NoHoIFF16 REVIEW: Admins [2016]

“I think I deal with more idiots” The beautiful thing about office inhabitants’ inability to muster up the initiative to learn one iota of technological troubleshooting so as not to prove beholden to an IT department that loathes them is the sheer fact nothing will ever change. While each subsequent generation has a better grasp on what’s happening around them, they’ll remain behind the curve because they refuse to upgrade their knowledge with the latest electronic devices and sophisticated operating systems by choosing to stand still instead. Holdovers from bygone…

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INTERVIEW: Richard Ayoade, cowriter/director of The Double

I didn’t know who Richard Ayoade was until 2010 and boy was it the perfect time to find out. My introduction was courtesy of the brilliant British television show “The IT Crowd” and his fantastically drawn Maurice Moss. I had tried watching the show a couple years previously only to forget about it after the pilot. This time, however, I mainlined the first three series and eagerly awaited the fourth only to see co-star Chris O’Dowd journey to mainstream acclaim with Bridesmaids less than a year later. When would Ayoade’s…

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TIFF13 REVIEW: The Double [2014]

“It’s terrible to be alone too much” Comically dry like director Richard Ayoade‘s debut Submarine, his sophomore effort takes more than a few steps towards an even more arid realm of complete existentialist surrealism. Adapted by he and Avi Korine, The Double brings Fyodor Dostoyevsky‘s novella to the big screen with a surefire confidence in its visual form and an eccentric comedy that should go a long way towards securing “The IT Crowd” starrer as a permanent, unique voice in contemporary cinema. There is a definite stylistic kinship to his…

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REVIEW: Missed Connections [2013]

“When I think about the soft bigotry of low expectations, I think of dating in New York” Sometimes we must look past formulaic cliché and an overreaching desire to transform a less than trustworthy internet dating tool on Craigslist into a phenomenon used with overwhelming success before realizing entertainment can be enjoyed on levels above or below intellectual stimulation. First-time feature director Martin Snyder and co-writer Marnie Hanel may fall victim to glamorizing a gimmick in order to construct the framework underneath their story, but they don’t skimp on catching…

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REVIEW: Submarine [2011]

“Cancer trumps potential infidelity” Only having seen one episode of “The IT Crowd” doesn’t make me a professional on the subject, but I do recall thinking it quirky, funny, and a bit awkward. It’s no surprise then that the directorial debut of one of its actors would be all those things—possibly even farther down the spectrum towards their extremes. Based on a novel by Joe Dunthorne, Richard Ayoade brings 1986 Swansea, Wales to life with a coming of age tale much more intelligent than the standard teen sex comedy. It’s…

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