It’s amazing to see what happens to rock stars through the lens of passing time. At the time they can seem like no talent hacks driving kids into a frenzy; twenty years later they’re icons of their genre…the bar against which all up and comers are measured. This transition makes it interesting to pause every…
Testify: SOUNDS LIKE A REVOLUTION Plays NXNE
“You can bomb the world to pieces; You can’t bomb the world to peace.” Let’s wind the clock back ten years. The world was enjoying a small measure of peace. Iraq was that place we’d been ten years ago, and Afghanistan was just a country on a map most North Americans couldn’t find. The musical…
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
Let’s ask it again: What is art?
Hot Docs Reaction Wrap: LADIES IN BLUE, SHADOW PLAY and THE CANAL STREET MADAM
Alright…let’s wrap up this crazy caper. Short opinions about the last three docs I saw, and musings on the festival in general are after the jump.Not to phone this in or anything, but at this point I’m slightly gassed. furthermore, these were three docs I saw that I found “OK”, and didn’t really have much…
Hot Docs Reaction: THE OATH
It’s difficult to articulate my thoughts on THE OATH. I know it moved me…I know it’s an important doc…it’s just a little difficult to express why. For starters, the doc is about two men: Salim Hamdan and Nasser al-Bahri (aka Abu Jandal). Both men were involved in al Qaeda, the latter was even the personal…
Hot Docs Reaction: JOAN RIVERS – A PIECE OF WORK
I’ve long believed that one sign of a good documentary is if it can draw in those who sit down not caring much about the subject matter. For me, JOAN RIVERS – A PIECE OF WORK is certainly an example of a doc where I don’t much care for the subject. And yet, the successful…
Midnight Radio: Life in Technicolor part v
And then there were none. The fifth and final Hot Docs podcast is coming up, this time with some very good friends flanking me post-screening. Friday night was all about SHADOWPLAY at The Bloor Cinema, and likewise it was about remembering that while seeing all these film festival screenings are fun, it becomes infinitely more…