#REVIEW: “SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE”
Review by Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong
Let's get this out of the way: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is 140 minutes of glorious setup for 2024's Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse. Glorious, yes--but setup, also yes! It's an unfinished story, and in this humble reviewer's opinion, even referring to the ending as a "cliffhanger" is generous. Well over 2 hours into the much anticipated sequel to 2018's Into The Spider-Verse, we've arrived at the midpoint of the story. It's not a ...
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#REVIEW: “THE BOOGEYMAN”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
What scared you as kid? What kept you up late at night, too frightened to look under your bed or into your closet? Chances are it was something akin to The Boogeyman, who you only heard of in passing yet believed existed and tormented you while you were getting to sleep every night.
That terrifying entity is the big bad in this titular adaptation of Stephen King’s short story. After a startingly opening that tells you no one is safe, we are in the ...
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#REVIEW: “YOU HURT MY FEELINGS”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
You Hurt My Feelings is both the main dilemma and title of Nicole Holofcener’s newest feature that premiered at Sundance to raves. While the Movie certainly showcases a powerhouse performance from its lead, the rest of the Movie falls a bit short, plagued by melodrama and life issues more relatable to some than others.
The Movie focuses on Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), an Author whose Memoir didn’t sell as well as she had hoped. Struggling to ...
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#REVIEW: “FAST X”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
I have a confession to make. Somehow “I live my life a quarter mile at a time” has become one of my immediate go-to film quotes to use in every day conversation. I feel some slight shame owning up that and knowing my teenage self would not approve of me quoting the great Dominic Toretto, as played by the prophet Vin Diesel. At the same time however, I am certain my teenage self may spontaneously combust if I told him the Fast & Furious ...
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#REVIEW: “BLACKBERRY”
Mr. Will Wong
Based on Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry, Matt Johnson's BLACKBERRY is the riveting story behind the mobile device that changed the game around the 2010s with up to 85 million users internationally.
Fittingly-filmed right here in Toronto, as the phone was developed in Waterloo, the story centers on Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton). ...
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#REVIEW: “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3:
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
It’s been nearly a decade since audiences have been introduced to the legendary Guardians of the Galaxy and a lot of things have happened in front of and behind the scenes on their journey. However, it is safe to say that this trilogy of movies – and a holiday special –is possibly the best trilogy of films Marvel has put out yet ever and has packed the most consistent fun and entertainment, even if the second entry was a little disappointng. ...
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#REVIEW: “CARMEN”
By Mr. Will Wong
Dancer/Choreographer Benjamin Millepied makes his directorial debut with CARMEN, which premiered at TIFF '22. Loosely-based on the Opera of the same name, maintaining some of it's original lyrics, the story is set in modern day. We meet Carmen (Melissa Barrera), a young woman whose mother is murdered, then fleeing her native Mexico. She makes it to the border, narrowly escaping death after encountering a ruthless border guard. She then meets Aidan (Paul Mescal), a former ...
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#REVIEW: “BIG GEORGE FOREMAN”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
It’s clear that George Foreman (Khris Davis) has lived a remarkable life. A life that this Biopic attempts fit into its two-hour and nine-minute runtime.
We are first introduced to him in childhood as he, his siblings and mother live in poverty. This has left him with a chip on his shoulder. In his teens he enrols in a school that gives room and board to students. It’s there he meets Doc Broadus (Forest Whitaker), who introduces him to Boxing. ...
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#REVIEW: “EVIL DEAD RISE”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her three children live in a derelict apartment building in Los Angeles. It is scheduled to be demolished and very few of the building’s residents remain. Ellie’s estranged sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) turns up out of the blue, and just as old wounds are reopened, an earthquake destroys part of the building and the broken foundation leads to the discovery of a book that should have stayed buried.
Just like in the ...
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#REVIEW: “CHEVALIER”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Chevalier is a lavish Biopic about French-Caribbean Composer Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who pretty much has been erased from the history books.
Joseph was the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner. His father enrolled him in a music school in Paris as a child where he was left to be raised. As Joseph grew-up, his talent caught the sight of Queen Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) who ...
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