Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

“I connect to her personally. This isn’t a story about my daughter. This is a story about me, now, through her.”

This type of observation is not what I thought I would hear from Bo Burnham. Admittedly, my knowledge of the 27-year-old Comedian was limited to his scene stealing role in last summer’s Oscar-nominated The Big Sick. But as I discovered his eclectic and zany stand-up comedy routines and music videos on YouTube (the online arena where he was first noticed by the likes of Judd Apatow), I began to put together a picture that contradicted the lanky, insightful and thoughtful Writer/Director I was listening to in a recreated TTC subway car alongside other local online journalists a few weeks ago.

His Film, Eighth Grade, has received unanimous praise since debuting at the Sundance Film Festival this past January. The Film revolves around Kayla (Elsie Fisher) and how she navigates through the challenges presented by her last week of middle school. The Film is honest, raw and unflinching in its awkwardness, but it is also quietly hilarious and moving.

Burnham finished the first draft of the Script in 2014, and it took three years before he was finally able to make the Film. His initial intention was to write a story about the Internet from the point of view of someone like him, but quickly pivoted when he realized how it “just felt so embarrassing because [the character] was just so hateable and like why? Why is this person doing this? But when you’re an eighth-grader, and when you’re 13 – you can kind of forgive our behaviour a little bit better.”. As he was preparing to write the story that would become Eighth Grade, he watched YouTube videos made by teenagers as inspiration: “I [transcribed] exactly what they said, every sound…‘uh yeah, so, eugh, neugh, sorry, blah, so what I’m trying to say is.’. That’s what I was trying to write. Cause the way kids actually sound is so much more complex than the way kids are written and performed.”.

Where other Filmmakers and Writers have told stories within the nostalgic realm of high school, Burnham felt it was very important to set his story in middle school. He points out emphatically early in our discussion that “You’re coming of age in high school, but high school’s like yeah, you’re becoming an adult. When you’re in eighth grade, you’re literally still a child.”. And this way of thinking extended into his depiction of the Internet and its importance to Kayla and the rest of her classmates: “The Internet means the most to those kids, because they don’t know a world before it. It’s not this other thing to them that they’re living with. It’s the way that they live, and always have.”.

When it came time to cast the Film, Burnham says there was no magical formula: “It was just a mixture of kid actors. All of the extras were just from the school, from the surrounding areas and the day players were ones from the school we shot at. The girl whose pool that is, is in the pool party scene with some of her friends.”. He wanted the Film to be as authentic as possible and acted alongside the actors during rehearsals to make them feel comfortable. But what he strived for on-set was to “make a safe environment for the kids to be free…and give them permission to be themselves.”.

While we touched on various aspects of the Film from the awkward humour (“I love cringe. If you’re cringing it means you’re feeling it with the person”), to the Film’s electronic Score (“I wanted the music to be intense…and reflect her inner experience which is visceral and big”), to even politics (“I was certain I was making it for Hillary’s America…[Now] I don’t know if the country makes it to when she’s a senior”), the most enlightening aspect of our discussion was also the most mature. In discussing the importance of Kayla’s father Mark (Josh Hamilton) to the story, Burnham says that parents “don’t specifically know you moment to moment, but they know the big overarching you that at that age you just can’t attend to because two years ago feels like fucking forever ago and you were a different person.”. But while the watchful parental aspect is heavily emphasized, Burnham feels the Film’s more relevant thesis is that “moments that don’t sound like a big deal, of all different types, when you actually live them, are a huge deal.”.

Burnham’s lasting hope for Eighth Grade is simple from the on-set: “I just hope people see it and feel something.”. He hopes it will serve both parents and children well but notes that “It definitely wasn’t [made] for eighth-graders. I hope eighth-graders like it, but it’s definitely not primarily for them.”. As he dug a bit deeper however, touching on the inherent sexism involved in centring the Film on a young girl, it becomes clear what his ultimate intention was in making the Film: “Like no one goes oh Hamlet, was that only for Princes of Denmark? Everyone sees themselves in him, even if they aren’t a prince, or a man, or Danish or whatever he was. And I think a 13-year-old girl can be the same thing. Everyone should be able to see themselves in her.”.

