Tag: Film

By Peter Hemminger

Buster Keaton holds a reputation as the most inventive of the silent film comedians, and The General is often held up as his crowning achievement. Watching it in the Uptown’s main floor theatre with its glorious 1920s architecture is about as authentic a reproduction of the glory days of film as one can find. The… Continue reading Film Fest: The General

By Peter Hemminger

L’Enfant (The Child) was highly praised at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is usually a solid barometer, and it didn’t disappoint. Essentially, it’s the story of a petty thief, his girlfriend, their newborn son and a series of bad decisions. The thief is one of the more despicable characters ever committed to film, completely… Continue reading Film Fest: L’Enfant (The Child)

By Garth Paulson

Fittingly ending the festival, Happy Endings is an intricate and delightful comedy about a Los Angeles group who can’t help but mess everything up. The film follows several interconnecting stories of ruined relationships before they all reach their inevitable, but carefully done happy endings. The movie isn’t very surprising but it’s pulled off with the… Continue reading Film Fest: Happy Endings

By Kyle Francis

People expect trailers to be misleading – after all, they’re designed to get you into the theatre. This is probably why the preview for David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence was made to look like an intelligent thriller about a small town man with a dark past and a knack for murder. What it wasn’t… Continue reading Film Review: Stupid Violence

By Peter Hemminger

Your Jetta glides gracefully into the vacant parking stall. Your friends spill out of the car and make their way towards the mall. Pulling open the doors, you step into a world of gaudiness. Neon lights flash from every direction, posters battle one another for your attention, and above you an animatronic dragon spews billows… Continue reading Film Scoop: Film Fest magic

By Katherine Fletcher

Picture a war. Helicopters drone, bombs fall and napalm sears. Gunfire permanently penetrates the air. Fires rage. Smoke suffocates. Corpses litter the ground, and blood pours from bodies riddled with bullets.What you’re probably not picturing is a hospital. Most of the images of war we see exclude those of treatment and recovery. Filmmakers David Christensen… Continue reading Festival Review: War Hospital

By Kate Foote

Pierre Tetrault paints an intimate portrait of schizophrenia in This Beggar’s Description, following the life of his own brother, Phil Tetrault. The film retraces Phil’s bouts with insanity as well as his poignant stints of clarity. Throughout the film, Tetrault avoids thoroughly exploring his own relationship with his brother, opting instead to play the role… Continue reading Festival Review: This Beggar’s Portrait

By Sherri Shergill

Jodie Foster’s latest film, Flightplan, has a merciless crash-and-burn theme surrounding it. The take-off is smooth and relaxing until the plane ends up combusting mid-air. The film starts out full of promise, gets lost in its own storyline and in the midst of confusion tries to land well before the tarmac was prepared for its… Continue reading Film Review: Flightplan off course

By Rob Scherf

“A film is, or should be, more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.” -Stanley KubrickAutumn is a time of rejuvenation and preparation for a new year of work. From the festive tradition of the harvest… Continue reading Film Scoop: Finding culture through film

By Chris McGeachy

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride offers little surprise throughout the story of Victor van Dort and his socially-taboo marriage to the titular Corpse Bride, but manages to be entertaining anyway. The story is simple: Victor, voiced by Johnny Depp, finds himself staring death in the face when he accidentally betroths a corpse who subsequently comes to… Continue reading Film Review: Corpse Bride not quite dead on