Toy Story 3

Around the same time last year Pixar -an animation giant- released Up, that film got a rapturous reception from critics and audiences. Actually, anything Pixar has released over the past decade got drooled upon by us film lovers. Toy Story 3 is no exception & expect it to get nominated come Awards time. It's quite a feat in how it mixes its dramatic and comic undertones so damn well & gosh, how serious & dark & scary it is. In fact its got such deep darkness that some online bloggers and critics are saying that somewhere in the movie there's an allegory to the holocaust. Watching the picture on Friday, I could see why some folks would think in such a way, but I highly doubt first time director Lee Unkrich and his Pixar peers had this idea in mind while making the film.

All the characters we've come to love are back but -as I said before- there is an extra layer of darkness added. The idea of being trapped and imprisoned looms deeply in the movie, giving the viewer an almost claustrophobic feeling throughout its 100 minute running time. Not a dull moment or second pops up in this fascinating film, the best of the series. It all comes together in a finale that divides the gap between what it means to be innocent and what it's like to let go of the things we love and welcome adulthood. Heavy stuff for the kiddies he? That's why Toy Story 3 -and for that matter Pixar- is such a special gift, it is wrapped on the outside with vibrant colors that pop out and stun your eyes but it is layered deep inside with adult themes and a darkness that cannot be shaken.

2010 mid-year report

One thing that has been very frustrating about 2010 is the lack of quality on display. As I’m writing this very article, only Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island stands out as a possible nominee (even though many would wholeheartedly disagree with me). Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer came out to rave reviews in the spring but so did controversy & the infamous situation the director found himself into.

Paul Greengrass released Green Zone, audiences and critics yawned. Ridley Scott tried to revive Robin Hood for a generation that probably doesn’t even know who Kevin Costner it, that bombed. Mel Gibson counted on Edge Of Darkness to mark his acting comeback, did he even read the screenplay? Tim Burton & Johnny Depp struck out with their overwrought adaptation of Alice In Wonderland & Atom Egoyan failed remaking of kitschy French film Chloe with former nominees Liam Neeson and Julliane Moore. Do you sense a trend going on here? Disappointment after disappointment came to your local movie theatre, which would explain the Box office drops weekend and after weekend nationwide. The blockbusters were no fun & so was the more serious fare.

Expect the same old same old right up until July 16th, which is when Inception comes out. Christopher Nolan’s bold futuristic picture about dreams & their consequences. Toy Story 3 might also cause a little buzz this weekend, which could fare well in a 10 nominee field. Anything with Pixar should be considered a serious contender and –since we are living in the golden age of animation- academy voters are gaining more and more respect for a genre that is supposedly just for kids. Then there’s Debra Wanik’s Winter’s Bone which, an independent film that could just be this year’s In The Bedroom- but the buzz must reach further than just L.A and New York. As it goes wider and wider in the coming weeks we will know for sure what its chances truly are but make no mistake about it, Winter’s Bone is the best reviewed movie so far this year and that can carry it far.

We are already halfway through 2010 and contenders are sparse. There were –however- a few movies that caught my attention. Scorsese’s Shutter Island & Polanski’s The Ghost Writer are on the short list, with their undeniable mastery of the classic Hollywood form. Closing it out are Jacques Audiard’s great gangster movie Un Prophet (Foreign Language loser last year & better than eventual winner The Secret In Their Eyes), Andrea Arnold’s mesmerizing Fish Tank from the U.K & Matthew Vaughn’s Hollywood superhero product Kick-Ass, featuring a great performance by Nicolas Cage & horrible ending notwithstanding. What are yours? Did I miss a movie you are passionate about? Do you disagree with something I said? Chime away !

Stuff I'm currently working on..

Just to give you guys an update on yours truly (I know, how selfish). I've started as a contributor over @ AwardsDaily.com- many thanks to the lovely Sasha Stone for giving me an opportunity to write for a web site I've respected & read for over 10 years. Here's the link to my first -of what will be many more POST. I'm also working on getting my voice out on local radio, Montreal station AM 1650, details are still being worked out but there will be more development (or so I hope) in the coming weeks. Finalement, come end of summer you can count on more written stuff in The Concordian. An exciting few months to come & I hope you will all share this ride with me.

Although it's been a very dry year for film, don't forget about the coming movie weekend where stuff like the acclaimed Winter's Bone starts to get a wider release. I'll make sure to catch that one asap, especially considering it looks less and less like your typical sundance film (& I do mean that as a good thing) + another thing that caught my attention this week is the lack of good movies out there @ the moment. I'm gonna write something soon about the sad state of movies in 2010 and what were the movies that didn't have the stench of failure.

Can Independant film save a deceptively dull 2010 summer movie season?

INDIE: Nicole Holofcener's Please Give


HOLLYWOOD: Brand and Hill in Get Him To The Greek

Not that we always get bad stuff from Hollywood but this year -more than any other- has been horrendous as far as quality goes. Don't expect anything of value to show up from hollywood studios until Christopher Nolan's Inception gets released on July 18th. Case in point I recently saw Get Him To The Greek (C) starring Russell Brand and that big ball of joyful chunk Jonah Hill- decent R rated comedy with lots of fart jokes but not something I'd call must see or worthy of the hard earned 12 bucks you have to dish out. Brand's comedy is joyously deadpan and oddly enjoyable but the film falls apart when Brand starts to develop something I thought he would never dare show his core audience- emotion & feelings. We are left with nothing to ponder upon @ the movies, especially after yet another disappointment in the form of Brand's comic hangover- which leaves independent cinema out to rescue the day. Or does it really?

Harry Brown (D+)
is violent and reminiscent of those gutsy B movies from the 70s starring Michael Caine. Well lo and behold Caine stars in this one as a retired Gran Torino out to get revenge on street thugs for the murder of his best friend. Caine -a great actor if there ever was one- keeps things entertaining at the start with his sharp wit, ditto British director Daniel Barber who plumbs violent sequences into our head as a way to relay his message. But what exactly is his message? The violence is so hammered down and graphic that the picture got an 18+ rating in Quebec of all places, a province that is very lenient in its ratings.

Mr Barber's movie collapses in front of our very own eyes as the stakes get raised and the moral message gets deceptively confusing. The personal caricatures also get more pronounced and the characters much less intriguing and more stupid in their actions. Caine -still a pro at these kinds of roles- invests a lot in this geezer's fight for revenge but the script cannot hold a candle to the subtlety and depth that made Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino so good. This is the best example of a movie that thinks its important and exciting when it really ends up being the opposite of it- muffled and dull.

Please Give (D+)
If Harry Brown was a great performance in an otherwise messy movie, the same can be said of the irresistible Amanda Peet in Nicole Holofcener's incredibly dull Please Give. Here's a movie which takes pride in being about but also about everything. Are you still with me? I have great admiration for Holofcener's past movies but her newest one just didn't do it for me- what with its annoying characters and deliberately comatose pacing. Holofcener has always dealt with the female experience in her movies -none greater than in 2002's Lovely & Amazing. What happens in this movie has all the resounding excitement of watching paint dry.

Husband (Oliver Platt) & Wife (Catherine Keener) have to deal with the inside and outside world and a teenage daughter that obsesses over a pimple and the right fitted jeans- all this and they end up butting heads with the granddaughters (Amanda Peet & Rebecca Hall) of their elderly neighbour. Got that? Who cares? The formula worked for Holofcener's other pictures but it just doesn't here. The script is too facile and the resolution too predictable to fully engage the viewer into curiosity or satisfaction.

Peet is however the standout here as a tanned hottie- obsessed, malevolent & sexually mischievous. She brings excitement and intrigue to her memorable role. We need more Peet in an industry shortchanged on female roles. She shines in a film that just does not get that sometimes life can be very dull & that without any spice everything is not very nice.

The Hughes Brothers' -Book Of Eli-

Here's a movie that doesn't hide behind a wall and comes out with a message that is universal and incredibly strong. Now, what went wrong? The Book Of Eli (2.5/5) is an interesting and gritty effort from The Hughes Brothers but it doesn't shine with the greatness it seeks out to achieve and has a confused finale that demands a second viewing. Denzel Washington plays Eli, a bible holding wanderer that -in a post apocalyptic, bible free world- wants to go out west to preach the Bible to a population that has completely forgotten about it. I guess that automatically turns off all atheist moviegoers. For the rest of us, The Book Of Eli -out this Tuesday on DVD- is an interesting and ambitious journey into a darkened world where mercy from human beings does not exist.

Albert and Allan Hughes rarely make movies these days- so it a breath of fresh air to see them back at the scheme of things. Then you start to realize that these brothers have never topped their 1993 debut Menace 2 Society- a raw look at South Central's street gangs. The Book Of Eli is their 4th directorial effort in fiction and they almost pull it off with a curious, bleak look at apocalyptic decay but their ambitions are too high and the script too forced to ever achieve purpose. They shoot the picture with grittiness and low lighting- focusing on a sun that never shines and dessert roads that never end but they don't put a personal stamp on a movie that feels as impersonal as their last effort way back in 2001 From Hell.

The twist @ first takes the viewer back and leaves one to reflect on everything that just came before . For some it will make total sense and for others -me included- it really does not add up as a whole. It is however, gratifying to watch a movie with this many ideas and this much chutzpah in a Hollywood system that churns out less and less of them in the dog days of spring and summer. The Hughes Brothers are not going out there to entertain or to give you a good time- they want to provoke and cause debate & it seems like they have achieved that with their latest feature. I'm looking forward to their next messy vision.

RIP Dennis Hopper

If only Dennis Hopper was like most of us, then maybe he would have gotten the appreciation & status that he truly deserved in the industry. I was truly saddened by the -albeit unexpected- death of Hopper on Saturday from a cancer he had been battling for a while. At 74 years of age the actor's life stopped but not without a slew of writers remembering the memories he gave us in what was a unique and unforgettable acting career.

He acted and directed in Easy Rider -a seminal movie that launched the rebellious madness of filmmakers in the 70's. He single handily stole the show in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now as a journalist gone completely mad in the far reaching jungles of Vietnam, he was highly delusional/brilliant as a paranoid druggie in River's Edge & -don't ever forget it- he was the highlight of Speed playing a brilliant albeit madly insane bad guy who just wants to terrorize for the fun of it (a Hopper specialty)

Hopper's best acting role was also his most controversial in David Lynch's 1986 masterwork Blue Velvet (also his best movie). Hopper played THE psychopath to end all psychopaths in American Cinema- as the notorious Frank Booth Hopper defied all cliches his way to turn a role that was so maddening and shocking into a brilliant showcase of his talents. His Frank raped Isabella Rosellini and inhaled gas at the same time- he bullied with words but also with actions, which is what made him so scary and so unique in a movie world that was going nowhere and -just like music in the decade- was turning into glam and plastic.

It is by no stretch of the imagination that I'd refer to Hopper as one of the few acting rebels to come out of the studio system in the past 30 years. He was fearless and intimate and exciting and unique. Very unique. The characters he played actually felt very real, no matter how disturbed they might have been & it is by no stretch of the imagination that Hopper invested something very personal in them. He was once quoted as saying that he wanted to play Frank Booth because he "was Frank Booth"- Hopper was many things but a genius is most definitely one of them, he will be very missed.

Remember this guy?

Reviews ! (a whole bunch of them)- The Secret In Their Eyes, Iron Man 2, Date Night, From Paris With Love, Kick Ass & Lost finale

Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl in Kick Ass


Iron Man 2 (C-)

I keep searching for a good movie, But I always come out of the theatre empty handed and disappointed. Iron Man 2 continues that spell with an overstuffed script and not enough action scenes to sustain our interest. Is it worth shelling out 12 hard earned dollars to watch a movie that basically has no idea or direction in its path? Of course not. Director Jon Favreau brought a solid mix of action and humor to the 2008 original that we -as an audience- had the right to expect something special again. Here's another sequel that fails miserably @ that.

Mickey Rourke -cue the comeback- & Robert Downey Jr do their darnest to save a movie that has the dullness of watching paint dry. They deserved better than this and so did the audience which -save for some major eye candy courtesy of Scarlett Johannsen- has not much to cheer about as the credits start rolling.

Date Night (C)

I think Steve Carell is absolutely hilarious but his latest with Tina Fey is far from it. They play a boring married couple that have their lives -and love life- re-energized when they are mistaken for another couple and get chased by two mobster thugs. Ah yes, originality and Hollywood @ its best. If only I was serious. Cliche after cliche gets hammered down to the audience as Carell and Fey get chased around central Park & a strip club among many other spots.

It does help that Fey and Carell are both amusing figures to watch -especially when on Television in 30 Rock & The Office respectively- but this film has none of the chemistry or satirical comedy those shows achieve on the idiot box. I did however dig a brain dead/ shirtless Mark Whalberg in a cameo that is the highlight of an otherwise dull and repetitive film. Oh Hollywood what have you become?

The Secret In Their Eyes (C+)

Argentinian director Juan Jose Campanella is a seasoned veteran of Television's Law & Order. For the first 90 minutes of this compatibly made detective thriller you don't see an inch of televised bullshit, it's only as the movie goes along in its overlong running time that melodrama sets in and an expected, preposterous finale settles in as a mean to shock its audience.

The film tells the story of a detective obsessed with an unsolved case since the 70s. Now retired, he decides to write a novel about his experiences & -of course- has a love story as a subplot. That love story is a real drag and stops the movie short of greatness ditto the finale. The Secret In Their Eyes won this year's Best Foreign movie Oscar & -considering everything I just said- you can tell it isn't deserving.

From Paris With Love (C+)

Although competently made and entertaining in some parts this new movie by Pierre Morel is not half as good as last year's other Morel B-movie Taken. John Travolta plays a violently mobile government operator that thrives on being gory just for the sake of it. John Rhys Myers is his saner, violent free assistant that wants nothing more than to get home and be with the girlfriend to propose to her. Sounds hokey? it sure is and gets even more when these polar opposites are assigned to catch a terrorist plot aimed for Paris. Ooh La La.

This would all have been very entertaining if I actually cared for these characters and their actions/motivations. I clearly didn't. Travolta is the only spark of the movie- which is influenced by the french action thriller (Taxi/District 13) a very popular genre in France. Check your brain out at the door with this one and get ready for some major nonsense ala Taken but sans the excitement that same Liam Neeson vehicle had & with far less coherence.

Kick Ass (B+)

Kick Ass is everything I wanted Iron Man 2 to be- Vulgar, repulsive, graphic, smart, funny & -above all else- vibrantly alive. Its story of Dave Lizewski, a teenager that decides to be a -failed- superhero, is a realistic depiction of what would happen if your neighbour decided to try out a spidey suit. Dave is a teenager that jacks off daily and drools over the school hottie on a daily basis. His alter ego Kick Ass becomes an overnight internet sensation & is helped along the way by Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) & his daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) who want revenge on a mob boss for the untimely death of Daddy's wife.

I didn't expect much going into Kick Ass but what I got was an ultra violent fanboy fantasy into a -realistically made- superhero world. What more do you want? Well how about a great Nic Cage performance as a father training his daughter to fight evil in a world full of it. Want more? Chloe Moretz -the film's highlight- as a machine killing 12 year old with a fetish for curse words and blood. Director Matthew Vaughn stuffs so much into his superhero movie that it feels too much @ times but what he lacks in timing & structure he compensates in style and graphic imagery.

Lost Series Finale/ "The End" (B+)

Who'd a thunk it. The best movie out there right now actually aired on TV. I'm not big fan of Lost but that didn't stop me from watching the 2 1/2 hour Series Finale on Sunday night. Twist after twist ensued under a plot that had me on the edge for the duration of its running time. No matter what people thought of the finale -titled The End- it had something that most movies these days lack in their unawareness to what a public really wants- ambition this episode was jam packed with it.

3 Summer movies that actually look interesting & not horrible

Now that Robin Hood and Iron Man 2 failed to live up to the hype- I'm ready to proclaim the rest of the 2010 summer movie season one of the worst in a very long time. (& were only a month in) Is there anything coming out that actually has the potential to be this year's first real Oscar contender? Christopher Nolan's Inception is the only worthy looking candidate but there are 2 others that will try to stand out as diamonds in the ruff and have my curiosity peeked. I'm not necessarily looking for serious artistic fare but even the blockbusters look dreadful. I mean who seriously wants to watch A-Team with no Mr. T? Cruise and Diaz in Knight & Day or Angelina Jolie trying to be a female Jason Bourne in Salt & Stallone trying to revitalize his dead career in The Expandables? Summer 2010 will surely have surprises up its sleeve but they will likely come from the independant circuit and not the Hollywood mainstream.



Inception (July 16th 2010)
Here's the film I'm most looking forward to this summer. From gifted filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who's already made Memento, The Dark Knight & The Prestige in his short but illustrious career. His new movie -Inception- has the mind bending potential to invent a new genre of cinema and kick start the Oscar race this season. Leonardo Dicaprio stars in a movie with so much hype around it that nobody has a clue what the hell it's about.



Toy Story 3 (June 18th 2010)
Why wouldn't I pick this one. It's pixar (Wall E/The Incredibles/Finding Nemo) and the first two Toy Story movies knocked me out for a loop. I'm not sold on it being in 3d, in fact I'm ready to watch this one sans the goofy glasses. The only down side? It's the third film of the series & I have yet to see a third film from any film franchise that has eclipsed the original(s). Then again if it's half as good as the first two, I'll be a happy camper. Look for this one to take Best Animated feature @ this years Oscars.



Middle Men (August 6th 2010)
George Gallo's Middle Men starring Giovanni Ribisi & Luke Wilson has sleeper hit written all over it. Its far out premise about how Porn was being sold to the mainstream in 1995 (pre Internet) has enough interest sneaking up on me. Advanced reviews have been great with Rolling Stone and Variety already raving about it. Gallo -a relative newbie in the field of directing- mixes his love for Scorsese in every frame of this ridiculously vulgar movie. I'm sold.

"Chloe"

Having seen this new Atom Egoyan picture, I'm not quite sure exactly what he was reaching for here. This is a remake of a French film that was much better and intriguing than Egoyan's attempt @ the erotic thriller. Then again the story he has is juicy and hypnotic. In other words his source material is actually much more interesting than the execution he commits in Chloe.

There are things that work here, especially Julliane Moore as an undersexed wife that gets turned on by her husband getting it on with a hooker in secret- Chloe (Amanda Seyfried). I bow down to Moore's thrown anytime I see a performance, she is in fact one of the great actresses around and doesn't have an average performance in her.

The problem I got with Egoyan these days is not necessarily the stories he chooses -he always has something interesting up his sleeve - it's actually the way that he executes his stories in such predictable ways that infuriates me and makes on remember that his last great picture was 1997's The Sweet Hereafter. Remember that one? Risk taking is not in his vocabulary anymore & -after watching yet another letdown- I think it's time for him to think everything over.

Banksy & his Images + a short/concise review of 'Exit Through Gift Shop'

Graffiti has polarized many people in our modern age, which is why Exit Through Gift Shop's first half was so damn fun and vibrant. The second half turns into maudlin satirical stabs @ the art world but it nevertheless led me to seek out some of the astonishing Graffiti I saw on display during the film's first 45 or so minutes. There is so much more than just these but I picked some of my favorites.



What you see here is Graffiti art featured in the film & which has stayed etched in my memory, up until I finally had the chance to write to you about it. BANKSY is the main artist featured here -same thing as in the documentary- but I've added a few other astounding images that will surely make an impression on you from various different artists. They are socially relevant to the times and have a clear rebellious message imported with their stylistic flourishes.



Of course some of these Graffiti artists plaster their art on walls just for the fun of it & for a rebellious notion that they can break the law & damage legal property- but then there's something like the art portrayed below which was drawn on the infamous wall that separates the state of Israel and Palestinian territory That infamous wall does not need any explanation but what you see is something that is extremely risky and rebellious in its execution.



