Yeah, sure, he’s a celebrity thanks to Trailer Park Boys, but Mike Smith has the best of both worlds. As soon as he puts on those Bubbles glasses and hangs out with his buddies Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay he’s a superstar, but as soon as he takes them off, he’s anonymous. No one […]
Film
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Female Film / TV Actor
After a lull where we didn’t see the Oscar nominee, now Ellen is everywhere, even in the streets of Halifax (there were frequent sightings over the summer—it’s good to know despite her Hollywood schedule she still gets to come home once in awhile). She starred in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It and will soon […]
Posted inArts + Music
Coco Avant Chanel keeps tight focus
Anyone hungry for fashion gluttony should continue to wait patiently for the Vogue doc The September Issue, or rent Valentino: The Last Emperor. Adapted from Edmonde Charles-Roux’s biography, Coco Avant Chanel, starring the always-endearing Audrey Tautou, focuses on Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s early days. Life is bleak—Chanel and her sister are abandoned at an orphanage by […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ariella Pahlke’s smoke signals
Living in rural Halifax, filmmaker Ariella Pahlke is used to sounds of the wild. And not just the chorus of chirping crickets and shushing leaves, but the piercing squeal of the real wild ones—drivers burning rubber. The activity, also called laying a patch, burning out, squealing tires or simply just givin’er, was foreign to Pahlke. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Heather Young’s best in show
When you’re picking up tickets for the Atlantic Film Festival, grabone for Atlantic Shorts IV (Monday, September 21, Park Lane, 7pm), soyou can give Heather Young an extra clap—-the NSCAD grad just wonMontreal’s Canadian Student Film Festival. Dog Girl was inspiredby a teen Young worked with in New Brunswick, who was “very optimistic,happy and hard-working,” […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halloween II’s killing machine
It’s possible to see the movie Rob Zombie wanted to make in Halloween II, but much harder to see the point. It’s Zombie’s prerogative to not want this sequel to amount to “fun” horror. But repeatedly, we’re seeing through Michael Myers’ perspective, observing victims’ prolonged suffering. That’s how Halloween II ends up fetishizing cruelty. The […]
Posted inArts + Music
Camelia Frieberg’s cross-pollination project
“One thing that is so incredibly exhilarating about film,” says filmmaker, producer and Pollination Project co-founder Camelia Frieberg, “is the process by which it comes together. Talk about cross-pollination—you’ve got the music, the visuals, the writer, the actors bringing their craft—all those things have to come together and collaborate. Sure, you have one unifying vision, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Tedious, predictable, pretty good
Type-A college grad Ryden (Alexis Bledel) comes up short in the job market, moves back in with her parents and generally learns that life and relationships and stuff are really hard. It’s pretty tedious and predictable, I know, but Post Grad has the good sense to fill out its wan storyline with zany and droll […]