Flash mob theatrics and a dash of class politics spin together in the superficially fun Step Up: Revolution. This fourth film in the Step Up series finds classically trained dancer Emily (Kathryn McCormick of So You Think You Can Dance fame) moving to Miami with her development tycoon father. Emily soon falls for Sean (MMA […]
Jacob Boon
Posted inArts + Music
All dolled up
A regular sight in Japan’s Harajuku district, flamboyant Lolita styles are turning heads in Halifax. Jacob Boon sizes up the small, strong scene. Most of the people at the Halifax Forum this balmy Saturday afternoon are dressed for the heat. But several young women are gathered in a slightly more demure fashion. They’re Halifax’s Lolitas, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Moving Day
The drudgery of manual labour gets a comedic spin in Moving Day, the latest feature from Trailer Park Boys auteur Mike Clattenburg. Will Sasso (Mad TV) stars as a simple, beleaguered mover who quietly suffers through the comic foibles and occasional fistfights of working in a Dartmouth furniture store. His overwound sister/boss (Corner Gas‘ Gabrielle […]
Posted inArts + Music
Smooth Moving
Mike Clattenburg’s newest film, Moving Day, is a world of back-breaking labour and belly-busting laughs opening Friday. by Jacob Boon Anyone who’s worked on a film set can tell you there’s plenty of physical labour involved in making movies, so it should come as no surprise that director Mike Clattenburg would feel an affinity for […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Beep tight
It’s been a little over a month since Farmers Dairy brought Beep back into the homes and hearts of Haligonians. The supernaturally sweet blend of orange, apple, apricot and prune juices isn’t for everyone. But, to borrow a slogan, those who like it like it a lot. Initial batches sold out faster than could be […]
Posted inArts + Music
Crooked Arrows
Doses of cultural pride clash with high-impact lacrosse games in the latest sport underdog story, Crooked Arrows. In order to approve an expansion for the casino he manages, prodigal son Brandon Routh of the Onondaga nation agrees to coach a disorderly high school lacrosse team. Let’s get this out of the way, this is The […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ice Age: Continental Drift
You’d think a film that starts with the violent separation of mother-fudgin’ continents would have bigger stakes, but Ice Age: Continental Drift isn’t concerned with challenging itself when there’s so many famous people’s voices around. The fourth film in the talking prehistoric mammal franchise sees mastodon Ray Romano separated from wife Queen Latifah by a […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Amazing Spider-Man
It’s likely impossible to not compare this Spider-Man reboot with Sam Raimi’s recent trilogy of films. To their credit, director Marc Webb and star Andrew Garfield do take some admirable swings. The webbing just doesn’t always stick. Garfield plays a Peter Parker that’s more introspective loner than outright dweeb, while Emma Stone is shiny in […]
Posted inArts + Music
Madea’s Witness Protection
Boldly going where he’s gone dozens of times before, Tyler Perry dons the fat suit and wig once again for Madea’s Witness Protection. When a federal prosecutor (Perry) needs to hide a mob witness (poor, poor Eugene Levy) he reluctantly sends the New Yorker to his Atlanta aunt, Madea. Routine hijinks on silly white people, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Savages
Moments in Oliver Stone’s pulpy drug caper, Savages, connect with the violence and horror it wants to evoke. But then Blake Lively’s sleepy, surfer-girl narration pops up and any goodwill washes away. Lively, as “O,” brings nearly nothing to her role as lady love to a couple of polyamorous pot-growing buddies (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Taylor […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ted
For his first feature, Seth MacFarlane doesn’t stray far from his wheelhouse with the tiresome Ted. A play on what happens when those magical tales of childhood wish fulfillment end, Ted finds slacker man-child Mark Wahlberg still palling around with the living teddy bear he wished for as a kid. Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) and […]
Posted inArts + Music
People Like Us
Summer is the traditional time for superheroes and blockbusters, so it’s fitting that this middling melodrama would come from the writing team behind the Transformers franchise. Co-writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who also directs in his feature debut) explore the bonds of family in the sweet but largely ineffectual People Like Us. When struggling […]