Month: July 2021

In 2010 the Insidious film franchise was born. It began as a little American/Canadian supernatural horror flick and snowballed into a four-film franchise that has dominated the horror landscape for the last decade. Here are some frightening and slightly odd facts about your favourite jump-scare flick.

Quick and on The Cheap – Written by Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan, the first Insidious film was shot in just three weeks and cost about $1.5 million to make. In the end, it made just shy of $100 million with its global release making it the second most profitable film of 2011.

Doing Double Duty – Joseph Bishara is a well-known composer in the horror genre with his creepy and startling scores for The Conjuring and Annabelle. His music causes chills but his face, well, his face is the stuff of nightmares in Insidious as he is the man behind the Lipstick Face demon. But no worries, his young co-star passed the time watching him in the make-up chair so he wouldn’t be too scared on the set.

No Fear of Commitment – Leigh Whannell makes us scared of a lot of things but he doesn’t seem to have a fear of commitment when it comes to the Insidious franchise. He wrote all four movies, acted in them all and directed Chapter 3. He was in his twenties when he dreamed up the demons and monsters that haunt our dreams and he shows no signs of stopping. Horror is his thing with a total of ten horror scripts under his belt.

Out of Order – Like many noteworthy franchises there are two ways to binge this series … either chronologically as they were released or chronologically as the story flows. The Last Key is actually the origin story for the series, though it is the fourth film to be released, but should be viewed after Chapter 3. The third movie to watch is the original Insidious flick and lastly, Chapter 2. Which way do you binge the series?

Splat Pack 4ever – Leigh Whannell and James Wan met in film school in Autralia. Little did they know then that their partnership would yield some of the most memorable and frightening films of this century. They made a name for themselves in gore horror when they broke into the genre with Saw and then broke that mold with Insidious. No matter how they scare us, their friendship is terrifying and lasting.

By the Numbers – All in, the four Insidious films had a combined production budget of $26.5 million dollars. The first was made on the cheap with $1.5 million while Chapter 3 was the most costly to produce at $11 million. When the numbers were tallied, the series raked in $539.4 million world wide. When looking at the numbers, it is interesting to note that the film that had the highest box office success, The Last Key, is also the one with the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating. Go figure.

It’s Not Over Yet – Fans of the series will be pleased to hear that Insidious will live to see another film – or two. Plans are already in the works for a fifth installment of the series with Patrick Wilson at the directing helm and Scott Teems taking over the writing gig from Whellan. There is also a crossover with Sinister on the books for the near future as well.

In the meantime, check out the first four Insidious movies now on Netflix.

Dusty roads, poverty and crushing societal expectations threaten to overwhelm Prerna, a regular teen girl in rural India, when her salvation rolls into town in the most unexpected way. Skater Girl is the story of every girl who dreams of a life beyond what is known.

When Jessica, a western born executive, arrives in a rural village to discover more about her family connections, she meets Prerna, a young girl about to step into young adulthood though she is missing out on many rights of passage of childhood. Prerna is behind at school and frustrated by her current circumstances. Because of her family’s poverty and society’s view on women she feels stuck and restless. Jessica notices and sees something of herself in the young girl she befriends.

While getting to know the village children, Jessica is inundated with their collection of wheeled toys, including Prerna’s little brother’s ‘bearings car’ which looks a lot like a skateboard. Jessica posts a video of the little guy’s homemade toy and before she knows what’s happening her friend Eric rolls into the village – on his skateboard.

The kids are delighted by the board and quickly become obsessed with the idea of learning to ride themselves. Jessica taps into a few resources and soon a shipment of boards arrives in the small village. As the kids learn to ride chaos erupts all around town – causing many parents and town elders to frown upon this new pastime.

Despite objections from the community, Jessica embarks on an uphill battle to build the village children a skate park of their own. She taps into her creativity and determinations to muscle through the resistance without realizing her young friend, Prerna, is watching and working out a few dreams of her own.

Like the other village children, Prerna quickly became enthralled with the skateboard. She practiced relentlessly and soon found skill and confidence she never knew she had. The board, though, becomes more than a hobby for Prerna, it becomes a vehicle for self-discovery. And in this self-discovery she feels forced to choose between tradition and opportunity.