A stated above, not a very good film but nevertheless one that has opened up its doors to me with its world of fearless artists taking risks for the sake of their own art. Now why in the hell would I not support such a cause? If only the film was an hour shorter I might have recommended it but I say just search some of this stuff it's much more interesting than viewing the documentary about it.

'Bad Lieutenant' is re-seen & an Instant stoner classic is delved upon in the process

Now Don't get me wrong, the Original Bad Lieutenant -featuring a hard ass, fearless performance by Harvey Keitel as the most crooked cop this side of western civilization- is a classic cult picture of the 1990's & has only garnered more street cred over time. How can anybody forget Keitel's bad cop stopping a girl for speeding and asking her a favour in return (no need to describe the scene, just watch it if you haven't). The film is likely available at any DVD store around your block, if not it's well worth the search.

Last year a loose remake of the 1992 picture came out with troubling Director Abel Ferera replaced by Werner Herzog and Keitel replaced replaced by a trippy out of control Nicolas Cage- my original review can be read HERE. I had the chance over the week to catch up on it again, suffice to say this time around I wasn't as sober as when I originally saw the picture. You see, this isn't a movie that has much in the way of plot. In fact, it is a crazy, maniacal nightmare into the head of a man that has taken way too many drugs for his own good. I'd go as far as to say that one might not necessarily get the picture if they don't understand the experience of being on hallucinogens or are under the influence of it during viewing of the picture.

The more the picture advances, the crazier its plot structure becomes. Cage's bad lieutenant is stuck in a world where reality & dream (or more like nightmare) are coincided one onto the other- which is what might be the defining love it or hate sentiment for the viewer. This is a film that is very much as difficult to watch or in the stoner tradition of Gilliam's Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas. While one might think that I'm talking about a dramatic, serious picture- that would be far from the truth. Bad Lieutenant is very much a comedy of the absurd, one in which its titular character engages in behaviour so ludicrous and shocking that one might just laugh. I know I did & recommend you give this one a look again, to see how there still are original pictures out there. Just get prepared for the absurd and ludicrous.

With all my exams and crazy studying..

I haven't been able to watch much in the way of movies & it is a welcome vacation for the time being, especially since I will likely catch up on everything in the days to come. I did however catch two movies that garnered enough mainstream attention the last few months with their dvd releases.

I won't go much into detail but just to say that Law Abiding Citizen starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx is so preposterous that in its own unique way it is entertaining and does the job any movie should do on a very boring and isolating day- draw your attention. I've even heard from a few lawyers claiming they liked it very much because of its accuracy on court room law etc. I'm not sure exactly what they mean by that- because if whatever I saw in this movie actually happens in court, then I should head to court more often to see what's happening and who's instigating what.

Then there's New Moon, which is a sequel to Twlight and which I only saw for a few painful minutes because of the awfullness that was going on screen. Shirtless vampire boys, shirtless wolf-men & a pale looking heroine that doesn't seem to want to even be involved with this truly horific movies (& I do mean that in a bad way).

Stone et Chavez

With the upcoming release of his new movie Wall Street 2 - Oliver Stone is at it again and stirring the pot in a very strange way. He tackles Latin American leaders in his latest documentary (Trailer be viewed above) & takes a favourable stand with them (including Chavez).

Prophete et Rebel -The Godfather Redux

What Jacques Audiard has done is reinvent the prison movie. Very much the same way Hunger reinvented it but in a more conventional linear matter. If Mcqueen's movie had all the necessities of an art film, Audiard's gangster breakthrough is very much in the same structure as Coppola's Godfather series- it tells a story from its hero's beginnings to his ultimate rise to power. It isn't only about crime but also about the social differences his country seems to be facing with the Arabic population. That -in fact- is what is most fascinating about Un Prophete (4/5), the social realities are @ the core of the films power.

