May Shrek the Third (directed by Chris Miller) Two weeks ago Spider-Man 3 ushered in this sequel-saturated summer. Some may be stinkers but others we just can’t resist. The first Shrek made my teeth ache, but the second one had more mature gags and the incomparable presence of Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, who […]
Arts & Culture
Posted inArts + Music
28 Weeks Later
It was around the time of 2003’s 28 Days Later that zombies moved from their niche to be the dominant go-to movie monster—beating loyal standbys vampires, werewolves, mummies and child-murdering bogeymen. Not just in major films either—zombies stand alongside drug abuse and suicide as popular topics of amateur productions. One benefit is that zombies aren’t […]
Posted inArts + Music
Pinsent tense
Gordon Pinsent was one of many Canadian thespians who guest-starred on the long-running, much-adored TV drama Road to Avonlea. Though the iconic, Newfoundland-born actor doesn’t recall having had a scene with Sarah Polley, then one of the young Avonlea stars, he knew her through her family, many of whom worked in the business. “I knew […]
Posted inArts + Music
Spider-Man 3
For several years it seemed a given that the best comic-movie franchise going was Spider-Man. The colossal disappointment of Spider-Man 3 evens the field. It would be better suited as a Fantastic Four sequel. Using most of the same creative talent as Spider-Man 2, Sam Raimi (whose career now consists entirely of making these films) […]
Posted inArts + Music
Dan’s House
Daniel MacIvor has come home. Well, not home-home—as in his hometown of Sydney, Cape Breton—but home to Nova Scotia. Purcell’s Cove, to be exact. It marks the first time since his days as a theatre student at Dalhousie that the award-winning playwright and actor can refer to himself as a Haligonian. “I might as well […]
Posted inArts + Music
Past perfect
At the first of two 20th anniversary screenings of Dirty Dancing, a sold-out crowd overwhelmingly comprised of women buzzed excitedly. “I can’t find my ticket,” said a woman who needed to pee. “So what?” said one of her two companions. “Oh, they’re being really strict,” said the other. “They won’t let anyone in or out […]
Posted inArts + Music
Year of the Dog & Next
Peggy isn’t the sort of character you see in the centre of movies. She’s the best friend, the ear, the shoulder, the confidante. Peggy lives an unexciting life working in a faceless corporate office nestled in a suburban sprawl. Her only comfort is her beagle Pencil, and his death sets her on a path to […]
Posted inArts + Music
Drop the needle
Quilts. Please don’t turn the page. I know quilts are not an easy sell. While they’re comfortable to snuggle in, or remind you of your grammy, no one could have predicted that an exhibition of quilts would break museum attendance records across the United States, or be declared by Michael Kimmelman, chief critic for the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ballad power
Playwright Ross Desprez has come full circle in the creation of his work The Ballad of Jim Pane. The play had its early roots as the story of a fictional 1960s folk singer, but morphed into The Ballad of Phil Ochs after Desprez discovered an album by Ochs and was moved by songs such as […]
Posted inArts + Music
Doomstown’s day
“This is what they tell me,” says David “Sudz” Sutherland from the office of his production company in Toronto. “This is the first time that they see something that looks like it took place in their neighbourhood. In a Canadian context instead of an American context.” Sutherland is talking about Doomstown, the film he wrote […]
Posted inArts + Music
Hot Fuzz
“The Greater Good,” a political motto that’s made its way into the pop lexicon, is mindlessly repeated by the rural folk in Hot Fuzz. Edgar Wright follows up his living-dead comedy Shaun of the Dead with material about assimilation that could easily make another zombie movie. This time it’s a take on the bombastic US […]