Remember that fantastic Eddie Murphy bit from Delirious where Murphy demonstrates what any black person (but, really, any sensible person) would do when faced with the demons of The Amityville Horror: “Too bad we can’t stay, baby!” Murphy’s routine rang a bell during Paranormal Activity, because for characters Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat (the actors […]
Hillary Titley
Posted inArts + Music
District 9: great premise, loads of explosions
District 9 has a premise that can’t be beat: After aliens descended on Johannesburg (the narration seems almost flattered that the aliens didn’t choose Chicago, Washington or New York), they are cordoned off in a shanty town known as District 9. Vikus (Sharlto Copley), a corporate lackey assigned to the location, gets infected with alien […]
Posted inArts + Music
Taking film into another dimension
The history of 3D movies parallels the general history of films and cinematic technology. From its early inceptions in the late 19th and early 20th century, to its so-called golden era in the 1950s, to its deployment in the early part of the 21st century, the gimmick has been vying for a place in mainstream […]
Posted inArts + Music
Astro Boy remake charming and thoughtful
Based on a vintage Japanese cartoon and manga series, Astro Boy arrives with more charm and care than one would expect for yet another pop-culture regurgitation. The plot is typical human vs. machine stuff, or, specifically, boy robot vs. fucking huge, power-mad despot robot, but it doesn’t pander, bore or bullshit. There are no hollow […]
Posted inArts + Music
Law Abiding Citizen
No as bad as you might think, but not as good as you deserve, slot Law Abiding Citizen into the pleasantly forgettable end of the vigilante-justice fantasy genre. Gerard Butler doesn’t have the acting skills to convincingly convey the many facets of Clyde Shelton, a committed family man who has the employment credentials of both […]
Posted inArts + Music
Checking into Cairo Time
Juliette Grant (Patricia Clarkson) travels to Cairo to visit with her UN-employed and absent husband. There, she is escorted around by his former colleague (Alexander Siddig), and the two feel a slight romantic spark as they wander about Cairo’s attractions. This is an unhurried drama about two people who are happy to bask in their […]
Posted inArts + Music
Couples Retreat: typical gender-role comedy
Four couples head to French Polynesia (Eden, in the film) to rediscover and reaffirm their love and desire for one another. Reductive “guys hate feelings/girls hate being ignoredâ€� comedy ensues and yet, I didn’t hate it. Couples Retreat, with stars Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Kristen Bell, has plenty wrong with it, including director Peter […]
Posted inArts + Music
Where the Wild Things Are almost a hit, but not quite
The understated beauty and the elegant alchemy of CGI, live action and vocal performance in the titular wild things goes a long way to make up for Wild Things‘ not quite fatal, but certainly inescapable flaw. It takes far too long for the film’s subtle plot–Max (Max Records, in a debut performance that is a […]
Posted inArts + Music
Channelling Jonathan Torrens
“The challenge with making a show in Canada,” says TV’s Jonathan Torrens, “is that everything you shoot goes on the TV, so people are watching your learning curve week after week after week.” In conversation with one of the most recognizable faces in Canadian television about his new show, TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens, the […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Office Season 6, Jim and Pam’s wedding, Thursday, NBC
Rewatching the entire series thus far of The Office is a reminder of the show’s considerable strengths and sets the bar exceedingly high for this season. The writing team has poured creativity and emotional heft into plot stunts that would have stopped the momentum of a lesser series: the Michael Scott Paper Company, Jim and […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Moore you know
For every action in Michael Moore’s career as a left-wing polemicist, provocateur and rabble-rouser, there’s been an inevitable and equal reaction. Moore’s films—Capitalism: A Love Story, out Friday (see page 21 for review), is his latest—inflame passions and debate on both sides of left and right divide. One could credit Moore for the explosion of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Beautiful Bright Star
Achingly beautiful, romantic and wonderfully observed, Jane Campion’s Bright Star is the tremendously tragic love story of John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Young, starving poet Keats meets equally young fashion seamstress Brawne, and begins probably the most openly romantic chaste relationship put to film. Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish go a long way in making […]
