An improbably PG rock movie, Janie Jones stars Abigail Breslin in the title role as the long-lost daughter of Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola, who does great rock star). When her crackhead mother (Elisabeth Shue) abandons her in Little Rock, Ethan’s stuck with a vibe-harshing 13-year-old on tour. Then his band is dropped by its label, […]
Tara Thorne
Posted inArts + Music
TIFF Day 06: I’m up, I’m up!
Now that the festival is past the halfway point, to say fatigue is setting in is not quite right—it’s seeping, it’s blanketing, it’s practically a plague. People are falling asleep regularly, and if you think you’re fighting against it, that you’re young and vital and alive, well, wait until a middle-aged man’s sweet, rhythmic breathing is two seats away from you. Close your eyes once and you’re a goner.
Posted inArts + Music
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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TIFF Day 05: Michelle Williams vs. Michelle Williams
I was very excited for my 9:30 screening this morning, the latest from Kelly Reichardt, who made the minimalist-but-affecting Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy. Meek’s Cutoff is her third film, and second starring Michelle Williams, and she goes back to frontier times, following three couples who’ve been promised great things await them in the […]
Posted inArts + Music
TIFF Day 04: Scandals, girlfriends, artists
I am feeling oddly disconnected from people during this festival, which happens when you spend your days in a box watching projections. I had a couple polite conversations early on, but I haven’t made any festival friends or even gotten worked up about trying to meet particular writers like I normally do. Ah well. At […]
Posted inArts + Music
TIFF Day 03: Franco, Tamblyn, Holly from The Office
TT Today began by sharing air with one Amber Tamblyn, who I consider the best American actress under 30. She was not the main event, however—that would be living performance art project James Franco, who stars in 127 Hours, Danny Boyle’s follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire, in which a man becomes trapped under a boulder while […]
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TIFF Day 02: The worst movie of the festival
TT It’s Kind of a Funny Story: Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, stars Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifinakis and Emma Roberts at the Ryerson Saturday night. For the second day running, I was stuck in an unfortunate pattern of meh to great in regards to film quality—great if you’re home on the couch, less so […]
Posted inArts + Music
TIFF Day 01: Woody Allen needs to take a break
Reece Thompson, Kat Dennings, Josh Lucas at the Ryerson Theatre on Friday (TT) Who’s got two thumbs and hates change? [crickets] But seriously you guys, with the opening of the new TIFF Lightbox on King Street, the festival’s entire nucleus has shifted down from Yorkville to the Entertainment District. While I am enjoying hanging out in that part of town, the thing about the Varsity—the main press venue for the last five years I’ve been coming here—is that it is atop a building that houses two coffee shops, a grocery store, Shoppers, an LCBO and a Chapters in which to
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The Acorn w/Gianna Lauren
“This time we know what to expect,” says Acorn leader Rolf Klausener of the band’s show at St. Matt’s, where the band played last HPX. “We had fun playing dodgeball in the gym downstairs with Ohbijou.” The capital city quintet comes back on the strength of June’s No Ghost, the follow-up to 2008’s Glory Hope […]
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The Jon Cohen Experimental
”Anything anybody needed I would provide,” says Jon Cohen of his decade on the Montreal music scene. “You know, ‘There’s 100 guitarists on every street corner, but we need a harp. Let’s call Jon.’” After turns in The Dears and The Social Register, Cohen put his own name out in front in 2006, with augmentation. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax Mixtape
How many bands can come from a single town in 20 years? A thousand? Seems like a low estimate, somehow. This storied burg has a musical history deep enough to drive a ferry through every half-hour—about the amount of time it takes for some kids on Agricola to put up a new Bandcamp page. Because […]