When asked what’s next, Burnham deadpans, “I’ll bang my head off the wall. I’m not a great multitasker.”. It’s only after he says this that I begin to remember who Burnham was before he made Eighth Grade and how many of his fans will soon see a completely different side of him. And as someone who has yet to properly harness time management, I know we will be awaiting eagerly whatever he crafts as his follow-up.

Elevation Pictures release EIGHTH GRADE in Toronto on Friday, July 20, 2018 and additional cities starting Friday, August 3, 2018.

(Photo credit: David Baldwin)

Sony Pictures Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to experience an Advance Screening of ALPHA! Special 3D Screenings take place:

Toronto – Wednesday, August 15, 7:30PM – Cineplex Cinemas Yonge & Dundas
Vancouver – Wednesday, August 15, 7:30PM – Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver

Synopsis:
An epic adventure set in the last Ice Age, ALPHA tells a fascinating, visually stunning story that shines a light on the origins of man’s best friend. While on his first hunt with his tribe’s most elite group, a young man is injured and must learn to survive alone in the wilderness. Reluctantly taming a lone wolf abandoned by its pack, the pair learn to rely on each other and become unlikely allies, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds in order to find their way home before winter arrives.

See the Trailer:

Artwork:

To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK and indicate your City.

Sony Pictures Canada release ALPHA Friday, August 17, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: Sony Pictures Canada)

Check-out this new Trailer for OVERLORD from Director Julius Avery, the story of two American Soliders behind enemy lines on D-Day!  The Film is produced by J.J. Abrams!

Synopsis:
On the eve of D-Day, a group of American paratroopers are dropped behind enemy lines to carry out a mission crucial to the invasion’s success. But as they approach their target, they begin to realize there is more going on in this Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation.

OVERLORD stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro and Mathilde Ollivier.

See the Trailer:

Paramount Pictures Canada release OVERLORD Friday, November 9, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)

Not a dry eye in the house. See the new Trailer for BOY ERASED starring Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea, Lady Bird), Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Joel Edgerton  directs.

Synopsis:
Jared (Lucas Hedges) is the teenage son of a Baptist minister (Russell Crowe) in a small American town. Although his mother (Nicole Kidman) loves him unconditionally, his father tells Jared he’ll have to disown him when the teen admits he’s attracted to men.

His mother takes him to a church-run gay conversion program, where they teach the patients that no one is born a homosexual, that it’s a choice. He’s told that God will not love him the way that he is. However, Jared has a hard time trying to wrap his head around these ideas.

See the Trailer:

Universal Pictures Canada release BOY ERASED Friday, November 2, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures)

We know you’re just as excited! Check-out this new Trailer for A SIMPLE FAVOR, Writer/Director Paul Feig‘s(The Heat, Ghostbusters) first Thriller!

Synopsis:
A SIMPLE FAVOR, directed by Paul Feig, centres around Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a mommy vlogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily’s (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town. Stephanie is joined by Emily‘s husband Sean (Henry Golding) in this stylish thriller filled with twists and betrayals, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge.

See the new Trailer:

Artwork:

eOne Films release A SIMPLE FAVOUR Friday, September 14, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: eOne Films)

We’ve waited so long for this and are so stoked finally to see the official Trailer for Toronto-shot and set LITTLE ITALY!

Synopsis:
A young couple must navigate a blossoming romance, amidst a war between their families’ competing pizza restaurants.

LITTLE ITALY stars Danny Aiello, Andrea Martin, Jane Seymour, Alyssa Milano, Hayden Christensen and Emma Roberts! Pauline Dhillon and Ajay Virmani produce the Romantic-Comedy.

See the Trailer:

Official Artwork:

We were invited to the set last spring and want to remind you of this delicious tidbit! 🍕

eOne Films release LITTLE ITALY on Friday, August 24, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: eOne Films)

Families dictated the Box Office this weekend, getting away to the movies to see HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION. Earning $42.2 million from 4,267 theatres for Sony Pictures. Overall, this puts the Film third in the Franchise, its best still going to 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2 with a $48.4 million opening. Critics gave it 59% on the Tomatometer, while Audiences responded much more positively with an A- CinemaScore.

