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VIFF 2023: I’m Just Here for the Riot, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, & The Royal Hotel | Awesome Friday Podcast
The 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival has drawn to a close, and this week, we’re talking about three films we saw as part of the fest: I’m Just Here for the Riot is a documentary about the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot in Vancouver, our hometown. Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe is a documentary…
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VIFF 2023: “The Royal Hotel”; A Feminist Tale Of Harrowing Proportions | ForReel
So Liv and Hanna are left to fend for themselves among these horrible men. Three stand out: Matty (Toby Wallace, Finestkind), the fun one who wants to be friends but also wants to get Hanna into bed. Teeth (James Frecheville), the slow one who thinks he’s being chivalrous by sitting at the bar and…
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VIFF 2023: ‘Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person’ Brings Fresh Blood to Familiar Themes | Exclaim!
The coming-of-age story is a well-worn tale, but one that still has a lot of mileage if a filmmaker can find a new angle. Director Ariane Louis-Seize has found one with her new film Humanist Vampire Seeing Consenting Suicidal Person, casting the existential angst and ennui of being a teenager onto the eternal youth of a 68-year-old…
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No One Will Save You & The Fall of the House of Usher | Awesome Friday Podcast
This week, we’re diving into two horror titles! Join us for the new Disney+/Hulu alien home invasion film No One Will Save You and then Mike Flanagan’s latest for Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher. Join us! Link: https://awesomefriday.ca/2023/09/podcast-no-one-will-save-you-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/
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The Fall of the House of Usher Review: Mike Flanagan Remixes Edgar Allan Poe with Excellent Results | That Shelf
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential and vital voices in horror, penning some of the most influential works of the genre in his short 40 years of life. His work drips with emotionality, love, loss, regret, fear, and longing. He helped establish the damp, decaying tone and mood that we now…
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The 2023 Fantasia Film Festival | Awesome Friday Podcast
Greetings programs! This week, we dive head first into the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival. We’ve each seen a number of films, and we’re going to talk about a number of them, including Hundreds of Beavers, Birth/Rebirth, Satan Wants You, A Disturbance in the Force, With Love and a Major Organ, Aporia, Sympathy for the…
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Diaspora, Polaris, & The 2022 Whistler Film Festival | Awesome Friday Podcast
Greetings programs! This week Rachel and I are speaking about the 2022 Whistler Film Festival. This is my third year covering Whistler, and Rachel flew out to attend in person! We’ll be talking about several films, but in particular, two Canadian releases: Diaspora from director Deco Dawson, about a young Ukrainian immigrant living in…
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VIFF 2022 Top Fives w/ Dakota from Contra Zoom Pod! | Awesome Friday Podcast
Greetings programs! We’re back after just a few days with a special bonus wrap-up episode for the 2022 Vancouver International Film Festival. This episode is also a joint episode with our friends Contra Zoom, Dakota from that show and Matthew are breaking down their five favourites from the festival together, and the episode will…
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Viking & Triangle of Sadness | Awesome Friday Podcast
Greetings programs! This week on the podcast, we’re looking at two films that played as part of the 2022 Vancouver International Film Festival. First up is Canadian director Stéphane Lafleur’s new high-concept comedy Viking. Then we take a closer look at Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning satire of wealth and privilege Triangle of Sadness. Episode Homepage:…
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‘Fire of Love’ Paints a Portrait of Love in Magma | Awesome Friday!
Katia and Maurice Krafft were rock stars in the field of volcanology. Among the earliest scientists to extensively film and photograph active and erupting volcanoes, and often got as close as possible to the magma flows in an age when the unpredictability of the geological activity kept everyone else hundreds of feet away. It…
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‘Make People Better’ leans too hard into being a thriller but remains compelling nonetheless | Awesome Friday!
In the film Gattaca, there is a scene where a set of new parents are consulting a doctor about genetically altering the baby they wish to conceive. When they posit that maybe it’s better to leave a few things to chance, the doctor scoffs and tells them they want to give their baby the…
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Scrap Is a Thoughtful Meditation on the Things We Build | Awesome Friday!
Where do the things we make go when we’re done with them? It’s a question that we too often don’t ask ourselves, along with what the long-term effects are of what we do with our old stuff. Scrap doesn’t have any easy answers, but the new film from director Stacey Tenenbaum does offer a fascinating glimpse…
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Framing Agnes Obscures Its Own Powerful Premise and Story | Awesome Friday!
In the 1950s and 60s, researchers at UCLA conducted a study into sex disorders. The resulting archive of data contains a cross-section of trans history in the form of interviews conducted with the study’s participants. One of the participants –a woman known only as Agnes- used the study to receive gender-affirming care and then…
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Interview: Katie Boland on her film “We’re All In This Together” | Awesome Friday Podcast
Greetings programs! Katie Boland is a Canadian actor, writer, director, and producer. She is probably best known for her television appearances and the web series she created, Long Story Short. However, this year, Katie made her feature film directorial debut with We’re All In This Together, a story about a dysfunctional family brought together by absurd…
