Ashley Bell knows the comparisons are inevitable. She just doesn’t think they’re terribly relevant. Bell, who plays a teenager who may or may not be possessed by a demon in The Last Exorcism, is well aware that the film will be weighed against the genre standard-bearer, William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning The Exorcist (1973), but says her […]
Matt Semansky
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Lottery Ticket fails to gamble
Glimpses of insight pop up throughout Lottery Ticket, hinting at the smart satire it could have been if the filmmakers didn’t play it so music-montage safe. After winning the $370 million jackpot his project neighbours have salivated over, straight arrow Kevin (Bow Wow) tries to do the right thing with his wealth. Like anyone, Kevin […]
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Fun squashed when Nanny McPhee Returns
Emma Thompson returns to script and star in this sequel to the 2005 kiddie flick about a mysterious matron with magical powers and a clock-stopping face. This time, Nanny McPhee imparts five lessons to the unruly children of farm girl Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal, overdoing a British accent) and their snooty cousins. Once tamed, the […]
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Takers robs from more than the bank
Takers has all the requisite elements of a heist thriller. It’s got a crew of high-rolling, implausible stunt-performing, helicopter-detonating, walking-together-in-slow-motion bank robbers. It’s got a gruff, troubled cop who plays by his own rules (Matt Dillon). It’s got a pulverizing soundtrack and is so thoroughly saturated with testosterone that Roger Clemens could have injected it. […]
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is almost sensory overload…
An effects-laden action comedy for indie kids, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hurtles along faster than the speed of critical thought. That’s probably for the best. The skeletal plot follows the title character (Michael Cera) as he navigates a gauntlet of video game-inspired battles against the former loves of his new alterna-girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). […]
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The White Ribbon
Director Haneke (Funny Games) once again examines humanity’s capacity for cruelty with this story of a small village in pre-World War I Germany beset by unexplained accidents and violence. To his credit, and to the film’s immeasurable benefit, Haneke eschews his usual shock tactics for a more meditative approach, patiently showing how resentment, anger and […]
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Greenberg
Noah Baumbach specializes in narcissistic jerks, but none of his previous creations, from Jeff Daniels’ arrogant academic in The Squid and the Whale to Nicole Kidman’s ice queen in Margot at the Wedding, can match Ben Stiller’s Roger Greenberg for sheer assholery. Greenberg is a seething, socially inept 40-something who spends his time writing complaint […]
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Jazz Fest: The Kids Were All Right
The 2010 edition of the Halifax Jazz Festival melted away – almost literally – yesterday, ending more than a week of diverse and mostly enjoyable downtown sound. International and local artists alike stretched, and in some cases ignored entirely, the boundaries of the jazz genre, busting out everything from hip hop beats to tuba-powered Middle […]
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Jazz Fest: Running On Not Quite Empty
It was 8 p.m, the scheduled time for Montreal’s H’Sao to hit the Festival Tent stage, yet there was a curious lack of urgency in the air. Most likely, Fest officials were waiting until a few more empty seats were filled, not wanting the band to have to play to a small crowd. A few […]
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Jazz Fest: Tel Aviv Rock City
Jazz Fest 2010 has featured numerous acts whose connection to the genre is, to be generous, a loose one. Hip-hop, R&B and funk are more like cousins of jazz than siblings. But at least there is a familial bond, some shared musical DNA that links, say, De La Soul and Alex Cuba to Charlie Parker […]
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Jazz Fest: Word Power
As a very wise fellow listener pointed out during Monday night’s Alpha Yaya Diallo show, there’s something freeing about listening to lyrics sung in a language other than your own. Without having to focus on the words and their meaning, you’re left to appreciate the voice as an instrument and the idiosyncratic rhythms of an […]
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Jazz Fest: Diallo and Church Span the Globe
“Sit down!” As Alpha Yaya Diallo and his band took the Festival Tent stage last night, a few voices rose in anger to scold some late arrivals who’d decided to stand in between the rows of seats, blocking the viewplane of several audience members. One of the reprimanded dudes shrugged, look back at his friends […]