This is a beautiful film, dreamed up by sisters Manjari and Vanati Makijany. Though not based on any one person’s story, the Makijanys found inspiration in a collection of stories they heard about young girls in India becoming masters of the board. They took that inspiration, and their love for India, and wove this heart-warming tale as a tribute to the daughters of India and the dreams they carry with them.

Rachel Sanchita Gupta is stunning in her role as Prerna. She is strong and vulnerable and curious all in the same breath. her chemistry with Amrit Maghera (Jessica) is beautiful. Their bond feels deep and genuine and fills the whole screen each scene.

This is an uplifting and gorgeous story about women and heart and dreams. It is comfort food for the soul that nourishes and inspires. Don’t miss Skater Girl now on Netflix.

Mother/daughter relationships can be difficult but nothing brings a family together like saving a young girl from assassins. Full of action, intriguing camera work and some kicking explosions, this is Gunpowder Milkshake.

Gunpowder Milkshake is exactly the family drama you’d expect if the family has been in the assassination business for generations. A young assassin, Sam (Karen Gillan), is forced to seek out help from her estranged mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey) when she botches an assignment in order to save the life of a young girl.

When her boss realizes that Sam did not complete the job, he sends out three pros, and former crew-members of Scarlet’s, to take care of business. There’s a constant back on forth of gunfire and hand to hand combat as Scarlet and Sam struggle to protect the young girl from The Firm’s assassins. Loyalties are tested and bonds are formed as Sam finds her footing as a protector rather than a killer.

This face-paced, quirky action flick is the brain child of Navot Papushado, who also directed the film, and Ehud Lavski. Gunpowder Milkshake is as much art as it is entertainment with its well-choreographed action sequences, memorable camera work and fantastic sets and costumes. While the script is basic the leading ladies, who include Angela Bassett, Carla Gugino and Michelle Yeoh, fill every moment of the their screen time with strength, poise and artistry. The true strength of this film is the mighty ensemble of women.

Papushado and Lavski were intentional about building a space within the film that would showcase, not only the strength of the women, but the soul of them as well. In designing the set of the library, production designer, David Scheunemann, took inspiration from libraries from around the world and books that showcased the resiliency of women. It all comes together to create a set that feels more like an additional character in the film than a backdrop for the actors to play against.

Gunpowder Milkshake is an enjoyable watch and rivals the action of John Wick or Kill Bill. And just like those other crowd-pleasing action flicks, Gunpowder Milkshake is lining itself up for a sequel!

What do you get when you mix teen girls. 1990s fashion and a country in conflict? bet you wouldn’t say a delightful comedy! But that is exactly what Derry Girls has to offer and it is hilarious!

The series centers around a group of teen girls (and one unwanted English cousin) in Derry, Ireland during a period of time known as “The Troubles.” The backdrop of political unrest makes the daily struggles of teen life for this band of misfits even more ridiculous and yet entirely relatable. Whether they are begging for mercy after offending the local chip shop owner or taking on the head nun at their all girls Catholic school, this tight group of friends are sure to create chaos wherever they go.

The lead characters are written with such wit and compassion that they seem just like the girls you knew from high school. Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) is earnest, studious and yet habitually tragic in her teen angst. Her slightly odd cousin, Orla (Louisa Harland) lives with Erin, her parents, grandfather and aunt and the girls attend school together. They are friends with the skittish Clare (Nicola Coughlan) and Michelle (Jaime-Lee O’Donnell), the rebellious and devilishly witty alpha-female. Oh, and Michelle’s unwanted cousin, James (Dylan McLlellan) from England is part of their crew and attends the girls’ school with them. Together, they navigate the minefield of emotions and decisions that is the teen life.

Created and written by Lisa McGee, Derry Girls is full of real life emotion and quirky teen mishaps. It is reported that McGee pulled content from her own life, as a teen girl coming of age in the midst of political strife. When the show debuted, viewers became instant fans because of how McGee normalized the experience of growing up in Northern Ireland during the 90s. Both Catholics and Protestants have found the show, and its lead characters, endearing and true.