In second this weekend is ANT-MAN AND THE WASP with $28.1 million from 4,206 theatres after a strong opening last weekend. Thus far it has grossed $132 million for Marvel/Disney.

Debuting in third is SKYSCRAPER starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with $24.2 million for Universal Pictures from 3,782 theatres. It gets 51% on the Tomatometer and a B+ CinemaScore.

INCREDIBLES 2 lands in fourth this weekend with $14.5 million in its fifth week out for Disney/Pixar. Domestically it has made an outstanding $534 million.

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU debuts in seventh with $4 million from 805 theatres for eOne Films/Annapurna Pictures. The critically-acclaimed debut by Director/Writer Boots Riley gets 95% on the Tomatometer.

OCEAN’S 8 rounds-out the Top Ten with $2.9 million for Warner Bros., a tally of $132 million over six weeks.

After premiering at the 2018 Inside Out LGBT Film Festival and Sundance, Films We Like are ready to unveil THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST! See Chloë Grace Moretz‘s award-winning performance. The Film also stars Jennifer Ehle, Forrest Goodluck and Sasha Lane.

SYNOPSIS:
Based on the celebrated novel by Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post follows the titular character (Moretz) as she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after getting caught with another girl in the back seat of a car on prom night. Run by the strict and severe Dr. Lydia Marsh (Ehle) and her brother, Reverend Rick (Gallagher Jr.)—himself an example of how those in the program can be “cured”—the center is built upon repenting for “same sex attraction.” In the face of intolerance and denial, Cameron meets a group of fellow sinners including the amputee stoner Jane (Lane), and her friend, the Lakota Two-Spirit, Adam (Goodluck). Together, this group of teenagers form an unlikely family and fight to survive.

See the Trailer:

Films We Like release THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST as follows:

July 25th, 2018
Gimli Film Festival (Gimli, MB)

August 10th, 2018
TIFF Bell Lightbox (Toronto, ON)
Landmark Cinemas Winnipeg Towne (Winnipeg, MB)​
Cineplex Cinemas Parklane (Halifax, NS)​
Vic Theatre (Victoria, BC)
Metro Cinema (Edmonton, AB)
Rainbow Cinemas Golden Mile (Regina, SK)
Cineplex Cinemas Mount Pearl (St. John’s, NL)
Galaxy Cinemas Peterborough (Peterborough, ON)​
Cineplex Odeon Winston Churchill Cinemas (Oakville, ON)
Galaxy Cinemas Barrie (Barrie, ON)
SilverCity Sudbury Cinemas (Sudbury, ON)
Cineplex Odeon Niagara Square Cinemas (Niagara Falls, ON)
Bookshelf (Guelph, ON)
Cinema du Parc (Montreal, QC)​
Cinema le Clap (Quebec City, QC)​

August 11th, 2018
Windsor Film Festival (Windsor, ON)

August 12th, 2018
The Broadway Theatre (Saskatoon, SK)

August 19th, 2018
Vancouver Queer Film Festival (Vancouver, BC)

August 24th, 2018
ByTowne Cinema (Ottawa, ON)
International Village (Vancouver, BC)​

September 19th, 2018
Calgary International Film Festival (Calgary, AB)

(Photo/video credit: Films We Like)

After a year-long hiatus at the top of their game and a super-cryptic email to fans the other day. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS are back with two new Tracks much to their fans’ delight.

Check-out JUMPSUIT (Official Video):

NICO AND THE NINERS:

Warner Music Canada release TWENTY ØNE PILØTS’ new album TRENCH Friday, October 5, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: Warner Music Canada)

In preparation for the release of Disney‘s CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, here’s a new Featurette with Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell and Director Marc Forster.

Synopsis:
In Disney’s heartwarming live action adventure, the young boy who shared countless adventures with his stuffed animal friends in the Hundred Acre Wood has grown up and lost sight of what’s important in life. Now it is up to his childhood friends to venture into our world and help Christopher Robin rediscover the joys of family life, the value of friendship and to appreciate the simple pleasure in life once again.

See the new Featurette:

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada release CHRISTOPHER ROBIN Friday, August 3, 2018. Tickets are on sale now!

(Photo/video credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada)