The Consumption: Reflections in a Golden Eye
FILM: Reflections in a Golden Eye: John Huston’s sepia-tinged tale of sexual tension and murder on a military base has some stunning elements, not least of which is the gorgeous cinematography and a cast that includes Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. Unfortunately, burdened with an overbearing soundtrack and some particularly clunky scenes, the movie settles … Continue reading
Transcript: John Hillcoat interview, The Road
I guess it’s a good enough time to publish the rest of my interview with The Road director John Hillcoat. I had the good fortune to speak with him back in September at the Toronto film fest, which led to a cover feature in Fast Forward in November, but here’s the raw transcript, where Mr. … Continue reading
The Consumption: December 12
December has been conspiring against me. Illness, funerals and car-related frustrations have abounded, but I’m currently rebounding, and set to continue my quest to document all the media I consume. All I need now is willpower. PS: Coming next week — a full transcription of my interview with Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus director Terry Gilliam. … Continue reading
Catching up: More consumption
Personal life made it tricky to post in the last week or so, so here’s a bit of catch-up: CONCERT: Billy Bragg with Ron Hawkins and Kris Demeanor at Jack Singer: Uptown (Winnipeg’s alt.weekly) called Ron Hawkins one of the most underappreciated singer-songwriters in Canada, and if his opening set’s any indication, chalk me up … Continue reading
Desolation Road — Interview with John Hillcoat + post-apocalypse sidebar
Even within the pantheon of post-apocalyptic fiction, Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel, The Road, is bleak. The book’s heroes are an unnamed father and son, both perpetually verging on death in an inhospitable America. An unexplained disaster has drained the colour from the sky and left a coating of ash over the ground, transforming the landscape … Continue reading
The Consumption: Nov 19-22
Man… I need to stay on top of this. THEATRE: TheatreJunction – The Country: Martin Crimp’s script is a tongue-twister, looping back on itself, interrupting itself, repeating phrases and traveling on hairpin tangents. As delivered by Mark Lawes and Fiona Byrne, though, it’s not much more than two actors getting through their lines as best … Continue reading
The Consumption: Nov. 19-ish
FILM: The Third Man: First and foremost, the zither score is fantastic. I want it as a ringtone, which is not something that usually occurs to me, because I have never used a tone other than chimes. But the mood that it sets is so… off. The music is upbeat but not exactly happy. It’s … Continue reading
The Consumption: Nov. 15 and 16
Maybe someday I should start adding images into these, but for now, I just don’t particularly care. FILM: Gone With the Wind: For some reason, I’ve long been apprehensive about this one. It’s always portrayed as the uber-romance, a heartbreaking epic of southern chivalry, damsels swooning and “yessum, mastuh” servants, which didn’t much entice me. … Continue reading
The Consumption – Nov 13
FILM: 2012: I was expecting the disaster movie to end all disaster movies, and on that level at least, director Roland Emmerich delivers. 2012 basically just takes scenes from every apocalypse flick ever made (a bit of Deep Impact here, some Volcano there, even some Titanic for good measure) and strings them together with the … Continue reading
Daily Consumption: Nov. 8
FILM: Parallel Folds: Second of the Indian movies I’m judging. Slightly unfair, because a fair number of scenes are quite overexposed, which makes the subtitles completely illegible for stretches, but I’m pretty sure I followed the whole thing. I’m also pretty sure it’s overly melodramatic, and whatever insight it has into the idea of dignified/voluntary … Continue reading
The Consumption 