Tahar Rahim is a breakthrough as Malik El Djebena - a 19 year old prisoner in a french penitentiary that is taken into arms by a Cesar (Niels Arestrup) a mob boss who's in jail for many years. Malik ends up doing a few jobs for Cesar in the stint, to which Cesar conveniently rewards him with a who's who and what's what in Italian mob relations. The friendship -if you can call it such- that Malik and Cesar develop is the heart and soul of a movie that is slightly overlong in its final stretch but hypnotic & ferocious fun.

It's also a movie that probably has more ambition than any other Hollywood picture out there in theatres- it strives for greatness and practically achieves it. There's a a rawness to Audiard's storytelling that does not go unnoticed. He invests his characters with honorable traits that flesh them out and leave you thinking it is a documentary you are watching- the hand held camera also helps and does not distract from the overall feel Audiard is trying to get @.

Cooking With Stella & My Newspaper editor Part Quatre? or something like that

I guess it's become a habit for me to bitch about anything my editor ends up erasing from my golden and -pardon the ego- awesome film criticsm, but I do come here with good news. He is starting to edit less and less and give me more and more freedom of expression (surprise?)- Here's an example of a review I wrote on Toronto/Hindi co production Cooking With Stella, which if you read my review, suggests I like quite a bit. Review can be read HERE

Scorsese, Dicaprio & Shutter Island

It's a real treat to have a movie like Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island right now- I highly doubt there will be a better Hollywood movie for the time to come. Why am I giving it such praise? Because it's made by a man that believes in repeated viewings & you will likely need it for this one, which has a twist that demands to be studied and reviewed when the credits roll & -unlike other surprise endings- actually makes sense in its context. What Scorsese has done is a Horror picture that pays tribute to some of Horror's legendary people, there's a bit of Val lewton's The Seventh Victim & almost every seminal Hitchcock is payed tribute to: There's a mountain scene reminiscent of North By Northwest, there's a lighthouse reminiscent of Vertigo & there's a window sequence reminiscent of? Actually you get my drift- and add some influence on Kubrick's The Shining. I've already heard complaints about the picture not being up to par with even his more recent work such as Gangs Of New York & The Departed, I highly digress and even insist its the most rewarding picture he's made for repeat viewings since..well since I can remember.


It's all in the fun. & what fun ! I think people are taking the picture a bit too seriously, this is Scorsese's Valentine to horror & has moments of pure joy and ridiculousness- which is how it meant it to be. I'm kind of reminded of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell, which didn't take itself too seriously and was brilliant because of that. If you haven't heard about the plot- Leo Dicaprio (extraordinarily reliable) plays a Federal Marshall whom along with his partner -played by Mark Ruffalo- goes to an Asylum for the Insane -called Shutter Island- to investigate a missing patient. That's all I'm gonna say but watch out for those horrific dreams Leo has about his dead wife and his experience as an American soldier discovering Nazi concentration camps in WWII. & don't pay too much attention to the missing person case, it's a trap for a more nuanced and revelatory outcome near the end.


I guess you can say I liked the picture & the supporting cast is just great (starring with Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley & Jackie Earle Haley). The film was supposed to come out last year but got postponed due to 'production issues'. If it came out last year it would have surely been one of my very favourites. Seek it out- it's rare to find an auteured movie in mainstream cinema today and this is surely an Auteured movie if there ever was one.

Hootenanny @ The Wheel

With its unique look and simple setting, The Wheel located on the corner of Cavendish and Sherbrooke is a one of a kind marvel for music aficionados- especially those in love with the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s. There are long extended tables & chairs filled with a baby boomer to gold aged filled audience. There are also curiosity seeking teenagers in attendance, especially Lex Gil, a Concordia political science student that was brought a year ago by a friend and has been there ‘frequently’ ever since. ‘The music rocks’ Gil says as she listens to a man belt out Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire with an expert band that knows their country repertoire quite deeply.

There is a lap steel guitar, upright bass, acoustic guitar & violin- They play every song given to them and kick start the show with a hell of a rendition of Eck Robertson’s Ragtime Annie. Because of the instrumentation and song selection, it is clear that we are in the characteristics of country territory and in the presence of country fans from many generations. Other heartbreaking melodies played include The Tennessee Waltz & I’m so Lonesome I Could
Cry.

