Every once in a while, you have to go in blind. At the risk of sounding culturally sheltered, I knew precious little about Youssou Ndour before this afternoon. To be specific, I knew his name, and that he was a world renowned tenor. That’s it – I couldn’t tell you where he was from, couldn’t…
TIFF Reaction: IT MIGHT GET LOUD
Back when this selection was first announced as being part of TIFF ’08, I had one immediate thought: “I’m there!”. For those of you who don’t know me, if there’s anything I love as much as movies, it’s music. And when you cue up songs by U2, The White Stripes, and Led Zeppelin, you are…
TIFF reaction: ROCKNROLLA
I truly wish Guy Ritchie had stayed for a Q&A after this morning’s screening of ROCKNROLLA, simply because I would have liked to have said one thing to him: “Welcome Back”. After seven years off the grid making spousal vehicles and straight-to-dvd misfires, Ritchie went back to what he does best and gave fans of…
TIFF Reaction: PASSCHENDAELE
Mid-way through Paul Gross’ PASSCHENDAELE, the war-torn battle ground is described as “A muddy stew”. That very sentiment could describe this movie as a whole quite accurately. PASSCHENDAELE is an ambitious film, one that takes ordinary Canadians in the early 20th century, and cuts their lives to ribbons as World War I casts a shadow…
TIFF Reaction: $9.99
Beginning my 2008 TIFF screenings with $9.99 felt a little like going to a buffet dinner and heading straight for the dessert cart. Not that I’d ever talk someone out of such a decision. The movie is a stop-motion animated film about the inhabitants of an Australian apartment building. The place they all call home…
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS really bummed me out. Not because it’s a depressing story – although it is – but because I turned it on really wanting to like it. Unfortunately when the credits rolled I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS is a Canadian film by maverick director Bruce…
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
Quite often when I finish watching a movie based on a book, I find myself wanting to read the source material. This is quite true in the case of THE GOLDEN COMPASS, since I found the movie adaptation to be one massive, glorious, mess. I’m a pretty smart guy, but I swear the counter on…