Derry Girls has had the highest viewers of any show in Northern Ireland in nearly 20 years. It has inspired a book, a mural and has received a slew of awards for best series, best comedy, best writing and best lead actress in a series. In just two short seasons, the show has developed a cult-like following in Ireland, the U.K. and across the world. The show’s heartfelt and cheeky approach to topics that are current to today’s culture and climate yet fit so seamlessly in the scope of the 1990s setting of the series is no doubt to be credited for this success.

Be sure to block off some time to binge this wonderful series and stay tuned for info on the release of the third season!

After a year of a Canadian Football drought fans are desperate for anything that involves a pigskin, a field and bodies crashing into one another. While the CFL season is due to start up again shortly we have a classic football flick to get you revved up for the season. This is Friday Night Lights.

Based on the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team and A Dream by H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights follows the tough road to a championship for a high school football team from Odessa, Texas. Filled with drama, tension and more than a few hard knocks, Friday Night Lights gets to the grit of the game while showcasing the off-the-field struggles of the team’s top players.

Head Coach, Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thorton), is under a tremendous amount of scrutiny from the town the lives and dies with their high school team, The Panthers. Working with some seasoned star athletes while attempting to raise a crop of up-and-comers leads to a series of missteps and near misses for a team that should have comfortably held the top spot in their league. In the end, a shot at the championship comes through a coin toss and with a bit of luck and a whole lot of hard work the team rises to the challenge.

Adapted for screen and directed by Peter Berg, this movie depicts the emotion of the moment more than unraveling a sweeping character arc. The leads are fleshed out in flashes of intense emotion and conflict and subtle moments of introspection and reflection. These snapshots of the town’s obsession with the team and it’s players is intensified with Berg’s technique of punctuating the drama through call-ins at the local talk radio station. The semi-documentary style filming and the solid performance by all of the leads, especially the very versatile Billy Bob Thornton, give this flick the extra boost that so many other sports films lack. All of these elements come together to create an interesting and well-paced narrative.

The movie was released to critical praise and fan enthusiasm. While it would have been easy for Friday Night Lights to be ‘just another sports movie’ it has stood the test of time and is often seen as a benchmark for other football films. The story goes beyond a kitschy telling of one team’s journey towards the championship and manages to create a very relatable and honest glimpse into the common experience of small town high school sports – in Texas or elsewhere.

This is a perfect movie to tide over any impatient football fan. Add The Blindside, Rudy and Facing the Giants for a football movie-marathon – all available now on Netflix.

Art and life often are symbiotic and though we are (fingers crossed) coming to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic there’s still time for another disaster movie to mess with our psyches. Outbreak isn’t a new flick but it is a classic and disturbing ‘what if’ scenario that we have lived out over the past year and a half.

The film centers around an Ebola outbreak that begins in Zaire and spreads to California and opens with this quote from Dr. Joshua Lederberg, a Nobel laureate, “The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.” It is an ominous and prophetic statement that frames the chaos that unfolds as both military and civilian agencies struggle to contain the virus.

In a nutshell, soldiers stationed in an African jungle come down with a deadly virus which the military decides to cover up. Within a month a major viral outbreak has occurred in a neighboring community. At the same time a monkey, who is also infected with the virus, is traded on the black market to a handler in California. Before long a small town in California is under quarantine as dozens of townsfolk become sick with the deadly virus.

While the public is coming to terms with the outbreak of a highly contagious, deadly virus, government scientists and military doctors are locking horns over the right way to handle and contain this threat to global health. Because of the military’s shady cover-up early on, the political stakes are just as high as the risk to the planet that the virus poses.

The star studded cast includes Renee Russo, Dustin Hofmann, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr, Patrick Dempsey and Donald Sutherland. Let’s not forget fan favourite, Dale Dye, too. Each actor brings their A-game to this well written script. Originally adapted for film by Wolfgang Peterson from Richard Preston’s 1994 nonfiction work, The Hot Zone, Outbreak was a box-office smash and provided several cast members with substantial career bumps.

