest. Booksmart proves that comedies can be just as powerful as their well lauded dramatic counterparts. It’s a movie that reinvigorates my love of movies. |
Nicole Betts - Crash/Cut Editor
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, USA) When I first heard Tarantino was taking on the Manson murders, I was terrified because I know his violent and bloody film-style, and I did not need a spectacular re-creation of the senseless slaughter that occurred that night. I am well acquainted with the events, and they are not something that needs to be fleshed out and shown in bloody detail. I was so, so relieved this did not occur (though there was plenty of blood, not to worry there) and instead the story was told from a different perspective. The acting was spectacular, Margot Robbie perfectly captured the bright eyed and beautiful soul of Sharon Tate. As well, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio gave spectacular performances themselves, and the story of the Manson family and the subsequent violence was told in a unique and careful way. I was very impressed with the tact and respect Mr. Tarantino displayed with this film. |
2016
What an… eventful year? Thankfully there are a lot of the things that happened in the film world so we don’t have to talk about politics. First off, Leonardo finally won his Oscar. Does anyone care? I’m sure some people do. Disney continued to cash in on live action remakes of their classics (such as the excellent Jungle Book, and raked in the top five grossing films of the year. Speaking of remakes, there was a Ghostbusters all-female reboot. That wasn’t as good. But, the worst film of the year would have to be Suicide Squad. What…a… disaster. Alas, there were many other great films that we took notice of:
Jocelyn Illing - President
Jacob Bews - Crash/Cut Editor
Nicole Betts - Crash/Cut Editor
Elias Stang - Poster Designer
Lucia Gonzalez - Cinema Politica Assistant
Anton Carpentier - Cinema Politica Coordinator
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople tells a very humorous but tragic story about loss and belonging. Waititi’s films distil complex human emotions through humour in such a welcomed and necessary warmth. Suffering is unavoidable, but laughter certainly makes it easier. Taika Waititi proves in this film that he as profound as he is funny. |
2017
The year that the Me Too movement took off, starting with the exposure of the widespread sexual-abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein in early October. This movement has sparked a major change in not only the world of Hollywood, but in the music industry, sciences, churches, academia, politics, etc. It also was used as a platform for men to discuss their own stories of abuse and harassment, notable celebrities such as Terry Crews and James Van Der Beek. Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the highest grossing film of 2017, but was beat out by Split for the year’s most profitable film, as it generated 2000% return on investment. 2017 was also a record year for non-Hollywood foreign films in the Chinese market as they accounted for 72% of the years foreign film box office revenue. It was also the first year since 1958 that had the top 3 highest grossing domestic films be female led (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, and Wonder Woman). In world news, Donald Trump was sworn in to be the 45th president of the United States, blessing us with tweets such as “covfefe”. It was also the year the Mueller investigations began, a travel ban was put into place, and the nuclear threat between the United States and North Korea increased rapidly. In October, the Las Vegas massacre occurred, the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in the history of the United States. There was also the total solar eclipse, the first since 1918, and it was a particularly brutal hurricane season with three major storms; Harvey, Irma and Maria.
Nicole Betts - Crash/Cut Editor
Dunkirk I love war movies, I always have, and this one managed to climb its way to the top 3 of my favourite war films. It did this a couple ways. First, as weird as it sounds, there is almost no gore in this movie. This is unusual for a war film, and it was a nice change of pace to not watch severed arms fly into the camera. It allowed me to enjoy the work done to tell the story of this event without feeling physically ill or like I was ripped off with cheap shock factor effects. Second, the music is unreal and the only way I can describe it is a never-ending anxiety attack, the “Shepard tone” is used brilliantly and adds to the intensity of each scene. Third, I love how the three different stories of heroes and survivors of Dunkirk twist and weave around one another to tell the full story of that fateful battle. |
Anton Carpentier - Cinema Politica Coordinator
Jacob Bews - Crash/Cut Editor
Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villenueve, USA) A shadow city bursting with neon from the seams. Cacophonies of blues, pinks, and greens. Where are the humans? Everywhere. Nowhere. Living amongst them, a replicant, Agent K, searches for a mysterious child. Could replicants conceive? Bring new life into the world? Is there a difference? Surrogate memories. Inhuman drones. The rotting carcass of a decadent class sustained by wires and magnetic code. Black waves on a digital shore. |
Lucia Gonzalez - Cinema Politica Assistant
Elias Stang - Poster Designer
Jocelyn Illing - President
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, USA) We love films about females, by females, for females. Lady Bird was a breath of fresh air. It presents the strong female relationships between a high school student, her mother and her best friend and all of the ups and downs she endures as a teenage becoming a young adults in a way that puts emphasis on their connection rather than that of a boy. Rather than being a teen flick about young romantic love, Lady Bird explores the deep love between two friends and a daughter and mother, and all of the mischief and heartbreak their endure on the road to becoming adults. |
2014
2014 brought about a string of films that worked to extend the medium of film, testing its boundaries to see where it could take both the filmmaker and the viewers. Examples of such films include Interstellar, with is breathtaking special effects which transported us into space, Boyhood, causing us to question what exactly realist cinema is, and Birdman’s experimentation with cinematography and editing. Marvel continued to crank out super-hero films with Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Solider. Ben Affleck decided to blur the lines between art and life with his portrayal of Nick Dunne in Gone Girl and moviegoers developed an appetite for dystopian trilogies (The Hunger Games series and the Divergent series). Want to know what quality cinema came out this year? Check out the list below:
2015
This was the first year that a single studio, Universal Pictures, released three films that each grossed over $1 billion; the first year that a single studio released two films that both grossed over $1.5 billion, and the first year a single studio released two films that both grossed over $1 billion outside of North America. These movies are Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Minions. Minions became the first non-Disney animated film to gross over $1 billion, and it is currently the fourth highest-grossing animated film of all time. 2015 was also the year of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, we won the fight for net neutrality, and the world exploded over what colour the dress was. In June, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision when they voted to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide, while Ireland was the first country in the world to approve same-sex marriage. In July of 2015, we got the clearest picture of Pluto after more than 9 years of waiting for the New Horizons craft to reach this distant planet. We also got to see the day that Doc Brown, Marty McFly and Jennifer descended upon, October 21st, 2015… though our time seems to have a lot less hover boards. Star Wars, The Force Awakens was released at the end of 2015, and became the highest grossing film of 2015.