Archive for the ‘Video Reviews’ Category

  • 08 Mar

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    Video Review: Dead Man Down

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    Andrew called this out earlier, praising the directorial excess and the nice cast (Noomi Raapace, Colin Farrell, Isabelle Huppert, Terrence Howard) as one of the hidden gems to look for in this dour spring moviegoing season, but he was only going by the trailer. Now, Mamo!’s Matt Price has seen the film, and video reviews Niels Arden Oplev’s stylish action thriller, Dead Man Down; heaping it with praise in, exactly that, good direction. And as a part of The Substream‘s Watch This Instead (WTI) format he goes on recommends an even more stylish action thriller to accompany it. We’re on the same page today, Mr. Price.

  • 10 Jan

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    Video Review: Gangster Squad

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    Everyone who has seen Gangster Squad is describing it as a very, very bad cartoon. Matthew Price over at The Substream gets very hot under the collar whilst calling out !Bullshit! on Ruben “Zombieland” Fleischer. A charlatan and a waster of cinema-goers time and money is the implication in his verbal rant where he goes on to recommend instead one of the finer films on the ‘inner life’ of thugs and career criminals, namely Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco.

  • 06 Dec

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    Kids Talk Film #18: Life of Pi

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    A number of people suggested that I take my children to Ang Lee’s Life of Pi as it was a discussion worthy ‘family film.’ While the raging tiger scenes scared my daughter off from going on this particular cinematic journey, my son, Willem had a few things to say about man eating islands, spirituality and religion as well as storytelling and suspension of disbelieve. This is a part of an ongoing series of short film discussion videos in which I take the kids to see stuff without the Pixar/Dreamworks/Disney label attached. Enjoy.

    Further Episodes (as well as the Studio Ghibli Marathon done for Twitchfilm.net) can be found at the Kids Talk Film Vimeo Channel.

  • 21 Nov

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    The Substream sorts out the Black Wednesday Movie Release Logjam

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    With the impending American Thanksgiving bonanza on the horizon there are a lot of films released today for people to attend in between over-eating and over-shopping. In the weekly Watch This Instead segment (WTI), mustachioed Canuck Mike Cameron, whose handsome mug is seen often over at The Substream, breaks down the pros and the cons of the myriad of movie options before settling on a confident recommendation for his favourite film of the year.

  • 17 Sep

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    Video Reviews: TIFF Midnight Madness (all of ‘em)

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    The gang assembled for TIFF almost every night at Midnight to catch up on the days films as well as anticipate what gory and gonzo cinema would scar our psyche in the Midnight Madness sidebar. Below (tucked under the seat) are a few of the Substream segments that Rajo and Mike prepared with a series of guest hosts for each night of the Madness. Matty Price, Matthew Brown, Kurt Halfyard all host a segment (and cameo in other segments), while occasional row three contributor Tom Clift was all the way up from Melbourne, Australia to talk about his festival in Part 10 of the video series. Plenty more friends, critics, film directors, hell, even Programmer Colin Geddes’ mom chime in, along with random folks waiting in line, on what it is like to attend TIFF Midnight Madness – and why you should be planning out your way-after-hours vacation time for September 2013.

    Videos are tucked under the seat.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 03 Sep

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    Kids Talk Film #14: PlayTime

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    Before Willem and Miranda (Kurt’s kids) to back to school after this labour day holiday, they get a big dose of cinema-school with a 70mm print viewing of Jacques Tati’s 1967 classic PlayTime! Episode #14 finds them talking about the film from the road as they get the heck outta town!

    The entire series, designed to be a not-too-varnished look at how young kids process movies both in storytelling, plot and meaning, can be found on the Vimeo Kids Talk Film Channel.

  • 24 Aug

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    Video Review: Premium Rush (aka Mamo! on a Bike)

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    When Mamo!’s Matt Brown wants to mirror criticism with content, well, this happens.

  • 22 Jun

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    Two Minute Critic: BRAVE

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    Once again, Mamo! co-host Matt Brown is on the cusp of summer blockbuster reporting. If you haven’t heard, Pixar’s latest mad-cap adventure, Brave is hitting screens all over America this weekend. Here’s what it looks like down on the street immediately following the latest screening. You’ve got two minutes Matt… take it away!

  • 08 Jun

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    Talk Amongst Yourselves (Happy 27th anniversary, Gremlins)

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    Joe Dante’s wonderfully twisted creature-feature-for-kids was released on this day in 1984. Happy 27th Anniversary, and boy has Snow White changed a lot in those years…

  • 18 May

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    Video Review: Battleship

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    Consider this video review a public service. Avoid this annoying noise-maker and be a better human being.

  • 02 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: Francophrenia (or Don’t Kill Me! I Know Where The Baby Is!) Video Review

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    Because I do not want to spend one more minute thinking about it, and I will only use 60 second of your valuable time. Here is yours truly, courtesy of TheSubstream, speaking of failed meta-film experiment constructed with behind-the-scenes footage of James Franco at General Hospital and goofy voice-over to do…something. The result is a steaming pile of meta-mush.

  • 01 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: The Ambassador Review

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    Either Mads Brügger has balls the size of grapefruits or there is mondo chicanery going on in The Ambassador. Well, it’s a given that there is trickery happening, so the thing to figure out is who the trick is on: The Central African Republic (a former French colony smack-dab in the middle of the contient), shady European dealers of grey-market diplomatic credentials, helpful local guide-advisers or us the viewers. The result is a thoroughly captivating, often hilarious bit of guerrilla filmmaking that is subversive both to its subject matter, and its medium of choice.

    Lets start at the beginning. Mads Brügger Cortzen is a Danish media personality that is kind of an amalgamation of Michael Moore and the Borat side of Sasha-Baron Cohen. His previous TV documentary/comedies, Danes for Bush and Red Chapel explored the political and social landscapes of the United States during the 2004 election and the social and propaganda mores of North Korea, respectively, both by on-the-ground insertion in a particular form of misdirection of intent. I’ve not seen either of these films (nor his TV Talk Show, The Eleventh Hour) but I want to see them all based on the brains and brawn exhibited in The Ambassador. Here, Brügger goes to the Central African Republic to set up a (blood) diamond smuggling operation fronted by building a match factory. He gets his contacts and credentials by spending $30,000 to some rich European brokers who have a side-business in selling diplomatic papers from one African country (here, Liberia) to another (CAR). Then, donning an expensive tan suit, mirror shades and polished burgundy riding boots, the new diplomat-entrepreneur is ready to get some old-school colonial exploitation happening. Over the course of the film, Brügger, with his ‘trusty’ adviser Paul (a CAR local), and his beautiful white secretary, dispense many ‘envelopes of happiness’ to people on the political and business scene in Bangui. He tours parts of the country, visits other diplomats for advice, and eventually works his way up to meetings with the ministers of defense and security. The latter being the son of the president of CAR, François Bozizé. What is crazy about the whole thing is that our consul-in-training is going by his real name, something that anyone in the Central African Republic could have found with a simple Google search in five minutes. Why Brügger is not dead in a ditch somewhere is beyond me. Either that or the joke is on me. It is a joke told with enough chutzpah and style that it perhaps does not even matter.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

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