Many reviews of the day commented on this plot as being truly terrifying and an excellent science-fiction premise. The applauded the writing and the acting, even if some thought the idea of a virus that threatens humanity’s existence was a little far fetched. Little did they know then that 25 years later we would be living this plot all too closely.

If you’ve not seen Outbreak yet then your pandemic viewing is incomplete. Set aside Joe Exotic and cat documentaries and settle into a sci-fi flick that lands a little too close to home. It’s an excellent watch. You won’t be sorry!

In 2004, after watching children’s television shows with her children, actor Geena Davis noticed a disparity in representation onscreen between women and men. It was something she anecdotally knew of and something she had experienced in her own career but it wasn’t until she began seeing the world through the eyes of her children that she really took note of how damaging the lack of representation can be.

It was then that she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media to study and advocate for equal and fair representation in the media. This documentary, This Changes Everything, opens a broader conversation about the experience that women and minorities have in the film industry. Over 97 minutes, some Hollywood heavy-hitters share their experience in the industry and their passion for change.

Stars like Sandra Oh, Shandra Rimes, Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon and Geena Davis share their perspectives and experiences as they lay out the history of women in cinema. Matriarchs of the movement for change such as Maria Giese and Lina Wertmuller talk with passion and conviction about the long road they have walked to usher in equality and opportunities for women’s voices to flourish.

This Changes Everything debuted at the Toronto Film festival where it became first runner up in the people’s choice category. Directed by Tom Donahue, this film went on to win awards at other film festivals and drew attention to Geena Davis’ institution and her work on behalf of women in the industry. She went on to be recognized with a humanitarian award for her work.

Real change has begun because of this film and Davis’ work. Journalists and activists have picked up the story and applied pressure to network and studio heads to change their hiring practices. Litigation against said corporations have also begun as the fight for equality has gained traction. But considering this has been going on for a century, change has been slow in coming.

This Changes Everything is an important film, not only for those in show business, but for anyone who has hiring authority, anyone who tells stories or who teaches children. Awareness of the importance of representation is vital. And intentional change based on this awareness is imperative.

Kolkata is known as ‘The City of Joy’ because the heartbeat of the city is the culture of love, respect, enthusiasm for life and art. The city itself seems to be a celebration of life and that celebration reaches to every corner of the city. City of Joy celebrates the generosity of spirit that the city embodies through a story of a rural famer and his family finding a new way of life and a new community while helping an American doctor reconnect with his soul.

After troubling economic times that led to being indebted to moneylenders, Hazari Pal (Om Puri) moves his family into the city to begin again. When he is swindled out of the last of his money, his family is forced to survive on the streets. Late on night he comes to the rescue of and American man who is being beaten and robbed. This selfless act leads Hazari to a community of people who are eager to welcome and his family and help them find their way in the city.

The doctor is Max Lowe (Patrick Swayze). He is India to escape his past and to find peace. What he finds, instead, is family in the most unlikely of places. Drawn into service of the community in the slums of Kolkata, Max dedicates his time to the local clinic and to helping his new found friends find stability and safety. In the midst of all of this, Max discovers himself and the beauty of community.

City of Joy was far from a box office smash when it was released in 1992 but it has developed a faithful fan-base over the years. Tough it doesn’t have the same cult following as Swayze’s Dirty Dancing, most Swayze fans loved it. It is a beautiful story and highlights the trials and deep sense of community that can be found in the unexpected places of the world.

Om Puri was a well known Indian actor and City of Joy was his first Hollywood production. He put great effort into preparing for his role as a rickshaw driver and was very nervous to work along Swayze who was ay the height of his fame at the time. The two became fast friends and developed a life-long respect and affection for each other.

Based on the book of the same name by Dominiique Lapierre, City of Joy is inspired by real people and true events, though the conversations are fictional and some situations are blended for pacing and plotting. The book was award winning and caught the attention of screenwriter, Mark Medoff, who adapted it for film.

This film is beautiful and inspiring. it is visually interesting and, if you allow it, it will open your heart to the beauty found in struggle and the community that can be found in shared experience. This is City of Joy.

