Eli Roth doesn’t like the cold. On the phone from Toronto he bitches about weather he finds a great deal less comfortable than the mild California breezes to which he’s grown accustomed. “I grew up in Boston,” he says, “but it’s clear how much of a pussy I’ve turned into.” Roth isn’t one to couch […]
Arts & Culture
Posted inArts + Music
Soundtown
When sitting beside audio artists Eleanor King and Stephen Kelly, the surrounding sounds in the room become more noticeable. Almost on cue, as King is talking about how she instinctively connects sound to personal memories, someone drops a dish on the cafe counter, its tinny boom resonating across the floor. “See,” she says, pointing to […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Producers
The new screen version of The Producers doesn’t establish itself as a distinguished entity from the 1968 film. But it doesn’t disgrace the original either. The success of The Producers on Broadway made the film cash-in inevitable. Unlike when Little Shop of Horrors took the same path, the result of a movie inspiring a stage […]
Posted inArts + Music
Art and soul
At the end of the year, most of us aren’t think-ing about anything more intellectual than peeling the foil off the last chocolate ball. In other words, the state of the city’s art scene is probably not your biggest worry. But it deserves some thought. In the city’s excitement over its bid for the Commonwealth […]
Posted inArts + Music
Indietown
Two thousand five has been a year of opportunity for independent theatre artists. With the launches of so many new companies, the sudden growth of indie productions proves that even with obstacles like few venues and small budgets, for our theatre community, the shows must go on. In March, one of Halifax’s few full-time veteran […]
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Film flam
Production boom “I did various commercials,” says Shauna Hatt, a film production coordinator who works on a contract basis in film. “And I did two CBS TV movies back to back.” She’s referring to the Tom Selleck movies, sequels to the popular movie of the week Stone Cold, based on the Robert B. Parker novels. […]
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Picture show
Every year, critics complain how it was a bad year for movies, and then I point out that that they’re paying attention to the wrong ones. This year is a different matter. Big movies came from directors like Roman Polanski, Tim Burton, Hayao Miyazaki, Terry Gilliam, Cameron Crowe, David Cronenberg, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Linklater, Deepak […]
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Movie report card
This is an ordered ranking of every feature length 2005 movie I saw, prior to December 23. Movies first released in North America in 2004 that didn’t open in Halifax until 2005 (eg. Hotel Rwanda) are not counted. Nor are foreign movies released domestically in 2005 that were counted on last year’s list (eg. Oldboy). […]
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Spaced out
At a Christmas party held earlier in December, hosted by the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia, artist Jim MacSwain smiles and mingles with peers and friends. It’s a sharp contrast to his demeanour back in October, when he joined fellow artist Suzanne Swannie at her home to talk about the loss of their studios last […]
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Fun with Dick and Jane
Jim Carrey, as everyman slob Dick, stands on top of a table in a high-class bar, ranting wildly about how the patrons (corporate employees) are just puppets. His wife Jane (Tea Leoni) tells off the bartender for serving her husband so many drinks to allow him to make such an animated fool of himself. The […]
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Draft pick
Jay Dahl doesn’t have many compliments when he talks about his home province. “I always wanted to make films,” he says. “I’m from northern Alberta, so that possibility just did not exist. There’s no such thing there as the arts, I guess.” Dahl isn’t someone who’d let that keep him from getting what he wants. […]
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Wanting
The first time Molly sees a peacock, an expression comes to her: “I never forget a face.” Where the phrase comes from, she isn’t sure. Maybe it’s something her grandmother says. More likely, she’s lifted it from a lipstick commercial, or a movie about a stalker. Late movies on cable are usually about stalkers. It’s […]
