Once upon a time it was possible to make a film vehicle for the biggest rock stars on the planet and have it also be a good movie.
Let it Loose: STONES IN EXILE Plays NXNE
In rock & roll, there are stories, and there are legends. Then there are the details surrounding The Rolling Stones’ recording of “Exile On Main Street”…which deserves a whole category all its own. This year has brought a remastered version of the album, and with it, a well-executed documentary, STONES IN EXILE. The songs of…
Lover’s Spit: THIS MOVIE IS BROKEN Plays NXNE
At the risk of being ex-communicated from my hometown, I have a confession: I’ve never been a fan of Broken Social Scene. It’s hard to explain precisely why, except to say that I just didn’t get them. Their sound is sprawling, spiralling, and non-linear. They couldn’t care less about hooks or singles. Quite honestly, they…
Shake Appeal: SEARCH AND DESTROY Plays NXNE
Despite playing things straight down the middle, SEARCH AND DESTROY is a pretty interesting watch. The reason for this is to hear how Iggy Pop can effortlessly deconstruct the tracks on The Stooges’ landmark album “Raw Power”. The music might seem like four guys making a fast-paced racket, but the fact that the racket is…
Whiskey, Mystics, and Men: WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE Plays NXNE
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…
Broken (THIS FILM IS BROKEN Trailer)
Today begins my coverage of Toronto’s North By Northeast music festival. While the music geek in me does indeed long to go to many of the concerts about town, the movie blogger y’all know and love is dedicated to writing about its film programme. I’ll be writing about most of the films in advance of…