Humble, ordinary Jane Q. Movienerd has reservations about J.J Abrams’ Star Trek. She can’t fathom the considerable expense poured into such a chintzy relic, and she never paid much mind to the original series, for which this movie is a prequel. However, she regularly goes to summer blockbusters in the hopes that the film will […]
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Katrina Tuttle is sew young
On a foggy April evening, surrounded by Drew Klassen’s lush rainforest-inspired paintings, a small group of guests sits in rows inside Gallery Page and Strange, intimately lining both sides of a floor-height runway. It’s the perfect way to take in all the delightful details and surprises from Katrina Tuttle’s ambitious 2009 fall collection. Shying away […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past casts its dumb glow
The less one likes Matthew McConaughey’s romantic comedy persona, the more one’s likely to enjoy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The imperfect take on A Christmas Carol still falls for the genre’s status quo message that love and marriage are the only way. But in mocking tacky role-playing cliches the movie goes somewhere better: Dissecting McConaughey’s […]
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Jill Hennessy shines in dude-focused Lymelife
Jill Hennessy is a few minutes late for her phone interview. She’s busy tuning her guitar in preparation for afternoon performances on MTV Canada and E-Talk. The earthy-voiced actor—best known for her television roles as straight-shooting A.D.A. Claire Kincaid on the original Law & Order, and as the emotionally messed-up medical examiner Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh […]
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine lacks emotional drive
The “origins” chapter for X-Men: Wolverine barely even serves as filler. At the end of the movie, Wolverine loses his memory. This implies that viewers shouldn’t be bothered to keep track of Wolverine’s backstory, when he can’t even remember it. The only justice is that the movie’s forgettable, anyway. It lacks a concise emotional drive. […]
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Updated with interview: Mark Little wins Great Canadian Laugh-off
Watch out Dubai. On Sunday night, Mark Little of Picnicface won Yuk Yuk’s Great Canadian Laugh Off and a sweet $25,000 prize. “I’m feeling great,” he writes by email. “I’ve been smiling a lot lately. But I also feel a bit like I just cheated the system and people are going to catch on soon. I keep waiting for people to say, ‘Wait a minute, he tricked us all!’”Little, who beat out Toronto comedian Mark Forward, was judged by a panel of heavyhitters, including a talent coordinator for The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, who gave Little her mailing address.
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One-night only! Iron Maiden: Flight 666 Bayers Lake, 9:30pm, Tuesday May 5
Last summer I saw the world premiere of Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn’s great documentary Global Metal at NXNE, an investigation into how heavy metal culture has permeated every corner of the earth. The instantly likable filmmakers are back with Flight 666, which is screening in six Canadian cities, including Halifax, for one day only […]
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Provincial politicians cultivate culture of defeat
Stephen Harper started offending large parts of the nation almost as soon as he became a national political leader. Out east, we particularly remember him mouthing off about Atlantic Canada’s supposed “culture of defeat.” Nova Scotian politicians responded quickly to that one, passing a resolution in the provincial legislature criticizing Harper and “his own Party’s […]
Posted inArts + Music
Movie Review: The Soloist
There is always real sincerity behind the twitchy, sardonic facade of Robert Downey Jr., and that helps sell The Soloist. Downey’s character, LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, writes about and befriends Jamie Foxx’s Nathanial Anthony Ayres Jr., a homeless man with a gift for music. Downey’s sincerity conveys the frustration of assisting someone like Ayres, […]
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Movie Review: Obsessed
Obsessed‘s tagline should be “Idris Elba is surrounded by frickin’ idiots!” because the film itself is an example of how a flimsy plot can be sustained by the stupidity of the characters. Lisa (Ali Larter) materializes in Derek’s (Elba) office—a financial firm, as written by someone who knows nothing about financial firms—and sexually harasses him […]
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Movie Review: Fighting
Fighting is unmemorable. As an actor, Channing Tatum is devoid of depth, and the script is unwilling to develop any aspect of his character, Shawn MacArthur, that would make him interesting. MacArthur once punched his coach/father during an argument and now none of the other Fighting characters will let him live it down: “Why are […]
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Movie Review: Che Part Two
After the observational distance of Part One, the second look at the revolutionary activities of Ernesto “Che” Guevara is a little more in your face. That said, the mystery of why Guevara left Cuba and renounced his citizenship—and his second wife and children—is never reasonably explained. Instead we’re in the Bolivian jungle, as Guevara trains […]
