If there’s one thing we’ve had enough of in life, it’s World War II movies. The trigger-happy, soulless Fury was enough for five years’ worth, but here comes Angelina Jolie punching a guy in the face for two hours this very holiday season, along with this nerd movie about Nazi code-breaking. Alan Turing (the extinct […]
Tara Thorne
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Last Christmas
A Christmas Carol Dec 26, 2pm & 7:30pm Neptune Studio Theatre 1593 Argyle Street $18-$25 902-429-7070 In a very Haligonian turn of events, what began in 2003 as a make-your-own-work project for Jeremy Webb—a one-man version of The Christmas Carol—became 11 years, nearly 500 performances and a holiday theatre tradition. “I’d done the Neptune show […]
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In their Prine
Christmas in Prison: A Tribute to John Prine Saturday, December 27, 7pm King’s College Chapel 6350 Coburg Road $10 Sunday, December 28, 8:30pm The Carleton 1685 Argyle Street $10 adv/$15 door “It was based on this John Prine meltdown thing, it’d be late-night, three o’clock in the morning and we’d all see: ‘Anyone got a […]
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Review: Foxcatcher
The ol’ “let’s put on a nose and an accent and do some Acting” thing worked for Nicole Kidman in The Hours, but Steve Carell achieves mixed results in Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller’s very tense, oddly inert retelling of rich weirdo John DuPont’s obsession with Olympic wrestling. Watch the trailer with someone and they’ll gasp when […]
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TOP MOVIES OF 2014
Birdman Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman wins the Meta Award for casting Michael Keaton as a washed-up action star trying to go legit on Broadway. Keaton is electric, surrounded by terrific actors—Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Edward Norton—and a camera that never stops moving. Tiring, in the best way. Boyhood It is 100 percent fitting that Richard […]
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The Theory of Everything
Eddie Redmayne’s got one of those faces you either love or don’t, and we’re firmly in the don’t category, especially since the last time we saw his comically oversized features they were quivering every time he sang a note, tying Russell Crowe for The Worst Thing About the Les Mis Remake, Which Is Saying A […]
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Heartbeat
Remember mumblecore, the film movement that combined lots of earnest conversations, verité shooting style, indie rock and naturalistic performances? Launched the careers of Greta Gerwig and Mark Duplass? Andrea Dorfman was doing mumblecore back in the ’90s, before anyone thought to name it something dumb, with defiantly sincere films that culminated in her debut feature […]
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Whiplash
If jazz drums are Birdman’s major flaw—it’s a short list, and they 100 percent are—the opposite applies to Whiplash, a thrilling drama about a jazz drum student (Miles Teller) under the thumb of a masochistic instructor (JK Simmons). Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who is all of 29, Whiplash is essentially a two-hander about […]
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St. Vincent
St. Vincent takes place in a world where Naomi Watts is funnier than Melissa McCarthy, which should be enough of a warning that this dramatic comedy doesn’t quite have all its issues worked out. Bill Murray (not on that train, sorry) cribs from Bad Santa-era Billy Bob Thornton and sands the edges off like Bad […]
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“They shot me in the face with an arrow!”
Michael Rowe plays the villainous sniper Deadshot on Arrow, but before that he played drums in Bucket Truck, the Newfoundland hard-rock band that was based in Halifax for the first half of the ’00s. When did you start acting? My goal has always been to do something creative for a living, and prove that it […]
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TIFF Days 4-6
Due to last year’s Meryl Streep Incident, in which she did not show up for the press conference to August: Osage County (I am reasonably sure, based on her zero promotion for it, she hated that movie), I kept my expecations low for This Is Where I Leave You, an OKfamily drama starring some of […]
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TIFF Day 3
My alarm goes off way too early for a heat-exhausted Saturday. I know I want to see Men, Women & Children because it’s the new Jason Reitman, but I don’t know anything else. (I made a list of 37 movies I wanted to see before I left, based on directors, actors, Halifax availability and This […]