Oh goodness, he’s talking about music
Lest I forget, this blog is about more than just movies. And right now, I’m more obsessed with the new Gil Scott-Heron album than with any movie, so let’s roll with that. At the back of the liner notes for the album, this is what it says: There is a proper procedure for taking advantage … Continue reading
Alberta Theatre Projects’ playRites in brief — three plays, exactly 100 words each
How Do I Love Thee?, by Florence Gibson MacDonald: Given my near-complete lack of literary training, I only know Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her titular question, and even less of Robert Browning. Maybe an emotional connection to their poetry would’ve made How Do I Love Thee go down easier, but as it stands, the florid … Continue reading
Televising the revolution
FILM: Burma VJ: In September of 2007, tens of thousands of Burmese citizens, including an estimated 5,000 Buddhist monks, stood up to the nation’s oppressive military regime. It was the country’s most significant protest in almost 20 years, the first major act of resistance since a 1988 student protest that resulted in the army opening … Continue reading
CD Review – Pantha Du Prince
Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise Rough Trade Minimal electronica isn’t the first thing to come to mind when talking about Rough Trade records, but if that’s the direction the label wants to take, it’s taken a hell of a first step in signing Pantha du Prince. Black Noise, the third album from the German … Continue reading
In which I explain why The Shield is awesome
(Part one of a seven-part series, to be updated as I finish each season) Unlike a lot of TV shows, The Shield has the decency to grab you by the balls at the earliest opportunity. Rather than pussyfooting around and teasing its audience with hints of the rampant corruption in Vic Mackey’s Strike Team, the … Continue reading
Scary but true: I really liked Edge of Darkness
If I were feeling particularly honest, I’d have to confess that I didn’t think Edge of Darkness would be any good. Director Martin Campbell did direct two of the best Bond movies in recent memory (and maybe the best one ever with Casino Royale), but the presence of Mel Gibson was a major turn-off — … Continue reading
The Birth of Burning Man
FILM: Dust and Illusions: As far as pure counterculture is concerned, few events balance popularity with cultural cachet like the Burning Man festival. Every year, thousands of artists, hedonists and general weirdos gather in the Black Rock desert for a week of almost-anything-goes celebration and creativity. Examining that sort of event objectively is no easy … Continue reading
Legion: It probably could have been better.
Here’s where self-restraint kicks in. Because it’d be easy to tear Legion apart for its near-complete lack of logic, its long stretches of non-action, its dull and poorly acted monologues and its half-assed religiousity. And to be completely honest, it’d be fun, too — trashing a movie gives a weird, almost perverse joy. But this … Continue reading
Relative quickies: Extreme Measures, Book of Eli, Pajama Men (theatre)
FILM: Extraordinary Measures (review originally from ffwdweekly.com) Extraordinary Measures is a saccharine, heartstring-tugging Hallmark card of a movie, an inspirational tale jury-rigged to provide as much cockle-warming as can be uncomfortably wedged into 105 minutes. If watching wheelchair-bound children delivering life lessons to cantankerous scientists while the soundtrack plays Eric Clapton’s “Change the World” is … Continue reading
A mildly inebriated White Cabin review (High Performance Rodeo)
Thank goodness I’m not reviewing this officially. I’ve been considering starting theatre reviews, given that Fast Forward only has one theatre reviewer, which is hardly enough, but starting with a tricky piece of Russian surrealism would be daunting, to say the least. In the most basic terms, White Cabin is a highly surreal piece of … Continue reading
The Consumption 