An attempted amalgam Guy Ritchie’s gothic Sherlock Holmes adventures and the grimy serial killer aesthetic of David Fincher’s Seven, The Raven fails to hit either high. Director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) puts alcoholic Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) in the centre of his brisk thriller about a murderer using Poe’s bloodier stories as his […]
Carsten Knox
Posted inArts + Music
We get Detention
A rampant, post-post-modern look at modern life through the lens of the high school slasher film/teen comedy, Detention is relentless in its determination to squeeze laughs (and shocks) from the pulpy guts of our self-aware culture. What does this mean for the average filmgoer? Well, it will help if you have a familiarity with the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Indie Game: The Movie to screen in Halifax
The Canadian premiere of Indie Game: The Movie will be simulcast live nationwide from the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto at 10pm (AST), Thursday, May 3. You can go see it at Empire Park Lane that night. The documentary is a Canadian-made—directed by James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot—crowed-funded film about video game developers who, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
More on Sculptura
Due to an editing error in last week’s print edition of Shoptalk, the detail that Sculptura Fitness (2827 Isleville Street, 209-3412) is a club only for women was unfortunately omitted. More details about the club can be found here. Owner Essa Horvath also wanted to mention that Scultura is “based in small group classes and […]
Posted inLifestyle
Ask an expert: Interior designer
Nelson studied interior design in Vancouver and may be best known as a stylist, having worked in Toronto for years setting up rooms for magazines, photoshoots and TV shows, including HGTV, the Food Network, and CBC’s The Steven & Chris Show. Here in Halifax the stylist is doing more design and decor work for homeowners, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Ask an expert: Plumber
After 25 years of working as a plumber, Wheatley knows the ins and outs of your home’s guts. Before doing any bathroom or basement renos that might involve replacing pipes, he recommends speaking to a qualified professional. The Coast: What got you into the business? Trevor Wheatley: My Dad. I was forced into the business. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Ask an expert: Landscape Artist
Her first degree is in environment and resource studies from Waterloo, but while on an exchange in Melbourne, Ottawa native Sue Sirrs discovered landscape architecture. Now she does a lot of residential work in Halifax, along with a few prominent public pieces, including the first permanent exterior living wall east of Vancouver and north of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Ask an expert: Realtor
Dartmouth resident Brenda MacKenzie has been working in real estate for 24 years. She’s been at Domus for 21 of those years and has seen the local housing market gradually climb. “We’re never priced out of the typical marketplace. In Toronto and Vancouver the market has a pressure to it. We’re just steady as she […]
Posted inArts + Music
Drew Goddard and The Cabin In The Woods
How do you write about a movie when revealing elements of the story will spoil the whole thing? That’s absolutely the case with The Cabin in the Woods—the less you know about it going in the better, especially for horror fans who’ve seen a lot of its antecedents. Drew Goddard gets this. “I admire the […]
Posted inLifestyle
A transformed trio: reno #2
Doug Bamford works with his hands in his chosen profession—ceramics artist and professor at NSCAD University. But knowing that in advance still leaves a visitor to Bamford’s north end home unprepared to find him applying an aluminum lacquer on boards laid out on his living room carpet, boards that will be part of cabinets going […]
Posted inLifestyle
Oasis in suburbia
“We didn’t want cookie-cutter. That was the driving force.” So explains Bill Maclean, lives in a custom home in Fall River with his wife. The surrounding area has a number of typical suburban units, but this triangular, bosky property inspired something else. “I’ve been interested in home design and architecture for a long time,” says […]
Posted inLifestyle
Ask an expert: Electrician
Lyle can give you whatever information you need about old wiring, new wiring, grounding and more. And when it’s gone bad, he can fix it. The Coast: A lot of the homes in Halifax are older. What should I be looking for in electrical terms? Jason Lyle: Just mainly whether the panels have been upgraded. […]
