March 28, 7:30pm, $10 Joining Heather O’Neill is Nova Scotian author Linda Little, whose novel Scotch River tells the story of bull rider and lost soul Cass Hutt, whose mysterious past leads him back east. The hero of Nadia Bozak‘s debut novel Orphan Love is the intriguingly named Bozak, a young punk rocker bred on […]
Arts & Culture
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Stage might
Alderney Landing Theatre was packed Monday night with members and supporters of the Nova Scotian theatre scene. The Merritt Awards—named for Dalhousie theatre professor Robert Merritt—celebrate excellence in acting, directing, playwrighting, design and production.Hosted by Marty Burt, the evening was punctuated by slide shows, videos, song and light-hearted banter, often aimed at Atlantic Theatre Festival’s […]
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TMNT
The recently opened 300‘s effort to faithfully reproduce the visual storytelling of Frank Miller’s comic in movie form just becomes even more CG-ridden and soulless than Troy. Trying to stay on the good side of Miller’s fanbase, Snyder’s devotion to comic panels forsakes basic film grammar—one shot doesn’t follow geometrically with the next. There’s more […]
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Fin land
Rob Stewart’s face is lean, hollow-cheeked, with flashing green eyes below black hair spiked like a sea urchin. The 27-year-old’s speaking cadence isn’t a far cry from Keanu Reeves’s, but you’d be mistaken if you took him for some beach bum with a sideline in nature photography and a passing interest in fish. The beginning […]
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Plenty of high-profile movies are about the tormented lives of artists. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer takes it up a notch: It’s also a legitimate artwork. Thrown away at birth, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s childhood as an unloved ghetto urchin was saved by his one gift. Born with the best sense of smell in Paris, he […]
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Talk talk
About 100 people have gathered in Ginger’s Tavern and most of them have their fists raised in the air. Emphatically, the arms jerk down, a sea of fists pump together in solidarity. With the fist-pumps comes a one-word chant of encouragement from a bar full of voices. “Speak!” It’s mid-January, and the crowd has gathered […]
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Indie spirit rewards
Director Cam Erais’s short film Crossing Over tells the story of a man stuck in a nine-to-five world that Erais describes as “gray and cold and very routine.” The man notices that the street across from his workplace is more colourful, and that people there are happier. He decides to cross the street. Kids never […]
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Brain candy
Zombies. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re a reality of life. We’re better off making them do what we want. It really is “a better life through containment.” Or, at least, that’s what Fido, Andrew Currie’s new film, suggests for the residents of Willard, USA. You gotta know how to kill ’em, too, in case […]
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Zodiac
David Fincher sets the bar high at the beginning of Zodiac. His sepia-tinted colour photography (shot in high definition) carries an idealized view of America. Idyllic images of suburbia and fireworks for the Fourth of July are followed by a trip to a burger joint and a young couple driving into the country to “park.” […]
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Body break
The obesity epidemic is one powerful bit of news media shorthand. Use it in relation to young people and its potency intensifies. Premiering on CBC TV tonight at 8pm, Teresa MacInnes’ film Generation XXL challenges the knee-jerks. She follows four participants from a group of 12 who participated in the Fit Intervention Program last March. […]
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Black Snake Moan
The advertising and opening titles of Black Snake Moan suggest a throwback to 1970s exploitation movies. That retro marketing hook defies this laidback Southern drama, which isn’t necessarily morally sound but is always unapologetically sincere. Craig Brewer’s follow-up to Hustle and Flow carries an indiscreet polemic righteousness. As blues musician Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) kidnaps […]
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When Dove flies
Emil Sher describes himself as a “news junkie,” and it shows in his work. His stage and radio plays often start with subjects ripped from the headlines—the tainted blood scandal, a child’s right to refuse medical treatment, the ethics of profiting from criminal acts or, as in the case of Mourning Dove, wrapping up at […]
