We couldn’t do it without this Team! Meet the eclectic and talented Critics who comprise TEAM MR. WILL. We ask them about their love of Cinema and their favourite films of all time.
It all started with a knock on the door of my third grade classroom and my mother telling my teacher that she had to take me to the eye doctor for drops. Distraught (hated those drops!), I followed her outside and saw my aunt’s bright yellow Corvair with my sister and cousins seated in the back – they took us to a matinee showing of Mary Poppins. Later that year, I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime on a school night to watch the Academy Awards on television. Those two events were the impetus of my lifelong love affair with the movies. After seeing my, still, all-time favourite “Cabaret” on the big screen, I learned that movies are an art form that can entertain, frighten, inspire, teach, and I’ve been writing about them for a lot longer than I care to admit!
Other all time faves that I have to watch at least once a year include: All About Eve, The Exorcist, Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, Sunset Boulevard and Call Me By Your Name
I have been a fan of movies from every genre for the entirety of my life and have fond memories of renting new releases at Jumbo Video every weekend with my Mom and Brother (while eating the popcorn of course!). I went to school for Journalism and Media Studies, but did not become a full fledged film Writer until I ran into Mr. Will. While I spend more time watching movies at home now versus at the theatre, I’m confident I’m raising my son to appreciate the medium and cannot wait to introduce him to all the classics. My spirit animal is Nicolas Cage.
Fave Movies — Pulp Fiction, Batman (1989), Goodfellas, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
You can check-out the FINGER GUNZ Podcast which I co-created here.
I went to York University for Cinema Studies, and while I was in University I reached out to the Editor and founder of a website called I Heart Movies TO and started writing for that site with my first official review being Jason Statham’s Safe. A few years after that I started writing for Will with Chef being my first review, and nearly a decade later still going strong.
Movies have been my life for as long as I can honestly remember, however if you ask my dad, he’ll swear my first theatrical movie was 1992’s Aladdin, despite the fact that I wouldn’t have been alive for 13 months when that came out, so not sure what my first movie was but Aladdin is definitely an all time favourite of mine. My earliest memory though, is going to my local Video 99 owned by a very nice man named Enzo and going there twice a week to pick what I wanted to watch in my home theatre in my basement, but distinctively remember Enzo giving my dad twenty dollars out of the register when I brought up Spielberg’s classic E.T. the Extraterrestrial and told my dad to take me up the street to the local theatre to see E.T. the way its meant to be seen, theatrically.
Some of my favourite movies of all time consist of genre’s all over the board. We’re talking Aladdin, Toy Story, Back to the Future Part II (yes, you read right), Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Dark Knight and anything Robin Williams.
My love of film started in my early childhood when my Grandmother would take me on many trips to our local Blockbuster. She rented films across all genres and ratings, some I probably shouldn’t have seen at such a young age, however, it all turned out for the best because they created my love of stories, characters and Cinema. Anytime I watch a movie, it reminds me of spending those precious days and nights with my late Grandmother. Now I get to write about films which has deepened my knowledge and expanded my love for Cinema.
I have too many favourite films of all time. So ten of my favourites from the 2000s are:
Black Swan
Booksmart
The Dark Knight
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Lady Bird
Lost in Translation
Moonlight
Promising Young Woman
Superbad
Zodiac
I am an Actor and Filmmaker living in Toronto. I won The 48 Hour Film Project – Toronto with “Object Relations” and edited “Pokémon Apokelypse” and “School of Thrones” which have been collectively viewed over 17 million times. Most of those views are from my mom. I cannot stop discussing movies, good bad or indifferent. When I’m not writing for Mr. Will, my sporadically updated letterboxd ramblings can be found here: https://letterboxd.com/noveltyhat.
The beginning of my Video Countdown of my Favourite 100 Movies of the 2010s can be found here: https://youtu.be/6qccx7DQNLs
My favourite films of ALL TIME include–but are by no means limited to:
Titanic
Holy Motors
Dogville
Romeo + Juliet
Hot Rod
The Thin Red Line
Two Lovers
Being John Malkovich
Jurassic Park
Eyes Wide Shut
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