Connie Hoffman, a mother of 10, regularly shows on Monday nights, bringing her acoustic guitar and deciding to get up on stage and sing a few country tunes. Her voice is squeaky and her rhythm guitar playing just good enough but her heart is in the right place & her love for country music very clear. It is that very dedication to music from its artists and audience that makes The Wheel a one of a kind experience. As the audience of about 50 clapped, sighed, country danced and reacted to an abundance of rich music, I couldn’t help but feel the same hootenanny and joy- even if I didn’t know half the songs.

As the dancing and drinking continues, there is a man that goes from table to table. I begin to wonder what that man can possibly be giving out to the audience and once he comes to our table I am surprised and highly amused by his treat, ‘Liquorice, Liquorice, anybody want Liquorice’, I turn to my friend and say ‘this must be the only bar in the world that gives out Liquorice’.

It only added to the fun as the country music was pouring down on us from the stage, its acoustics not very clear and not very loud from the get go, I was trying to figure out why the entire night and came to the conclusion that it must be from a lack of speakers on stage. All flaws aside, the music functioned as a mix of things; as dancing, listening &background music for all involved.

It’s that time of the night, time when ‘Hillbilly Night’ founder Bob Fuller gets up on stage –gut gushing out, cowboy hat intact- & plays a few songs for an audience he has built up for close to 44 years ago as a way to keep country music alive and well through its downward spiral because of the mainstreamed ‘Nashville sound’ that came out after Rockabilly became big in the 50’s . His finance of the event is the running motor for what is now a highly unconventional style of music for the masses, one that –judging by the crowd tonight- has its following and are highly thankful for Fuller’s dedicative efforts to keep it alive.

He arranges his cowboy hat and nods for the band to start, gently strumming his guitar, the song begins and the audience has quieted down a tiny bit- as if the man performing on stage has garnered their respect and admiration & it’s not hard to see why. He has a presence that demands attention & a presence that is very well known in this community of old school country diehards. He gets into a beautiful version of Bury me under the Weeping Willow by the Carter family, his acoustic slowly strumming and the fiddle slowly weeping away the carters’ heartbreaking chords.

The audience has quieted down and he sings with a western voice that slowly evaporates into the night- meanwhile people are slow dancing, people are drinking, people are whispering, liquorice is still being given out and middle aged men and women are weeping at the thought of this kind of music ceasing to exist. Visiting The Wheel on a Monday night might make you think otherwise, in fact for the 3 hours I was there it was only that music that mattered most in the world.

Stupid decision

If you haven't heard, longtime film critic Todd McCarthy was let go by Variety just a few hours ago. This is a real shock to me- being a man that has always looked for work in the industry as a film writer. This is yet another blow to Film Criticism as a whole, which is starting to look more and more like a dying breed (let us not get into that today) To think that in the past few years, some of my favourites film writers have lost their jobs in -what are- essential and important publications. McCarthy leaving Variety is in fact the Publication's loss- He was one of the few @ that place that actually had the cred and experience to back up his opinions on Film. I've been reading the guy's stuff since the 90's and have read archival writings of his all the way up to the 80's. If you guys haven't heard about another controversial move Variety has been in the last few days, here's another scathing EXAMPLE.

Before I EMO myself to oblivion..

I'd like offer my sincerest apologies for not updating the blog as much as I should- the last few weeks have been pretty damn hectic but I plan on coming back on my usual routine of updating it daily (It will happen sooner than you think). & no I don't have much to say about that snooze fest called the Oscars which happened last night in La La land. In fact- I ended up watching a hockey game instead and only tuned to the last half an hour when the serious stuff was happening aka no flying ballerinas w/enya music and commemorative honors. It's no surprise that it's like this every year and that the show only seems to be getting worse- especially the choosing of hosts which last night might have reached the pinnacle of bad.

In other news I'm gonna be watching Shutter Island tomorrow and will give my full report whenever I find the time (hopefully the day of..) & I will hopefully be catching Audiard's Un Prophete, which is getting ridiculously good reviews from New York and LA's press. Stay tuned for that & hope to hear from my fellow followers in the days to come-