Last week it was reported that Contagion—Steven Soderbergh’s nearly-decade-old drama about a global epidemic—climbed back into the iTunes top 10 movie rental charts. And the 2011 thriller was not alone. Dustin Hoffman’s largely forgotten 1995 virus-thriller Outbreak has also experienced a surge in streaming popularity on Netflix. Book publishers are even reporting a rise in […]
Steve Gow
Posted inFood + Drink
Re-inventing the craft beer festival
Nova Scotia Craft Beer Festival March 21, Cunard Centre, 961 Marginal Road nscraftbeerfest.ca It’s only been five years since the Nova Scotia Craft Beer Festival started life as “Full House,” with just a handful of brewers. That first event, in 2015, was intended to launch the summer beer season and introduce a few new beverages […]
Posted inLifestyle
How to win at auctions, both online and irl
Nova Scotia may not attract attention from high-end auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s, but local firm Crowther & Brayley runs good auctions in hockey arenas (the next is March 21). And the world of online auctions is accessible from your phone. But just because any amateur can make a bid, doesn’t mean there aren’t […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coming clean about cosmetics with Toxic Beauty
Filmmaker Phyllis Ellis hopes to send you scrambling to the shower to search out labels on your soap and shampoo. After all, her eye-opening documentary Toxic Beauty (trailer below; streaming now on CBC Gem) not only follows the class-action suit against Johnson & Johnson—and the company’s cancer-linked baby powder—but Ellis also uncovers an unregulated amalgam […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Halifax Black Film Festival gets reel
Halifax Black Film Festival Feb 28-Mar 1 Cineplex Park Lane 5657 Spring Garden Road and Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road It may only be marking its fourth year, but the Halifax Black Film Festival has high expectations. “We show the Black reality from around the globe. It allows us to celebrate shared values,” […]
Posted inArts + Music
Finding the Disappearance at Clifton Hill
There have been movies casting Niagara Falls as a central setting, but none have quite captured the split personality of the kitschy tourist town quite like Disappearance at Clifton Hill. “I have some personal history with the city,” says Falls-bred filmmaker Albert Shin recently about his latest feature, opening February 28 at Cineplex Park Lane. “It’s […]
Posted inArts + Music
Gabrielle Zilkha is Queering The Script
Shipping. Bury your gays. ClexaCon. Unless you are entrenched within the LGBTQ community, these terms may not mean a whole lot to you—but Gabrielle Zilkha aims to change that. With her latest documentary, Queering the Script, the award-winning Canadian filmmaker explores the history of queer women on television and its passionate fan base. As fun […]
Posted inArts + Music
Francois Girard’s The Song of Names plays on
The Song Of Names Opens January 10 Cineplex Park Lane, 5657 Spring Grden Road In 1998, François Girard burst onto the scene with The Red Violin, an award-winning film that quickly earned the love of critics by using music to convey the three-century -long journey of a priceless violin. Over 20 years later, the acclaimed […]
Posted inArts + Music
Neon Dreams on
Loud Luxury w/Neon Dreams, Fama, Karate Kactus Tue, Nov 26, 7pm Cunard Centre, 961 Marginal Road $41.50-$52.50 This has been more than just a coming out year for Halifax’s Neon Dreams. After 2019 witnessed the release of the band’s debut full-length album (that’d be the long-awaited Sweet Dreams Till Sundown) hits like “High School Dropout,” […]