A missing child. A grieving mother. A strange suicide. And an underlying, unexplainable, spiritual tension. Requiem is the story of a missing child, hidden truths and all of the forces at work behind the scenes.

When an up and coming cellist, Mathilda Gray (Lydia Wilson), witnesses her mother’s strange and unexpected suicide her whole life story begins to unravel. Days after her mother’s death, Tillie discovers a box of newspaper clippings and old photographs that document a missing child case from decades earlier. In grief and confusion, Tillie and her friend, Hal (Joel Fry), head to a small Welsh town to try to understand Tillie’s mother’s fascination and connection with that case.

The pair soon discover their questions, and very presence, were not welcome in Penllynith. The locals were suspicious of them from the start and remained tight-lipped whenever they were around. Another newcomer to town, Nick (James Frecheville), invited them to stay at his newly-inherited mansion while they search for the answers.

While staying in the mansion that was central to the missing case of five-year-old Carys, Tillie begins to have episodes of sleepwalking and blackouts. She experienced flashes of memory while being overwhelmed by a sense of knowing the house and the grounds. She felt as though she had been there before but had no active memory of it.

As Tillie and Hal work away at uncovering the connection between Tillie’s mother and Carys, a parallel mystery unfolds as legend and conjecture collide in an avalanche of confusing symbols, stories and eye-witness accounts of super-natural beings. Just when it seems Tillie will finally get a break through and discover the truth about herself and her mother, everything gets turned sideways and more questions emerge.

Over six episodes, Requiem, weaves a convoluted tale that is part ghost story and part crime-thriller. Because it is a paranormal thriller, the boundaries of storytelling and believability are wide and the writing team of Kris Mrksa and Blake Ayshford takes advantage of every square inch. Director Mahalia Belo adds to the suspense and terror with quick camera cuts and terrifying sound effects. The overall vibe is sinister and unsettling.

While Requiem might not be for everyone, especially horror light-weights like myself, the story is interesting and Lydia Wilson gives a brilliant performance. She delivers a subtle and haunting performance without being over-the-top or falling in to a cliché performance.

Requiem is currently available of Netflix. Be sure to make time to binge this flick soon.

A beautiful, young French woman vacationing alone in a remote town in West Cork, Ireland seems idyllic but the reality has been a nightmare that has stretched on for more than 20 years. This is the story of Sophie: A Murder in West Cork.

On December 23, 1996 Sophie Toscan de Plantier set out to enjoy her day in Schull, West Cork. She was on holiday. Her day was spent hiking, visiting shops in town and talking with a few locals she had befriended over her years of returning to the same remote, bohemian town in south Ireland. As night was falling, she returned to her cottage.

The next morning her body, clothed in a nightdress and rubber boots, battered, bloody and tangled in bramble in her laneway. Because of the remote location, it took investigators nearly 28 hours to arrive and begin collecting evidence. By then the scene had been contaminated and disturbed beyond usefulness.

The media arrived hours before investigators and had begun their research and suppositions long before forensics had been collected. Local journalists served as guides and resources for national journalists that arrived to collect the story. One such local journalist embedded himself with as many ‘big-time’ reporters as he could. In doing so, Ian Bailey, painted himself into a corner that ended up having a huge, unrelenting spotlight on it.

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, as a docuseries, builds the story of Sophie and the legend of her murder by collecting first-hand accounts from locals and testimony from her family. It also features seemingly endless hours of film with the main suspect in Sophie’s murder, none other than local poet and journalist, Ian Bailey.

For more than 20 years, and through two arrests, the investigation has focused on one local man. But each time authorities feel like they have gathered enough evidence to prosecute, Bailey is released and the investigation begins again. Despite witness testimony, and his own admissions, Bailey has yet to be brought to trial in Ireland.

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork is an interesting and compelling watch. Viewers get drawn into the mystery and the legend, the gossip and the suspicion, the injustice and the heartache of this murder. Framed against the backdrop of a remote and wild landscape, filled with interesting and bohemian characters, this story begs to be heard. Though this murder of a young mother that has never been solved, her people remember her and continue to seek justice for their Sophie.