One of the joys of the Atlantic Film Festival beyond the huge program of movies is the opportunity to revel in some of the more specific enterprises of the filmmaking process. The ins and outs of international, multi-platform co-production? Strategic Partners got you covered. Choosing the perfect song (or have the perfect song) for a wistful, pensive break-up montage? Head on down to the Music and Image events. Brain burning over how a filmmaker (and sometimes a marketing team) chooses an image to represent their film in print and the internet and beyond? Then Saturday afternoon’s panel on the art
Hillary Titley
Posted inArts + Music
Flipped needs to pick a side
Two 13-year-olds feel the first stirrings of love for each other in Flipped, directed by Rob Reiner. Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) and Becky (Madeline Carroll) narrate the film Rashomon-style, but the he-said/she-said kills the tempo, with scenes doubling back to replay from the other’s perspective. It feels like one step forward, two steps back with this […]
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30 by 30
How to buy AFF tickets Tickets are available at the AFF box office, located in Park Lane Mall, and at all TicketPro outlets (422-6965), including Video Difference (24 hours a day!), or online at ticketpro.ca and atlanticfilm.com. Regular screening tickets are $12; gala and special presentations are $17. For packages and special events, check out […]
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The Disappearance of Alice Creed intrigues
The control and precision with which two criminals, played by Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston, prepare a scruffy apartment for their capture of Alice Creed (Gemma Arterton) is in direct proportion to the inevitable unravelling of their Swiss-watch plan. But just because an audience can sense what is to come, that doesn’t mean that the […]
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Cuts like a Machete
In 2007, though we knew there was a definite possibility, it was still hard to envision feature-length versions of the gloriously silly trailers for then-faux exploitation films that accompanied the double-bill Grindhouse. Don’t, Thanksgiving, Werewolf Women of the SS and Machete (even Hobo With a Shotgun) said more in two minutes than they could ever […]
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Hobo With A Shotgun -New Trailer, New Review!
I wonder if you, like me, saw the original Hobo With A Shotgun entry into the faux-exploitation trailer contest in anticipation of 2007’s Grindhouse and declared the competition to be over before it started? From the sublimely evocative concept to the vivid yet gritty circus of violence (not to mention David Brunt’s honest and bona fide performance), the trailer is a two-minute eye-ball massage for the twisted film-lover at heart. While the other eventual finalist trailers were well executed, they sometimes betrayed their superiority-complex to the genre outright, imbuing their work with a ‘Hey-guys-the-70’s-weren’t-as-crazy-as-us!’ cleverness. Hobo, honest to god, felt
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Piranha 3D bites the end off of summer
August is often my favourite month for summer movies, as its titles—like Piranha 3D exemplifies—usually burst the bubble of three months worth of blockbuster pomposity. Piranha appropriates a hallmark of recent box office muscle—3D—and uses it to subvert the wow-factor of the experience by cramming as many unsavoury images as it can into your face. […]
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Vampires Suck your parody soul
When Vampires Suck co-directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer look into a mirror, is there a face staring back at them? When they approach an automatic sliding door, does the scanner detect the presence of a soul? Is there a deeper reason for the astonishing lack of humanity in their five parody films together, including […]
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Justin Long isn’t Going the Distance
The dire attempt among some independently minded directors over the past couple of years hoping to shake something loose in the romantic comedy genre has mostly been hampered by poor judgment, either hinging the film on a self-absorbed twit ((500) Days of Summer) or by overestimating the appeal of its leading man. Nanette Burstein’s Going […]
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The Switch works
A good Jennifer Aniston movie, like a good romantic comedy, occurs with the frequency resembling the Halley’s Comet: only after a good number of years. And one can’t be blamed for feeling apprehensive about The Switch, with Aniston in a sometimes awkward love plot with Jason Bateman, but against all odds, this one works! The […]
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The Expendables lives up to its name
Action-hero super-group, The Expendables, lead by Stallone, Statham and Li, are a mercenary hit squad tasked to do others’ dirty work, this time taking out a cocaine kingpin (Eric Roberts). This isn’t a great action picture but the combined cast has starred in some of the greatest action pictures ever so the bar is set […]
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Eat Pray Love indulges
Eat Pray Love, both the book and the film, inspires a “how dare she” ire. The book by Elizabeth Gilbert is portrayed in some outlets such as bitchmagazine.org (search “priv-lit”) as the crime scene of some unforgivable transgression of gauche privilege. Now it is a lush, inviting, Julia Roberts movie about an enviable if outlandish […]
